Search - Various Artists :: Esl Presents: Easy Tempo

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L. S. Slaughter | Chapel Hill, NC | 07/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This release is a sampling of the Easy Tempo series available in Italy that has produced ten striking CDs of vintage Italian film music from the 60s and 70s as compiled by Rocco Pandiani and gang. As the world's biggest Piero Piccioni fan, I can't recommend this sampling heartily enough. Sure, there' some kitsch and camp here - especially to younger ears - but there's also great feeling and panache in some of the extracts from these 60s and 70s film scores by Travioli, and, of course, Piccioni. Acid-jazz fans will also find this a must, as will trip-hop DJs looking for great samples to base their creations around. I can't rave enough about Vol 6 Easy Tempo: A Cinematic Listening Experience and Vol 3 Further Cinematic Adventures from which some of these titles were collected. Vol 6 is jazz-focused and Vol 3 features more samba and bossa-based cuts (and includes Umilani's wild "Lady magnolia"). "Ebony Ride" by Piccioni on Vol. 6 is alone worth the price of the CD. The Italians had a take on jazz and film music unlike any other country: it's bittersweet, funky, spacey, erotic with just enough of the cocktail hour thrown (but not too much). These collections transcend camp and kitsch. They define the heart of a special time that is, sadly, gone. More Easy Tempo, please."

Very vibracious...

L. S. Slaughter | 04/25/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To begin, I was amazed when I saw that "Customers who bought this cd also purchased..." Britney Spears! Hmm...? Does the market for campy, sexy Italian cine music overlap with that of Britney Spears? Apparently. Kudos, Amazon, for bridging a gap/association that I'd never even dreamed of.



At any rate, this cd is incredible. Right along with the "covert operations" and "jet set" cd's, and, actually, anything on the esl label.



I bought this while visiting New Orleans, and didn't get to play it until I was on vacation...in a beach cottage/penthouse in Seaside, Florida. As it began to play, and I looked out over the Gulf of Mexico from my suite, the feel of cool hardwood beneath my feet, images of Catwoman (the original, Eartha Kitt) dancing to Jimmy Smith (i.e., "The Cat" cd, composed with Lalo Schifrin) or Henry Mancini (i.e., "Charade" or "Breakfast at Tiffany's"), or even Hugo Montenegro, along with a dozen other vixens in angora and go-go boots all came flashing before my mind's eye. It was then that I suddenly realised that I needed a martini (Bombay Sapphire--Skyy in dire situations-shaken).



Does that at all help with describing this disc? Probably not, so forgive me. It is a fantastic assortment of songs. VERY similiar to the "Beat a Cine..." cd's put out on the "Crippled D*ck, Hot Wax" label.



Get this one, and enjoy the sounds that you will find soon creeping/pusling their way into your soul. As a bit of advice, this CD is very good to listen to over a nice cocktail, perusing the latest issue of Wallpaper or Casa Mica (even Metropolitan Home could suffice).



Enjoy."

America's intro to non-spaghetti western Italian scores

pappa wheelie | Jacksonville, FL | 08/01/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Eighteenth Street Lounge. I've been told it's not only an American label who poses to be the US's answer to international Shibuya & All-In nouveau lounge music labels, but also a night-club for the "nouveau lounge scene" in Washington DC. Whether the club aspect is true or not, I did not cross any ESL releases until a trip to NYC. There, I found the "Covert Operations" compilation, and label heads, "Thievery Corporation's", Sounds from the...Hi-Fi album, only to be greatly dissappointed. These "nouveau lounge" releases were very reliant on electronic dub influenced trip hop that was so underproduced that I could see my own slow moving reflection in the polished sound radiating from the 2 pieces of equipment it took to make these tracks. Not to say this sound is always bad, just misrepresented using the "nouveau lounge" moniker. Since then, Thievery Corporation has gone on to produce a track on the nouveau Bossa Nova queen's (Bebel Gilberto) debut release, thusly, assuring their reputation as America's nouveau lounge duo. So when I found this collection in the group's hometown of DC, I passed and did not purchase it. It was shortly later that I learned of the Italian label, Easy Tempo, and deduced that ESL's release was somehow connected to the label itself.I soon found this compilation again and did not pass. After hearing "Fantastic Plastic Machine's" compilation tributing Italian film scores (Irma Cocktail Lounge Vol. 1), I had fallen in love with the obscure Bossa Novas and psuedo funk that the genre had to offer. ESL's disc earns four stars just on being authentic and bringing it to the US. This is not the best example of the genre's goldmine, but the CD is worth it for the two Bossas (most notably, the track "Diamond Bossa Nova" which seems to have inspired all of Stereolab's recent chord progressions). This disc relies more on the funkier, soulful side of the era. ESL's compilation of Easy Tempo's vast library is a great intro, but not the most representative of what 60's & 70's Italian film had to offer musically. This seems to be the trend of Eighteenth Street Lounge so we will continue to look towards the "Emporer Norton" label for quality releases of nouveau lounge domestically."