Claudio Simonetti's Goblin
Profondo Rosso/Deep Red

“Profondo Rosso” is undoubtedly one of the best soundtracks ever in Italian cinema and one of Goblin's most successful records along with Suspiria and the underrated Roller, the latter being one of the best Goblin albums ever. Initially, the project was carried out by the great jazz musician Giorgio Gaslini. Then Argento very much wanted to involve the Goblin as well, a then-emerging band whose members had a progressive-rock musical background and came from bands like Il Ritratto di Dorian Gray and Cherry Five. However, Gaslini decided to leave the project due to disagreements with Argento, and at that point, the director asked the Goblin to compose new tracks. The Goblin did not disappoint his expectations: their music was aggressive, marked by great technique and jazz-rock influences, with just the right dark touch that suited Argento's films well. The main theme of the title track is something grand and haunting at the same time, a piece of music that has by all effects become a classic. One of the influences for this record was Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. “Death Dies” and “Mad Puppet” are the other two tracks composed by the Goblin. On side B, the band rearranges two compositions by Gaslini, namely “Wild Session” and “Deep Shadow” in a jazz-rock key, while the album is completed by another two tracks performed by Gaslini's orchestra (“School At Night” and “Gianna”). The success of Profondo Rosso was astounding and resulted in it being the best-selling album of 1975.

Now, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the work, Claudio Simonetti releases a new celebratory version for Rustblade. On side A, “Profondo Rosso”, “Death Dies”, “Mad Puppet” plus “Deep Shadows” are re-proposed. Side B features live performances of “School At Night”, “Mad Puppet”, “Profondo Rosso”, plus a version of “Death Dies” from the Simonetti Horror Project version and again “Profondo Rosso” in a new rock guise. Frankly, for some time now, Claudio Simonetti has been scraping the bottom of the barrel and seems to want to exploit to exhaustion what was done well in the past. I also had the opportunity to see one of his shows dedicated to Profondo Rosso in Cascina, an operation not without charm but in some ways questionable for how it was presented. The magic of this music remains intact, but honestly, there was no need for this new edition conceived just for collectors and the most fervent fans, released in CD, in limited and colored vinyl, in a limited Box, in a luxurious limited Box version limited to 100 copies, and in another Box titled Mad Puppet Edition ultralimited to 23 copies.