More Radio Spots From Hell

As threatened / promised, here's the second collection of vintage radio spots. There's a bit of everything to be enjoyed here. Sexploitation, Blaxploitation, Kung-Fu, bikers, double features, monster marathons all come together in this audio celebration of the 'Grindhouse' experience.

Once again, it's heavy on the A.I.P. product but that ain't no bad thing since they either produced or distributed most of the quality schlock from the '60s & '70s. I guess they were one of the few exploitation distributors with the budget to produce radio advertisments.

For the record, here's the tracklist:

Angel Unchained / Angel's Wild Women / At The Earth's Core / Black Cleopatra / Black Street Fighter / Blazing Stewardesses / Blood In The Streets / Bloody Mama / The Body Shop / The Booby Hatch / Chrome & Hot Leather / Cleopatra Jones / Coffy + JD's Revenge / Color Of Her Skin / Cycle Savages / Dagmar's Hot Pants Inc / Dare The Devil / Death Race 2000 / Death Sport / Destroy All Monsters / Devil Woman + Dragon's Never Die / Disco 9000 / Dorian Gray / Dr Black & Mr Hyde / Empire Of The Ants / Evel Knievel / Eyes Of Hell + Explosion / Females For Hire / Food Of The Gods / Gassssss / Ghetto Freaks / Girl Snatchers / Grizzly / Hard Ride / Hell's Angels '69 / Hillbilly Hooker / Horror Chamber Of Blood & Gore / Human Tornado / Hustler Squad / Island Of Dr Moreau / Italian Stallion / Let's Scare Jessica To Death / Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane / Love Factor / Love Slaves / Madame Kitty / Massage Parlour Hookers / Master Of The Flying Guillotine / Mating Urge + Wondrous Story Of Birth / Mephisto Waltz / Midnight Scandals / Mistress Of The Apes / Monkey Hustle / Murders In The Rue Morgue / Naked Witch / Naughty Cheerleader / Naughty Stewardesses / Nurses For Sale / Peter Fonda Festival / Phase Four / Revenge Of The Cheerleaders / Schlock / School For Unclaimed Girls / Sex Fiend / Shape Of Things To Come / Slaughter's Big Rip-Off / Space Raiders / Street People / Streets Of Sin + Life Begins / Swinging Cheerleaders / Tentacles / Blood Drinkers + Black Cat / The Mack / The Swappers / Vampire Lovers / The Witchmaker / A Thousand Convicts & A Woman / Three In The Cellar / Three Tough Guys / Trial Of The Dead / Truck Turner / Twisted Nerve / Twitch Of The Death Nerve / Up From The Depths / Venus In Furs / When Women Had Tails / Wild In The Streets / Witchcraft '70

LINK IN THE COMMENTS

Yeti - Sante Maria Romitelli

Here's something I was sharing elsewhere but considering the hassle involved, I'm going to share the link here too. It's Sante Maria Romitelli's score for the 1977 schlocker "Yeti: Giant Of The 20th Century".

In case it wasn't bloody obvious, it's an Italian made "King Kong" rip-off that was rushed into production when the Dino De Laurentiis remake was making headlines. I've only ever suffered through the dreadfully pan & scanned version released to video tape way back in the early eighties. From memory, it was one of those covers than only featured poster artwork; no photos - usually a good sign you've just rented a stinkaroonie.

It's pretty much a retread of the Kong formula only with even cheesier effects than the De Laurentiis version (if possible) and some of the most appalling rear projection effects ever committed to film. There's also too much time spent on a silly dog subplot and not nearly enough Yeti smashing stuff. There is however a strangely perverse scene of Antonella Interlenghi brushing against Yeti's nipple, causing it to dilate!

Director 'Frank Kramer' (Gianfranco Parolini), who had previously helmed the recommended western "Sabata", does the best he can with what little he has and at the very least, there's a worthwhile Romitelli score. There's even a disco theme performed by Romitelli & the session musicians under the name 'The Yetians'! And this film is a damn sight better than that other "Kong" clone "Queen Kong" but that may be only because it doesn't have a grinning Robin Askwith in it.

A note about the format: this is a 'lossless' share; so you're gonna get a log, Image sheet and a WAV file which has been converted into a FLAC file. If there's actually any demand for it, I'll consider the possibility of an MP3 alternative.

1 - The Giant - Overture (05:19)
2 - Idyllic Largo (06:10)
3 - Magic Epilogue (04:59)
4 - Yeti (03:11)
5 - Dreaming Of An Impossible Love (03:06)
6 - Funky Disco Soul (02:34)
7 - Celestial Reverie (01:56)
8 - Magic In The Air (02:36)
9 - Fugue In A Minor (01:22)

LINK IN THE COMMENTS

A Few Notes From Cipriani

I'm a big fan of composer Stelvio Cipriani. While he can already count such memorable themes as "Baron Blood", "Rabid Dogs", "Iguana With A Tongue Of Fire", "Mark The Nark" (and a swag of other Italo crime flicks), "Nightmare City" and "Anonimo Veneziano" - to name just a few - to his credit, Cipriani has composed a LOT of music. Naturally a composer this diverse worked on a variety of projects, including a number of library albums, pressed in very limited quantities. A kind soul was good enough to upload a few of these tracks (thank you Musicali78 - any chance of getting the full album..???) and I've ripped 'em and put them together in this little Stelvio Cipriani compilation. It's a small file, around 25MB, so think of it as an EP that never was. Go on - put it on your MP3 player and strut down the street with a spring in your step!

1 - Bersaglio Altezza Uomo (1979)

2 - Sweet Meeting (1979)

3 - Ground Glass (1980)

4 - That's Enough For Now (1980)

5 - The Magic Touch (1980)

LINK IN THE COMMENTS

Most Essential Cult Movies Of The 1970s

The '70s will always be considered the 'golden era' of the cult/exploitation era (at least of the pure sleaze grindhouse variety) and a fellow blogger has sent out a call for a list of essential titles.

http://frommidnight.blogspot.com/2010/08/hey-midnight-warriors-wanna-talk-about.html

And I love lists. This kinda thing is always subjective but here is my very own 'desert island' selection:

1970: El Topo & Gimme Shelter. Probably played together at some point.

1971: Daughters Of Darkness. Or maybe Two Lane Blacktop. Depends on the mood.

1972: Last House On The Left or Pink Flamingos

1973: Flesh For Frankenstein

1974: It's a tie between Let Sleeping Corpses Lie & Phantom Of The Paradise.

1975: Deep Red

1976: Eraserhead

1977: Martin

1978: Dawn Of The Dead.

1979: Mad Max & The Warriors

Wheew! That wasn't easy! Anyone else have others to share..?

Last House On The Beach - Soundtrack

A nasty little spin on the Last House formula - original title "La Settima Donna (The Seventh Woman)" - from Franco Prosperi. The film was retitled "Terror" for export release, but finally found a home on 42nd street under the more appropriate title "Last House On The Beach".

A gang of violent bank robbers invade a beach house, where Florinda Bolkan plays a nun/teacher to students who sit around sunbaking in bikinis. Naturally, rape and mayhem ensue... some of it filmed in slow motion for your enjoyment. Ray Lovelock has a sizeable role (even warbling on the theme tune) as the more sympathetic thug. That may be due to the inclusion of a mascara wearing sexual freak as one of the other thugs.

Music by Roberto Pregadio. While the title theme features another lovely Edda Dell'Orso vocal, the rest of the score sports some scuzzy guitar and sparse disco numbers. This release originates from a bonus disc that came with the German DVD - I've included the trailer and a rip of a short theme featured in the film that was criminally not included on the soundtrack. Why exactly the score wasn't issued for the release of the film remains a mystery. Could it be the litigious nature of the tune "Place For The Landing"...?

1 - La Settima Donna (vocals by Edda Dell'Orso)

2 - Place For The Landing (vocals by Ray Lovelock)

3 - Lo Spogliarello

4 - Favolosa Festa di Danza

5 - Costretti a Fare I'Amore

6 - Un Pomeriggio di Sole

7 - La Fuga

8 - Perfide Bestie

9 - La Settima Donna (Ripressa)

10 - Favolosa Festa di Danza (Versione Alternativa)

11 - La Fuga (Versione Alternativa)

12 - Robbery (Bonus 1)

13 - Original Trailer (Bonus 2)

LINK IN THE COMMENTS

Psycheground Mix

Something a little different this week with this mix of trippin' acid rock from early '70s Italy. Lots of heavy fuzz guitar and spaced out organ vibes for your listening pleasure.

I've also been fooling around with some audio editing software and just for fun, the tracks have been cut together in one delirious 66 minute mix. I think it turned out okay, although I'd love to hear what you think.

It's actually a bit of a mystery as to who's even responsible for these tracks. In an effort to pass themselves off as British (and possibly avoid tax duties), Italian studio artists hid behind anonymous sounding monikers like 'Psycheground Group" or "Fine Machine". Composers like Giuliano Sorgini, Alessandro Alessandroni, Piero Umiliani, Armando Sciascia, Gianfranco Reverberi have all been mentioned but it appears that the true identities may be lost to the ravages of LSD soaked time. In any case, these tunes can speak for themselves!

This is my first "library" share and I plan on including more. As you can tell from the composers mentioned, there's a lot of crossover with soundtrack composition. It's really only through the joy of blogs that I even stumbled onto the subject - and I've come across some real doozies - so it seems fitting to share them back here. A big "Thank You" to the original ripper/s!

1 - Psycheground (The Psycheground Group)

2 - Fying (Braen's Machine)

3 - Handshake (Fine Machine)

4 - Elena (Fourth Sensation)

5 - Telegraph Is Calling (The Pawnshop)

6 - Microchaos (Blue Phantom)

7 - Imphormal (Braen's Machine)

8 - Flash (Duke Of Burlington)

9 - Ray (The Psycheground Group)

10 - Georgia (Fourth Sensation)

11 - Raging Beat (Fine Machine)

12 - Metamorphosis (Blue Phantom)

13 - Fall Out (Braen's Machine)

14 - Criss Cross (Duke Of Burlington)

15 - Diodi (Blue Phantom)

16 - Marta (Fourth Sensation)

17 - Gap (Braen's Machine)

18 - Violence (Blue Phantom)

LINK IN THE COMMENTS

Panicos At The Disco Mix

Get yer boogie shoes on for this disco themed mix of soundtrack themes. I have no idea what kind of club would have been spinning these tunes - the Monster Club perhaps..?

1 - Alien (Nostromo Mix)

2 - Amityville (Frenzy Mix)

3 - Phantasm (Captain Zorro Mix)

4 - Friday The 13th Part 3 (Disco Mix)

5 - Assault On Precinct 13 (Splash Band Mix)

6 - Escape From New York - Duke Arrives (12'' Mix)

7 - Escape From New York - Title Theme (Hypnotic Mix)

8 - Profondo Rosso (City Center Mix)

9 - Tenebre (Alex Spadoni Mix)

10 - Tenebre (Phantom-Justice Mix)

11 - Phenomena '96 (Simonetti Mix)

12 - Profondo Rosso Progressive (Simonetti Mix)

13 - Profondo Rosso (Flexter Mix)

14 - Argento Megamix (Julian B Mix)

LINK IN THE COMMENTS