PROFONDO ROSSO [AKA: DEEP RED] (OST)

Marking the point where the Italian prog scene collided with the Italian filmmaking market, Profondo Rosso is the first Goblin album and one of their better soundtrack works. The moods and musical styles adopted on the album are quite diverse, as befitting its origins as a movie soundtrack, with influences ranging from Tubular Bells (as on the opening of the title track, or the guitar section in Mad Puppet) to funkier material at points reminiscent of Curtis Mayfield's work on Superfly. Some where between these extremes the distinctive and original Goblin sound emerges, applying symphonic prog musicianship and compositional approaches to a more cinematic set of influences than those that informed the pastoral prog or fusion-leaning bands of the RPI scene.

Note that Profondo Rosso has been reissued in various formats, including a greatly expanded release which includes more incidental music and multiple different takes of the same tracks. If you are a major fan of the Goblin sound and want to hear every little track they made during these sessions, you might want to go for it, but I personally find these editions rather repetitive and tedious to listen to all the way through. My appreciation for this album shot up when I simply programmed the CD to play only the original album tracks in the order they originally appeared on; on the whole, I'd say Goblin did a fine job in condensing the soundtrack for an LP release.