LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

• Format: Vinyl LP, album reissue, stereo
• Vinyl: 180-gram black vinyl
• Packaging: Gatefold sleeve reproducing the original artwork

Profondo Rosso is Goblin's landmark soundtrack for Dario Argento's 1975 thriller, internationally released as Deep Red. The album marked the beginning of one of the most celebrated relationships between a director and a rock group, establishing an approach in which progressive music became an active and unsettling part of the film's atmosphere.

The score had initially been entrusted to jazz composer Giorgio Gaslini, whose music remains represented on the album. Goblin were subsequently brought into the project and created the forceful themes that transformed the soundtrack into an international success. The resulting record moves between progressive rock, jazz, orchestral suspense and eerie music-box melodies.

The famous title track is built around Claudio Simonetti's immediately recognisable keyboard figure, supported by Fabio Pignatelli's prominent bass, Massimo Morante's guitar and Walter Martino's powerful drumming. Its combination of a childlike melody, driving rhythm and increasingly ominous instrumental layers perfectly reflects the film's mixture of mystery and violence.

“Death Dies” is faster and more aggressive, combining a restless bass line with keyboards, guitar and jazz-inflected rhythmic changes. “Mad Puppet” develops through sinister melodies and abrupt shifts of mood, while the extended “Wild Session” and “Deep Shadows” move into darker jazz-rock territory with tense improvisation and complex ensemble playing.

The short closing pieces “School at Night” and “Gianna” provide a striking contrast to the heavier material. Their orchestral and music-box textures create an atmosphere of childhood innocence distorted by unease, reinforcing one of the film's central musical ideas.

Profondo Rosso became one of the most influential European soundtrack albums of the 1970s and introduced the musical language Goblin would develop further on recordings such as Roller and Suspiria. This AMS Records edition presents the complete original seven-track LP programme on heavyweight black vinyl in a reproduction gatefold sleeve.

Track listing:

Side A

1. Profondo Rosso – 3:45
2. Death Dies – 4:37
3. Mad Puppet – 6:30

Side B

1. Wild Session – 5:40
2. Deep Shadows – 5:45
3. School at Night – 2:05
4. Gianna – 1:47