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4 MOSCHE DI VELLUTO GRIGIO (4 Flies on Grey Velvet) is the third and final part of Dario Argento's world famous cult, terror trilogy. Fear, according to Dario Argento, is hidden behind metaphorical, animal symbols that mirror degenerative urban decay, in other words a kind of mental zoo. Birds with crystal plumage, cats with nine tails, grey velvet flies, enough species to terrorise even the most expert of zoologists. For "4 mosche di velluto grigio", Ennio Morricone, completed the work he had begun in the first two films. The score, retaining the style adopted for the two previous films, is in perfect harmony with the images. The composition combines noise, hard rock and contemporary experimental music based on lugubrious sound effects where the plaintive nature of the shrill string sections induce in the listener an irrepressible and obsessive sense of unease. This almost unbearable atmosphere is interspersed with a deliberately sweet and simple refrain. In THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE the refrain has a Beat style lullaby feel to it (Piume di Cristallo - Crystal Plumage); in THE CAT O'NINE TAILS it has a distinctly renaissance atmosphere (Ninna Nanna in Blu - Blue Lullaby) and in FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET it becomes almost sacred (Come un Madrigale -Madrigal Style). Here Morricone's music and Argento's images match each other perfectly and the success of the trilogy is hardly surprising. In 1971, Cinevox Record released the single MDF 031 which included the tracks: 4 MOSCHE DI VELLUTO NERO (Title track) and COME UN MADRIGALE , which have been re-issued on various compilations in Italy, such as: ENNIO MORRICONE-FOTOGRAMMA PER FOTOGRAMMA (Cinevox MDF 33/75), ARGENTO VIVO (Cinevox MDF 33/170), ENNIO MORRICONE 20 ANNI DI COLONNE SONORE (Cinevox CIA 35046), I FILM DI DARIO ARGENTO (CIA 5009), in France on CINEMUSIC VOL.2 (Barclay 930.023), in Germany on EASY LISTENING (Charter 33/3 E-Chart-7041), in Belgium on ENNIO MORRICONE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS (MFP 4 M 046-97505) and in Argentina on LA MUSICA DEL CINE ITALIANO (Industr.Mus.Argentina IMA 8004). In 1992 the series CIAK released for the first time ever on CD (CIA-5087) L'UCCELLO DALLE PIUME DI CRISTALLO and 4 MOSCHE DI VELLUTO GRIGIO, These tracks were then re-issued in Japan at Osaka on a specialised label SLC (SLCS-7144). Later this score was re-issued in 1999 on CD MDF 325 including two extra tracks previously unreleased. In the Cinevox Archives we could discover another master tape in full stereo containing extra material that did not see the light of day in the previous Cd re-issues: A fifth suite of atonal themes and the alternate versions of "Come un madrigale" and "Titoli". Now in 2025 we are re-issuing again the complete edition of the soundtrack on compact disc. For the completists of Argento & Morricone we add also as a special bonus track one theme of Lounge style composed by Ennio Morricone for the comedy movie "Forza G", released in the same year, re-used for the scene of the party in the house of the protagonist.
- Claudio Fuiano
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