Excellent Erotica Earworms
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I’ve always found that erotica films have excellent scores. I leave the interpretation loose — you can include both sex thrillers like BASIC INSTINCT or sexploitation lounge like ORGASMO NERO if you wish. But perhaps more erotica than straight-up romantic films. I especially like synth variations (which gives me an opportunity to add an extra ‘E’ – Excellent Electronic Erotica Earworms’), but jazz, funk, orchestral, it all qualifies.
I have loads of recommendations, but I’ll try to mention them peacemeal. And I hope you have some too.
I’ll start off with Ennio Morricone’s METTI, UNA SERA A CENA (1969), which is his usual suave lounge style, with flirtatious female vocalizations, and several variations thereof:
I probably would have 1000s, but I can mention this new release from last week
https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/cosi-cosipiu-forte-daniele-patucchi/qtxq5npzxogvbDaniele Patucchi is really one of my favourite, see also
https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/il-sesso-della-strega-daniele-patucchi/cqmzz5z2p148aI am sure they are on streaming platforms, but I don’t use streaming.
Also I like to call this music “orchestral lounge”, as directly following the “orchestral beat” music from a few years earlier. Orchestral lounge is more romantic, jazz and classical, while orchestral beat has a more Anglo style with hammond organ and surf guitars. I wouldn’t say it is Erotica music necessarily, as it was used in some crime, westerns or comedy films, even though, yes, it is most commonly associated with Giallo and Sexy films.
Interestingly, I think orchestral lounge has a relatively strong connection with Brazil. The post-bossa and post-samba orchestral pop music of Brazil in the 1970s is quite similar to the Italian music of the same period. I mean Ennio Morricone even arranged an album by Chico Buarque in 1971.
Yeah, I can get why it’s hot in Brazil (the music, I mean, obviously the temperatures are).
Thanks for that recommendation, slint! I’m aware of Patucchi by name, but never set out to explore his work. Loved those clips, and thanks for giving me the nudge. Meanwhile, here’s another Morricone entry from 1978. COSI COME SEI, one of the more famous ones; he was also an expert in this “genre”:
COSÌ COME SEI was among my early “foundational” albums, I bought the LP some time in the 80s. I’m pretty sure it must have been among my first five or six Ennio Morricone albums. I’ve never actually seen the movie.
WILD ORCHID (1989)
Music by Paradise.
Full score sadly unreleased.
One of my holy grails.
Two tracks on the song album.WILD ORCHID (1989)
Music by Paradise.
Full score sadly unreleased.
One of my holy grails.
Two tracks on the song album.Gorgeous!
I have a few more Morricones to share before I move on to another composer. First is LA VENEXIANA (1986), easily in my top 10 scores of Morricone, period. Set in medieval times (nothing like medieval erotica!), and directed by frequent Morricone collaborator Mauro Bolognini, Morricone is at his most heartbreaking, haunting self with a central theme that melts me every time.
A great Eroica earworm.
Funnily, I always thought that Beethoven piece did indeed allude to ‘erotica’ for many years – as in ‘romantic’ – until I realized it meant ‘heroic’. 😀
Last Morricone for now, but one has to mention LOLITA (1997) as well, which is also generally considered to be in the erotica genre. Morricone is less lounge here, and more wistful and symphonic given the problematic relationship on display. Those delicate woodwinds give off an air of innocence. The strings seem to explore outwards, as if trying to find themselves – much like the titular character.
Moving on to another Italian.
Separating between erotica and romantic films can sometimes be tricky if you haven’t seen the films, but I’m fairly confident Francesco de Masi’s UNA HISTORIA D’AMORE (1967) is more of a romantic film, whereas his LESBO (1969) fits our criteria. It’s all laidback, sensual cocktail lounge grooves here and a beautiful listening experience. Sometimes with a wistful quality, which makes everything better.
BODY LOVE is pure porn.
I learned that, I was a bit ironic of course. 😉 I am no Klaus Schulze fan or expert and only had some tracks on a compilation. Didn’t even know that those tracks were from a soundtrack Schulze indeed composed for that film and even is his best selling album according to Wikipedia…
Moving on to Francis Lai, he’s done a few. Obviously BILITIS, which is — without hesitation — my alltime favourite erotica score. But it’s too obvious, so I go for his EMANUELLE 2 instead. The EMANUELLE movies always had fine scores — sneaky and sensual. Will probably mention another one, by another composer, later on. Sadly, it doesn’t appear to be on Spotify, but the whole album appears to be on YouTube:
We often think about French or Italian scores in this sub genre, but there are plenty of other nationalities represented too. I’d like to highlight George Fenton’s gorgeous score for WHITE PALACE (1990), with Susan Sarandon and James Spader connecting in a story about — according to Wikipedia — “the unlikely relationship between a young upper middle class widower (Spader) who falls in love with a middle-aged working class waitress (Sarandon) in St. Louis, Missouri”.
Never seen it, but I absolutely love Fenton’s score. Yes, he brings on his usual flair for romantic orchestral writing, but he combines it with sexy synths and sax aplenty. Heartily recommended!
Has anyone seen A LITTLE SEX (1982) with music by Georges Delerue, and directed by Gwyneth Paltrow’s dad? I’ve never seen it, and I’m not sure if it’s “just” a romantic film or if it has elements of erotica. The title suggests so. Maybe it disqualifies, but just in case it doesn’t, I want to salute the the fine score by the French maestro – as always with that bittersweet tinge. That rollicking flute motif always gives me the chills, also when it gives way to the clarinet and then accordion. Delerue and woodwinds is bliss. Kinda baroque. The OST is hard to come by, but there’s an excellent suite on the GREAT COMPOSERS: GEORGES DELERUE that I’m sure many of you are aware of:
TWO in one this Friday – a couple of favs of mine.
HISTOIRE D’O was a 1975 erotic drama about a young fashion photographer who is taken to a chateau by her lover, where he has his way with her. It has a fabulous score by Pierre Bachelet – mournful female voice, dreamy pop and synthy new age.
In 1984, there was a sequel – HISTOIRE D’O: CHAPITRE 2 – with music by Stanley Myers and his pupil Hans Zimmer. It has some suspense tracks that are slightly harsher than Bachelet’s loungey effort, but also some gobsmackingly beautiful writing, especially that sax theme in “Married Love”. And the 80s pop values shine beautifully through. Zimmer’s chords are easily discerned in “Madame Pembroke’s Gigolo”, for example.
Today’s selection is from the late, great Polish composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek. He did a couple of erotica films, like the Richard Gere vehicle UNFAITHFUL (2002). But even better than that is his score for the 1997 film BLISS, starring – among others – Sheryl Lee of TWIN PEAKS fame. As Wiki says, “the story revolves around a young married couple who are trying to address issues impacting their sex life.”
It’s a sumptous, slow-moving, achingly beautiful orchestral score that seems to come from a different era entirely. While I found it on Spotify, the tracks were blacked out. On YouTube, I only found a couple of tracks, not the entire soundtrack, but it will have to do as a taste.
I’m mostly talking to myself here, but that’s okay. Weekends like this is when I feel the posting urge the most. I wanted to mention one other before I let this thread sink for a week, or until someone else chimes in.
Funnily, Jonathan Elias’ TWO MOON JUNCTION was next in line, but Jon grabbed that, which is great.
So I’m on to Karl Frid’s beautiful synth score for PLEASURE (2021). Is it erotica? Well, it’s a perhaps a bit too dark for that, as it concerns a young Swedish girl who turns to pornography as a means of rebellion and self-discovery. Frid captures both sides of the coin in his score, which was one of my top 10 favourite scores that year:
A little something to take us into the weekend. I teased the EMMANUELLE series earlier, with Francis Lai’s entry. But no less groovy & dreamy is Michel Magne’s score for EMMANUELLE 4 (1984), which was reissued on Music Box Records recently. It’s not on Spotify, sadly, but someone has a playlist of the old OST on YouTube:
So, here are the erotica scores that I mentioned in the Donaggio thread. He’s done quite a few (and even wonderful nunsploitation stuff like LA MONACA DI MONZA), but I want to highlight L’ATTENZIONE (1985), which is a great, largely synth-infused score, and then COSI FAN TUTTE (1992), which obviously plays around with Mozart in fun (oops, there’s that word again!) pop arrangements, among other things.
Both are highly recommended:
So I’ve come to Stelvio Cipriani, who did lots of these in his lifetime. I have three I want to share. For today, I present FEMINA RIDENS from 1969, an erotic thriller about an aristocrat who likes toying with sadistic fantasies in his luxurious villa. Cipriani’s score is a straight-up lounge affair, with wah-wah guitar, drum whisps, eerie synths, bongos and the like. It’s very good.
Friday is erotica time!
Here’s the next Cipriani score I’d like to highlight. EDEN NO SONO (1980) was a Japanese-Italian erotica take on the old BLUE LAGOON premise, which reads: “A young pick-pocket meets a sheltered teenage girl at an art museum while trying to lift her wallet. He falls in love with her and lures her to deserted strip of beach where he pretends his stolen motorbike has broken down and they are stranded. An unlikely romance follows.”
This is lighter, more romantic, more classical than FEMINA RIDENS above. But also pop beats, some harmonica, guitars. And lovely woodwinds. Only 21 minutes long, but well worth exploring. Spotify appears to have an expanded edition, but the soundtrack cover cuts off above the chest, whereas the original is more revealing.
The New Year’s erotica selection is the third and final Cipriani score, and incidentally also one I mentioned briefly in the very first post: ORGASMO NERO (1980). I’ve never seen it, but IMDB describes it thusly: “A man is doing research on an island where a strange tribe lives. The man’s wife gets into a (sexual) relationship with a woman from the tribe and brings her back to the big city where problems begin to occur.”
Sounds wonky. Be that as it may, Cipriani’s score (which is only named “Sequence 1”, “Sequence 2” etc. for 28 tracks) is a mix of 50s and 60s exotica tropes (EXOTICA EROTICA!), with an array of percussion instruments, obligatory sax, organs and smooth basslines. Perfect lounge.
Have any of you seen Sidney Lumet’s THE APPOINTMENT (1969)? I haven’t, sadly. From the cover and the synopsis, it looks like a potential erotica film, but it could just as well be a romantic drama. In any case, I really like Stu Phillips’ version of the score (the Barry is okay, but not on that level, IMO). So cool to think that Phillips is still with us at age 96. I met him in LA in 2012, when he was a measly 83, and he used to be active on FSM.
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