Profondo Rosso - The Complete Edition 
Goblin/Giorgio Gaslini
(1975-1996)
review by Billion$Baby

An impressed Argento hired the group under their new "Goblin" moniker to provide new tracks and to re-interpret some of Gaslini's already composed material. The Goblin bass player, Fabio Pignatelli, has stated that : "At the time we were the only musicians available with a sound that Dario liked, so he gave us the opportunity."

The original vinyl release of Profondo Rosso only contained 7 tracks (performed solely by Goblin) with a running time of around 30 minutes. This "complete edition" has 28 tracks and a running time of over 70 minutes! Many of those tracks are alternate versions though, highly satisfying for the Goblin completionist. Having said that, some of these tracks have never been released in any form, prior to this new version from Cinevox. This new version has also been remastered from the original sound tapes.
Only around 15 minutes of this material is performed or orchestrated by Gaslini. Whereas it's pleasing to own and listen to this material, I would be surprised if most didn't want this disc purely for the outstanding Goblin material.

That Goblin and Gaslini material is mixed together on the disc, rather than merely having the Gaslini segment followed by the Gobin segment, or vice versa. That makes sense as the true ownership of some of these tracks is rather confusing. For example, whereas the Wild Session and Deep Shadows tracks are credited as being composed, orchestrated and conducted by Gaslini, it's quite obvious that both of these tracks have been heavily reinterpreted (to say the least!) by Goblin. No doubt, both of these tracks sound very different to the way that Gaslini would have concieved them.

Kudos to Cinevox for releasing this definitive version of the classic Profondo Rosso album. It's also pleasing to have cd liner notes by Claudio Simonetti (piano and synthesizers) himself. Claudio writes : "Profondo Rosso will never stop surprising me. It's 21 years now after it first went out, still it sounds up to date."

I couldn't agree more. IMO, one of the greatest scores ever released with a then (and now!) very unconventional and exciting approach by Goblin to the horror or giallo score. If you've never heard this Italian band or seen this Argento movie, I would advise you to rent or buy it as soon as possible. Both this film and Goblin themselves need to be discovered. Once the powerful chords of Profondo Rosso's title track are heard, they are never forgotten.

However any Goblin or Argento fan needs to own this "complete edition" in their music collection. Buy today if not sooner!