*2022 stock* "Touted as being the definitive edition of Ennio Morricone's darkly seductive score for the first motion picture directed by Italian master of the macabre, Dario Argento, this release of L'uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo, or The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, coincides with the film's debut on Blu-ray (see separate review). The entire original soundtrack-album is presented here in stereo for the first time and, not only that, but a very generous helping of bonus and alternate tracks have been included as well, making this one comprehensive package indeed.

Argento's chiller-thriller took an already established Italian genre vogue - the masked killer/slice 'n' dicer - but put enough new spins on it to propel giallo to an appreciative worldwide audience. To accentuate the highly polished and supremely provocative visuals, an atmospheric and haunting score was required and Argento turned to a composer who was, already by this time, his country's premier tunesmith and someone who he knew could evoke the mystery, madness and all-round chic of his daring screenplay. Still, getting Ennio (A Fistful Of Dollars) Morricone to score his first movie must have been a coup of epic proportions.

Morricone was certainly no stranger to lending symphonic voice to the machinations of a fractured psyche, himself. What else was he doing when he wrote themes for Ramone in A Fistful Of Dollars and for El Indio in For A Few Dollars More - both characters brought to majestic and powerful life by the inimitable Gian Maria Volonte? He could effortlessly spin a child's nursery rhyme right around and transform it into something horribly dark and sinister. His unique gift was always to find a layer of emotion to each theme that he crafted, even for the most depraved and twisted of individuals. And this entwining of the sweet and the innocent with the sick and the demented was to see his score for Crystal Plumage help the film find global success and, in the process, put its director well and truly on the map." - Chris McEneany