Best of

Having been a Goblin fan since the late 70s, I've naturally possessed all the tracks on the first disc of this double set on the original albums for years, initially on vinyl, then later on CD.It goes without saying that the first disc is excellent, featuring all the hits from the Argento films all serious horror fans and devotees of Italian popular culture know and adore, from "Deep Red" to "Phenomena". As such, this disc cannot be faulted, though I'd have selected 'Wild Session' from "Deep Red" over a pointless remix of 'Profondo Rosso'. All you need is the original.... Argento means 'Silver' in Italian and yes, the stunning tracks on this album shine out like the gold-sellers they all became.It's worth mentioning as an aside that Goblin only made 3 soundtracks for Argento: "Deep Red" was not even a full album, there are two Giorgio Gasilini tracks, "Suspiria" (undoubtedly their finest soundtrack moment and most innovative record, putting them in the company of Morricone as sui genris soundtrack innovators never really approximated by anyone else) and "Nonhossono" (aka "Sleepless"). "Tenebrae" was credited to Simonetti/Pignatelli/Morante (as Goblin had ceased to exist after the hit album "Volo", arguably the bands' most obscure release outside Italy, a soft-rock concoction that spawned a hit single and only the rhythm section from the classic 'Deep Red' lineup). Since then, many of the albums credited to Goblin are actually just Simonetti and one other member, more often than not bassist Pignatelli. 'The Church' ( a dreadful film directed by Argento's protégé Michele Soavi) is however, scored by a fuller lineup that includes guitarist Massimo Morante.For me, the main point of interest here is the second disc, a 1979 live recording Cinevox had forgotten and left in their vaults. The truth is that Goblin were, outside Italy, known only to serious horror fans until the 1990s, when their fame started to spread as Argento films became cheap to buy on VHS. Cinevox have set out to fleece fans with numerous reissues, compilations etc, a lot of which are thrown together, mixing and matching tracks without much elegance or finesse (probably prompted by the band, who are reportedly rapacious in trying to get extra sales -who can blame them, usually record companies get everything or near all). What is really needed of course are decent reissues of the original abums, with all the bonus tracks and remixes at the end of the original orders or put on second discs - and first rate film poster artwork would go down well, too. A reissue of "Volo" on CD and a single disc singles compilation that collected material like 'Yell', 'Chi?' and 'Rally' onto one disc would work too. Get with it, Cinevox...and why the doctored still from "Contamination" for the cover design? "Contamination" has a great soundtrack and is a fun movie, but it's not an Argento film and no tracks from it appear on this compilation as a consequence.So what about the live disc? Well, it's a mixed bag. For me, Goblin's best album is "Roller" (see my review here on Amazon), so I was excited to hear live versions of 'Aquaman' and 'Snip Snap' from that album - (as of 2014, Simonetti's Goblin are playing these classic cuts live and believe me, it's heaven!) but I'm sad to report that the sound levels are off, even though the performances are great. Drums are often too loud at the expense of the keys and although overall this is at good bootleg sound standard for the late 70s, there is a highly frustrating section of 'Aquaman' when the guitar solo and keyboards are reduced to a thin wisp of sound as if a channel is cutting out on the mixing desk - this is bad! 'Snip Snap' is much better and there is a hint of 'Zombie' in its funky riffing, toward the end. Interestingly, there is sax present - I think Maurizio Guarini (2nd keyboardist who joined from "Roller" plays sax, even though drummer Marangolo's brother is credited with the instrument on some Goblin stuff, so who knows who is playing it here). A decent version of 'Profondo Rosso' (the band's #1 hit single in Italy) follows, then the rest of the album is selections from 'Il Fantastico Viaggio del bagarozzo Mark', the band's Prog epic. Songs are, of course, sung in Italian so if you can only manage a 'grazia, bella, ciao' level of the latin tongue- like me- you'll be left guessing. I like this album, though I'll admit I'm not mad on Massimo's singing. Sound quality is ok. Overall, fans will want this, though it's not a patch on 'Live in Roma' by New Goblin (2011), but it's badly let down by the sound problem on 'Aquaman' -shame.Overall, I'm glad I bought this CD to hear the band live in their heyday, but a definitive in concert release from this period is needed - maybe one day they'll find tapes of the quality of '801 Live' by 801 or 'Stage' by Bowie, my favourite 70s live albums. Fingers crossed...

Superb music disc 2 audio quality poor but worth buying for 1st disc alone.

What more do you want. Cd1 presents the best tracks from Goblin's scores to the Argento films Profondo Rosso, Suspiria, Tenebrae and Phenomena. Cd2 is a live cd from 1979 which is mainly tracks from Goblins non soundtrack albums. If you want the highlights from the Argento soundtracks together, then this is the way to go, no question. Production quality is excellent too.

best of so-so but worth it for brilliant live album