Some time ago, Heather and I had the privilege of watching one of the classics of 60’s Italian cinema, La Decima vittima (The Tenth Victim). Along with Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion), it is director Elio Petri’s shining hour. The groovy sci-fi film stars Marcello Mastroianni and ultra-sexy femme fatale Ursula Andress as two contestants on a deadly game show where the goal is to kill ten opponents for TV audience gratification. This beautifully shot, color-saturated work of genius viciously lambastes the advertising industry, ridiculous Bohemian ideologies of the era, the news media, and pop culture’s sad fixation with reality television thirty years ahead of its time. Absurd “futuristic” gadgets appear like rejects from a Bond flick. A hippie cult of sun worshippers gathers on the beach daily to weep at sunrise and sunset. Mastroianni wears Bono shades. Andress’ brassiere is a double-barrelled cannon. There is just so much goodness in this film it’s almost too much to bear. Needless to say, we both loved it.

This past Friday, after three-plus hours of sifting through the racks of vinyl at Mystery Train, I unearthed my white whale, my unattainable jewel, my Holy Grail, if you will. Nestled among the L’s in the soundtracks section was Piero Piccioni’s double-LP score to this magnificent cult film. It’s nearly impossible for me to describe the music for La Decima vittima without blathering incoherently like a giddy schoolgirl, but rarely has such wonderfully campy, deliciously warped magic been captured as on these two records.

Piccioni is second only to Morricone (and arguably Rota) in the ranks of the Italian film music masters, and the 22 cues here demonstrate precisely why. I suppose big band cocktail jazz led by a demented circus organ would be the best description, but it’s so much more than that. From a technical standpoint, Piccioni’s employment of theme-and-variation is simply impeccable, as is his orchestration; his use of dissonances is phenomenal (that Bb7#9 chord is one of the most clever tricks ever), and the fact that the instrumentation - the horn charts in particular - never gets stale or tired while recycling the theme is a testament to his extensive jazz background. Then again, when you have the ubiquitous Mina joyously scat-singing over one of the greatest themes in modern cinema, how can you possibly go wrong?

And then there’s the arsenal of various psychotic carnival organs, which acts as the glue for the entire score. And the rich bubbly warmth of the production, complete with tape degradation, gorgeous reverb, and that classic overdriven tube compression from the period. The main title opens with some charmingly goofy sound effect, followed by - what else? - gunshots. Mina enters with an organ trio to provocatavely belt out the theme. Notice the saturating reverb that enters at 2:25 and inexplicably disappears at 2:42 - ?!? - sure, why the hell not? The last half of the track features some of the finest organ vamping on the record, which somehow manages to simultaneously be well-suited yet grossly inappropriate.

“La Decima Vittima (Main Title)” - Piero Piccioni 4:58 (La Decima Vittima, Easy Tempo 1965)

“La Decima Vittima #3″ is a variation of the main title and is a piano trio piece with the addition of guitar and organ. But listen closely to the musicians, who sound like they’re trying to hold back their laughter for the sake of a professional session; and what kind of drugs is the piano player on? At 3:00 Mina bursts in with an orgy of sound that just slays.

“La Decima Vittima #3″ - Piero Piccioni 4:16 (La Decima Vittima, Easy Tempo 1965)

“The Chase” is a cue for the obligatory chase scene, and is a frenzy of hyperactive drumming and stinging organ stabs.

“The Chase” - Piero Piccioni 1:53 (La Decima Vittima, Easy Tempo 1965)

A fine example of Piccioni’s lusher orchestration is “The Trap,” a darkly sexual and hypnotic lullaby that drifts along seductively.

“The Trap” - Piero Piccioni 3:14 (La Decima Vittima, Easy Tempo 1965)

Really, some things just have that ability to immediately ease you into a soft, drooling state of mind-numbing bliss, and this soundtrack is one of them. My enthusiasm for this stuff is worthy of the lunatic fringe.