The long-lost softcore horror soundtrack by Daniele Patucchi is finally out on vinyl for the first time ever, 50 years after its original composition.
The history of Italian cinema, especially that of its golden age, is dotted with low-budget films, popcorn-chompers that slipped into obscurity pretty much as soon as they came out. For years and years, they only revealed themselves to the insomniac eyes of late night TV binge watchers. However, over time, their cult status rose turning them into little pop nuggets, in virtue of their lo-fi charme, distinguished retro style choices and, mostly, their soundtracks.
One of these is “Il Sesso della Strega”, an erotic, titillating and devilish fantasy directed by the little-known Elio Pannacciò and released in 1973 with the international title of “Sex of the Witch”. A rather self-explanatory title, in equal measures playful and enigmatic, which was matched by original music by Daniele Patucchi.
The composer, albeit often overshadowed by other illustrious maestros of the genre, stood as one of the pioneers of electronic music in Italy.
His score for “Il Sesso della Strega” indeed proves Patucchi’s genius in his skillful combination of lounge with forays into avante-garde and psychedelic music.
The music takes the listener on a hypnotic journey made of dreamlike, sensual yet sinister atmospheres typical of horror and Giallo, which found their apex in cuts like “Agonia”, “Esorcismo” and the main theme itself.
To stand out on these recordings are the wordless vocals of Nora Orlandi – a household name of many Morricone recordings and a favourite among soundtrack collectors –, whose velvet touch mitigates with sublime elegance and a pop vein even the most thrilling of moments.
Erotic nuances pervade, in fact, the film as underlined not only by composition like "Sexy Pop", but also by the script itself: "Why do you only sculpt human subjects in erotic poses?", to which comes the most natural of answers, "It's my specialty".
As if the film’s lo-fi attempts at horror drama failed to give you goosebumps, what we came across in our archive will not.
50 years following the theatrical release of the opus, CAM Sugar unearthed the master tapes of the complete soundtrack.
The full album, previously unreleased on vinyl, is now back from the grave, breaking the half a century spell surrounding Patucchi’s elusive cult.
In fact, despite CD edits of the score were previously released, only the main theme “Il Sesso della Strega (Titoli)” had made it onto wax as part of CAM’s library music series CML and more specifically on “Brani Ritmici a Sottofondo”.
To mark the occasion we teamed up with filmmaker Roxy Ceron and art director Diletta Cosmai, asking them to reimagine the film’s iconography. The result is the official video for “Agonia”, which can be now enjoyed on CAM Sugar’s YouTube channel.
“Il Sesso della Strega” by Daniele Patucchi is now out exclusively on the CAM Sugar online store on LP, CD featuring 4 extra tracks and Digital on all streaming platforms.