Record Store Day 2020 edition

At the end of the ’60s in Italy – but also abroad, especially in France and England – a very particular trend began to spread, that one known as ‘Library music’ or ‘sonorization’: as suggested by its name, those were real music libraries intended for the accompaniment of audiovisual productions such as television programs, advertisements, documentaries and films. Since they were created in total artistic freedom condition, they are often difficult if not impossible to catalog, as they’re not anchored to a specific musical genre; this freedom also allowed the authors to compose, sometimes in the most complete anonymity, experimental and avant-garde music, capable of anticipating the sounds that only many years later would have been widespread on a larger scale. Alessandro Alessandroni is mostly known for his unmistakable whistle in Ennio Morricone’s soundtracks composed for Sergio Leone’s westerns but, in a world where information is easily accessible to many people, still very few people know how vast his discography is, and how many instruments he was able to play. ‘Ritmo Dell’Industria Nº 2’, released in 1969 in the library music circuit – and therefore nowadays almost impossible to find in its original version, if not at a very high price – can be considered Alessandroni’s first solo album. The title is misleading, since among the notes of this record the only vague reference to an industrial rhythm is the almost hypnotic repetitiveness of certain music passages which the songs are based upon: the overall feeling is more metropolitan, mysterious, at times dissonant, and it would better suit a police/thriller context rather than an industrial one; however, the charm of these compositions has remained intact to the present day. ‘Ritmo Dell’Industria Nº 2’ is part of a reissues series, made in collaboration with Edizioni Leonardi (Milan, Italy), of extremely rare library music LP’s published between the late ’60s and early ’70s, most of which have never been released again until today, and that are finally made available again for collectors and sonorization music lovers.

Limited to 300 copies

Brand new, never played, sealed