IL TEMPO DEGLI ASSASSINI (SEASON OF ASSASSINS)

Between the 60s and 80s, Albert Verrecchia played a major role in Italian pop music
and in the European disco and Afro-cosmic scene, both under his own name and
under the monikers Albert Weyman and Albert Prince. He was the keyboardist of legendary
Italian-French r’n’b band I Pyranas, served as a session Hammondist for singer
and TV star Raffaella Carra`, and produced the disco trio Belle Epoque as well as the
debut album of singer-songwriter Alan Sorrenti.
Among his many incarnations, in the early and mid-70s he also composed a few
soundtracks for Italian genre cinema, including for movies such as the poliziottesco
“Roma drogata, la polizia non puo` intervenire” (Hallucinating Trip, 1975, Lucio Marcaccini)
and the erotic drama “Tecnica di un amore” (1972, Brunello Rondi).
The score he wrote in 1975 for IL TEMPO DEGLI ASSASSINI (Season of Assassins,
a film about a gang of criminal youths who terrorize the city of Rome in the already
violent 70s) is certainly his most accomplished work in the genre.
Conceived for a small ensemble, it was written almost entirely on the spot in the recording
studio. Verrecchia himself played the Moog, and his dynamic and percussive
approach to the instrument resulted in a style midway between funk and proto-disco.
A modern rhythmic style - or “Ritmico Moderno”, which is the title chosen by CAM
for the LP containing the soundtrack and released two years later as part of a promotional
library music series only distributed to film professionals and radio and TV
programmers (CML series, cat. no. 131).
One is led to wonder whether it was thanks to that LP that, in 1977, three pieces from
the soundtrack found their way into another film about youth gangs, the Spanish
PERROS CALLEJEROS (Street Warriors), written and directed by Jose Antonio de la
Loma.
On a side but important note, there’s the added bonus of popular 70s and 80s entertainer
Sammy Barbot singing on “Gang Leader” alongside female vocal group Baba
Yaga.
What a pity that Verrecchia’s career as a film composer ended here!

TRACKLIST:
A1 – Escape – 2:02 *
A2 – In the Space – 2:20
A3 – Discoteche Music – 2:46
A4 – In the Country - 2:18
A5 – Season of Assassins – 1:51
B1 - Escape #2 – 3:23 **
B2 – Leave it Behind -
B3 – Gang Leader – 2:44
B4 – Dancing – 2:48
B5 – Upsetting – 3:21
B6 – Gang Leader – M15 – 1:48 ***
Vocals on A1 & B6: Sammy Barbot
Lyrics on A1 & B6 by Evelyne Verrecchia
* previously unreleased vocal version
** previously unreleased
*** performed by The Killers