Morricone, Ennio: Sans Mobile Apparent LP

Ennio Morricone's superb 1971 soundtrack for French crime thriller Sans Mobile Apparent directed by Philippe Labro, widely available for the first time. Released in collaboration with Philippe Labro himself. Features an exclusive interview of Philippe Labro with Jeremy Allen discussing the making of the film, working with the maestro (at only 34 years old), and his amazing career crossing path with Jean Luc Godard, Serge Gainsbourg, and Jean-Pierre Melville. This superb soundtrack featuring Morricone's classic sound has never been widely available on vinyl save for a small limited edition released under the film's Italian title. Philippe Labro is an icon in France: One of the country's most famous writers and journalists he's been at the forefront of France's cultural life since the '60s: he's rubbed shoulders with Jean Luc Godard, Jean Pierre Melville (his mentor who died of a heart attack in his arms in 1973), and Serge Gainsbourg with whom he wrote a whole album for Jane Birkin in 1975 -- the album Lolita Go Home. In this maelstrom of activity, Labro took to time to direct a few cult movies including his masterpiece L'Heritier from 1973. Starting in 1969 with the new-wave influenced Tout Peut Arriver produced by Mag Bodard, he switched to genre film two years later with producer Jacques-Eric Strauss to direct the crime film Sans Mobile Apparent adapted from an Ed McBain novel, Ten Plus One. Strauss who had hit the jackpot in 1969 producing The Sicilian Clan, was acquainted to Ennio Morricone who had composed the soundtrack for the film. He suggested the idea to Philippe Labro and the young director jumped on the opportunity to work with the maestro. The collaboration was swiftly sealed and Morricone then composed one of his most beautiful scores featuring all of his trademark ingredients: a catchy theme, Alessandro Alessandroni's unmistakable whistle, lush and dissonant orchestral arrangements, plus an enormous groove. The film featuring Jean Louis Trintignant and Dominique Sanda (fresh from Bertolucci's The Conformist) was shot by Labro under the guidance of Jean-Pierre Melville who would give useful pieces of advice to Labro every night over the phone. A slick and cool thriller set in sunny Nice, the film pays homage to American genre films in a similar way Dario Argento's gialli were, around the same time. Although the composer was at his peak at the time (Once Upon A Time In The West had only been composed three years earlier) the soundtrack only came out as a single in France at the time. New artwork by Eric Adrian Lee and remastered audio from the original tapes with lacquer cut by Frederic Alstadt (Mont Analogue). Gatefold sleeve.