Morricone Youth: The Adventures of Prince Achmed 12″ EP (Country Club Records, 2016)
November 12, 2016 at 10:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Morricone Youth: The Adventures of Prince Achmed 12″ EP
Morricone Youth has been composing scores to classic films recently, and they’re planning on releasing many of them. A score for
Night of the Living Dead was released this year, and this one is for a 1926 silent animation called
The Adventures of Prince Achmed. As their
NOTLD score fast-forwarded a few decades and was closer to a Goblin score for a later George Romero film, this one doesn’t sound like it could’ve been recorded in the 1920s, but instead sounds closer to something from an
Ethiopiques compilation. Not strictly, though. It’s a pretty sprawling, colorful, well-orchestrated mix of various Arabic, Asian, and African influences, with horns, strings, keyboards, and lots of percussion, and it’s delicious. There’s unexpected moments, like when “Peri Banu” starts out a bit more melancholy and reflective and then suddenly switches into something more festive and excited for the last minute. Following the calmer “Maidens”, the disc ends with a 10-minute Afrobeat jam called “Sorcerer” which is out of this world. Was not expecting this at all, and it’s fantastic.
The Answer Is In The Beat 
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