Four Flies is thrilled to present the very first release of Gianfranco Reverberi’s hidden
masterpiece: a mind-blowing soundtrack, possibly his wildest and most daring. This Italian
score is sort of a Holy Grail for fans of the spaghetti sound, especially thanks to the
legendary track "Psicolimite".
In 1973, a mysterious 45 rpm single surfaced under the name ‘Sharon Chatam e la sua
Orchestra.’ The single seemed to be a harmless cover of the theme from Last Tango in Paris,
complete with a typical image from the film. But behind the innocent facade, a secret was
hidden: the B-side track, “Psicolimite,” was actually the main theme from Rivelazioni. When
someone in the United States figured this out and realized the ‘Sharon Chatam’ moniker
was a pseudonym for Reverberi and his team, the price of the record skyrocketed, making it
a coveted collectible.
This makes the discovery of the full soundtrack even more exciting, considering that the
music Reverberi composed for the infamous film by Renato Polselli - one of the most
outrageous and uncompromising Italian genre cinema directors - was thought to be lost
forever, perhaps vanished into the depths of some film processing lab. But thanks to the
sleuths at Four Flies, this enigmatic masterpiece has been resurrected and presented in all
its glory. It's available now as a luxurious gatefold double LP with original artwork by the
brilliant Eric Adrian Lee.
While the film, despite some critics praising it as “psychotronic,” is a bizarre mishmash of
rambling pseudo-psychoanalytic theories and sexual deviance voyeurism, the music stands
out as a foremost, vital element, able to exist on its own.
Reverberi’s reputation as a serious, refined producer (for artists like Lucio Dalla, Gino Paoli,
Luigi Tenco, and many more), however, led him to keep his distance from exploitation films
like Rivelazioni. To maintain his image, he had his friend and former schoolmate Umberto
Cannone take credit for the score – a tactic he also used for Polselli's next film, Mania
(1974).
But this anonymity might have unexpectedly increased his creative freedom, for the score
he put together and recorded is experimental, at times raw, and driven by a relentless
rhythm section where bass and drums lay down the groove. The use of electronic
instruments is impressive for the time, with drum machines and spacey synths creating a
dark and dreamlike atmosphere. Psychedelic flutes, piano phrases, crazed percussion,
filters, compressors, and jazzy improvisations on sax and vibraphone complete the mix.
The full soundtrack was recovered following the discovery of the original 1-inch, 16-track
tapes, which were transferred, mixed, and mastered for optimal listening on both vinyl and
digitally, with the digital version featuring 8 bonus tracks.
