Ariete is one of these small Italian soundtrack-only (at least to my knowledge) labels, which appeared out of nothing in the late 1960ies and vanished into nowhere a few years later in the early 1970ies. It is unknown wether this (kind of) label ever prospered, but at least we "prosper" sorts of, since we can enjoy the timeless music they did issue on vinyl. They issued scores, which probabaly didn´t sell well those days (how could they, with a print run of just a few hundred copies ...?) and which were most likely cross-financed by the companies, which produced and distributed the accompaning movies (making the LPs mainly a promotional tool).
Anyway, the soundtrack recordings issued by Ariete from around 1968 until app. 1975 (plus a few highly collectible library recordings, containing music from other movies, as well as a subsidiary label called COSTANZA, which issued only library recordings), do feature a striking pressing quality, the usual high-glossy striking-coloured laminated rather strong cardboard covers (doubtlessly a joy for the eyes) and great music taken from virtually all kind of movie genres: Italo-western, comedy, crime, thrillers, action, giallo, soft sex ... in one word: sleaze (I LOVE it!!). And the top-notch professionals of this area composed for these movies: Riz Ortolani, Gianni Ferrio, Ennio Morricone, Franco Micalizzi, Bruno Nicolai, Sante Maria Romitelli, ... and a few more!
The scores are all highly enjoyable, the most sought after being of course the four Ennio Morricone recordings as well as the two very funky Gianni Ferrio scores (actually as doubtlessly a master of soundtrack-funk - together with Stelvio Cipriani and Mario Molino - as Nico Fidenco is the "king of (softsex) beat")!! Of course, also the one Nicolai outing is a milestone from that era! Here is an asfaithful-as-possible reproduction of most of the covers with lots of additional info. Please note that some of these recordings have meanwhile been issued on CD by Japanese labels and by EasyTempo in Italy.
So enjoy, and if you have any questions, that have been left unanswered (and I am sure there are some ...), please do not hesitate to drop me a line e-mail! I answer all questions as fast as possible. The same goes of course, if you have any additional info!
AVAILABLE items (visually graded: cover/record; play-graded upon request):
ARLP 2001: Africa addio (Riz Ortolani), NM/EX+ Argentinian LP pressing (same cover!): Teorema (Ennio Morricone), Ex+/Ex+ ARLP 2015: Identikit (Franco Mannino & Sergio Montori), M/MPlease note: of all the listed items I have only one spare copy available; wants-lists welcomed.
Africa addio | ARLP 2001 | 1969 | M | Ortolani |
Teorema | ARLP 2002 | 1968 | M | Morricone |
Vergogna schifosi | ARLP 2003 | 1969 | M | Morricone |
Cinque figli di cane | ARLP 2004 | 1969 | M | Ortolani |
La stagione dei sensi | ARLP 2005 | 1969 | M | Morricone |
Femmine insaziabili | ARLP 2006 | 1969 | M | Nicolai |
Il suo nome e Donna Rosa | ARLP 2007 | 196 | M | Baudo |
Colonna sonora N. 1 | ARLP 2008 | 196 | M | |
Un escercito di cinque uomini | ARLP 2009 | 1969 | M | Morricone |
Colonna sonora N. 2 | ARLP 2010 | 1970 | M | |
Lo chiamavano Trinita'... | ARLP 2011 | 1970 | M | Micalizzi |
La morte accarezza a mezzanotte | ARLP 2012 | 1973 | M | Ferrio |
Tony Arzenta | ARLP 2013 | 197 | M | Ferrio |
Identikit | ARL 2015 | 1974 | S | Mannino |
Il saprófita | ARL 2016 | 197 | S | Romitelli |
Musica per commenti sonori | ARLP 281 | 196 | M | Marinuzzi Jr |
Musica per commenti sonori | ARLP 282 | 196 | M | Pregadio |
Musica per commenti sonori | ARLP 283 | 196 | M | Poitevin |
Musica per commenti sonori | ARLP 284 | 196 | M | DeLuca |
Quando l´uomo scompare | ARLP 285 | 196 | M | Nascimbene |
Musica per commenti sonori | ARLP 286 | 196 | M | DeSica |