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Prologue...
I would never have known or heard about this film or its score if it wasn't for a young chap who's path I crossed in the 80's.
Allow me to waffle.
Chapter One...When I Were A Lad.
I worked for Nat West Bank in the 80's and 90's, doing a variety of clerical duties, but for 5-6 weeks in the year, I covered a Post Room/Building Custodian role, while the older chappie who did it regularly took holidays or sick.
They were the best weeks of my working year.
Flitting around town, hand delivering mail to other buildings within the vicinity, checking stock and doing fun chores like emptying/cleaning drinks machines and collecting/franking/sending out mail/post.
For a 20 something young lad, the chance to flirt, skive and mess about and hang out in an 'out-of-the-way' room was nirvana (I did do the work required, so as to keep the gig, but unlike the real day-to-day pressure work, it was a doddle).
Chapter Two...The Meeting.
Anyway, I had to oversee/chaperone a gang of builders/workmen one week, while they were painting/decorating or some such part of the building and while most of them were the usual gang of uncouth scallies and loonies, there was one young lad (younger than me anyway, but not by much I suppose) who stuck out like a sore thumb.
He didn't swear or belch or fart or constantly leer/ogle girls/women like the others.
He was a quiet soul who seemed lost among the others.
Chapter Three...Settling Old Scores.
I was chatting to him one day and he asked what music I was into.
When I mentioned John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and film music in addition to the likes of T-Rex and Queen and ELO, he asked me had I heard the soundtrack to Andy Warhol's Dracula.
I told him I hadn't and he brought the LP in the next day and said 'give it a listen'.
Chapter Four...Taking It Home.
Well, I did and although it didn't blow me away, the Main Theme did haunt me in some way and I taped the LP onto cassette, before returning it to him a day or three later.
I remember some of the other 'builders/lads' being amazed by my talking to him, saying he was strange and they hardly ever got two words out of him and wondered how/why we had found some common ground.
I guess film music unites!
Chapter Five...A Window To The Past.
He did seem 'out of place' among those loud/laddish workies, a bit too quiet and sensitive for the environment he was working in.
I never saw him again after that week(s), but I still have the cassette tape I made of his Dracula LP and, since then, the DigitMovies Soundtrack CD, which combined Gizzi's Frankenstein score with an expansion of the Dracula score.
In hindsight, the score reminds me of some Pino Donaggio works (must be the Italian connection) but it does have a certain quiet beauty.
It's quite old school, at times written in a kind of silent-movie style, but with a real old world charm.
Gizzi only scored about 3 films before moving onto other musical projects under other names.
This is a score that will always evoke memories of a certain time and place for me.
Epilogue...
Here is a link to the double CD - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Il-Mostro-Tavola-Claudio-Gizzi/dp/B00658QYQK/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1412716891&sr=1-1&keywords=claudio+gizzi
Afterword...
Thanks for listening. 
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Nice reminiscence Kev, thanks for sharing that!
I also love Gizzi's work on both the gonzo "Warhol" Drac & Frank films. Lovely poetic themes,
very elegant.
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Thanks G. I played it and came over all nostalgic.
Another thing about this Drac score. I usually swerve the source tracks on most of my playlists, but find the Old Song and Inn cues on this one just as addictive as the score proper.
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Hi Kev,
I quite like the on the road to italy tracks,that's if I had to pick some out of a good score.
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Thanks G. I played it and came over all nostalgic.
Another thing about this Drac score. I usually swerve the source tracks on most of my playlists, but find the Old Song and Inn cues on this one just as addictive as the score proper.
Oh great point I did forget to mention in my post! I usually find source music totally worthless,
unless the composer somehow gets to work in their own voice - An Old Song from Drac &
The House Of Ill Repute from Frankenstein are two of my Favorite source cues, I never skip 'em!
Also, I was elated that crazy, tutti brass version of Wagner's Tannhauser was added to the
Frankenstein expansion - I always loved that arrangement, was so let down it didn't make the original
LP cut.
Kudos, kindred amigo!
- Sean
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A little unexpected cracker, well it was when I first took a chance on it. Nicely melodic for a Dracula flick. I like the little bit of gypsyness (?!) It has.
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Agreed, that "gypsy-ish" theme on the clarinet (?) is really catchy. I love this score, particularly the main theme. Fun movie.
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I think the last time I saw this thread, I looked for the double album and either couldn't find it or it was just too expensive.
I knew about these movies for decades but never saw them and was really stunned hearing the musical clips on YouTube.
This time I lucked out just found the double disc release on discogs for a very reasonable price.
Bless you Kev.
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The film was bonkers .
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Great opening post, Kev. A small moment in time and space that illustrates again the unifying power of music.
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Great opening post, Kev.
Though it could use some paragraph breaks. 
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Is that any better? ^^^^^^
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