Aquarium Sounds: A Gem Has Been Unearthed.

The 1979 Italian TV series soundtrack by Filippo Trecca finally gets the reissue it deserved.

In one of my YouTube rabbit-hole research sessions, I stumbled upon the opening credits for an Italian TV thriller series from 1979, titled Così Per Gioco. Intrigued by the preview frame (which was the title of the show beautifully sketched by hand), I hit play. It opened with a soundscape of synthesized wind and a metronome-like sound that lured me into the sequence of images and, most importantly, into the theme track. I stood motionless, in awe at the graphics and at the music that matched them to perfection. 

The track was called “Pulsazioni” and it was composed by Italian maestro, Filippo Trecca. In an email exchange with him, about this specific song he says that the track is “like Italian poor cuisine dish (gricia or carbonara) made with few ingredients: a piano, a kind of metronome that marks the tempo and a basis of piano rhythm, somewhat characteristic of the my creations of that time - I think the main melody was played a "moog". The result of the dish? It's cheap and it's good!!!”

In general terms, when it comes to Italian soundtracks and library music, the name of Ennio Morricone towers so high and powerful that it almost feels as if, through the decades, it has squashed so many great and noteworthy Italian composers into the shadows. 

Filippo Trecca is one of these, starting his music career in the early 70’s, studying at the conservatory of L'Aquila, Italy, where he earned a diploma in choral music and choir direction specializing in 13th century polyphonic music. This is a “heritage” that Trecca brings with him throughout his career, in that he applies a classical/baroque approach to pop music and arrangements that is unique in its genre. During a phone call Trecca explains how even his way of playing a synth was rooted in his classical studies: he considers it an instrument rather than a machine.

In his early 20s, Trecca started composing and producing music for various Rai TV shows.  Music for TV shows was perhaps more challenging than a movie soundtrack, especially music that served as opening or closing themes of shows that had a massive audience. Trecca built his career on the challenge of creating something that reflected his artistry but that also had to please a broad audience–an important deliverable when you work for national TV, in the 70s and 80s. 

Aquarium Sounds (which was also the name of the band) is a true masterpiece that Trecca composed and recorded in 1978; it was released originally by RCA the following year as a promo-only item. The album “collects” two sets of tracks: most of them are part of the soundtrack to the thriller TV series Così Per Gioco (1979), directed by Leonardo Cortese; additionally, there is the opening theme from the talk show Acquario (1978-1979) hosted by Italian journalist and writer Maurizio Costanzo and its B-side.

The band was composed by Trecca himself, Achille Oliva (bass), Alessandro Alessandroni (keys), Giancarlo de Matteis (guitars) and Marco Parisi (drums), a team of musicians that Trecca met a few months before the recording of the album, while playing music that he composed for a musical theater show called Burlesque. 

Trecca explains that he was shown the TV show so he could write the music for it. He tried to capture the mysterious, romantic and evocative tones of the images to translate them into melody sketches that he then explored and recorded with the band. 

The album opens with “Ascendente Pesci” a funk progressive number that showcases Trecca’s ability to bring together various genres and weave them through the “acid” sounds of the Moog, originally released as the B-side of the single “Acquario”. “Pulsazioni” opens the part dedicated to the TV show “Così per gioco”  followed by the magical “Calma Interiore” and the triumphal moog-driven tones of “Anglia”, where Trecca’s baroque musical matrix shines. 

Closing the A side of the album is “Elena Tip”, featuring the vocals of iconic porn star Ilona Staller aka Cicciolina. In those years Ilona had signed a contract with RCA as she tried to start a singing career (which in all honesty is not that bad!). It was RCA production director Anselmo Natalicchio who pitched Cicciolina to vocalize the instrumental track. The result is one of the highlights of the album. 

“Buio” opens the B-side of the album with a dark and mysterious mood that could perfectly fit  a Dario Argento movie from those years. The gorgeous and goosebumps - inducing  “Pressione Esterna” is also a highlight, showcasing how Trecca and his band can infuse emotion in an improv-live composition.

The sax-driven interlude “Dialogo” precedes “Acquario”, previously released as a single and opening theme song of Costanzo’s talk show. “Thrilling” closes the album with suspense tinged melodies, soft and satisfying.

Last month, Rome-based label Sonor Music Editions led by Lorenzo Fabrizi, in collaboration with Disco Bambino and Giuseppe Giammetta (aka Sovraimpressione on Instagram) as executive producers, finally repressed in 500 copies limited edition, this gem that for many years has been chased by collectors from around the world. A few copies are still available for sale HERE. Get your copy before it gets too late, and even the reissue becomes a hard to find treasure in itself.