Biography:

Goblin (also Goblin Legacy, Back to the Goblin, New Goblin, Goblin Rebirth, the Goblin Keys, the Goblins and Claudio Simonetti‘s Goblin) is an Italian progressive rock band known for their film scores. They frequently collaborate with Dario Argento, most notably creating the scores for Profondo Rosso in 1975 and Suspiria in 1977. Because their collaborator Dario Argento specializes in creating horror, suspense and slasher/giallo genre movies, scores made by Goblin in these movies often had eerie and ominous tones. CD re-releases of their scores have performed well, especially in Germany and Japan. Goblin returned with a series of live concerts in Europe in 2009 and in North America in 2013.

Initially recording as Cherry Five (they had done some live shows as Oliver), their early work spawned one eponymous progressive rock record, and they were then called in to compose the score for Profondo Rosso. The band changed their name to Goblin, rewriting most of the score, originally written by Giorgio Gaslini including the famous main theme. The 1975 soundtrack album was a huge hit.[where?] After a reshuffle in their line-up, they put out an instrumental progressive rock album Roller, before working with Argento again for 1977’s Suspiria. Some tracks from the album Roller were used in the Italian version of George A. Romero‘s film Martin replacing those from the original soundtrack written by Donald Rubinstein. This was because at that time Goblin’s music had become very popular in Italy following the successes of Profondo rosso. Other film scores and a concept album (Il Fantastico Viaggio Del Bagarozzo Mark) followed, then the score for the European version of George A. Romero‘s 1978 Dawn of the Dead. In both this and Suspiria‘s opening title sequences, they are credited as “The Goblins with Dario Argento”. Tracks 1, 2 and 7 from the European version are also in the American version of the film.

Despite their success, membership continued to be a revolving door. The remaining members continued to work on further scores, and there was a partial reunification of three of the four band members for Argento’s Tenebrae (1982), credited to the three band members, but not as Goblin. The last collaboration with Argento took place in 2001, with the film Sleepless.

History

Oliver, 1972–1975

Between 1972 and 1973, Claudio Simonetti (keyboards) and Massimo Morante (guitars), aided by Fabio Pignatelli (bass guitar) and Walter Martino (drums), recorded some demo tapes using the name Oliver.

On a trip to London, while looking for contacts, the band bumped into Eddy Offord, then producer of Yes. After listening to a demo tape, the tycoon producer expressed interest and asked them to move to England. By then, Fabio Pignatelli had become a steady member, and the band found a regular drummer, Carlo Bordini, and an English lead vocalist (Clive Haynes). After many months of rehearsing, they returned to London while Offord was on tour with Yes in the US; after many performances and various attempts at striking deals with record houses, they were forced to go back to Italy, due to lack of funds.

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