When Goblin Colored the Fitz Deep Red

The band Goblin has the rare distinction of being close to the convoluted hearts of fans of both prog rock and the golden age of Italian horror. Claudio Simonetti, the musical visionary at the heart of Goblin, has been a key soundtrack collaborator with names such as Lucio Fulci, Lamberto Bava, and Dario Argento since the mid-1970s.

Last year, Goblin hit the road to perform the score to Suspiria as live accompaniment to the film screening. This was, by all accounts, a success, and so in 2019 the group hit the road to perform the score to Argento’s 1975 film Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) live and in its entirety. Deep Red was the first cinematic collaboration between Argento and Simonetti, and so this performance was a long look back at the origins of Goblin and as it became apparent, Dario Argento’s classic style.

Goblin on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater. T. A. Wardrope

Deep Red set the style and approach that would define Argento’s best work: lyrical, artful, and not entirely connected to rational narrative or logical plotting. This brand of giallo is heavy on style and expressionism, light on the cutting, deductive logic popular in other murder-mystery stories. Even so, he was just discovering the role music would play in his films, and in this early incarnation of his vision music was only used during the approach of sudden violence at the end of the enigmatic black-gloved killer. So, in this screening—which came to St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater in October—Goblin spent most of the time sitting silent on the stage while the film dealt with the plot, such as it is.

T. A. Wardrope

While some fans of Argento’s and Simonetti’s more energetic work may have been disappointed by the long lulls in performance, I thought it provoked a new appreciation for the role that Simonetti’s work played in Argento’s style. The bursts of chromatic violence in Deep Red are by far the most interesting part of the film, and as Argento’s cinematic style was still in its infancy, much of this effect lies with the soundtrack, which is impossible to ignore. The score is proggy in the best sense of the genre, intricate and engaging while also rocking full-tilt, horns up. Hearing the music live in a classic performance venue like the Fitzgerald placed the film in the background while the music took over and offered an impossible to ignore layer of experience. Ironically, it brought Deep Red to life in a new way and made me appreciate the film as I haven’t before, and certainly the essential part Claudio Simonetti played in its creation.

T. A. Wardrope

After the 127 minutes of Deep Red wrapped up, the lights came up a bit, and Goblin began a tour de force of classic scores set against music-video-length montages from the films they came from. This was a welcome addition to the set, and based on the crowd reaction, it was clearly what everyone wanted to see. The Suspiria, Dawn of the Dead, and  Phenomena segments were highlights for me. While this set offered more of the prog/horror synthesis we were all fans of and paid money to see, I found the Deep Red set rewarding in the new perspective it brought to this lifelong Argento fan.