Ennio Morricone:
Copkiller (original soundtrack LP)

After years of searching I recently managed to get a copy of the mythical French only soundtrack LP (cheers George). PiL were originally meant to do the soundtrack to the film, which would have been superb, but for one reason or another (probably money) they never did. Instead ‘noted’ film composer Ennio Morricone was given the job, and promptly fucked it right up! John says in the ‘Plastic Box’ sleevenotes that he and Keith originally wrote tracks for the film, while he was in Italy shooting the movie, and Keith was still in NY recording. As we all suspected John says ‘The Slab’ (aka ‘Order of Death’) was written directly for the film, and it would seem likely that instrumental tracks like ‘Lou Reed Part 1’ and ‘Miller Hi-Life’ from ‘Commercial Zone’ were also written with the movie in mind. The soundtrack almost ruins the whole film for me, it’s absolutely awful! I know Morricone has done some good stuff over the years, but this sounds like he’s wrote it at 10 to 5 on a Friday afternoon! It’s all crap banjo and bass, along with that dull country and western song (sung by “Steve”). Despite there being seven tracks on the LP, it’s basically two songs the whole way through the film, and it gets very repetitive...

In John’s first scene, he’s coming up an escalator (sporting his Arsenal bag!), and then this terrible banjo kicks in! It sounds so much like Steptoe it’s unbelievable! (though it is hilarious too, especially given all the comparisons John gets to Albert Steptoe!). The best thing about the LP is the sleeve. The black front cover features a letterbox picture of Leo in his Ski-mask along with yellow lettering, and the back cover features a larger version of the same picture, along with the track listing and film credits etc. The LP was pressed in France, so I presume that was the only country it was ever issued in, however, it was distributed by WEA so I suppose it’s possible it was distributed throughout mainland Europe?

This LP would only really interest the real hardcore collector, but if you’re looking for a copy be warned it’s extremely rare and it’ll probably cost you at least £25-30... Lastly, if you think the music is bad during the movie, you should try listening to it by itself! ‘Copkiller’ - The best comedy record ever made!