Listen to ‘Ciao Italia’ by Bruno Nicolai (Edi-Pan, Italy, 1976).

Everyone likes a bit of Italian library music from time to time, and I’m no exception. Trouble is, it’s often silly money, and then you need to pay the Italian postman to boot. Happily, this particular record was offered to the entire world on ebay but nobody wanted it except me, so it cost a fiver (and I only had to pay that lovely English postie). At such a low price I was expecting a load of old rubbish, but as you will hear in the sound clip, it’s a satisfying hotch-potch of spikey jazz, cheap sounding electronic drum patterns, funky riffs that suddenly wander off down ‘jaunty street’, fuzzy guitar pop/rock instrumentals and sunny bossa. Not to mention the wonderful spoken word interludes that serve as postcards home throughout the record. There is also a smooth vocal number sung by Fred Bongusto. (I wish ‘Bongusto’ was my surname).

‘Ciao Italia’ was released on Bruno Nicolai’s own library label, Edi-Pan, but it appears to be an original soundtrack to a film of the same name that I know nothing about.

Ciao, for now.