Despite his training, had worked with and was something of a enthusiast. His groundbreaking score for 's was initially inspired by ' electronic excursions in and . Allowed to follow his musical instincts by veteran director , orchestrates the score's driving percussion, restless electric bass, and eerie wordless vocals (as pioneered by under the direction of and his peers in Italy) into an organic mix that could best be described as some 25 years before that genre began. The music cues for are energetic and exciting, but what kicks the score to a level all its own is 's theme for the serial killer, , whom tracks through the bulk of the film. Its offbeat fusion combines modern music in a brilliant manner with ' creepy, ethereal vocals overlaying of the time. This is perhaps best exemplified on the CD in the two opening cuts: The shifting tempos and the sinister, childlike vocals were directly emulated by dozens of Italian films of the '70s, and a sterilized incarnation of this style has become the bane of 21st century television scoring, a full three decades after 's seminal work. The only criticisms of the release are aesthetic and specific to the conventions of published film scores. This CD is missing the brilliant 7" edit of which admittedly never appears in the film in this form, but which captures the excitement of the score in a three-minute / opera. Also, some of the slight source music -- such as the comic and the cheesy -- will benefit the CD most when left off the play list. There is merit in presenting a "complete" , even in order of appearance within the film; but given that these pieces wreck the mood set by the immediately preceding music, it could be argued that the best place for them is at the tail-end of the recording as bonus tracks. Outside of these misgivings, the primary score is one of the first truly modern action film scores. Less immediate than his popular theme songs for or , the score for succeeds through nerve and ability to draw ideas from current trends to meld them in a way both unique and timeless. Its influence is paramount, heard daily in movies, on television, and in modern music. ~ JT Lindroos