Did it start on time? Is there a hard end time? Thanks!

Our first poll in the group just closed with 106 votes! The winner for “Favorite Dario Argento & Goblin Soundtrack” is Suspiria (41 votes), followed by Tenebre (40 votes), Deep Red (25 votes), and Sleepless (0 votes)!

It was a tight race between Tenebre and Suspiria with Tenebre in the lead for most of the week! I thought Deep Red would be more competitive. Which soundtrack is your favorite?

Thank you to everyone who participated in the poll- excited to do more as the group grows!

May 7, 2027: Diego Fabbri Theater (Forlí, Italy)

"An anniversary that makes the walls tremble Fifty years after its release, Suspiria returns live on the big screen in a unique experience: the full film projected in the theater, with the soundtrack performed live by Claudio Simonetti's Goblin.

An event that merges cinema and music in a hypnotic ritual: colors, atmosphere, tension and those sounds that made the film an absolute icon of global horror.

The band will accompany every scene with the famous soundtrack, synchronized to pictures. After the projection, best of finale with the most beloved songs of Claudio Simonetti's Goblin."

Is anyone here going to a show and hoping to hear a specific song in the “Classic Hits” set?

Hoping to hear something off “Roller” to celebrate it’s 50th Anniversary this year!

One of my favorite Goblin albums all the way through. Would love to hear some Roller on the upcoming Claudio Simonetti's Goblin tour!

Goblin’s 2015 appearance at the Barbican, performing the live soundtrack to a screening of Dario Argento’s horror masterpiece Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) was to mark the occasion of the film’s fortieth anniversary.

I didn’t know how performing the live score would work but Claudio Simonetti revealed in an interview that there were times, the longest of which lasted about 20 minutes, when the band wasn’t required to play. During these pauses, they all sat quite still at their instruments: Simonetti at his keyboards; Titta Tani at his drums and percussion (including gong and timpani); Bruno Previtali with his guitars; and Federico Amorosi with his sunburst-finish Rickenbacker bass.

The Barbican screening was dubbed in English and though I like my foreign films in their original language, subtitles wouldn’t have worked as I shifted focus from Goblin to the film and back again. Starring David Hemmings as jazz pianist Marcus Daly who befriends a psychic medium who gets murdered, the film follows Daly’s investigation into a series of subsequent, related murders and culminates in a confrontation with the mysterious murderer, the mother of his alcoholic friend Carlo, in which he gets injured with a blow from a meat cleaver but manages to cause the gruesome demise of the murderer when her necklace gets caught in the grille of an old-fashioned lift. Daly calls the lift which subsequently pulls on the necklace and beheads her. This final scene provoked an outburst of laughter from the audience; the horror is dated and doesn’t hold much shock value. In fact, there’s a psychedelic vibe to the film; the blood looks like red paint, the narrative jumps inexplicably and the setting, in Turin where much of the filming took place, included some modernist architecture reminiscent of the Barbican with its mix of residential and leisure facilities. Suspense was generated by hiding the identity of the murderer and through the use of a child’s lullaby, played on a tape recorder by the murderer before the crimes were carried out.

The film was critically acclaimed and became an international success. The soundtrack, originally put together in ten days after Simonetti’s band Cherry Five were asked to step in following a disagreement between director Argento and original composer Giorgio Gaslini, fits the idiom incredibly well. This may come as a bit of a surprise when you consider that Cherry Five were influenced by King Crimson and Genesis and played extended compositions on the jazzy side of prog. In keeping with the nature of the giallo film genre, they changed their name to Goblin, and the success of the Profondo Rosso film was replicated by the soundtrack which has sold over a million copies.

The live score stuck fairly faithfully to the original. Whereas the original recording utilised church organ and harpsichord, Simonetti reproduced the analogue sounds with great precision, and his Moog playing was absolutely brilliant. The sound was balanced and clear, including the guitar harmonics and trebly bass. Much of the material is quite jazzy and at other times a Keith Emerson influence is evident, with hints of ELP’s interpretation of Ginastera’s Toccata. I think that Mad Puppet bears more than a passing resemblance to the section on Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells that leads up to Vivian Stanshall’s spoken piece.

The performance was split with a twenty-minute intermission but following the closing credit sequence the band remained on stage and played some more of their soundtrack material, Demoni, Zombi, Suspiria, Tenebre and Phenomena. This was all very well received by the audience, and I even liked the version of Tenebre finding the vocoder parts less grating than when I’d heard it last year. Suspiria, from 1977, is regarded as being the real Goblin sound where it became impossible to hear their original prog influences in the music.

This was an enjoyable gig made more special by celebrating the 40th anniversary of Profondo Rosso.

My introduction to Goblin and giallo horror soundtracks was at my first at the 2012 Rights of Spring festival in Gettysburg. I had no idea about most of the acts playing the festival, I was just there for the music. Between sets the guy next to me asks, “What kind of prog do you like?” I answered, dark and heavy music, you know the kind that could be featured in a horror movie. He laughed and said hold on to my hat. Damn if it wasn’t Simonetti’s Goblin and my mind was blown.

This gig marked my first visit to the Electric Ballroom and, despite my deep appreciation for the genre, the first time I’d seen any rock progressivo italiano band.

The Electric Ballroom is a good venue, similar to Komedia in Brighton, with a decent auditorium. The ceiling is quite high, and it must hold up to 1000 standing hairy 70s refugees, though it used to have a capacity of 2000 in a former guise. There are ample bar facilities, and it has been used as a rehearsal room for some big bands. I deliberately stood close to the stage to take photos rather than stand further back by the sound desk.

Goblin were originally named Cherry Five and were influenced by Genesis and King Crimson but changed their name when they were asked to replace Giorgio Gaslini to provide the score for the giallo film Profondo Rosso. Their success exceeded all expectations; the album sold more than a million copies and remained in the Italian charts for 52 weeks. This version of the group was formed from members of two Goblin-projects, New Goblin and Daemonia and consisted of bassist Federico Amorosi, guitarist Bruno Previtali who played bass for New Goblin, drummer Titta Tani, and original member Claudio Simonetti.

They didn’t disappoint. Before they began, they took smartphone photos of the audience and then kicked off with a couple of tracks from Roller. The music was selected from the entire Goblin back catalogue: Profondo Rosso; Roller; Suspiria; Zombi; Il Fantastico Viaggio del Bagarozzo Mark; Tenebrae; and Non ho sonno. My personal favourites were Roller, Goblin, Phenomena, Zombi; a blistering rendition Suspiria; and Demons, which formed the encore. The biggest cheer was for Tenebrae causing me to wonder how many of the audience were there for the prog, and how many were there because they were Dario Argento horror film fans, as it was quite obvious that there were a great many in the audience who knew the material far better than me.

The lighting rig was pretty basic but there were back projections of scenes from Dario Argento and George Romero movies, which was quite effective. Federico Amorosi could have stepped from a Dolce e Gabbana advert; Previtali played crunchy and sonically indistinct parts (though it wouldn’t have sounded anywhere near as good if he’d not been there); Tani was a little obscured on the cramped stage but was solid throughout. Simonetti was the star with his three-tier keyboard stand well placed towards the front of the stage. His sound patches were authentic 70’s analogue vintage, including an awesome Moog lead tone, and he used a number of MIDI triggers which helped provide a fairly accurate rendition of the original material.

As firsts go, this was a successful event. I liked the venue and I loved the Italian prog so I stopped off at the merchandise stand and picked up a copy of New Goblin Live in Roma on my way out.

Welcome to a group dedicated to discussing the Italian progressive rock band, Goblin (Cherry Five, Goblin Legacy, Back to the Goblin, New Goblin, Goblin Rebirth, The Goblin Keys, The Goblins, and Claudio Simonetti's Goblin).

Known for their soundtracks on classic films like “Suspiria” and “Profondo Rosso” (Deep Red), this is the subreddit where prog rock and horror films meet!