A clear homage to the 1960’s spaghetti westerns, “Rome” is the film soundtrack without the film. The intentions of Danger Mouse (the man behind Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells, and numerous other music projects) and collaborator Daniele Luppi (composer and arranger for the same projects) are clear down to the album cover: “Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi Present: Rome” followed by a black bleeding heart. At the bottom, “Starring Jack White and Norah Jones."
Granted, not all the listeners of the album would be familiar with the spaghetti westerns that “Rome” tips its hat to. Fortunately, Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi have an uncanny ability to make the music listenable. It’s still alternative rock. It’s not as painful as having to listen to an actual film soundtrack. That’s not to say the album doesn’t capture the nostalgia (perhaps melancholia is a better word) of the 1960’s. Hell, Daniele Luppi went so far as to hire the session muscians Ennio Morricone used in the 1960’s, many of these guys being in their late 70’s.
The sound is there. It’s composed brilliantly. The album starts out quiet. Track One: Theme of “Rome”. Drums come in, almost like war drums, then, suddenly, a stroke of a guitar. Silence. Another guitar stroke. And then above it all, a voice comes in. No lyrics, just voice (reminiscent of…well, let’s just say it’s the same choir that sang in “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”) And underneath to support it, strings come in. Nothing complicated though, just smooth strokes supporting the upper melody.
The music continues in a similar fashion. There is definite emphasis in simplicity. The song that’s most outwardly rock would be “Two Against One”, featuring Jack White (White Stripes), which could also be the album’s most popular song, assuming that the popularity of it in iTunes means anything.
