I’m a strong believer in the old proverb “Anything that Danger Mouse touches turns to gold”. So naturally, word of a spaghetti western inspired collaboration involving Danger Mouse, Italian composer Daniele Luppi and singers Jack White and Norah Jones had me excited.

I didn’t know much about Daniele Luppi, but a quick search on Google reveals he has been arranging and conducting the orchestral sections of Danger Mouse’s work for some time now, including St Elsewhere, Odd Couple, Broken Bells and Dark Night of The Soul. So that’s pretty cool, given they are all rad albums.

Rome is clearly conceptual. It’s not purporting to be a new outfit a la Broken Bells and all information so far points towards it being a soundtrack of sorts, albeit without the accompanying film. The opening track “Theme of Rome” really is a movie soundtrack piece – it wouldn’t look out of place against Kill Bill for example. Within this, the song still manages to convey a beautiful vocal instrumental improvisation that is reminiscent of “The Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd. The interludes and abundance of music without vocals gives it the true feel of a soundtrack.

The songs with vocals are true Danger Mouse. They have that concentrated, modern approach that manages to include so much music and so many parts in just a few minutes of music. The layering of instruments and sounds is, as always, superb. Danger Mouse’s endless catalogue of influences continues to expand on this album, and it’s hard to categorise the songs into any genre. “The Rose with the Broken Neck” and “Two Against One”, both featuring White, are fantastic Danger Mouse collaborations that will be the album favourites for many listeners.

White has one of the unmistakable voices of rock n roll in the 21st century and the clever construction of lyrical content and flow to match. Jones stands out as a very smooth character, full of a relaxed sensuality. In songs like “Season’s Trees” and “Black” Jones gives the songs a very late 90s dance pop feel.

Daniele Luppi’s arrangements are at the forefront of this record and I wonder if Danger Mouse took somewhat of a back seat in melody writing to allow the strings to express the full range of their emotional narrative. “Roman Blue” is a shining example of this. The song is engaging and interesting while being subtle in its use of changes and sounds. Over a consistent base that sets a pleasing mood the expressive string melody tells a story and again makes it seem like this is the soundtrack to a movie.

Tracks like “The Gambling Priest” and “Morning Fog” focus on creating an emotional feel using an instrumental track and backing vocals. I wonder how these tracks would have changed had they been written with vocals for White and/or Jones. It’s likely that it would’ve created a more engaging pop record that would probably have seen more traction commercially. But clearly this was not the intent of Danger Mouse and Co.

Final track “The World” is also a stand out, with the combination of Jones and White proving to be the finishing touch on this excellent production. Overall, I would have given this album a 10/10 if it had tried to be a pop record and taken advantage of White and Jones more. That said, the music is beautiful and the vocal tracks kick ass. It may take listeners a while to catch on to the brilliance of this record, due to the tendency towards daydreaming over the instrumental sections. But stick with it folks, because as a package it is a unique and emotionally charged soundtrack to the movie that never was.

Review Score: 8.5/10