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Saturday, January 16, 2021

Soundtrack Review: The Greatest Themes From The Spaghetti Westerns - Performed by London Music Works


If you read this blog, I am sure you have some attachment to the great spaghetti western soundtracks featured in LVC and non-LVC films alike.  Of course Ennio Morricone reigned supreme, but there were also many other worthy composers (Luis Bacalov, Riz Ortolani) and performers (Alessandro Alessandroni, Edda Dell'Orso) that brought musical life to the genre.  We are lucky that countless original soundtracks are available in mostly complete forms.  

Personally I am not much of a fan or re-recordings.  I'm a purist.  I like the originals.  I am constantly playing many original albums on Spotify as I write this blog.  Every now and then something random gets thrown into the mix, which is how I discovered The Greatest Themes From The Spaghetti Westerns - Performed by London Music Works released in April of 2020.

This is a fantastic re-recording of many spaghetti western hits.  For the LVC fan specifically it has tracks from For a Few Dollars More, The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, Big Gundown, Day of Anger, Death Rides a Horse, and Grand Duel.  The performances are very faithful to the originals, and greatly benefit from advancements in sound recording over the last 50+ years.

Standouts to me are the re-recordings of "Run Man Run" from Big Gundown, which offers a less harsh vocal the the Christy original, and the main theme from Death Rides a Horse, which offers a much fuller soundscape for the theme.

The album is worth checking out.  Track listing below-


Volume One 

01. EL GRINGO – Alessandro Alessandroni 
02. DJANGO From DJANGO – Luis Bacalov 
03. MAIN TITLE From TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARA – Ennio Morricone 
04. MAIN THEME From DEATH RIDES A HORSE – Ennio Morricone 
05. L’ARENA From THE MERCENARY – Ennio Morricone 
06. A SILHOUETTE OF DOOM From NAVAJO JOE – Ennio Morricone 
07. MAIN TITLE From NAVAJO JOE – Ennio Morricone 
08. PARTE PRIMA From THE GRAND DUEL – Luis Bacalov 
09. MAIN TITLES From THEY CALL ME TRINITY – Franco Micalizzi 
10. DAY OF ANGER From DAY OF ANGER – Riz Ortolani 
11. MAIN TITLES From HIS NAME WAS KING – Luis Bacalov 
12. OPENING CREDITS From THE BIG GUNDOWN – Ennio Morricone 

Volume Two 

01. MAIN TITLES From A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS – Ennio Morricone 
02. MAIN THEME From A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS – Ennio Morricone 
03. ALMOST DEAD From A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS – Ennio Morricone 
04. MAIN THEME From FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE – Ennio Morricone 
05. SIXTY SECONDS TO WHAT? From FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE – Ennio Morricone 
06. MAIN THEME From THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY – Ennio Morricone 
07. IL TRAMONTO From THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY – Ennio Morricone 
08. THE ECSTASY OF GOLD From THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY – Ennio Morricone 
09. TRIO From THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY – Ennio Morricone 
10. MAIN TITLE From MY NAME IS NOBODY – Ennio Morricone 
11. MY FAULT? From MY NAME IS NOBODY – Ennio Morricone 
12. MAIN THEME From DUCK, YOU SUCKER! – Ennio Morricone 
13. DOPO L’ESPLOSIONE From DUCK, YOU SUCKER! – Ennio Morricone 
14. FAREWELL CHEYENNE From ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST – Ennio Morricone 
15. MAN WITH A HARMONICA From ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST – Ennio Morricone
16. MAIN THEME From ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST – Ennio Morricone


1 comment:

  1. Looks nice. I love the music too and prefer the originals. As you may know in 1967 the Good, Bad and Ugly that made the top 10 on the music charts in America was NOT the original. I actually heard Hugo Montenegro's version a lot on the radio before the film was released in December,1967. And it's not as majectic as the official version in the film

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