Presented for possibly the first time on the internet, is one of 4 songs LVC recorded in 1973 as part of his LVC records endeavor. Very few of these records were pressed, and are very hard to come by.
At the start of each month, I will "premiere" one of these songs here. Enjoy!
This month:
LVC-004 "If All I Ever Do"
Presented for possibly the first time on the internet, is one of 4 songs LVC recorded in 1973 as part of his LVC records endeavor. Very few of these records were pressed, and are very hard to come by.
At the start of each month, I will "premiere" one of these songs here. Enjoy!
This month:
LVC-003 "Call The Law"
Presented for possibly the first time on the internet, is one of 4 songs LVC recorded in 1973 as part of his LVC records endeavor. Very few of these records were pressed, and are very hard to come by.
At the start of each month, I will "premiere" one of these songs here. Enjoy!
This week:
LVC-002 "Who's Gonna Share Your Dream"
Presented for possibly the first time on the internet, is one of 4 songs LVC recorded in 1973 as part of his LVC Records endeavor. Very few of these records were pressed, and are very hard to come by.
At the start of each month, I will "premiere" one of these songs here. Enjoy!
This week:
LVC-001 "The Bad Man's Back"
Often described as one of LVC's lesser westerns (along with Kid Vengeance), God's Gun offered Lee the opportunity to play dual roles (brothers), and even had the opportunity to share the screen with himself!
JM: In 1971 you scored CAPTAIN APACHE was this your first full film score, and how did you become involved on this project?
DC: We were taking a long sabbatical in Madrid when Richard and another writer friend went to see Phil Yourdan, the producer and Bernie Gordon, head writer of "Captain Apache" and the other films in the series, about getting some work as scriptwriters. It turned out that they wanted a theme song or two for Lee Van Cleef, and it developed from there.
JM: Staying with CAPTAIN APACHE, the star of the movie Lee Van Cleef sang the title song on the soundtrack, who’s idea was it to get Van Cleef to do this, what was he like to work with and did you coach him for the performances ?
DC: As I understand it, after Lee Van Cleef heard Lee Marvin singing in "Paint Your Wagon", decided that he wanted to sing too. His wife, who was in Madrid with him, had been an opera singer, and encouraged him to have a go. We wrote 2 demos, thinking Yourdan and Gordon would pick one, but they decided on both.
To be honest, he wasn't easy to work with. I think he felt out of his depth as a singer, and covered up by being difficult, which - of course - is not unusual. After 2 rehearsals with me on the piano, he said the piano made him sing out of tune, so a roving English guitar player was hired to be on the set and rehearse with Lee when he had a break.
Funnily enough, his problem wasn't so much about pitch, because we got him to speak a lot of the lyrics, but with the fact that he was "rhythm deaf" - not feeling where the phrase begins or ends, if you know what I mean.
At the recording, the engineer had to cut up his tape and feed it into the proper places to match the orchestral accompaniment.
JM: I am told that the songs in CAPTAIN APACHE were recorded in London, was the main score also recorded in England or was this done in Spain?
DC: No, they were recorded in Madrid. English speaking singers were very few and far between, and not necessarily experienced , so we had to add a LOT of reverb.
The score was also recorded in Madrid - but we had a very fine conductor/ arranger, Pepe Nieto, with whom we worked on a lot of other projects before and after.
JM: What size orchestra did you use on CAPTAIN APACHE?
DC: Not a large orchestra, there was about 24 players as I remember.
JM: On the score for CAPTAIN APACHE there is a piece of music just before Lee Van Cleef sings APRIL MORNING, this contains some whistling, it sounds very much like Alessandro Alessandroni, did he perform on the soundtrack at.
DC: No, it wasn't Alessandro. It was probably Antonio Areta, who sang bass in the backing track and whom we hired quite often when we needed a whistler. He was also a composer of Spanish jinglesJM: The movie has something of a cult following nowadays, but at the time of its release it received some very unkind press, are you surprised that it is still popular now some 35 years on?
DC: To be honest, nothing surprises me nowadays.
JM: I understand that your husband worked on BAD MANS RIVER, were you involved in any way on this movie, and did you score any other Spanish or Paella westerns?
DC: Richard was hired to write the lyrics. They had to use a Spanish composer because of co-production "points". Actually he was a very good Argentinean born composer, but hadn't a clue about barber shop quartets (these were used as a Greek Chorus to move the story along)
So Richard, with a little help from me, actually wrote the melodies and sang them to the composer. I did some "covers" for another movie - but I can't remember the name of the film.
JM: There was a rumour recently that the songs from CAPTAIN APACHE had been issued during the 1970's on a single 45rpm record for members of the Lee Van Cleef fan club, do you know anything about this recording?
DC: No, I don't, but I'd love to get one, if it were issued.
JM: Do you find it suprising that record companies want to issue your music from CAPTAIN APACHE onto CD, after all this time ?
DC: Yes. But I think there are a lot of Euro-Western fans who would be prepared to buy it.
For the 1971 film Captain Apache, LVC sings the main title song (as well as
the end credits). Below you will find the YouTube clip of the end credits, and the song "April Morning".
I have also included an mp3 version you can download at well!For the 1971 film Captain Apache, LVC sings the main title song (as well as the end credits). Below you will find the YouTube clip of the opening credits. I have also included an mp3 version you can download at well!
May 2012 is closed out with another Grand Duel related release! On May 29th, Quartet Records released an expanded score of "Il Grande Duello"Two classics Spaghetti Western scores composed by legendary Luis Bacalov on one CD!.
“Il Grande Duello”, one of the most emblematic Italian westerns starring Lee Van Cleef, represents a long-awaited reissue, as the two previous releases of this score (one in Point Records in 1995, and another only in Japan under the label Rambling in 2002), are too expensives and very hard-to-find in the secondary market. “Il Grande Duello” being one of the most popular albums for the Spaghetti Westerns fans, especially after the inclusion of the main theme in the first volume of “Kill Bill”.
This new release, fully restored and mastered in a great stereo by Claudio Fuiano from the first generation master tapes, contains a short but interesting bonus material not included in the previous editions.
Limited Collector’s Edition of 500 units.
Below are the other versions of the soundtrack released. The 1995 version is the most common, and can be found on iTunes and amazon.com for under $8 to download, however it is only 10 tracks.01. Il Grande Duello Parte I (3:24)
02. Il Grande Duello Parte II (2:36)
03. Il Grande Duello Parte III (1:26)
04. Il Grande Duello Parte IV (3:38)
05. Il Grande Duello Parte V (1:56)
06. Il Grande Duello Parte VI (2:23)
07. Il Grande Duello Parte VII (2:25)
08. Il Grande Duello Parte VIII (1:52)
09. Il Grande Duello Parte IX (2:41)
10. Il Grande Duello Parte X (3:56)
11. Il Grande Duello Parte IV (#2) (1:20)
12. Il Grande Duello Parte VI (#2) (0:47)
13. Il Grande Duello Parte VIII (#2) (2:02)
14. Il Grande Duello Parte I (Mix 2) (3:23)
I swear this will be my last Primus LVC post! 
Got a badge, a Red Rider at Rocket Camp out at (?Nohack?) Peak
Lookin' for jailbirds left and right tryin'a knock 'em up out the trees
Everybody I know's watchin' Clint, we all like watchin' Clint
Hi Hi Hi Hiii
All the li'l Snaps wanna be like Clint; they all wanna be like Clint
But I wanna be like Lee Van Cleef; ya know I wanna be like Lee
Whatever happened to Lee Van Cleef; whatever happened to Lee?
A yellow Studebaker with a 302, I see the GREEN NAUGAHYDE
He put a coupla dings in that pick-up truck, a few more dents in his pride
At Hilltop Drive-In they're watchin' Clint; they all like watchin' Clint
Hi Hi Hi Hiii
All the babies scream they wanna see ol' Clint; they all wanna see ol' Clint
But I wanna see Lee Van Cleef; ya know I'd like to see ol' Lee
Whatever happened to Lee Van Cleef; whatever happened to Lee?
(Just a lil ol' tease o' Ler...)
Now the Studebaker's gone, Lee's passed on, Clint's still sharp as can be
Hilltop Drive-In is an Auto Mall, but no one's built over Lee
He'll get a kick outta watchin' Clint, we all get a kick outta Clint
Hi Hi Hi Hiii
But Lee never been none quite like Clint, there's really only one Clint
But I really did like Lee Van Cleef; I sure did really like Lee
Whatever happened to Lee Van Cleef; whatever happened to Lee?
(Now for the full Ler experience...)
We still get a kick outta watchin' Clint; we all get a kick outta Clint
Hi Hi Hi Hiii
There ain't never been one quite like Clint, there's really only one Clint
I always did like Lee Van Cleef; always did like Lee
Nobody's steely like Lee Van Cleef. Whatever happened to Lee?
Whatever happened to Lee Van Cleef? Don't forget about Lee.