Inventors of the Spaghetti Western sound

[AncientChord]

I have always been, since childhood, a big fan of Spaghetti Western movies and the music from those films. I've posted several threads about this before, especially since composer Ennio Morricone has recently penned the score for Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. The attached photo is Ennio Morricone and his old friend Alessandro Alessandroni at Morricone's home in Rome this last September. Alessandroni, Morricone and the late Director Sergio Leone are the three who created the sound of Italian Westerns, a music genre in itself that has changed the way western film scores have been made ever since. Alessandroni at 90, and Morricone at 87 are still going strong! Alessandroni is the most famous unknown whistler in the world, providing his whistle to all of Leone's westerns, and many more for other Directors. He also plays acoustic and electric guitar, providing also the twangy electric guitar riff on the theme of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. Some on my previous threads thought his was dead, but...NO! Alway I thought some would enjoy this photo of these old friends.
ea12027760_990166271035542_430238545510713314_n.jpg

[Dave (in MA)]

I have The Good the Bad and the Ugly, A Few Dollars More and Once Upon a Time in the West soundtracks. Is it worthwhile to also pick A Fistful of Dollars?
(My parrot likes to whistle the ocarina part of TGTBATU and throw in the occasional 'wah wAh wah)

[Proglodite]

I just watched Day of Anger and Cemetery without Crosses over the weekend, and was going to listen to an Alesandroni CD I have later today. For anyone interested in the genre, the series below has some great stuff; Volumes 1 and 2 are OOP and fetching somewhat high prices...but 3 and 4 are very inexpensive:

http://www.amazon.com/Spaghetti-West...hetti+westerns

Peter

[AncientChord]

I have The Good the Bad and the Ugly, A Few Dollars More and Once Upon a Time in the West soundtracks. Is it worthwhile to also pick A Fistful of Dollars?
(My parrot likes to whistle the ocarina part of TGTBATU and throw in the occasional 'wah wAh wah)

Yes Dave, but IMO other western scores are even better. I suggest The Big Gundown, Two Mules For Sister Sara, The Five Man Army, The Mercenary, My Name is Nobody, Death Rides A Horse, Face To Face and the overwhelming beauty of Guns for San Sebastian. There's more if you want more suggestions. All of these are top notch.

[AncientChord]

I just watched Day of Anger and Cemetery without Crosses over the weekend, and was going to listen to an Alesandroni CD I have later today. For anyone interested in the genre, the series below has some great stuff; Volumes 1 and 2 are OOP and fetching somewhat high prices...but 3 and 4 are very inexpensive:

http://www.amazon.com/Spaghetti-West...hetti+westerns

Peter

Some of the compilations on Amazon are ok, but I prefer to buy the individual scores, especially the remixed and extended versions. The compilations mostly do not include the best tracks IMO. I prefer my own playlists and compilations. The best for the Morricone westerns is directly from Italy, Intermezzo Media. I've posted this link before:

http://www.intermezzomedia.com/

Not only is everything from Morricone available, they also sell many other Spaghetti Western scores by other composers. You can't go wrong here.

Oh, you can get some cool prog soundtracks from Goblin here too!

[Trane]

I kind of thought that Ennio Morricone plunged into Miles' Sketches of Spain to get his musical dramatics (the mood anyways), but then again, Miles took most of that from Spanish-Latino (mainly Mexican) culture.

[AncientChord]

I kind of thought that Ennio Morricone plunged into Miles' Sketches of Spain to get his musical dramatics (the mood anyways), but then again, Miles took most of that from Spanish-Latino (mainly Mexican) culture.

Morricone definitely tapped into several sources to create the Spaghetti sound. Remember this was the mid-sixties, a time of new music exploding everywhere. I hear influences from Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass, Surf Music, Spanish Bullfight music, Bernard Hermann, traditional folk, and avant-garde experimentation. Thank God for the 1960's. If the evolution of music didn't explode then like the Big Bang, we wouldn't be here today!

[JJ88]

I kind of thought that Ennio Morricone plunged into Miles' Sketches of Spain to get his musical dramatics (the mood anyways), but then again, Miles took most of that from Spanish-Latino (mainly Mexican) culture.

The Concerto De Aranjuez which is the centrepiece of that album is by Spanish composer Rodrigo.

Where Morricone is concerned, other Westerns had also used the Mexican/Spanish music beforehand- at one point, the dialogue in the film Rio Bravo makes a point of the Mariachi music which is heard playing outside before a big showdown. But that's not to take away from Morricone and Leone's brilliant achievements.

That long finish of Tuco running around the graveyard and then the big Blondie/Angel Eyes/Tuco showdown in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in particular is amazing. The symbiosis between the visuals and Morricone's music takes the breath away. The songs in question are 'The Ecstasy Of Gold' and 'The Trio'. Then there's the Man With The Harmonica refrain running throughout Once Upon A Time In The West.

[Dave (in MA)]

I just ordered a copy of A Fistful of Dollars / Per un Pugno di Dollari even though I can listen on Amazon Prime (and am doing so right now).

[AncientChord]

I just ordered a copy of A Fistful of Dollars / Per un Pugno di Dollari even though I can listen on Amazon Prime (and am doing so right now).

I would probably get the extended score for Sergio Solima's The Big Gundown next. It was made in 1966, the same year as TGTB&TU, and was the first Spaghetti Western to star Lee Van Cleef after his roles in the Leone trilogy. The film itself is very good too and worth getting. I would order the extended CD from the link on Intermezzo Media above ^^^^on post #5. It is listed with the Italian name La Resa Dei Conti.

[frinspar]

I've got a good several of Morricone soundtracks, compilations and the Fistful of Film music anthology. So much fun, even the sparsest of compositions have such gravity.
His opening piece listing the production credits for Uccellacci E Uccelinni is brilliant.
I have a number of his more vigorous Western scores on the USB stick I have in my car stereo that I always feel compelled to turn up when they come up on shuffle.

Incidentally, I was playing John Zorn's The Big Gundown album yesterday.

[AncientChord]

I've got a good several of Morricone soundtracks, compilations and the Fistful of Film music anthology. So much fun, even the sparsest of compositions have such gravity.
His opening piece listing the production credits for Uccellacci E Uccelinni is brilliant.
I have a number of his more vigorous Western scores on the USB stick I have in my car stereo that I always feel compelled to turn up when they come up on shuffle.

Incidentally, I was playing John Zorn's The Big Gundown album yesterday.

I see you are in the Tucson area. My friends and I have always enjoyed camping in the deserts of California and Arizona during climate friendly times since we were teenagers. There is nothing better to us than listening to Morricone western score compilations by the camp fire at night. In our younger days we used boom boxes with cassette tape, and now use CD boom boxes. We NEVER tire of this experience.

[Trane]

I would probably get the extended score for Sergio Solima's The Big Gundown next. It was made in 1966, the same year as TGTB&TU, and was the first Spaghetti Western to star Lee Van Cleef after his roles in the Leone trilogy. The film itself is very good too and worth getting. I would order the extended CD from the link on Intermezzo Media above ^^^^on post #5. It is listed with the Italian name La Resa Dei Conti.

OK, thanks for the tip... I know what I'll be borrowing from my library system next time out ... along with a couple of Alejandro Jodorowski movies of the 70's (though there is no direct connection with Leone/Morricone)

I see you are in the Tucson area. My friends and I have always enjoyed camping in the deserts of California and Arizona during climate friendly times since we were teenagers. There is nothing better to us than listening to Morricone western score compilations by the camp fire at night. In our younger days we used boom boxes with cassette tape, and now use CD boom boxes. We NEVER tire of this experience.

you do know these Spaghetti Westerns were shot in Spain, don't you?? (I assume you do, though)


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UI generally don't collect movies (don't get any mileage of those DVDs), but was thinking of making an exception for the Dollar trilogy.

[AncientChord]

you do know these Spaghetti Westerns were shot in Spain, don't you?? (I assume you do, though)

Yes, of course in the Tabernas desert of Almeria Spain. Their are several exceptions on movies with Morricone scores. Parts of Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West were filmed in Monument Valley in Arizona/Utah. Don Siegal's Two Mules For Sister Sara and Guns For San Sebastian were both filmed in Mexico. The old Leone western sets in Spain have been turned into several tourist attractions that I'd like to visit some day. All of these theme parks were originally Leone movie sets.
http://western-leone.es/index.html

http://choose-almeria.com/attraction...-hollywood.php

[Dave (in MA)]

I generally don't collect movies (don't get any mileage of those DVDs), but was thinking of making an exception for the Dollar trilogy.

I was thinking the same thing. All of my DVDs/BluRays are music except for 2 or 3 NFL/Baseball ones.

[AncientChord]

I was thinking the same thing. All of my DVDs/BluRays are music except for 2 or 3 NFL/Baseball ones.

You should consider doing so Dave. All of the films have been cleaned up nicely, and TGTB&TU how is complete, with about an extra 15 minutes that originally was only on Italian screens. Great scene with Tuco and his gang included Blondie!

[Dave (in MA)]

How do you identify the improved versions?

[AncientChord]

How do you identify the improved versions?

I don't think you have to. The old copies only exist now on old VHS tape.

[Proglodite]

This is the blu-ray version to get for Good/Bad/Ugly:
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Bad-Ugly-...n%3A2650305011

Peter

[JJ88]

What I didn't like with the newer version was that they inserted the missing scenes from the earlier prints, but with latter-day voice overdubs (those scenes were never even dubbed into English in the first place). Eli Wallach in particular sounded every inch the elderly man he was, it's jarring..and what's more, few of the scenes really added anything to the film in the first place.

[AncientChord]

What I didn't like with the newer version was that they inserted the missing scenes from the earlier prints, but with latter-day voice overdubs (those scenes were never even dubbed into English in the first place). Eli Wallach in particular sounded every inch the elderly man he was, it's jarring..and what's more, few of the scenes really added anything to the film in the first place.

I somewhat disagree. Yes Wallach and Eastwoods voices do sound older, and of course Lee Van Cleef has been long gone. Leone never recorded the audio for the voice in the first place. And I do believe the extra scenes make sense and allow the story line to fit together more fluidly.

[Dave (in MA)]

Never mind any age differences, overdubs in general sound jarring because they always sound like an actor in a studio because they are an actor in a studio. I even used to notice it when I was a little kid watching Gilligan's Island--the scenes they filmed outdoors as opposed to on a sound stage always sounded odd, and later I figured out why.

[frinspar]

But that's a significant part of the magic that makes the spagsterns so distinctive and memorable.

[Sonia_Mota]

In regards to the king of Spaghetti Western aka Ennio Morricone (and The God Father), we must also acknowledge and praise George Zamfir, he and his pan flute are unique and played a big part in many Spaghetti Western's moozik.

GHEORGHE ZAMFIR - The Lonely Shepherd (Live in London, 1978)

[Sonia_Mota]

This is another and so beautiful
Leo Rojas - El Condor Pasa