Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Titoli
2. Almost dead
3. Square dance
4. The Chase
5. The Result
6. Without pity
7. Theme from a fistfull of dollars
8. "A fist full of dollars "Suite"
9. La resa dei conti
10. Osservatori osservati
11. Il vizio di uccidere
12. Il Colpo
13. Addio colonnello
14. Per qualche dollaro in piu
15. Poker d'assi
16. Carillon

Disc 2:

1. Once upon a time in the west
2. As a judgement
3. Farewell to Cheyenne
4. The Transgression
5. The first tavern
6. The second tavern
7. Once upon a time in the west (reprise)
8. Man with a harmonica
9. A dimly lit room
10. Bad orchestra
11. The man
12. Jill's America
13. Death rattle
14. Finale

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6230 in Music
• Released on: 1999-04-12
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Soundtrack

Amazon.co.uk Review
For fans of Morricone and Leone, here is a succulent three course set meal of Spaghetti Westerns. In sizzling red hot packaging the complete soundtracks from A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and Once Upon a Time in the West tell their tale of Morricone and Sergio Leone's early successes. The duo's first collaboration, A Fistful of Dollars from 1964, instantly reinvented the Western genre and put an edgy Roman slant on the hitherto Hollywood dominated cowboy romanticism. Through the "Dollars" trilogy and right up until Leone's last Once Upon a Time in America, the striking impact of Morricone's tunes from the prairies set whole generations of movie-goers whistling. It would have been nice to have all three "Dollars" scores on one album--surely The Good and The Bad soundtrack equals Once Upon a Time in dramatic achievement, though maybe not in sales figures? "Man With Harmonica", "Farewell To Cheyenne" and "Bad Orchestra" are all classic themes, but do not fully show how ingeniously Morricone's music plays a main part in the bleak and sparsely dialogued Leone scenarios. Nevertheless, Morricone's idiosyncratic instrumentation has given him an instantly recognisable voice, which is duly celebrated on this album. --Yngvil V.G.

Customer Reviews

A typically original, always interesting treat...
These two discs contain three complete, original recordings by this unique composer, who along with Schifrin changed the sound of film music. His music for many great Sergio Leone westerns announced a new direction for the evolution of the soundtrack, with the sort of creative and often startling use of instrumentation so well exhibited on this collection.

The first cd presents the music from the first two 'Dollars' films. The opening theme, not one of his best-known, builds on guitars and an evocative whistled melody with unsettling vocals and rolling percussion, which carries your imagination over a sunscorched desert plain. Full string sounds layer the music, adding depth and musical texture.
Whilst you notice the most significant themes almost ooze from the score, sometimes phrases creep in, sometimes only suggested, this is not thematic based scoring. Morricone creates a collection of very different pieces of music. Each concieved to fill your mind with moods - melancholy, excitement and the undefinable feeling of escapism. This is very intelligent mood music. Thats not a criticism! There are several beautifully melodic pieces, from cornet solos to electric guitars. And an often unsettling array of percussive sounds. The second score on the disc moves away from the themes of the first film, but not the mood. In very much the same idiom, creating once again stirring sounds, and utilizing an always surprising array of unusual and original instrumentation. Watch out for some pretty tunes on track 11, and 16, which brings a sense of uncertain tranquility, a subtle end to a worth while listen

However fine the first disc, the second features what is probably Morricones finest work in it's entirety. Far more startling than the much referenced 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly', which brings together a truly uplifting theme, of operatic scale, and a truly brilliant series of cues that use an enormous range of percussion, electric and acoustic guitars, and the positively eerie harmonica, to paint a musical picture of the expansive, threatening, totally overwhelming West that Leone creates visually. The power of the landscapes, desolate, hostile, comes across to the listener without need ever having seen the film. Suspense is the key here, and Morricone achieves it deftly. For those who have seen the film, youll remember the way, in the style of a tone poem almost, the music follows every movement on screen, fusing sound effect with score, characterizing the people with musical sounds that tell you more about the story than the dialogue itself. If you havent seen it, then simply enjoy this unique musical experience, from the master of his own, unmistakable style.