As a kind of preparation for this 3rd volume, I watched another western, this time a Hollywood classic, the 1960s The Magnificent Seven with Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson, among others.
The contrast with the Italian westerns is massive; this movie (despite being based on Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film Seven Samurai) is a classic example of the old Hollywood sanitised version of the ‘Wild West’…
Almost everybody is clean-shaven, nobody sweats (despite one of the actors claiming he is, because he's scared!), the good guys are moderately 'good', the bad dudes are undoubtedly bad, the morality of the story is clear, blah, blah...
Afterwards I needed to see an Italian classic, in this case the original Django from 1966, produced by Sergio Corbucci. Its story couldn't be more different (and violent); morality is out the window, and the actors do sweat a lot!
Musically too it's a very different affair, Luis Bacalov's soundtrack is much more experimental compared to Elmer Bernstein's film score...
And that brings us to this final volume's musical selection, which consists of classics, covers, and new originals, again covering a wide range of musical styles.
Warning: the weirdness level is high; I've chosen 2 unusual tracks to start and finish this 23-track collection.
John Zorn is a saxophonist who has been releasing a torrent of albums over the years, 300+ according to Discogs! His music is usually not for the faint-hearted and can be 'challenging', to put it mildly... However, his 1986 Morricone tribute, The Big Gundown, is considered more accessible and a kind of breakthrough for Zorn. But Zorn wouldn't be Zorn if he hadn't mucked about a bit with Morricone's classics; don't expect note-for-note covers from him! Personally, I think this is one of his finest albums and still own a vinyl copy! Therefore, Zorn's title song sets off this collection...
And it finishes with a 'padthai' western track! While looking around for suitable spaghetti sounds, I stumbled on a Thai movie from 2000, Tears Of The Black Tiger, which, despite living here for donkey years, I somehow had completely missed. I did know about the popularity of cowboy/indian related themes among a segment of Thai people, but this one came as a complete surprise; have a look at the clip here! This is the only track incorporating a bit of classic spaghetti western sounds before returning to the main folky style used for all other tracks...
Sandwiched in between are several original, bullet-ridden, Italian classics by Marcello Giombini, Dominic Frontiere, Roberto Pregadio, Franco Micalizzi, and of course, Ennio Morricone!
Another oldie and a bit of a surprise was Scott Walker's The Rope And The Colt from a 1969 spaghetti western soundtrack!
Ska, reggae, & dub sounds come courtesy of Crystalites (with a rather unsettling Call Me Trinity), Gaudi and Hardage's Lab Dub (thanks Jonder!), Chopper Franklin, and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. Yep, the last band comes from Japan and has been around for a long time; I even saw them live in Bangkok!
Stan Ridgway from Volume 1 returns here with his Wall Of Voodoo performing a live Morricone medley, which, to be honest, is a bit awkward as Hang 'Em High wasn't composed by the master!
From an old 45 B-side I rescued, Madness' A Town With No Name and gave it a place of honour here.
Oddest song title here is probably The Jack Rubies' Bullfighters Disco Dance, but it fits here perfectly.
Jazz guitar master Bill Frisell is present with a dusty piece of Americana called Outlaws, and you can almost imagine the sound of gunfire in this context.
A similar bleak Wild West landscape is suggested in Khruangbin's Ada Jean...
I remember The Godfathers from way back in the 1980s with their classic Birth, School, Work, Death. They released some decent albums until 2000 when they threw in the towel... Little did I know that they reformed in 2008 and their 2013 album Jukebox Fury had a worthy candidate for this collection: Theme To The End Of The World.
From Germany come Die Toten Hosen with Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod, thanks, Richard!
All that remains are lesser-known (but cool!) artists/bands: Murder by Death, Vinnie Stigma (with a spaghettified Rancid cover!), Mystery Action, and India Ramey.
And that brings this series to an end; I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Link: https://pixeldrain.com/u/Pv7jsZR4
ReplyDeleteQuestion: As you might have noticed I used the artwork of Moebius for all 3 covers in this series, therefore what is your favourite Spaghetti Western artwork, either for a movie poster or music album?