Smooth and then some
Michael Thomas Roe | Atlanta | 11/04/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Once again, Maestro Morricone soothes and delights with this surprising, and by turns, lush, moody, and atmospheric early 1970's musical score. I'm having a hard time keeping this one off of my player. The main theme is a deceptively simple three note melody, "whawm, whawm, whawm", which is effectively built upon, with snippits of classical piano and harpsicord. The patented Morricone melancholy brass and string sections soar in and out, creating layer upon layer of "wash". The electric bass guitar kicks in, the drums commence shuffling and before you know it, you're in the land of Morricone-a go go. And yes, there is the always gorgeous Edda, effectively turned down in the mix-but not too much so, heating things up. And that's just the first number. I'm not too big on the Morricone soundtracks that have only one or two "meaty" numbers (there seem to be a lot of those) and happily, this is not one of them. This is a quite substantial soundtrack and a worthy addition to one's Morricone collection, particularly if the listener is fond of the maestro's "groovy" late 60's/early 70's output."