Search - Various Artists :: Greatest Western Themes

Not Original, Not Art, and Certainly No Bargain

cbosdet@lexicorps.com | Southern California | 11/07/1998

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This compilation of "cover" movie themes -- they are not the original recordings -- provides the basic melody for each title and might serve some listeners well as background noise. That's the best one can say, leaving me to wonder why "The Greatest Western Themes" was recorded at all; it certainly wasn't for the sake of art. Generally, the tracks on this CD are so bad they don't even work as parodies of the original motion picture scores. But if they compare poorly to the originals, do they at least stand well on their own? Not to my ears. These arrangements seem to be an exercise of going through the motions, motions so thoroughly anemic, so emotionally lifeless as to remind us -- though unwittingly -- why we listen to music in the first place. For instance, the "spaghetti western" tracks on this CD ("A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More," and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly") are about on a par with those recorded decades ago by Hugo Montenegro -- except Montenegro at least infused Ennio Morricone's legendary original scores with his own style, even as he sucked the life right out of them. No such originality adorns "The Greatest Western Themes," but that's the least of its problems."

Not the Original themes

cbosdet@lexicorps.com | 06/29/1998

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This would have been a lot better had the artist tried to more closely to equal the original takes. Bonanza was the worst selection and the Good, The Bad, & the Ugly was just as bad. Had the artist halfway tried to match Hugo Montenegro original artist selection of the good the bad & the ugly, it would have made it a better disc."