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BSXDG0063

Includes Digital Booklet.

BuySoundtrax Digital presents a the first in a series of classic Western movie themes. These collections offer a provocative cross-section of Western film music from the 1950s to the current day.

Tracklist:

1. Main Title (from "THE BIG COUNTRY” - 1958)

Composer: Jerome Moross, Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra, conductor Morton Gould

THE BIG COUNTRY starred Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, and Carroll Baker in a sprawling saga of the 1880s. A New England sea captain (Peck) arrives at his fiancée's sprawling Texas ranch, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land. Jerome Moross’ Oscar-winning musical score for THE BIG COUNTRY opens with a cyclonic swirling arpeggio of violins under a triumphant heraldic array of trumpets, spreading into pounding timpani and an array of horns before settling into a harmonic melody for strings that captures the essence of both the Western landscape and the spirit of the people who have settled on the land.

2. Love Theme (From “THE MISSOURI BREAKS” - 1976)
Composer: John Williams, Performed by pianist Dan Redfeld

In this Western drama, a band of wanna-be horse rustlers and train robbers (led by Jack Nicholson) use their guns to launch a revenge plot against land baron Braxton (John McLiam) and his sociopathic enforcer (Marlon Brando), with dangerous complications; meanwhile Nicholson’s character also begins a romance with Braxton’s outspoken daughter (Kathleen Lloyd). Williams’ score overall is an attractively quirky score for a quirky movie, but his love theme, played on an acoustic guitar and harmonica, is enticingly melodic and fetching.

3.) Main Title (From “WINDWALKER” - 1980)
Composed by: Merrill Jenson, Performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra

In WINDWALKER, an aged Cheyenne patriarch helps his kin to fight off a raiding party of rival Crow warriors, as he tells his grandchildren the story of their family. Best known for scoring historical documentary films, composer Merrill Jenson avoided the “traditional Hollywood Indian” score in favor of a soundtrack imbuing traditional tribal songs and instruments, while expressing the dignity of the Cheyenne through his Main Title.

4. The Green Leaves Of Summer (From "The Alamo")

Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin and Paul Francis Webster. Performed by Gregg Nestor and Tommy Morgan

John Wayne directed this blockbuster 1960 extravaganza retelling the legendary true story of a small band of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from overthrowing the new Republic of Texas. This song, sung on the soundtrack by the then-popular folk group The Brothers Four, is a nostalgic reminiscence of its narrator’s tranquil youth, is heard on the night before the final Battle as the defenders of the Alamo reminisce on their lives.

5. Virtually Western Reality (From “TIMEMASTER”)
Composed & performed by: Harry Manfredini

James Glickenhaus’s 1995 film is a time-travel adventure with a couple of extended Western sequences. A young boy named Jesse turns out to be Earth’s last line of defense against a group of alien “collectors” that abduct people as pawns in life-or-death virtual reality games. FRIDAY THE 13^TH maestro Harry Manfredini earns his Stetson for this flavorful scene early in the film with a full gallop of orchestral action energy.

6.) Main Title (From “YOUNG GUNS 2”)
Composer: Alan Silvestri. Artist: Brandon Verrett

In this 1990 sequel to 1988’s YOUNG GUNS, Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez), Doc (Kiefer Sutherland) and Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips) and their associates are pursued by federal agents hell-bent on bringing them to justice, who ultimately enlist reformed outlaw Pat Garrett (William Petersen) to take down the elusive gunslingers. Alan Silvestri, having just completed scoring the Western adventure of BACK TO THE FUTURE III, launched straight into YOUNG GUNS II, engaging it with exciting action and plenty of dramatic muscle and musical heft.

7.) Main Titles (From "NO NAME & DYNAMITE”)
Composed & performed by: Chuck Cirino

With 2022’s NO NAME & DYNAMITE, the line between the good guys and the bad guys blurs as ruthless bounty hunters No Name and Dynamite Davenport shoot their way through the Wild West, collecting rewards and making more enemies than friends. Composer and electronic music whiz Chuck Cirino embraces a bona-fide Spaghetti Western vibe with a rousing score that’s a homage to Morricone and the dusty landscapes of Almería, Spain where dozens of Italian Westerns were created.

8.) Main Title (from "HANNIE CAULDER”)
Composed & performed by: Ken Thorne

Raquel Welch wears a sarape, a six-gun, and little else in this appealing Western with a nod to the Western All’Italiana tradition. After being gang raped and her husband murdered, Hannie Caulder (Welch) hires a bounty hunter (Robert Culp) to instruct her in the use of a gun so she can get her revenge on the outlaws responsible. The music score by Ken Thorne, noted British composer, provided a splendid Western score with a mix of Americana and Italian Western traditions.

9.) Main Title (From “THE MEN FROM SHILOH”)
Composer: Ennio Morricone. Performed by: Chuck Cirino

THE MEN FROM SHILOH was the title of television’s long-running Western series, THE VIRGINIAN, in its final year, running from 1962 to 1971. Embracing more of an Italian Western sensibility in the show’s final season, NBC hired none other than Ennio Morricone to provide a new orchestral title theme, featuring ocarina, piano, harmonica, fiddle, female vocalise, electric guitar, and the occasional whiplash.

10.) Silent Farewell/The Ride (From "GUNFIGHTER’S MOON”)

Composed by: Lee Holdridge. Performed by the American Film Symphony Orchestra

This 1995 American Western film was directed by Larry Ferguson. A former lover (Kay Lenz) calls aged gunslinger Frank Morgan (Lance Henriksen) to help her sheriff husband (David McIlwraith) prevent a jailbreak by gunmen out to free his condemned prisoner. Composer Lee Holdridge, facing a small budget, created a rousing melodic score using a small orchestra, exotic percussion, and electronic colors to create a gloomy, detached element which fit the movie’s atmosphere.

11.) Piano Suite (From “THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER”)
Composer: Bruce Rowland. Performed by Mark Northam

With this 1982 adventure movie, Australian composer Bruce Rowland quickly became one of his country’s most celebrated film composers. Based on the Banjo Paterson poem of the same title, in 1880s Australia young Jim Craig (Tom Burlinson) takes a job at the cattle ranch owned by Harrison (Kirk Douglas) after his father dies, where he is forced to become a man, while seeking romance with Harrison’s daughter Jessica (Sigrid Thornton). This suite of music from the film includes Rowland’s main themes: from the stirring eloquence of the title sequence, the delicate pianistic Jessica’s Theme, and the evocative Mountain theme.

12.) Redemption of the Damned/Finale
(From “SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT”)
Composed by: Richard Stone

Performed by the Graunke Symphony

This 1984 comedy-horror-Western depicts a lonely American town which has become a haven where reclusive vampires lounge, and two factions of vamps clash while deciding whether or not to commence the slurping of human veins. Richard Stone’s orchestral score for SUNDOWN benefits from its deference to the musical styles of both American and Italian Western film music.