Various Artists - Once Upon a Time in the West [RCA]

After deconstructing the classic American Western by way of The Good, the Bad & the Ugly and A Fistful of Dollars, director Sergio Leone distilled his intentions with 1968's Once Upon a Time in the West, arguably a milestone for both Leone and his musical cohort, Ennio Morricone. For his part, Morricone framed Leone's meditative camera work and mythic narrative with a mix of hauntingly spacious pieces and reconfigured snatches of old-timey tunes. Just within the stretch of the first four pieces here, Morricone evokes the endless expanse of the West with a Copland-esque aria (the main title theme), weaves some twisted grit into the showdown theme with loads of guitar fuzz ("As a Judgment"), ingeniously combines whistling and a clippity-clop rhythm for a respite piece ("Farewell to Cheyenne"), and conjures the surreal end of the cowboy mythos via a wonderfully disjointed serial-style number ("The Transgression"). And whether sounding upbeat or stark, Morricone informs it all with the dry and windswept vacancy of the West. Beautiful and stunning. ~ Stephen Cook, All Music Guide

Name Credits Alessandroni Whistle (Human) Alex Alessandroni Whistle (Human), Whistle (Instrument) Chick Crumpacker Producer, Digital Producer Dick Baxter Digital Engineer Don Wardell Coordination, Series Coordinator Edda Vocals Ennio Morricone Conductor, Composer Franco DeGemini Harmonica Fred Binkley Liner Notes Modern Singers of Allessandroni ?, Vocals