Customer Reviews

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (Expanded)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Timed with the release of the special edition DVD of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," this soundtrack presents an expansion of Ennio Morricone's score with ten previously unavailable tracks and a running time of 55 minutes. The sound has also been excellently remastered, making a huge improvement over the poor quality of the old LP and CD. Any fan of the film or the music of Morricone will want to grab this right away.

A few cautions however: nowhere on the CD packaging or in the enclosed booklet is the listener informed that the new tracks are in MONO, not stereo (stereo masters do not exist for the new tracks). The mono sound quality is clear and well done, but it does clash significantly with the original stereo tracks. I don't think this should prevent anyone from purchasing this CD, but buyers should be aware that the sound varies tremendously between tracks. Also, the enclosed booklet contains no liner notes or information on the music. It does contain three spreads showing close-ups of the eyes of the main characters -- a cool design idea -- but the album producers missed a golden opportunity for presenting background data, restoration notes, and track-by-track commentary. A score of this historical importance certainly deserves this sort of treatment!

With this score, Morricone pushed to its limits his rough, weird style of Western music that he developed in his two previous Westerns for Sergio Leone. The famous "Main Title" sums up Morricone's approach perfectly: bizarre instruments, jagged changes in sound, and a thunderous tempo. This main theme appears throughout the score in many variations, depending on which member of the unholy trinity it is describing. The other tracks found on the old CD outline the other important themes: the slow `war theme' heard in multiple bugle calls in "The Strong"; the ethereal female vocal in "The Carriage of the Sprits"; the sprightly dance tempo of "Marcia," which later becomes a slow, grim lament with a wordless male chorus in "Marcia without Hope"; and the vocal piece "The Story of a Soldier," sung by a chorus of imprisoned confederates, and later made into the most touching piece on the album, "The Death of a Soldier." The score concludes with two incredible musical pieces. "The Ecstasy of Gold" is a swirling, gradually building piece dominated by a soaring female solo voice; it casts an incredible hypnotic spell to match the title -- this is true `ecstasy'. "The Trio" covers the tense showdown, and will make your heart pound out of control as the music crescendos with drums, Spanish trumpet, and guitars hammering away at each other.

Here's what you'll find on the new tracks.

"Sentenza" (the Italian name for the character Angel Eyes, played by Lee Van Cleef), "Fuga a Cavallo" (Escape on Horseback"), and "Inseguimento" ("Pursuit") utilize new different versions of the famous theme. "Sentenza" is eerie and played on electronic guitar and low woodwinds, while the other two versions are action-oriented. "Il Ponte di Corde" ("The Rope Bridge") features some of Morricone's most bizarre and comic orchestration. "La Missione San Antonio" is a rare moment of laid-back beauty in the score, using the theme heard in "The Story of a Soldier" as its base. "Padre Ramirez" is a sad and beautiful Spanish guitar lament, another bit of touching music amidst the musical ferocity (although the main theme explodes at the finale). "Il Treno Militare" ("The Military Train") returns to the "The Story of a Soldier" theme, but played slowly and with a martial drum beat underscoring it.

"Fine di Una Spia" ("End of a Spy") starts with the a soft version of the main theme, then switches over a version of "The Carriage of the Spirits." "Il Bandito Monco" ("The Bandit Monco") and "Due Contro Cinque" ("Two Against Five") are suspense pieces using heavy, punctuated percussion and only hints of any of the film's themes.

I hope that some music label will get around to re-mastering and expanding Morricone's greatest score, "Once Upon a Time in the West," with the same care done here!

First of all, this is a bad reissue of Morricone's classic score. Like the old saying goes, "You get what you pay for"--for eleven bucks I suppose it's not a bad deal. But the sound quality is rather poor. Plus it is missing some tracks from the superior release by GDM. This edition does not include the full version of "La Storia Di Un Soldato." This is the truncated version featured on the original American LP and CD release. The real version has a different introduction and is almost six minutes. To me, this song is one of Morricone's greatest pieces combining haunting melodies, beautiful vocals, and insightful lyrics by Tommie Connor. Its absence on this so-called special expanded edition really discourages any reason to purchase it. Also, the last track on the album is shorter than the Italian release by three minutes. The packaging of this disc is really lame as well. I know this is a minor criticism but a little more thought could have been put in the album's graphics and booklet. I guess many record companies are under the impression that less means more. Well, for a magnificent soundtrack by the maestro Morricone more is better. So, I suggest skipping this "expanded-lite" edition and getting the real thing. It can be found on Amazon under the title "Il Buno, Il Brutto, and Il Cattivo." It will cost more, but if you love the music of Morricone as much as I do, you won't mind paying the extra money. Also you can find it on Footlight.com and Arksquare.com. Happy listening.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is one of, if not the greatest score ever composed for a film. But this new "expanded" and enhanced CD is a travesty.

It's pretty unbelievable that this "expanded" version still contains the 5-minute version of "Il Triello" (The Trio) that cuts off abruptly and without any proper buildup or denouement at the trumpet fanfare. And considering that "Il Triello" is one of the defining pieces in the entire score, and represents perhaps THE defining moment in the movie, it's also unacceptable.

My advice is simple: Skip over this one and order the Italian import version, which is easily available from Amazon. It's titled under the movie's Italian title, "Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo." It may cost more, but it is well worth it almost for the complete "Il Triello" alone, as well as the complete 6-minute "Story of a Soldier."

Get the import "Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo", by GDM. The sound quality is ten fold better. The expanded version does not do Morricone's talent any justice. And it still has the abridged version of "The Trio".

A bit off topic, I found the same problem with Ikura Ifukube. Again a brilliant composer (known for Godzilla), again short changed by American released CD's. Always go for the import it seems.

This is a great soundtrack, but with this release you're missing much of it, and some songs are shortened. Get the real thing: Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo [IMPORT] ASIN: B0006ICFJA.

One of the problems with listening to soundtracks, especially from movies that you are pretty familar with, is that music seems irrevocably tied with the visual imagery of the film. And while this is also true in this case-- the haunting, and by now culturally cliche motif at the heart of the film-- taking the visual away from the music lets you appreciate the music on its own. The "dessert" segment, which in the movie is merely backround, has a life and shape of it's own. With the exception of the oveture and final peice (the most familar to a movie goer) the rest of the music, taken out of the context of the film, has a vibrant, spirited life of its own.

You can listen to this for its own sake--and should.

If THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, the final film in director Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy, is the quintessential spaghetti western, then it's only fair and proper that the score that Leone's good friend and partner Ennio Morricone composed for this wildly flamboyant 1967 opus should be the quintessential spaghetti western soundtrack. The partnership between these two men was begun, of course, in 1964 on A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS and in 1965 on FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (both of which hit U.S. shores during 1967), and it would culminate in 1969 with ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.

But by any stretch of the imagination, the score that Morricone composed and conducted for THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY is one of the most imaginitive and intense scores composed for ANY movie, western or otherwise. Its familiar theme is so unmistakable and so pulse pounding; and what seems to have escaped quite a few people is how a lot of this music happens to be in minor keys, emphasizing the broiling landscape of this movie's Civil War setting, and the quest that the three main characters played by Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef embark upon. The clinchers are "The Ecstasy Of Gold" and, last but by no means least, "Trio", heard during the incredibly suspenseful showdown in the cemetary at the climax of the film.

Along with two other prominent director/composer partnerships (Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann; Steven Spielberg and John Williams), the partnership between Leone and Morricone yielded great dividends, both in commercial and in artistic terms. THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY is solid proof of how well this partnership worked, and how it stayed together for a very long time.

"The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" soundtrack at last sounds like the music most remembered from the film. The earlier soundtrack was more inspired by the Civil War segments than from the Spaghetti Western genre that this film so musically represents. This time they got it right.

Ennio Morricone is the undisputed champion of Western scores--and surely, "The Good, the Bad & the Ugly" is not only the most thoroughly enjoyable score from the 'Man With No Name' Trilogy, but a true masterpiece of cinematic scoring. One can easily trace Morricone's 'learning curve' from "A Fistful of Dollars" through "For A Few Dollars More" (both soundtracks contain their gems) but "The Good, the Bad & the Ugly" score marks the noted pinnacle in unity of conception, power of theme and, most notably; longevity. Who can forget Allesandro Allesandroni's (yes, that's his name, the whistling virtuoso [and guitarist] who has made unmistakable many of Morricone's finest pieces) plaintive contribution, marking the unforgettable main theme, which is echoed in various forms throughout the score? Yet, thorough listening of this beautifully remastered recording reveals a number of more obscure, simply wonderful pieces that have been the inspiration for many powerful cinematic melodic themes throughout the past 35 years! The majesty of 'Il Forte', the beauty of 'Padre Ramirez' and the joined themes of 'Fine Di Una Spia' reflect the depth of this score--pieces from which have been heard outright in other famous soundtracks. In summary, all are familiar with the classic main theme (Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo) but this score has an intensity and thorough expression of Morricone's considerable talent's that make it the complete package - a soundtrack that one will be able to enjoy forever.

Some other reviewers find this Expanded Edition of THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY SOUNDTRACK to be inferior to a certain imported version. Whether that is true or not, I don't know; but I do know that I thoroughly enjoy this Expanded Edition CD!

I am not a hardcore audiophile or soundtrack collector, but I do enjoy a good movie soundtrack on CD, as much as the next guy. I like owning this CD.

There are so many "bonus" songs on this CD that it is hard to imagine how they could sell this album WITHOUT all the extra songs, which would have made it very brief, indeed. This Expanded Edition has 21 songs, and is 54 minutes long, released in 2004 by Capitol Records and MGM.

All the music and arrangements are cool. If anything, I would have to remark that the famous theme melody reappears in different variations a bit too often. But that is not too bad, considering that this is one of the most macho-man theme songs ever!

The CD booklet is very sparse, but very funny and original, in my opinion. There is not much text to read or look at, just a few amusing photos. You will either love it or hate it, perhaps. I think it is one of the coolest CD booklets that I have ever seen.