Western Scores

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Recently I have been doing a bit of discovering on the western front with Bruce Broughton's Silverado and Tombstone and I was wondering what scores are your favourites. I am not very familiar with a lot of famous western scores, so I was hoping you could recommend me some. I especially like some fun western music, such as:

- Main Title from "How the West Was Won"

- Theme from "Lonesome Dove"

- Night Mares from "Lonesome Dove"

- Main Title from "Quigley Down Under"

- Marston's Attack from "Quigley Down Under"

- The Fire from "Quigley Down Under"

- The Attack from "Quigley Down Under"

- Main Title from "Silverado"

- End Title from "Silverado"

- Looking at Heaven from "Tombstone"

- Main Title from "Wyatt Earp"

- The Wagon Chase from "Wyatt Earp"

- Ambush from "Bad Girls"

- Overture from "The Cowboys"

Also what western movies can you recommend? I don't remember seeing many and the ones I did see, I can hardly remember either. Which are the ones worth checking out if you like some fun western movies?

[Quintus 5,399]

The Good The Bad and The Ugly by a country mile. That score is as iconic as anything Williams has ever done, even Star Wars. Yep. 'Ecstasy Of Gold' alone is one of the finest cues ever written.

I also enjoy the obvious ones like The Magnificent Seven and Big Country, but a lesser known, yet good score is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Check out the main theme for what sounds a lot like the Superman fanfare

Oh and Back To The Future III

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

There's all those old Goldsmith westerns, of course (of which I only know a few so far). And don't forget the Bernsteins. The Magnificent Seven is a classic.

The Cowboys is certainly one of my favourites. But if I have to pick a single score, I'd probably go with Bernstein's outstanding The Hallelujah Trail (although that's certainly not a "pure" western score).

Edit: How could I (though briefly) forget about the Morricones? Strike my above favourite, I can't choose. GBU is certainly a milestone.

[crocodile 8,017]

Far and Away turns into a western in its latter part. I love how in in track 7 Irish music literally morphs into a western music. Great moment.

Karol

[indy4 155]

The only mentioned in the poll that I own is The Cowboys, a magnificent score.

[fommes 153]

From the scores you listed, Tombstone.

[Maglorfin 196]

In the poll, I voted for Wyatt Earp, which has a great (and IMHO overlooked) score (and I'm really annoyed that it's been OoP for years ). Otherwise, some of my other favourites are The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Magnificent Seven, The Cowboys and Dances With Wolves, if it can also be called a western score.

[Quintus 5,399]

I think it can and yes, it is a lush score, one of Barry's best.

[Vaderbait1 1]

I'm not familiar with too many Western scores, because I generally don't watch Westerns, but Tombstone is by far the best on there.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

I'd say there's a noticeable Morricone absence from this poll.

My favourite is Once Upon a Time in the West - that theme is expansive, beautiful and just plain perfect, and the rest of the score defines the genre for me. Stunning.

[Quintus 5,399]

Ah, Jill's Theme is one of the most achingly beautiful melodies ever written, anywhere. Only Morricone could compose something so pure.

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Well, I'm 100% unfamiliar with Morricone, so that's why it's not in the poll. But I'll try to check out some of his stuff.

[GoldsmithFanatic2000+ 0]

I'd say there's a noticeable Morricone absence from this poll.

My favourite is Once Upon a Time in the West - that theme is expansive, beautiful and just plain perfect, and the rest of the score defines the genre for me. Stunning.

Once Upon a Time in the West is a film along with its score I consider to be a great achievement, and the very best to have come from the genre.

A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly all following suit. I'm an avid collector of all things Spaghetti Western, there was just so much great music, entertainment and stunning cinematography to come from the period. Great stuff.

Well, I'm 100% unfamiliar with Morricone, so that's why it's not in the poll. But I'll try to check out some of his stuff.

Shame on you.

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Ouch.

And how about those famous Jerry Goldsmith western scores? Are there any in there that contain some fun material like Bad Girls or sound somewhat like the other westerns in the poll?

[GoldsmithFanatic2000+ 0]

And how about those famous Jerry Goldsmith western scores? Are there any in there that contain some fun material like Bad Girls or sound somewhat like the other westerns in the poll?

Wild Rovers is my favourite western score by Goldsmith. Bad Girls is decent, but the former and quite a few others by him are miles better.

[publicist 4,643]

Well, I'm 100% unfamiliar with Morricone, so that's why it's not in the poll. But I'll try to check out some of his stuff.

It's not just Morricone, those italians produced great western stuff in quantities not countable in the 60s. Nicolai, Fidenco, Micalizzi (the 'Trinity'-stuff is friggin brilliant)...but that's more of an european thing, i guess.

[GoldsmithFanatic2000+ 0]

American Westerns = John Wayne = Gary Cooper = Spaghetti Westerns = Clint Eastwood = :cool: Lee Van Cleef =

[Red 75]

I voted for Tombstone.

Can The Last of the Mohicans be considered a western?

[Omen II 1,235]

Going back a bit, Dimitri Tiomkin's Red River is magnificent (possibly his finest score?), as is Victor Young's score for Shane. The former is available quite cheap on Naxos, the latter is in desperate need of a complete re-recording (although there is a nice suite available on the Koch label).

Click here to watch the ending of Shane (contains SPOILERS if you have not seen the movie). Listen to that great music from about 6 minutes onwards. It's a great film too, of course.

[Quintus 5,399]

Well, I'm 100% unfamiliar with Morricone, so that's why it's not in the poll. But I'll try to check out some of his stuff.

And you should start right here.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Once Upon A Time In The West. Nothing beats it, nothing ever will.

Followed by The Man With No Name trilogy.

Then probably Two Mules For Sister Sara. Pretty much every Morricone western is the greatest.

[Ollie 1,059]

An impressive list to choose from.

As far as Goldsmith goes I did a poll awhile back on his Westerns. So many good ones to choose from; The Wild Rovers, Take A Hard Ride, Rio Conchos, Rio Lobo, Stagecoach, 100 Rifles... to name a few.

http://jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14077&hl=

Also:

Williams' The Missouri Breaks and The Man who Love Cat Dancing

Barry's Monte Walsh

Bernstein's The Commancheros

The Big Country by Jerome Moross

The Quick and The Dead by Alan Silvestri

[Vaderbait1 1]

Whoever bashed John Wayne needs to leave this thread immediately. The guy is much more of a legend than Clint "I only have one expression" Eastwood.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Clint is better than John Wayne. Just watch Unforgiven.

[GoldsmithFanatic2000+ 0]

Whoever bashed John Wayne needs to leave this thread immediately. The guy is much more of a legend than Clint "I only have one expression" Eastwood.

Not going anywhere Jack.

I've never found John Wayne to be anything special, nor his films, and I've pretty much seen them all.

[Ollie 1,059]

Sorry, I love Eastwood but don't mess with the Duke.

John Wayne is every bit the western icon and more than Eastwood ever was.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I never liked John Wayne, or those type of Westerns. Spaghetti westerns are the only type for me.

[GoldsmithFanatic2000+ 0]

John Wayne is every bit the western icon and more than Eastwood ever was.

Western icon, okay. I'm not going to debate that. I still think Eastwood outclassed him on every level, the same goes for Van Cleef who I always thought was much better than Eastwood and I still think Wayne was, and still is hugely overrated when all is said and done. If you and others happen to disagree, that's not my prerogative.

[Quintus 5,399]

I never liked John Wayne, or those type of Westerns. Spaghetti westerns are the only type for me.

I get the impression you haven't really seen many of the American westerns. You seem blinkered on the subject to be honest. How about you start with Rio Bravo? It's a really fun and entertaining 'buddy' western. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is as heavyweight as they come and also features James Stewart. John Wayne is class in both films.

You shouldn't be so quick to criticise something you have limited, or no experience of. Just a thought.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I seem blinkered? All I said was I don't like John Wayne. How does that give off the impression that I know nothing about the matter? I like spaghetti westerns, as well as some modern westerns such as Open Range and 3:10 To Yuma.

[Quintus 5,399]

You said, "I never liked John Wayne, or those type of Westerns. Spaghetti westerns are the only type for me."

Sorry, but that read exactly as you you wrote it. Anyway never mind.

[pixie_twinkle 48]

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Clearly!

[Morlock 11]

My favorite 'classical western' score is easily The Big Country

[Wojo 2,453]

I don't think I can vote in this poll. It only seems to feature westerns from the past twenty years, with an obligatory John Williams score as the only outlier being from the early 70s. I don't think this list comes close to the scores of the great westerns of the genre's heyday.

The only classic western score I've got is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, my clear favorite.

I enjoyed

onscreen, but I've got to hold out so I have something to ask for for my birthday...

[Pieter Boelen 740]

I don't think I can vote in this poll. It only seems to feature westerns from the past twenty years, with an obligatory John Williams score as the only outlier being from the early 70s. I don't think this list comes close to the scores of the great westerns of the genre's heyday.

My apologies for leaving so many classics out; the ones in the poll are the only ones I am somewhat familiar with. I'm only just now beginning to discover the older ones. You can always vote for "Other".

[Wojo 2,453]

And my apologies for being a prick about it.

I came back in and voted Other.

I also enjoy Clint Bajakian's score to Outlaws. It's a Morricone knock-off just like his Dark Forces score is a big Williams hybrid, but both are quite enjoyable scores. Too bad I'm too lazy to build a good Win98 legacy box so I can play Outlaws with the cinematics and score intact.

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Of the classic western scores, are there some re-recordings available? For example the music to The Magnificent Seven is definitly very good, but I'm far from being impressed by the sound quality.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

For Mag7, there's a terrific re-recording conducted by Sedares (Bernstein was involved in the score reconstruction). It also contains an outstanding choral suite from The Hallelujah Trail.

[Ollie 1,059]

You might be lucky enough to find Bernstein's own re-recording of the score, produced by Robert Townson of Varese, that was pulled for some supposed legal issues. It was released in 1999 on RCA and can be found for a reasonable price on eBay every now and then..

It's about 5 minutes shorter than the original score

[tjguitar 0]

For Mag7, there's a terrific re-recording conducted by Sedares (Bernstein was involved in the score reconstruction). It also contains an outstanding choral suite from The Hallelujah Trail.

I was very underwhelmed by that recording (or perhaps the score in general)

I was much more pelased with True Grit (on Tadlow)

[Pieter Boelen 740]

I found two re-recordings that might or might not be the same. One says "Koch", the other says "RCA". The Koch one does have the suite for the "Hallelujah Trail". Does anyone know if they are the same or which one is better?

Edit: Will you look at that? A nice thorough explanation. I still don't know which one's really the best though.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

Koch is the Sedares.

[David Coscina 3]

Fumio Hayasaka's Seven Samurai and Ikuma Dan's Samurai Trilogy are both awesome scores that are very western sounding to me. Love 'em.

[TownerFan 4,983]

For Mag7, there's a terrific re-recording conducted by Sedares (Bernstein was involved in the score reconstruction). It also contains an outstanding choral suite from The Hallelujah Trail.

That's a terrific recording indeed, performed with great gusto by Sedares and the Phoenix Symphony. The original film recording is of course of great historic importance and absolutely fundamental for archival reasons... but when I want to enjoy The Magnificent Seven I always put the Koch recording in my CD player.