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THE COWBOYS (1972) - NEW! 2018 Varese Deluxe Edition


Jay

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Absolutely boring, I just read the beginning when you are talking about the movie you saw, and the two others says they never saw it.

 

Is this a joke?

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No. It's perhaps an advantage, but a not a prerequisite to have seen the film when talking about soundtrack albums, I think. We do it here all the time.

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  • 3 months later...

New to this score so it's probably come up already, but does anyone else hear a prototype version of the "Leaving Home" theme from Superman in this? Not sure exactly the name of the theme from either score but it struck me upon the first listen. 

 

There's also something from the end of The Post which sounds very similar here too, though I don't have any clips to demonstrate. Anyone else know what I'm referring to? 

 

I'll give the score another listen and work out exactly where it is. Makes me wonder if JW was reviewing MM's expansion around the same time he was writing The Post, hence the incidental quotation.

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19 hours ago, crumbs said:

New to this score so it's probably come up already, but does anyone else hear a prototype version of the "Leaving Home" theme from Superman in this? Not sure exactly the name of the theme from either score but it struck me upon the first listen.

 

All the Americana in Superman (a lot of which was unavailable until the Blue Box) is very much in the vein of The Cowboys.

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  • 1 year later...

I was listening to this score today, probably the best Rydell/Williams collaboration, but I've never seen the movie.

 

So am I right to assume that this (0:00 to 0:13)

 

 

is the movie's main theme, this (0:23 to 0:52)

 

 

is a theme for the kids that befriend John Wayne, and this (3:43 to 4:10) is the theme for John Wayne's character?

 

 

I really like this final theme, which I'm assuming relates to Wayne. Very evocative!

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The film has some serious ethical issues. Stands in harsh contrast to Rydell's other "Americana" movies (whether period or contemporary), but the score lives its own life -- probably Williams' best western score. Feel free to read the 'conversation' review from a few months back, linked to a few posts up, where we briefly mention this. Otherwise, the film has great production values.

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1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

I was listening to this score today, probably the best Rydell/Williams collaboration, but I've never seen the movie.

 

So am I right to assume that this (0:00 to 0:13)

 

 

is the movie's main theme, this (0:23 to 0:52)

 

 

is a theme for the kids that befriend John Wayne, and this (3:43 to 4:10) is the theme for John Wayne's character?

 

 

I really like this final theme, which I'm assuming relates to Wayne. Very evocative!

 

I don't know these timestamps off the top of my head, but the liner notes explain the different themes very well 

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On 11/30/2018 at 12:33 AM, Marian Schedenig said:

All the Americana in Superman (a lot of which was unavailable until the Blue Box) is very much in the vein of The Cowboys.

 

A lot? Didn't the Rhino release have the complete score?

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3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

A lot? Didn't the Rhino release have the complete score?

 

Right. I probably meant that, or forgot that there was the Rhino between the OST and the Blue Box,

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  • 3 months later...
48 minutes ago, BrotherSound said:

The bass harmonica is the instrument that plays this melody. Cuíca isn’t a pitched instrument.

Huh. Somehow doesn't sound very harmonica-like to me, in the past I always assumed it was some sort of exotic woodwind. I did look up videos of the bass harmonica for research (of the cuíca too) and those all sounded like I expected.

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19 hours ago, Holko said:

3:06-7:18 is a long and satisfying mostly unique exploration of the Paternal theme, with Cowboys and Training making an appearance before the final statement. Almost like Wil's simple life with quiet beginnings, slowly climbing to what seems to be its peak, but still in the same old slower tempo and setting... then after that's achieved, these whippersnappers come in, at first unassuming then very much active, to give him one last jolt of energy and new life.

Extended this section with a new idea that came to me last night.

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  • 6 months later...

That was fast! Sucks for anyone who missed out, this is one of my favourite releases!

 

I'd never heard the score before buying this album, so it was like experiencing a totally new JW score. It's even sweeter knowing you're hearing the score in complete form, whereas with so many first-listen soundtrack experiences part of your brain is wondering which highlights he left off the album.

 

Hopefully Varese are working on some other catalog titles (please please please Eiger Sanction, Heidi, Reivers...)

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Bummer indeed for anyone who missed it. This one gets a lot of playtime in my collection. Fantastic themes, good sound for the era, a decent variety of material in the score...it's good stuff. I'd always held off on buying the OST used, in the hopes that it would get an expanded release, and I was thrilled when it happened.

 

I do wish Williams had pulled a Jaws and done a separate set of OST recordings arranged just for the album. It's fun to have both ways of enjoying a score, and as the Cowboys concert suite demonstrates, he still had plenty more he could have done with these themes. But oh well. I suppose I'll settle for "just" a great release of a great score. 😉

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Not really. There's classical recordings from the early 60s that sound better. But I guess the sound is good for a film score recording, considering the master elements often don't get the best storage conditions.

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So glad I got this release right away, such great sound for the early 1970s! 
 

I agree with one of the Facebook posters that once a title gets close to the end of its run they should announce it is low on stock but also limit to one per sale per address to prevent people from hoarding and scalping them later once it is “sold out”. 

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13 minutes ago, Datameister said:

For a film score from the early 70s, the expanded album sounds sure pretty good to my ears!

 

Sometimes it seems so random what sounds good and what doesn't.  I mean, sometimes you hear scores recorded in the 50s that sound *amazing* (The Big Country comes to mind).

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Combination of different budgets leading to different recording studios being used, different people having different levels of mastery of the tech available, and different studios vaulting elements in different ways (and how long they sit in said vault before a high res digital transfer)

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46 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Sometimes it seems so random what sounds good and what doesn't.  I mean, sometimes you hear scores recorded in the 50s that sound *amazing* (The Big Country comes to mind).

 

You must be thinking about the rerecording, because the original recording, even in the Quartet release, doesn't sound very good for its era. But then the first generation masters haven't survived either.

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Just now, Jurassic Shark said:

 

You must be thinking about the rerecording, because the original recording, even in the Quartet release, doesn't sound very good for its era. But then the first generation masters haven't survived either.

 

Man I think the Quartet sounds awesome

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Film scores used to be recorded and kept very dry because movies were always shown in big theaters that naturally made everything echo and sound large.


As theaters shrunk, recording techniques changed, and reverb began being added to the masters

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I think I just got the very last copy of this in the world. The U.K. website had one in stock so I picked it up. Never heard a note of this score but I’ve heard good things about it. 

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Just now, Bilbo said:

I think I just got the very last copy of this in the world. The U.K. website had one in stock so I picked it up. Never heard a note of this score but I’ve heard good things about it. 

 

It's a wonderful score, but in my opinion, the concert overture is even better and definitely essential Williams. So you'll still have to track down a copy of By Request.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

Film scores used to be recorded and kept very dry because movies were always shown in big theaters that naturally made everything echo and sound large.


As theaters shrunk, recording techniques changed, and reverb began being added to the masters

 

Even now, it seems to me like a lot of film mixes are pretty dry or close compared to the corresponding albums, where you get more room sound and/or artificial reverb. It certainly makes sense to my ear.

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Yea, there's no need to fiddle with the sound of the music when you send it to the team putting the final mix together because the overall film mix of music, dialogue, and sound effects will all be mixed together there.


For album use it makes sense to take the dry recording and tweak it for independent listening, but then we get into different composers and different masterers using wildly different amounts of reverb from project to project - and everyone having their own preferences about it

 

One of the things I like about session leaks is the completely un-messed-with original sound

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6 hours ago, Datameister said:

For a film score from the early 70s, the expanded album sounds sure pretty good to my ears!

Believe me, the Early seventies sounds just as good as today.

The only change in producing records is digital allows down mixing with no degradation.

Recording is recording is recording....

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