Good The Bad And The Ugly, The - Various Artists

Advantages: Morricone at his best and most original
Disadvantages: Apart from some incompleteness none

The "Main Theme" in itself is already something completely offbeat and highly original. It opens with a rhythmic thumping of a drum that is followed by the oft-parodied seven-note whistling motif on a soprano flute (representing Eastwood), arghilophone (representing Van Cleef) and grunting voices (representing Wallach). The second part of the theme (this one more forward riding than the first part) features the electric guitar and a male choir. From ...
...reprisal of the first part accenting the underlying rhythm and now presented by Morricone's experimental "native" human voices. This yields into a virtuostic dialogue with two trumpets and lightning like slashes of guitar (my favorite part I might add) after which the second part is reprised with even greater energy. After this the first part returns and is allowed to wind down to a conclusion. The reason why I have gone into such detail with this ... Read review

Advantages: Hugely original, perfectly suits the mood of the film
Disadvantages: perhaps a bit tough going without the images.

Probably the most famous theme tune to any western, the instantly recognisable title track is audacious and original. Who but Ennio Morricone could combine almost Monty Python like silly voices with twangy guitars, lush strings, strange flutes and a male voice choir to make a perfect accompaniment to the final and best of the Dollars trilogy. Director Sergio Leone's highly original visual style (be it sometimes over the top) demanded the same with ... Read review