Ennio Morricone's beautiful score to one of the beautifully shot films of the 70s, or all time, really – Terrence Malick's legendary Days Of Heaven! It's gorgeous stuff, from Morricone's haunting main theme and his more classically enthralling sounds, as well as the rootsy folk guitar by Leo Kottke and and equally swampy fiddle dance number by Doug Kershaw. LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark record – not only in the history of the western, but in that of Ennio Morricone! The soundtrack, written for this hit Clint Eastwood spaghetti western, is everything you'd want in a 60s western – driving orchestral passages, twanging guitar parts, and spooky little bits that isolate the mood of a scene nicely. The work's an instant classic, and is still one of Morricone's strongest western soundtracks – even if it is one of the most familiar. Titles include "Without Pity", "Almost Dead", "Square Dance", "The Chase", and the extended "Fistful Of Dollars" suite, which takes up all of side two. LP, Vinyl record album

Very cool – an early 80s album of European electronics based around the songs of Ennio Morricone – all instrumental, from that time when the Italian club scene was really tripping out on cosmos-styled grooves! Titles include "The Return", "Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion", "Like Maddalena", "My Name Is Nobody", "Dawn Of The 5th Day", "March In A", and "Good Luck Jack". (Sound Library, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

A cool album – featuring one side of the score to A Fistful Of Dollars and one side of the soundtrack of For A Few Dollars More! The songs are short, but tense – and mix plodding solo instrumentation with some sparer dramatic moments, creating a sublime tension that's unsurpassed in the realm of western scoring! Titles include "A Fistful Of Dollars", "Almost Dead", "The Chase", "The Result", "Without Pity", "Sixty Seconds To What?", "The Watcher Watched", "Vice Of Killing", "The Showdown", "Goodbye Colonel" and "For A Few Dollars More". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the first big moments of global fame for the legendary Ennio Morricone – and a record that still stands as one of his landmark albums all these many years later! The set's famous for its haunting theme – that "wah-wah-wah" melody that led to countless covers and samples over the years – but the whole thing's a lot more complex than just that tune – with lots of the same sense of space and brooding that Morricone brought to his music for Once Upon A Time In The West – with careful use of key instruments on a track by track basis, and these floating lines that almost signaled a whole new way of recording music for a film soundtrack. And yes, there's certainly key western elements like guitar or harmonica – but maybe more striking are all the points at which these obvious tropes disappear – to leave us with those really unique Morricone sounds that go way beyond music! Titles include "The Sundown", "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly", "Marcia", "The Desert", "The Strong", and "The Trio". LP, Vinyl record album

A huge international hit for Morricone – quite a surprise, given the warmth and whimsy in the music – which is a real change from some of the maestro's darker moments of the 70s! The tunes often use light electric instrumentation in these really nice ways – playful, and certainly comedic – but with these occasional deeper touches that are definitely Morricone, too – especially in some of the slower moments that have this great interplay between woodwinds and keyboards. One of these is the track "L'Onorevole Famiglia", worth the price of the album alone! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A nice collection of 70s work on the Cinevox label – with work by Goblin for the film Profondo Rosso, Ennio Morricone from La Donna Della Domenica, Bixio Frizzi Tempera from Vai Gorilla, Stelvio Cipriani from Due Cuori Una Cappella, and Gianfranco Plenizio from Amici Mie. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A lesser-known soundtrack from Ennio Morricone – but one of his grooviest moments of the late 60s! The score is a great blend of heavy and light – and blends together that wonderful floating Morricone style with some heavier, fuzzier tunes that show the late 60s period of the film – all making for a really fleshed-out sound, of the sort that you're usually likely to hear in some of Morricone's classics! The album includes one great number that's got an extended sitar solo, and a few more with hard-edged male vocals by Patrick Samson that almost feel like late 60s French pop! Titles include "Gloria", "Sytar", "Una Voce Allo Specchio", "Tell Me Tell Me", "Sospendi Il Tempo", "In Tre Quarti", "Laila Laila", and "Dinamica Per 5 + 1". LP, Vinyl record album

A great Morricone soundtrack for a Jean-Paul Belmondo thriller – a score that starts out spare and brooding, then builds nicely as things move on – with lots of cool bottom-end sounds that make the whole thing really move up from the depths! Some tunes echo the sweeter side of Morricone, while others are a bit more brooding – and instrumentation includes some of the same offbeat piano you'd hear in The Burglars, plus light guitar, weird-tuned horns, and other nice bits that are sometimes abstracted beyond recognition! Titles include "Consideration Sur Un Homicide", "Paris Secret", "Defense De Stationner" and "Mannequins". LP, Vinyl record album

A western soundtrack, but an unusual one – filled with highly percussive numbers that echo the "Navajo Joe" theme – and which step out with a proud, dramatic feel that's also got some darker echoes! There's a really weird quality to some of the best numbers – which use voices in a way that's probably supposed to echo with Native American identity, but which has more of an Omen feel overall – and some of the more orchestral passages also have really great dark-tuned string parts, almost in an atonal Italian 70s mode. But this is no surprise when you realize that Leo Nichols is actually Ennio Morricone working under another name – and had penned this score during his formative 60s yers! Titles include "Peyote Saloon", "To Esperanza", "But Joe Say No", "Raw Hides & Dead Hides", "Healing The Wound", and "Goodbye To Brother Jeffery". LP, Vinyl record album

A later soundtrack in the legendary pairing of composer Nino Rota and director Federico Fellini – and a set that almost seems to have Rota picking up a few tips from his 70s contemporaries on the Italian scene! The music here is often more spare than before, and sometimes uses a key instrumental element – like a keyboard or guitar part, delivered with a languid energy that recalls work by Ennio Morricone or Stelvio Cipriani, mixed with a few other passages that have some more Rota-like melody emerging into the mix. There's an almost dream-like quality to the whole record, making it one of Nino's most striking from the 70s – and titles include "L'Uccello Magico", "Canto Della Buranella", "The Great Mouna", "Ricordo Di Henriette", "O Venezia Venaga Venusia", and "La Poupee Automate". LP, Vinyl record album