CD REVIEW - Spara Gringo Spara
Spara Gringo Spara
Music by Sante M. Romitelli
GDM 2074 (Italy)
19 Tracks 61:49 mins
This is the longest of the three Italian Western scores recently released by GDM and also I'm afraid the least enjoyable.
C.A.M. originally released this 1968 score as Rainbow on LP and the 10 tracks from that album start this CD. Another 5 stereo tracks and 4 mono tracks are added to considerably expand the music available. Sometimes this is a good thing, and I have to say that most of the additional stereo tracks are among the best music on offer here, but overall this is a score where less is more.
Part of the problem lies in that the score can't seem to make up its mind whether to be serious or comical - maybe that was a similar problem with the film, I don't know.
The album starts off with a lively, Mexican-styled orchestral theme, which is then given a march-like treatment, with comical touches. The following tracks are a hotch-potch of styles, with funeral marches, repetitive and sometimes irritating pop grooves, and atonal suspense. "Galoppate" is slightly more successful, starting out at a quick march, developing a trot, before finishes in a full gallop. The actual main theme seems to appear as track 7 which, after a dramatic start, develops into an excellent genre effort. It does however end suspensely, slightly diminishing its impact. Not much of great worth follows to complete the original album tracks, and there's just far too much cheap-sounding electronic organ for my liking.
The success of the following stereo bonus tracks can be put down to the fact that three versions of the main theme feature, including an alternate take on Track 7, without the suspense, and a lighter, travelling version of the theme, but again with that cursed electronic organ taking the lead. It works though, nevertheless.
The mono bonus tracks are pretty uninteresting, with three largely suspenseful cues and a piano source track.
Spara Gringo Spara
Music by Sante M. Romitelli
GDM 2074 (Italy)
19 Tracks 61:49 mins
This is the longest of the three Italian Western scores recently released by GDM and also I'm afraid the least enjoyable.
C.A.M. originally released this 1968 score as Rainbow on LP and the 10 tracks from that album start this CD. Another 5 stereo tracks and 4 mono tracks are added to considerably expand the music available. Sometimes this is a good thing, and I have to say that most of the additional stereo tracks are among the best music on offer here, but overall this is a score where less is more.
Part of the problem lies in that the score can't seem to make up its mind whether to be serious or comical - maybe that was a similar problem with the film, I don't know.
The album starts off with a lively, Mexican-styled orchestral theme, which is then given a march-like treatment, with comical touches. The following tracks are a hotch-potch of styles, with funeral marches, repetitive and sometimes irritating pop grooves, and atonal suspense. "Galoppate" is slightly more successful, starting out at a quick march, developing a trot, before finishes in a full gallop. The actual main theme seems to appear as track 7 which, after a dramatic start, develops into an excellent genre effort. It does however end suspensely, slightly diminishing its impact. Not much of great worth follows to complete the original album tracks, and there's just far too much cheap-sounding electronic organ for my liking.
The success of the following stereo bonus tracks can be put down to the fact that three versions of the main theme feature, including an alternate take on Track 7, without the suspense, and a lighter, travelling version of the theme, but again with that cursed electronic organ taking the lead. It works though, nevertheless.
The mono bonus tracks are pretty uninteresting, with three largely suspenseful cues and a piano source track.
posted by jeffhall | 2:09 PM
2 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
"Excellent blog and thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts here".
I think that you a little harsh to this score. My favorite tracks are 4. Tema di Fidel:Beat e fuga and 11. Tema di Fidel (extended version). A serious drawback is that CD doesn't contain obligatory song for SW, in this case "I saw a rainbow in the sky...".
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