CD REVIEW - Joe! Cercati un Posto per Morire


Jpe! Cercati un Posto per Morire
Music by Gianni Ferrio
GDM Hillside Series GDM 4104
27 Tracks 64:34 mins

Unlike his score for the same year's El Desperado (reviewed yesterday), Gianni Ferrio's score for this 1968 western, starring Jeffrey Hunter, is a much more attractive and tuneful affair.
This disc not only reissues the old mono C.A.M. LP tracks, but, following these, also presents the full score in stereo, which makes for an interesting comparison. What it reveals is that the score tracks are made up of combinations of the pieces presented on the original album, so that some of them go through a variety of moods as would the action they support, whereas the LP tracks concentrate on making a more consistent listening experience, as was often the case at the time.
At the heart of the score are basically two principal themes, the first, heard initially in "Find a Place to Die" starts out with sad Spanish guitar before swelling to huge dramatic heights with orchestra and Nora Orlandi's choir, ending again with the guitar. The second theme, first heard in "El Chato (Prateria)," is a catchy, travelling harmonica theme (Franco De Gemini of course), which is then taken up by tumpet to close. Both these themes crop up in variations throughout the album and score tracks, the latter theme also being given voice in both Italian and English on the album by Jula De Palma. It also appears as a big and bold horns-lead, choir-enhanced galloper. A few tracks offer suspenseful music, some of it quite menacing, and there's another brief galloping, electric guitar-lead theme in "Galoppa Cavallo."
As if the album tracks weren't enjoyable enough, I found the score tracks to be even more engrossing, due to their variety and the longer playing time allowing for more development.
Plenty of colour stills and artwork from the film can be found in the accompanying 8-page booklet. To order your copy of this fine release, go to www.hillsidecd.co.uk.