Western Film Themes: Essential Album Original Soundtrack

Back in the 1950s and 1960s when most westerns were made, movies were just movies. They weren't released with simultaneous sound tracks, fast food meal deals, and action figures as movies are today. Thus, much of the original music was never released as a soundtrack, and was simply not available for purchase.The City of Prague Philharmonic does a very good job of capturing the original sound from the films. Trumpets, French Horns, and soaring strings are what make for the classic Western genre sound (when we're not down in Old Mexico along the Rio Grande with the Mariachis). You find all of that here, along with the Indian drums, chants, and occasional electric guitars.Least like the original is The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly theme. Who knows how the original wah-wahs and crow calls were made, and they just don't quite ring true to my ears in this recording. Still, this is a quibble to the overall excellent rendition in the other 39 songs.If you love western music themes, you can't go wrong with these 40 pieces at under 50-cents each.

This double cd is a selection of tunes from other cds on western film themes by the ubiquitous City of Prague Philharmonic. The existing collections ("The Wild West"-the essential western film music collection and "Way Out West"-the essential western film music collection 2) available in the past in 2 separate box cd set (2 each with a total of 76 themes 19/cd)are now available in on 4 cd box set. This present one is a condensed version of the latter with 2 cds and 40 themes (20/cd). Good music but having the old one no point looking at this one. The issue is that the name of the City of Prague Philharmonic is skilfully not mentioned on the cover to fool people as in my case. Not a fraud perhaps but quite close I think. At any rate the music is excellent.

If you like the scores for western films or TV shows, you will love this collection. They sound just the way you remember them, and the City of Prague Philharmonic do a terrific job. It's a large collection, and you may not necessarily like each of the cuts. Beware, though: There are many great ones, and some of them will get stuck roaming around in your brain!

Who don't like a good Western movie. The theme songs go a long way to make the movies work. Well worth buying and enjoying.

Pretty much all my favorite western TV and movie themes but lacks Rawhide to be complete - other wise OK and worth the $$$.

I love the amount of music on this CD. Some of the songs were not quite what I was looking for, but overall, it is a great CD of western movie themes.

This is a very good album. I picked it up last weekend. There are 2 CDs in this album. I really liked some of the performances even better than previous releases. The Comancheros, The Scalphunters, For A Few Dollars More, Hang 'em High and Duck,You Sucker all sound fantastic. The Big Country, Villa Rides and High Caparral ara also very good. For the price you get a lot of good Western music from movies and TV.

Have no review as it was a Christmas gift

I am a 74year old pensioner and these tunes bring back good memories,

Very good.

40 Westernmelodien auf Klassik gemacht, verteilt auf 2 CDs in hervorragendem Sound. Hier sollten alle Klassik sowie Western Fans zuschlagen.Auch wenn es keine Originalaufnahmen sind, tut es dem Hörgenuss keinen Abbruch.

Super Einspielungen, kann man nur empfehlen.Alles was Rang und Namen hat in dem genre ist hier vertreten, in Super Interpretationen und dazu noch in HDCD Qualität, auch wenns nirgendwo angegeben ist.Alles Silva Einspielungen, das bürgt für Qualität....Bei dem Preis kann man gedrost zugreifen !!!!

Its a rainy Sunday afternoon, there's the usual drivel on the box and your football team got beat yesterday. Need a bit of cheering up then!! Put this 'best of' compilation on, sit back and enjoy the film/tv themes of those great westerns from yesteryear.Here we have the City of Prague Orchestra reproducing the music from some of the best westerns to have hit the screen. They do it to their usual, very high standard (as was with the 'war film themes' double CD).Bernstein and Morricone are well represented throughout the 40 tracks (each CD has 20 tracks) and their anthems are instantly recognisible. Yes, that smile is coming back to your face, as CD1 kicks off with 'The Big Country' and 'The Magnificent Seven'. Two classic film scores that are recognised world over.CD2 opens with 'The High Chaparral' and 'Bonanza', great tv themes from the golden age. The thing that stands out for me is how upbeat most of these tracks are and that makes the music so much more easier to enjoy. Even the more serious pieces, such as, 'Dances With Wolves' build up nicely and draw you in.Go on and relive your youth, camp out in the back garden, huddle close to the camp fire and listen to this wonderful collection of tunes as you knock back your coffee, stirring memories from back then. Either that, or wait for your football team to get beat again!!Again, this is a great present for Father's day, birthday or Christmas. Be warned though, buy yourself a copy, cos when you get home from listening to your father's, you're going to want to play it over and over. Hell, it may not matter the next time your team loses if you have this!!!!