Ennio Morricone – Once Upon A Time In The West (Limited Edition)

New, Still Sealed. LP yellow vinyl, limited edition of 1000 copies, gatefold for RSD 2020

Includes an insert with posters of the movie in different languages on one side and stills from the press kit on the other side.

Ennio Morricone’s score for ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST has always been haunting and melancholic for me since I first it saw many years ago on its release. The haunting presence of the man with the harmonica and his theme permeates the entire score. This is counterbalanced by Jill’s America and Cheyenne’s theme. But what really completes it all for me is Morton’s theme, which is haunting in a completely different way from Harmonica. Morton’s theme is beautiful and wondrous and it yearns and personifies his heart-wrenching longing to see the waves and waters of the Pacific. Morton knows full well that he will never live to see those waters. He haunts himself and immerses himself in the oil painting of the crashing waves and gulls. Morricone’s piece here is just powerful and moving in its simplicity and sheer beauty. Harmonica’s theme haunts his soul and consumes his memories from a twisted nightmare he lives until he finds the man who killed his brother and placed the harmonica in his mouth taunting him when he was just a boy. Harmonica and Morton; one man is tormented by memories and the other by unfulfilled dreams. The spaghetti westerns have such an operatic quality about them and Ennio Morricone’s music defined that quality for the whole genre.