Music from the Westerns of John Wayne & John Ford
Eugene M. Howard | Franklin TN | 05/28/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is 3/4 of a truly great album. It contains original soundtrack music from "Stagecoach", "Fort Apache". "Three Godfathers", "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon", "Rio Grande" and "The Horse Soldiers". All those cuts are excellent, and authentic. "Three Godfathers" had never been available on LP or CD previously, as far as I know.
The remaining cut is not a soundtrack excerpt, and is very mediocre. "Ride Away", the Stan Jones ballad which was featured as the main theme for "The Searchers" is delivered by an unknown male singer in a semi-soulful rendition. Why didn't they get a recording of the original score from any of the Milan, Silva or Varese releases which are currently available? The recording by the City of Prague Philharmonic would have fit nicely and would have made a "Good" disc into a "Great" disc. If there were legal complications preventing the use of that recording, surely it would have been possible to use the Sons of the Pioneers version of "Ride Away" from the original soundtrack, or even the Tex Ritter recording which is often found on compilations of Western Movie Themes.
I'm happy to own this disc and play it frequently. I would love it even more if I could eliminate one cut and add one of my choosing, as detailed above. Gene Howard"