The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (Expanded)

The concluding chapter of director Sergio Leone's epochal Man With No Name trilogy ushered film scorer Ennio Morricone into the pop mainstream courtesy of a hit cover of its main title by American Hugo Montenegro. More importantly, it both showcased the composer's spectacularly inventive range and set him up for even greater triumphs to come with Leone and others. But aficionados of il Maestro Morricone's G,B&U soundtrack knew its original editions contained but the main thematic/musical elements of the spaghetti western epic -- until now. The addition of ten previously unissued cues on this newly remastered edition render the landmark score in its full glory, nearly doubling its running time in the bargain. While some of these new elements are but spare, haunting reworkings of familiar motifs (including Allessandro Allessandroni's trademark guitar riffs and the chilling vocal shrieks the composer used to evoke the howling of coyotes) that help expand its emotional dynamic, others like "Sentenza," "La Missione San Antonio" (a haunting instrumental version of "A Soldier's Story" that effectively presages his elegiac Once Upon A Time in The West and "Il Bandito Monco" significantly add to its expansive scope, firmly restating its claim as Morricone's first true classic. -- Jerry McCulley