Music From The Westerns Of John Wayne & John Ford

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Cat No: ACME337BOX

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Release Date: 07 January 2022

Label: El / Cherry Red

Packaging Type: Clamshell

No of Units: 3

Barcode: 5013929333703

Genres: Soundtracks

Description

RE-PRESS: CD ORIGINALLY RELEASED IN 2018
- A unique presentation. A mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic music from the westerns John Wayne and his mentor, the great film director John Ford made together - from Stagecoach in 1939 through to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance in 1962, where songs and music from the original scores are blended with recordings made by popular artists (mostly of 1950s vintage, or older) of songs heard in the films.
- In all, music from eight eternal westerns, a genre which Ford and Wayne both defined and long-dominated.
Victor Young's poignant and exhilarating themes for Rio Grande are complemented by American folk songs and traditional Mexican song, hymnody, songs of the Civil War and such period music as the parlour ballads of Stephen Foster, performances of cultural, historical and aesthetic significance given by the choirs of Norman Luboff, Roger Wagner and Robert Shaw and the vocal harmony group the Sons Of The Pioneers and supplemented by recordings made by such legends from the first half of the 20th century as the Irish tenor John McCormack and the "Empress Of The Blues", Bessie Smith along with the Country music icons Johnny Cash, Dale Evans and Eddy Arnold plus the writer and poet Carl Sandburg.

With folk singers and political activists Odetta and Pete Seeger, the light classical music composer Leroy Anderson, with selections from his ‘Irish Suite’ performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fielder.

Also featured are chart-toppers Johnnie Ray, the "Nabob of Sob" (whose hearing-aid was appropriated in homage by Morrissey), the maestro of the singalong, the musical impresario, Mitch Miller, and Gene Pitney, whose version of ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ (a number also performed here with distinction by the University Of Oregon folk group, The Fairmount Singers) was a hit for the nascent songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. A diversity of talents who together evoke the Fordian atmosphere.

Preponderance of song is one of the certainties of any Ford western. Biographer Tag Gallagher's assertion that "Ford's cinema can, without too much exaggeration, at times be likened to a trailer for a musical" is supported by actor James Stewart's claim that the atmosphere established by the musical aspects of a Ford western rendered the film's dialogue almost unnecessary.
Tracklisting