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VARIOUS ARTISTS
For A Few Guitars More (Dancing Bear)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Anyone who's seen the classic western A Fistful Of Dollars knows there was something special about the music, something completely different and exciting. Dark, eerie, dusty. Yes, dusty became a sound as clearly identifiable as any other once you delved into the music of Ennio Morricone. There are a handful of tributes to Morricone, but the ones done by the surf musicians are the ones that work best for me, because they share Morricone's sense of instrumental drama and suspense. For A Few Guitars More (a play on the title of the film For A Few Dollars More) is a treasure trove of interpretations that capture the beauty and power of Morricone's work and never, ever disrespect it.
The artist lineup may bring about blank expressions on the faces of those who usually only flip through the CDs in the mainstream stores, but anyone who knows even a little bit about the 1990s surf and instro scenes will be more than a little impressed by the names here. The Penetrators, those purveyors of spytunes, open the set with a fantastic reading of "Guns Don't Argue," and from there on it's one gem after another, nonstop. Pollo Del Mar's dreamy version of "Navajo Joe" is breathtaking in its depth and power, as is Bernard Yin and David Arnson's take on "As a Judgment [Come una Sentenza]." The Bambi Molester's handle the theme from "A Gun For Ringo" with just the right combination of gentle reverb and high sax rasp, and that seems to be the key ingredient of this collection: understanding of the material. Every contributor "gets it."
In summing up an album like For A Few Guitars More, I have to recommend it to fans of the spaghetti western genre, fans of surf music despite the fact that this is not surf music, and lovers of deeply moving, beautiful instrumental music in general, because it's sure to be an important addition to the collections of those people. One more group will find it of great interest, an obvious one I nearly overlooked: guitarists. We've got some heavyweights of the indie world here, including Bernard Yin, Brent Cooper, Davie Allen, Dave Wronski, Rip Thrillby, Dalibor Pavicic, Ferenc Dobronyi, Jono Jones, Dave Arneson, Rick Mills and several others, all getting a chance to put the speed picking aside and concentrate on the beauty of the melodic Work of the great Ennio Morricone. Quite a collection.
[For track listing and purchase info, go to http://www.pollodelmar.com/mart/morricone/.]
© 2003 - DJ Johnson