AMS Italy Vinilo y CD

Review: RECOMMENDED
It has been just over 12 months since Ennio Morricone passed away, aged 91, and if it were up to use there would have been a non-stop stream of reissues from the Italian maestro's back catalogue to help people either remember or discover what made his work so important. It's hard to comprehend, but during his career he wrote more than 400 scores for TV and cinema, alongside around 100 classical works. That's some contribution.

Giu' La Testa is one of many he worked on to accompany a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western - with the pair collaborating on all but the latter's directorial debut. From whichever angle you're listening, this is the epitome of that relationship, with tracks veering from deeply atmospheric to playful, Romantic and wistful to cautiously adventurous. Exceptional stuff from a genuinely irreplaceable practitioner.