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Kritzerland is proud to present a new limited edition release – three great scores on two CDs at a 1-CD price:
JOHN WAYNE AT FOX – THE WESTERNS
THE COMANCHEROS, NORTH TO ALASKA, THE UNDEFEATED
Composed by Elmer Bernstein, Lionel Newman, Hugo Montenegro
John Wayne at Fox – not a lot of films, but some extraordinarily entertaining ones.
The Comancheros (1961), based on the 1952 novel by Paul I. Wellman, was directed by Michael Curtiz, the great director who’d done any number of classics, including some of the most beloved films of all time – Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, Angels With Dirty Faces, The Sea Hawk, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce, White Christmas, to name just a handful. Starring were Wayne, Stuart Whitman, Ina Balin, Lee Marvin, Nehemiah Persoff and Bruce Cabot. It’s a wonderful film with colorful performances, gorgeous photography, and a rousing musical score by Elmer Bernstein. At the time, Bernstein had just written what would become one of the most iconic western scores ever, The Magnificent Seven. The Comancheros was his follow up western score, and it, like the film it graces, is colorful, bigger than life, and filled with action and adventure. You know what you’re in for as soon as the first chords of the main title music begin, one of Bernstein’s all-time classic themes. But the score is rife with melody and invention and Bernstein’s music is as iconic and big as the Duke himself.
A year earlier, the John Wayne Fox western was North to Alaska, a big, sprawling comedy western starring the Duke, Stewart Granger, enticing Capucine, Ernie Kovacs and teen heartthrob Fabian. The score, credited solely to Lionel Newman, but containing music by several others, fits the film like a glove. It’s got a tuneful title song by Mike Phillips, a nice song for Fabian called “If You Knew” and some fun original orchestral cues by Newman.
Next we jump to the third of the Fox Wayne westerns, the 1969 film The Undefeated, starring Wayne and Rock Hudson, along with Roman Gabriel, Lee Meriwether, Bruce Cabot, Ben Johnson, Jan-Michael Vincent, Harry Carey, Jr., Paul Fix, Richard Mulligan, John Agar and Dub Taylor. Hugo Montenegro’s music for The Undefeated is big as all outdoors, with strong themes and a real sense of storytelling. As with many Western scores, there’s a lot of Copland “Americana” as well as a stirring main theme, some great dramatic scoring, some Mexican-flavored cues and even a hoedown
Both The Comancheros and The Undefeated were previously released on CD by FSM, and North to Alaska was released on CD by Intrada – all are out of print – in the case of The Comancheros, for many years. But we’re pleased to bring them all together in one great 2-CD set – they’ve all been newly remastered for this release.
John Wayne at Fox – The Westerns is limited to 1000 copies only and is priced at $19.98, plus shipping.
Our hope is that CDs will ship by the last week of December or hopefully even sooner, but this is the busiest time of year for pressing plants, so there is the off chance that it could be early January. But the hope is to have them out the door before Christmas. To place an order, see the cover, or hear audio samples, just visit www.kritzerland.com.
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And just a head's up that there's our second annual Christmas sale up now - sixteen great titles at half price - if you missed any of these now would be a good time to grab them.
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I missed the Intrada North to Alaska -- and my copy of the FSM Comancheros bit the dust earlier this year after I accidentally bounced the disc down a flight of stairs causing a crack and a chunk of the inner metallic data encoding material to dislodge and fall out.
So...a huge thank you for this release!
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One more time - gotta say this on all three topics.
There have been a slew (a sleigh?) of great releases announced in the past couple of weeks, but these three today from Kritzerland were the ones that caught my fancy and were an immediate buy.
Plus some great stuff on sale - Dead of Winter is a must have in my book.
Well done!
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One more time - gotta say this on all three topics.
There have been a slew (a sleigh?) of great releases announced in the past couple of weeks, but these three today from Kritzerland were the ones that caught my fancy and were an immediate buy.
Plus some great stuff on sale - Dead of Winter is a must have in my book.
Well done!
More than a slew and with no end in sight, frankly - just glad to slip in there and have some people happy about them, so many thanks.
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I’ve listened to the first sample and, unfortunately, “Prologue” and ”Main Title” are still crossfaded each other on Comanceros. @Kimmel, why didn’t you fix that issue? If so, I would have purchased the set immediately.
I really hate those stupid crossfades.
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I’ve listened to the first sample and, unfortunately, “Prologue” and ”Main Title” are still crossfaded each other on Comanceros. @Kimmel, why didn’t you fix that issue? If so, I would have purchased the set immediately.
I really hate those stupid crossfades.
Because the people who did the original master, which is what we used, liked what they did - sometimes we change things, sometimes we don't and there's always a reason. I was more interested in a fresh mastering, which we got.
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I've never bought from Kritzerland before, BUT my Dad is a huge Western fan and this may make a perfect gift. I actually have a hidden love for Western scores myself! Love the three for one deal.
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Well, I ordered it, even though I've had the FSM CD of THE COMANCHEROS! since it was first released. Too bad you're only pressing 1000 of these, and that it doesn't also include another film Wayne made at Fox, BARBARIAN AND THE GEISHA, currently selling at SAE for $159.95! Yikes!
Kritzerland re-released The Barbarian and the Geisha (paired with Violent Saturday). It's still available from Kritzerland and SAE for $19.95.
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Posted: |
Dec 5, 2013 - 5:58 PM
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By: |
riotengine
(Member)
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I’ve listened to the first sample and, unfortunately, “Prologue” and ”Main Title” are still crossfaded each other on Comanceros. @Kimmel, why didn’t you fix that issue? If so, I would have purchased the set immediately.
I really hate those stupid crossfades.
Because the people who did the original master, which is what we used, liked what they did - sometimes we change things, sometimes we don't and there's always a reason. I was more interested in a fresh mastering, which we got.
I don't have Comancheros, and I don't wanna pay the current used going rate of $40 plus for it, so, with the other two scores, this is a great deal. Crossfades don't bother me.
Greg Espinoza
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I had none of these... until now that is. This is a brilliant set Bruce, not that brilliance would be unexpected on your part. Kudos Mr. Kimmel! Kudos!
And I've just only heard samples from The Undefeated (for the very first time in fact). Just when you thought this release couldn't get any better. A revelation!
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I had none of these... until now that is. This is a brilliant set Bruce, not that brilliance would be unexpected on your part. Kudos Mr. Kimmel! Kudos!
And I've just only heard samples from The Undefeated (for the very first time in fact). Just when you thought this release couldn't get any better. A revelation!
It's a little shocking Montenegro didn't have much more of a film composing career - everything I've heard from him is great - especially this one and Hurry Sundown.
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