This was one of the first CDs I purchased back in the 80s. Lots of good discussion here but I do have one question -- I never picked up the expanded CD because I thought the original program was such a great listening experience. For those that have the expanded edition...am I really missing anything (content or sonics)?
From the booklet notes for the Special Edition: (by Burlingame)
"This new CD of the score has been digitally remastered from the original two-track master tapes, and boasts a far richer sound than the earlier album release. In addition to the album masters, the multi-track session tapes were located and revealed some surprising gems. Included as supplementary material on this recording is a suite of previously unreleased music that consists of cues not available on record before as well as cues not present in the final cut of the movie. The suite contains variations on all of the main themes in the film, and some intriguing atonal suspense motifs".
Now my hearing isn't the best, but I've never heard any significant improvement in the sound from the original. A slight improvement but not a dramatic one that is so noticeable.
There is also a demo version of Poverty and an "unused" theme on the release.
Today I've had an earworm of a simple Herrmann 2-note string phrase that I'm looking forward to hearing performed live this coming weekend (per another thread). The funny thing is that it has now induced a full-blown string earworm. I don't know if I've ever heard a lovelier version of "Amapola" than the one EM employed when Noodles and Deborah have the club to themselves while reuniting as adults. The song is heard in something of a jaunty arrangement when he ogled her as a kid. Here it is a lush orchestral standard as heard on the album. And as in the short Herrmann cue, the strings soar into celestial paradise. Makes you swoon if you're in the right frame of mind.
"Once Upon A Time In America" remains my favorite non Western score by Morricone. Yet I wonder, though the album was reissued on C.D. only in Germany, how much music was left out in the Extended Cut (which ran 251 minutes), the European cut (which ran 229 minutes), or even the U.S. Release version (which ran 139 minutes)?
