One of my favorite De Masi scores is for 1967's ANY GUN CAN PLAY. Enzo G. Castellari directed this very entertaining pastiche of Leone's Dollars trilogy. George Hilton, Edd Byrnes, and Gilbert Roland play it with a knowing wink to the audience. The whole thing is topped with De Masi's melodic score and a stirring vocal by Raul Lovecchio. (Like many songs from Italian westerns, the phonetically-sung lyrics are mainly indecipherable.) Here's a suite:
Sette Winchester Per Un Masssacro was released in the U.S. as PAYMENT IN BLOOD. I think you'll find more to like in this suite, which presents a few new themes as well as variations on the main title, including an amusingly sung end title.
Here's a change of pace. The main title for "Seven Pistols for a Massacre" (not to be confused with "Seven Winchesters for a Massacre") is sung by a woman--Giulia Rei. The song is The Only Girl He Loved.
Well done, Bob. I really must get the ones im missing.
Any gun can play - i have as Vado... l'ammazzo e torno. (I think its something like I go, i kill and i return/come back.).
Its on a brilliant trilogy CD with Kill them all.
Towards the end of that suite you posted is the sequence featuring Alessandroni whistling and the harmonica is, as you might expect, our old friend Franco de Gemini of Beat records. Like Morricone, once Ennio's blueprint was established, De Masi wasted no time booking up the same talented performers.
The great song you talk about sung by Raul "Stranger" - has some of the better italian western songwords - the words are by Alessandroni and his first wife "Julie" - Giulia DeMutis - who was initially one of the sopranos in his choir Cantori Moderni. She is the mother of Alessandro's two children Cinzia and Alex. She died in 1984.
I would say that maybe the most well-known de Masi score for Americans would be Lone Wolf McQuade. It really does sound like a Morricone score. I like it a lot.
Hi joan Yeah thats the most italian western sounding score for an action film - again alessandroni whistling and De Gemini harmonica. However the brief soprano in there i dont think is Edda del'orso - its a similar but different voice. I cant find a credit for Lone Wolf McQuade singer but the film is not listed under Edda's movies. Edda was very hot on getting her credits registered so thats something else which makes me think they used another soprano. By 1983 she was doing less film work than in the mid 60s/mid 70s.
I know Lone Wolf gets cited a lot as a favourite. You can see why -. Its good stuff - almost every track sounds like a bullring gunfight!!
Mad Dog Thunder Solimano Il conquistatore (which,if I remember right, was the first Italian film score recorded in stereo. It said so on the double lp that I have stashed away somewhere)
Sorry Joan, you've heard them all before. They all come from a thread that you started on De Masi back in 2015. There are many more that have been subsequently deleted from YouTube. (Even so, I enjoyed listening to them all again after these many years.)
I too like many of de Masi's scores: collection including 'Soliman el Conquistador, 'Arizona Colt, 'New York Ripper', Gli Schiavi Piu Forte del Mondo', Maciste L'Eroe'- Classic, 'Eroe Vagabondo', 'Col Ferro e Col Fuoco', 'Alla Scoperta Dell'Africa' is fantastic!
Solimano Il conquistatore (which,if I remember right, was the first Italian film score recorded in stereo. It said so on the double lp that I have stashed away somewhere)
That was of course a wrong info. The first Italian film score which was recorded in stereo was Lavagnino´s CONTINENTE PERDUTO in 1955 which we have released on Alhambra Records a few years ago. An interesting footnote: De Masi was Lavagnino´s assistant for a few years from about 1955 till 1958 - in 1959 he then wrote his first own feature film score with DAGLI APPENNINI ALLE ANDE - and they did also one score together in 1957 for the war picture IL CIELO BRUCIA - tapes of which should. still be available in Sugar´s CAM archives. Till now it is not quite clear who did what on that score. Personally, I like very much De Masi´s underrated and rather unknown symphonic score EROE VAGABONDO which is a true gem. Also his FESTA BAROCCA score from 1982 - formerly available on LP - is quite lovely. Of his westerns I particularly like SETTE DOLLARI SUL ROSSO and ARIZONA COLT.
Hey Bob - the song from "Quella Sporca Storia nel West" that you mentioned is great - and the fender instrumental is even better.
The seven pistols song was also penned by de Masi/alessandroni and julia deMutis. The main titles call the singer July Ray but i can find only one entry for her on internet. Sounds like an english translation of Giulia Rei, that Bob mentioned earlier.
It is possible it was Giulia de Mutis or another of the Cantori moderni girls - many of the performers then used aliases for all sorts of reasons.
