OVERGROOMING IS A THING

I watched part of the Oscars last night and in the background bumper music they played part of the theme from The Magnificent Seven. Hadn't heard it in a while so it I went and listened to it. I came away with the decision to not be so hard on ol' Hugo Montenegro. In the past, if I haven't done it here, I know I've done it in offline conversations, slagging Montenegro for his Morricone-lite interpretations of spaghetti western themes. That was because I was comparing him to Morricone, who was inventive in his use of instruments, including the non-verbal human voice, what with the grunts and the ho huh, ho-huh! and the whistling. I half-joked that Montenegro was a sell out, a figurative new-waver in the wake of a true soundtrack punker. But then I heard the original version of The Magnificent Seven theme by Elmer Berstein. A great soundtrack tune, without a doubt, but Montenegro's version has more punch. That's what made me re-access his versions of Morricone's material. In revisiting them it seems that he disposed of the weirder elements to make them, I don't know, radio friendly? That must have been it because Montenegro had a hit with his version of "The Good The Bad and The Ugly", hitting #3 on the Billboard charts in 1968. I don't think Morricone ever came close enough to sniff the charts.

That's the LP up there. That sucker was in every thrift store in town back in the seventies and eighties. Shit, for what was usually less than a buck it was like an Ennio Morricone compilation, except it wasn't Morricone's versions. That didn't stop half the people I knew from having it in their collection. I didn't even know who Ennio Morricone was until years later, but I'd seen the films and I knew some of the songs. So, I guess this Montenegro guy was onto something.

The video below is unrelated to Montenegro, It is The Danish National Symphony Orchestra performing Morricone's "For A Few Dollars More" and it is totally faithful to the original, complete with the odd instrumentation and background vocals. If you know the original well, turn this one up and go full screen. That good.

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Listen:
Elmer Berstein - Theme from The Magnificent Seven mp3 at East-Cross
Hugo Montenegro - Theme from The Magnificent Seven (streaming) at YouTube
Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly mp3 at Adhocc (?)
Hugo Montenegro - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly mp3 at The Basement Rug
Ennio Morricone - A Fistful of Dollars mp3 at Gyerekek Kedvencei (?)
Hugo Montenegro - A Fistful of Dollars mp3 at The Basement Rug
Ennio Morricone - For A Few Dollars More mp3 at Blondin
Hugo Montenegro - For A Few Dollars More (streaming) at YouTube
Bonus:
Dominic Frontiere - Hang 'em High (streaming) at YouTube Another Montenegro victim
Hugo Montenegro - Hang 'em High mp3 at The Basement Rug
Al Caiola - Theme from The Magnificent Seven mp3 at Tumblr