I was certain that I had written about this NEW double LP with GOLD records which came out in 2018 and is STILL available new at The Cowboys (Gold 2-LP) РVar̬se Sarabande.But, I had not.
I probably paid too much for this set. Frankly, it's not the first gold LP I own, the first one is a 1977 Disco LP called TUXEDO JUNCTION of Big Band music set to a Disco beat. But, it is transparent and these are solid gold vinyl LPs. The music is superb, of course, it's by John Williams. Having listened to it, I immediately ordered a Blu-ray of the film. I won't tell you the plot or what happens in it. Bruce Dern plays an evil character SO well! Check it out, it's a great film.Wikipedia states: The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success.[1] The term was used by foreign critics because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians.[2]
The majority of the films in the spaghetti Western genre were international co-productions by Italy and Spain, and sometimes France, West Germany, Britain, Portugal, Greece, Yugoslavia, and the United States. Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1978,[3] including nearly five hundred in Italy, which dominated the market.[4] Most spaghetti Westerns filmed between 1964 and 1978 were made on low budgets, and shot at Cinecittà Studios and various locations around southern Italy and Spain.[5]
Leone's films and other core spaghetti Westerns are often described as having eschewed, criticized or even "demythologized"[6] many of the conventions of traditional U.S. Westerns. This was partly intentional, and partly the context of a different cultural background.[7] In 1968, the wave of spaghetti Westerns reached its crest, comprising one-third of the Italian film production, only to collapse to one-tenth in 1969. Spaghetti Westerns have left their mark on popular culture, strongly influencing numerous works produced in and outside of Italy.
Ennio Morricone, the Italian composer, was often THE preferred choice for Score writing for many of these films. Clint Eastwood gained experience and followers as a result of the many spaghetti Westerns he performed in. This particular LP has music from three of the films.
This is one of the more famous of these films. I have this score on CD as well. My copy is in exceptional condition, especially for it's age.I don't recall that I have seen this film. This was composed by Alfred Newman. NOT the Alfred E. Newman of MAD magazine fame, however. According to the back of the cover, he was nominated "half a hundred" times for Academy Awards for his numerous scores over his long career. Fourteen of Hollywood's greats starred in this film. I have not seen this one, at least I don't think I did. Wikipedia has this to say about it:
Mackenna's Gold is a 1969 American Western film directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring an ensemble cast featuring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Ted Cassidy, Camilla Sparv and Julie Newmar in lead roles. It was photographed in Super Panavision 70 and Technicolor by Joseph MacDonald, with original music by Quincy Jones.
Mackenna's Gold is based on the novel of the same name by Heck Allen using the pen name Will Henry, telling the story of how the lure of gold corrupts a diverse group of people. The novel was loosely based on the legend of the Lost Adams Diggings, crediting the Frank Dobie account of the legend (Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver) in the author's note. The film was a box-office failure in North America, but went on to become a major success in the Soviet Union and the Indian subcontinent.
Well, that last bit explains why I did not see it. Still, someone bought this record after seeing the film, back in 1969. Interesting to me is that Jazz star, Quincy Jones composed and conducted the Score. And Jose Feliciano, a guitarist extraordinaire plays in it as well.
Wikipedia wrote, The Missouri Breaks is a 1976 American Western film starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. The film was directed by Arthur Penn, with supporting performances by Randy Quaid, Harry Dean Stanton, Frederic Forrest, John McLiam, and Kathleen Lloyd in her film debut. The score was composed by John Williams.
The title of the film refers to a forlorn and very rugged area of north-central Montana, where over eons, the Missouri River has made countless deep cuts or "breaks" in the land.
The film explores themes including the American frontier myth, economic exploitation and law and order. Like some other films directed by Penn, it has been read as an allegory of capitalism and the American counterculture. The album is pristine.
Prior to the Internet being available for everyone, to "look up something" often meant a trip to the local public library. I have the 5th Edition of Goldmine® Record Album Price Guide. An actual book made of paper! It's from 2007. It states that this LP is from 1957, it is in pristine condition and was "worth" $60US in 2007, almost $100US, today. It's actually a Civil War movie, so is an Eastern. The film SILVERADO is from 1985, and in my opinion, is excellent. Aside from the stars you see on the cover, John Cleese, of Monty Python and Faulty Towers fame also appears in this as a local lawman. I also have this on CD. It and TOMBSTONE's score were composed by Bruce Broughton. And finally, the last LP Western I own, besides some compilation albums, is John Wayne's epic tale, TRUE GRIT. In my previous article, 6J1 Tube Buffer vs AIYIMA T2 6K4 Tube Preamplifier. Can They Drive Headphones? I refer to the wonderful animated film, RANGO starring Johnny Depp as the Chameleon who suddenly finds himself lost in the desert and stumbles upon a Western town. Please, find it and watch it. SO much goes on in this film, lots of references to classic Western films. Below, a scene in the bar. Rango has just snatched the hat and matchstick/toothpick from the, you know, I don't know what kind of animal that fellow is. Anyway, Rango is making it us as he goes along. "Where 'ere you from, stranger?" asked the rodent. "I'm from the WEST. The FAR WEST!" shouts our hero as he snatches his hat and toothpick.I have a number of WESTERN CDs as well. As mentioned, some of these LPs are in digital form too. I made these images the original size so that you can better see each CD. These five are all standard (Redbook) CDs. I'm listening to "THE MISSOURI BREAKS" right now. It's nice music. Americans tend to romanticize eras in our past. Especially ones LONG before we trod this Earth and therefore have no real knowledge about it. Which is why so many books and films are about the past. Many about a potential future as well, think STAR WARS and it's ilk too.By the way, HDCDs play just fine on ANY CD player.
All three of these are HDCDs. Wikipedia has this to say about them: High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) is a proprietary audio encode-decode process that claims to provide increased dynamic range over that of standard Compact Disc Digital Audio, while retaining backward compatibility with existing compact disc players. Originally developed by Pacific Microsonics, the first HDCD-enabled CD was released in 1995. In 2000, the technology was purchased by Microsoft, and the following year, there were over 5,000 HDCD titles available. Microsoft's HDCD official website was discontinued in 2005; by 2008, the number of available titles had declined to around 4,000.
A number of CD and DVD players include HDCD decoding, and versions 9 and above of Microsoft's Windows Media Player on personal computers are capable of decoding HDCD.
HDCD is a favorite among artists who have a preference for high quality sound, such as Neil Young, the Beach Boys and the Grateful Dead—all of whom have multiple CD titles (new and archival) in their catalogs mastered in this process.
IF you are interested in having a variety of WESTERN music to listen to, some of it obscure and hard to find, then THE WILD WEST and WAY OUT WEST are two you should seek out. Each has TWO CDs and they are chock full of wonderful snippets of Western film and TV music.
These are all compilation CDs of Westerns music from many films and TV, which I have come across over the years. Having pulled all these LPs and CDs, I am going to be listening to each and every one of them. I told myself, "When I retire, I'm going to listen to every recording I own." I have been doing that, but 3,000 recordings take a while to listen to!
I prefer my CDs to be placed horizontally which is a pain in the butt when adding new CDs since I have to MOVE so many CDs. But, I can see/read the spines easier than tilting my head which vertical placement requires. Thus, when looking through other CD towers I found these two last discs. This solid Oak one was a lucky find at the local Salvation army. It holds 300 CDs by their lower right corner. It contains all Classical CDs.This plastic one holds 400 CDs. They are: Smooth Jazz and film and TV Scores. Soundtrack CDs (not Scores, bunch of band music) are elsewhere.These two each hold 200 and are a variety of genres, including traditional Jazz, Rock (1970's, 1980's and newer), HDCDs and more. I like variety. 
My next and so far last, encounter with some White Van Speakers was at the local Salvation Army one lucky Wednesday in 2014. That was the same day and same place where I also found my beloved Cerwin-Vega! LS12 speakers. The only CVs I've ever seen in the wild. One of which is on the left. They are my main speakers to this day and sound fantastic! Both pairs were marked $99. so I bought them immediately.
I was suspicious of these "DIGITAL AUDIO" speakers. Curiosity took over and I decided it was worth it to buy them too and try and figure out what they were. Those two shallow "ports" made me suspicious at the time.
This sticker is similar to the type of information which was on the back of the other black speakers I found years earlier. 
