I can't afford to just start buying Morricone's Italian releases at random, so:

Which of his Italian soundtracks are generally considered to be his best?

Which of his compilation CD's should I purchase?

• C'era una volta il west/Once Upon a Time in the West
  
• Per un pugno di dollari/A Fistful of Dollars
  
• Per qualche dollaro in piu/For a Few Dollars More
  
• Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo/The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Recommendations? It's difficult to know where to begin. Morricone has so many styles. I can only list ones that I like a great deal. So here goes, in no particular order, are ones I HIGHLY recommend...

Il Papa Buono
Marco Polo
La Tenda Rossa
Il Deserto del Tartari
Hundra
Giu La Testa
A Fistful of Dollars
Il Gatto
Faccia a Faccia
Malena
I Guardiani del Cielo
The Island
La Leggenda del Pianista sull'Oceano
Lolita
Questa Specie d'Amore
Sostiene Pereira
Stanno Tutti Bene
Nostromo
Secret of the Sahara
Vatel
Cinema Paradiso
Corleone / Il Pentito
Navajo Joe
Ninfa Plebea
Days of Heaven / Two Mules for Sister Sara
Novecento
Il Mio Nome e Nessumo
Canone Inverso

I'm sure there are many others I've forgotten as well.

Faccia a Faccia (Face To Face)
Il Mercenario
I Crudeli
Il Grande Silenzio
La Resa Dei Conti
Un Esercito Di 5 Uomini (Five Man Army)

If you are familiar with the scores he did for the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood movies, you will love these scores.

Here are some other scores I recommend from Morricone...

1967-La resa dei conti (The big gundown)
Western: Great stuff.

1968-E per tetto un cielo di stelle (A skyfull of stars for a roof)
Western: Very entertaining. Great themes.

1968-Guns for San Sebastian
Western: One of his best. Extraordinary love theme.

1968-La tenda rossa (The red tent)
Adventure: Beautiful and romantic.

1968-Metti, una sera a cena (Love circle)
Drama: Cheesy and popish, but a great listen.

1969-Il clan dei siciliana (The sicilian clan)
Action: Great themes. Definitely a must-have.

1970-La califfa (The lady caliph)
Drama: Very beautiful and romantic stuff. Filled with great themes.

1971-Giù la testa (Duck, you sucker)
Western: The last Leone western. Love those themes.

1971-Le casse(Expanded) (The burglars)
Thriller/Action: Perhaps a little cheasy, but very melodic and crammed with nice tunes.

1972-Questa specie d'amore (This kind of love)
Drama: Similar to La califfa. Almost as great.

1973-Revolver (Blood in the streets)
Action: Catchy themes. Awesome action music.

1973-Sepolta viva (Woman buried alive)
Drama: Late Baroque style. Crammed with nice tunes.

1975-Un genio, due compari, un pollo (The genius)
Western: A silly western this one. Very cheasy at times, but really a great listen.

1976-L'eredità ferramonti (The inheritage)
Drama: A brilliant gem. Very nostalgic.

1976-Novecento (1900)
Drama: A classic by Morricone. Quite nostalgic.

1978-Cosi' come sei (Stay as you are)
Drama: I love these themes. Some are romantic, some are more pop oriented.

1979-Dedicato al Mare Egeo (Dedicated to the Aegean Sea)
Drama: A personal favorite. It's cheasy and very listenable.

1979-Il prato (The meadow)
Drama: Another personal favorite. Flute dominated and spiritual. The most nostalgic album I own.

1980-La dame aux Camélias
Drama: Another nostalgic gem.

1983-Hundra
Adventure: A Conan film, just starring a lady instead of Arnold. The music is certainly inspired by Poledouris' score too, except the love theme which is typical Morricone.

1986-La venexiana (The venetian woman)
Drama: Religious sounding theme and very beautiful.

1989-I promesi sposi (The betrothed)
Drama: Amazing TV score. A rare gem.

1990-Atame! (Tie me up! Tie me down!)
Thriller: Very listenable.

1991-Il principe del deserto (The prince of the desert)
Adventure: One of his best desert scores.

1995-I magi randagi (We free kings)
Adventure: Extraordinary theme.

1996-Nostromo
Adventure: One of Ennio's best scores ever.

1998-What dreams may come(Rejected)
Drama: Beautiful throughout.

1999-I guardiani del cielo
Adventure: Another great desert score. The tunes are all very romantic.

1999-La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano (The legend of 1900)
Drama: Lots of piano and a bit of jazz. Nostalgic and great. This one should have been nominated for an Oscar.

2000-Canone inverso (Making love)
Drama: The pretty sister of "The red violin". Lots of violin playing. Very romantic.

Personally I wish someone would re-release Morricone's superb RED SONJA so's I can frisbee my CDR copy!

I'd just like to thank Southall, BMikeJ and Peter(Plindboe) for a few suggestions I'll take up myself...thanks guys

I'd also second the recommendation of the more recent "Nostromo" - one of Morricone's finest, a really superb and listenable 2-CD set which never outstays its welcome. It's deleted but there are used copies floating around if you can track one down - you won't regret it.

Enjoy the music of Il Maestro!

Matt

I must confess to not having a hell of lot of Morricone on either LP or CD, but were I suddenly made rich, one of my first moves would be to immediately spend about 5 grand on every score of his I could lay hands on.

My current philosophy, vis-a-vis Morricone, is that there is just too much out there to deal with in one lifetime. The guy makes Max Steiner look like a one hit wonder.

More off-the-beaten-track ones that I do recommend are WITHOUT APPARENT MOTIVE (a.k.a SENZA MOVENTE), RED TENT, and DISCLOSURE, but these barely scratch the surface of a composer who redefines the word "workaholic."

[Message edited by Vinylscrubber on 03-19-2004]

You may also want to check out the compilation "Ennio Morricone: At the Movies". It has the original soundtrack recordings and features his most famous aside fromj The Good the bad and the ugly. It's really fun.

There is also the score he did for "Musashi". I just picked it up, but its a really nice mix of his Spaghetti Western styles, more melodic and romantic, and just a sprinkle of Japanese elements (mostly flutes).