Inglourious Basterds Soundtrack – Review

Since the announcement of Ennio Morricone scoring Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, I’ve been waiting with baited breath for the release. Since no store locally was planning on carrying the future classic soundtrack, I decided to order it on my phone, and get it as soon as it was released. I’ve had the pleasure of listening to it for the past three days everywhere I went. The beauty of Ennio Morricone’s storytelling-through-music style, in addition to a few wartime-sounding classics, again proved how well Tarantino adds music to act as a character of its own in his films.

The Green Leaves of Summer (1:55) by Nick Perito – This lighter-sounding orchestral piece sounds very fitting, and sounds very western-European. This beautiful piece sounds light and airy, but has subtle hints of somber undertones.

The Verdict (Dopo al Condanna) (1:13) by Ennio Morricone – Much like his other legendary tracks, this track encapsulates the epic scale of both his style and the feel of Tarantino. While taking a familiar sample from Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Morricone adds flamenco-esque guitar in addition to his reoccurring horns to make this beautiful, albeit short, first Morricone track on the album.

White Lightning (Main Title)( 2:54) by Charles Bernstein – This bare-bones track is the pivotal Tarantino sound. The piece captures an Americana Folk sound complete with slide dobros and mouth harps.

Slaughter (4:24) by Billy Preston – This is the first true song on the album. Much in Tarantino’s style, this piece captures the exploitation flick feel, and the energy in it seems to make it pop out that much more from the rest of the album.

The Surrender (La Resa)(2:48) by Ennio Morricone – Morricone again with this beautiful piece. Morricone is like King Midas when it comes to music, without all the nasty negative effects of turning everything to gold.

One Silver Dollar (Un Dollaro Bucato) (2:03) by The Film Studio Orchestra – This track captures a great feel of southwestern Americana with the Mexican horns and mariachi strings.

Davon Geht Die Welt Nicht Unter (2:05) by Zarah Leander – This wartime piece includes all the pops, clicks, and scratches from that era. The loss of clarity on the high end adds a little nuance that emulates dated vinyl astoundingly well on any stereo.

The Man with the Big Sombrero (1:49) by Michael Andrew & Samantha Shelton – Another classic era-sounding piece.

Ich Wollt Ich Waer Ein Huhn (1:49) by Lilian Harvey & Willy Fritsch – Another German wartime classic. The music reminds me of the Looney Tunes theme.

Main Theme from Dark of the Sun (3:10) by Jacques Loussier – This piece sounds great, a little sinister and all-together a bit haunting.

Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) (4:11) by David Bowie – Another actual song. This song seems to branch a little farther away from the rest of the soundtrack, but still has that sinister, haunting quality that Tarantino seems to always demand from his song selection.

Tiger Tank (1:17) by Lalo Schifrin – Another classic sounding piece, this one is obviously more contemporary.This brief tune embraces the haunting qualities that can be found throughout the album.

Un Amico (2:35) by Ennio Morricone - This track is a little more peaceful in comparison to the rest of the album. With the track being again very light and airy, with strings taking the foreground, Morricone again strives for excellence and beauty in this piece.

Rabbia y Tarantella (3:54) by Ennio Morricone – This horns-heavy piece is reminiscent of a march. The violins are very sharp and concise, while at the same time sounding like a narrator for the progression of the storyline. Again, the addition to the progression of the story by the score is Morricone’s amazing talent, which is very evident through his additions to the score.

I’m not a huge fan of movie soundtracks. Of all the albums I own, I may own five soundtracks. However, buying the Inglourious Basterds soundtrack is very much worth it. The album is a great piece, and with Morricone only scoring one album so far this year,  it’s one of the best scores this year.

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