Monte Walsh / Crossfire Trail

It is somewhat fitting that the original Monte Walsh (with a terrific John Barry score), about the end of the cowboy era in the wild west (which never really was as wild as it was made out to be in films, most people there were simply cattle farmers), was made in 1970, by which time the taste for cowboy movies had run its course. Director Simon Wincer previous collaborated, very successfully, with Basil Poledouris on Lonesome Dove and Quigley Down Under, but for these TV movies, starring Tom Selleck and his moustache, picked the rather younger Eric Colvin. While the results are pleasant, they are distinctly underwhelming compared to the western scores of the past.
Promotional material for reviewers loves glowing soundbites from stars and directors and the liner notes to Monte Walsh are no exception, with gushing remarks from Selleck and director Simon Wincer. Unfortunately, on actual listening, they turn out to be rather hyperbolic. While neither score is particularly bad - both are enjoyable enough - but as is increasingly common these days, they simply lack style. The album opens with Cowboy Lullaby, composed by Keith Carradine and co-sung by the composer and Selleck, done in the style of those 'I'm in the middle of nowhere, up to my ears in cowpats and I miss my girl' type songs, plus a bit of yodelling. Not bad if you like that kind of thing. Colvin's score opens with the enjoyable Main Title, although it's one of those themes that is desperately trying to sound more memorable than it actually is - a glancing similarity to Randy Edelman's trailer friendly tune to Dragonheart notwithstanding.

To the orchestra, Colvin adds twanging guitars and almost every western score cliché one could want at various points; everyone from Jerome Moross to Aaron Copland to Elmer Bernstein gets a brief nod here and there (although curiously, not Barry). Perhaps unexpectedly, the opening perkiness is displaced by more dangerous episodes later on; Kill the Marshall, Brady Gets Killed and so forth, have bits of tense percussion and low brass. At these moments, there are recollections of Bruce Broughton's Tombstone, but without the strong musical personality or orchestral invention to match. A reprise of the lullaby closes out the score.

Crossfire Trail is, so the liner notes say, a darker effort and so the score is naturally a little less jaunty. In fact, it's somewhat slow going at times. The opening tracks occasionally peek into syncopated western territory, but generally remain just a little turgid, force feeding the solemnity a touch. Having said that, Funeral for JT is appropriately moving, but making way for the exciting action/suspense finale cue. Both scores are solid, but simply lack that something to make them outstanding - most of the melodies have the feel of somewhat generic western themes, with all the right style to be able to conjure up the vistas and men in hats, but without the personality to imagine these specific entries. If you can't get enough of western scores then both fit the bill and in fairness, there are few genuinely weak moments, despite a generous running time. However, neither are likely to go down in the annals of great contemporary western scores.