A Fistful Of Film Music: The Ennio Morricone Anthology
There is much more to Ennio Morricone than his soundtracks for spaghetti Westerns. The moody Italian has managed to create some of the most atmospheric and macabre work in movie music history.  This double-disc represents the composer's vast stylistic palette. There are the cannoli cowboy themes fromA Fistful of DollarsandThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but the collection delves into his lyrical "Chi Mai" from the 1981 film,The Professional, and the spooky choral experiments on the theme toThe Bird with the Crystal Plumage(arguably his best work). The first disc is stronger than the second, since the latter is taken up with more lackluster work from such films asThe UntouchablesandBugsy.  There are some vocal tracks byJoan Baezand a notable one by Domenico Modugno.--Joseph Lanza