Once Upon A Time In Mexico Soundtrack CD

Original score composed by Robert Rodriguez
Includes liner notes by Robert Rodriguez.
Personnel: Selma Hayek, Alex Ruiz (vocals); Steven M. Hufsteter (guitar, electric guitar); Rich DelCastillo (guitar, Spanish guitar); Robert Rodriguez (guitar); Elias Olvera (guitarron); Karen Gottlieb (harp); Joseph Edelberg, Kum Mo Kim, Dawn Dover, Heidi A. Wilcox, Lev Rankov, Leonid Igudesman, Connie Gantsweg, Ogura Yasushi, Natalia Vershilova, Kayo J. Miki, Dawn Harms, Laura Albers, Ellyn Pesavento, James Shallenberger, Barbara Riccardi, Sara Usher, Rene Mandel, Doris Fukawa, Paul Brancato, Craig Reiss, Michelle Kim, Candace A. Guirao, Robin E. Hansen, Wendy Meeker, Robert Galbraith, William L. Rusconi Jr., Irene Sazer, Kay Stern, Robin Mayforth, Maki Ishii, Roy Malan, Brian Lee (violin); Elizabeth A. Runnicles, Wieslaw Pogorzelski, Pamela Freund Striplen, Paul Ehrlich, Patricia R. Heller, Katherine Johnk, Linda Ghidossi de Luca, Anna Kruger, Susan Bates, Nancy Ellis (viola); Nina G. Flyer, Fraser A. Bonnell, Nora Pirquet, Gianna Abondolo, Nancy Stenzen, Teressa Adams, Jeffery Watson, David Kadarauch, Emil T. Miland, Thalia Moore (cello); Julie McKenzie, Janet Ketchum (flute); Anthony Striplen, Francis A. Renk (clarinet); James H. Matheson, Janet P. Archibald, William Sterndale Bennett (oboe); Rufus Jr. Olivier, Stephen Paulson (bassoon); Alex Ramirez , John Pearson, Charles Metzger, Glenn Fischthal (trumpet); Kevin Porter, David P. Ridge, Jeff Budin (trombone); Peter Wahrhaftig (tuba); Robert Ward, Lawrence S. Ragent, Peter K. Nowlen, Susanna M. Manzo (horns); Barry Koron (piano); Dwight A. Baker (drums); Carl Thiel (percussion, loops); Andrew C. Lewis, Scott Bleaken, Artie Storch, Galen Lemmon, Diego Simmons (percussion).
Liner Note Author: Robert Rodriguez .
Recording information: Skywalker Sound.
Since The Big Chill, too often directors and film producers have taken the easy way out in creating soundtracks for their big-budget Hollywood movies by licensing a couple handfuls of hits either from the catalog of yesteryear's pop giants or from hungry up-and-comers. It's a formula almost. Thankfully there are still film scores, though they all seem to be written by the same five men. Both of these poles sees to lie in stark contrast to Robert Rodriguez's approach to creating an audio environment both to accompany and stand apart from his films. On Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Rodriquez took matters into his own hands and procured a series of rather obscure existing tracks that viscerally underscore defined themes in his movie -- such as Juno Reactor's "Pistolero," Brian Setzer's ass-kicking "Malagueña," and Manu Chao's "Me Gustas Tu." He also commissioned several tracks to actors and wrote others for his players. Thus Tito Larriva's haunting "Flor de Mal," or Johnny Depp and friends under the moniker Tonto's Giant Nuts offer "Sands Theme," while Rubén Blades and Antonio Banderas helped to flesh out their own character's themes musically as well as dramatically. Other tracks such as "Siente Mi Amor" were written specifically for Selma Hayek. Rodriguez wrote much of the rest of the score himself, conducted the musicians who play it, and produced the recording. One listen to "Guitar Town," with its Morricone-esque drama and pathos, is concrete proof that Rodriguez knows what's best in his films. Ultimately what it adds up to is that this is a film score, a soundtrack above virtually anything else that had come out thus far in 2003 with the possible exception of the original material for Solaris. Once Upon a Time in Mexico certainly stands on its own as an album of engaging, provocative, and delightful listening. ~ Thom Jurek
With a score composed and performed largely by director Robert Rodriguez, the soundtrack to ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO contains, as you'd perhaps expect from a film whose title nods to Sergio Leone, more than its share of Ennio Morricone musical stylings. This is revealed most particularly in the form of