The Cowboy Way (Bootleg)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

David Newman is the kind of composer anyone watches out to, he is namely one that adds these special ingredients to movies whether it is his emotional piano or vocal work, or simply the fanfares that make his score grand. The Cowboy Way, one of the many bootlegs available on the black market is such a title where instantly fanfares come to mind, and you don't expect rather low key material. The thing is, you basically get what you didn't expect. The Cowboy Way is a surprising departure from what I expected in a way from Newman. And this is kinda disappointing, actually I would have been more disappointed if the opening 3 minutes weren't so goddamn brilliant. This first track 'Track 1' captures for at least 2 minutes and a half the music anyone wanted to hear, amazing fanfares of the main theme in a rushing tempo, full of pace and fun. Especially to Newman fans (such as myself), these 3 minutes are worth the album alone. Unfortunately, it doesn't follow the way it started. What follows in this track is still rather good, with The Phantom like action set pieces but without those amazing melodic highlights. And tracks 'Track 7' and 'Track 8' carry some of the same material of The Phantom yet with some added moments of fun. Actually these 3 tracks alone make up from what this score exhibits of action material. The first 2 minutes of the score of what this bootleg offers of the adventurous material, which as said is strange.

The other parts are surprisingly mellow. 'Track 2' has some western touches in it (with soft piano) and 'Track 3' a short moment of suspension build up ala A Few Good Men with some guitar through it. The western touch is also slow on volume, some wailing of a guitar in 'Track 9' is discovered and Tremors like guitar twangs are heard in 'Track 5', with some added piano to add a touch of emotion. But basically it remains quite subdued, low key and soft, rather relying on darker suspension building and action scoring to set the tone. Quite frankly, this is not how I remember the movie and I think there are moments missing like heard in those first 2 minutes. Sad of course but even if I wanna give this score somewhat a smaller quotation, I can't because basically I never experienced it as dull music (which some people perhaps will) and of course a score capturing a 2 minute opening blast like The Cowboy Way has, deserves some credit. The sound quality is somewhat average, while not bad it doesn't do the low key moments justice while the louder, more exciting parts are good enough to enjoy, though missing brevity and real excitement, of course from a certain point of view. Basically, I only recommend The Cowboy Way to real David Newman fans, since they will accept the sound and the material. Of course not anyone will rather appreciate this tone of music, but it doesn't bore like Coneheads or Ducktales, and offers at least 2 minutes of music I treasure already now on disc.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Track 1 (7.25)

2. Track 2 (1.25)

3. Track 3 (1.20)

4. Track 4 (1.38)

5. Track 5 (1.26)

6. Track 6 (1.55)

7. Track 7 (3.28)

8. Track 8 (6.37)

9. Track 9 (2.49)

10. Track 10 (0.48)

11. Track 11 (2.19)

12. Track 12 (2.27)

13. Track 13 (1.02)

Total Length: 35.10

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: David Newman ===