InexorableTash
Active member
So... I was reminded today that the score to Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West was composed by YIJ's Joel McNeely. The soundtrack is available (conveniently, via subscription services like I've mentioned before) so I gave it a spin.
Given that MacFarlane and McNeely have collaborated on a YIJ homage before (adapting McNeely's "She's Wonderful Too" from Scandal of 1920 for MacFarlane's show tunes album), it shouldn't be a big surprise that the soundtrack might borrow from McNeely's work on YIJC. But, while many of the tracks are homages to classic western themes - think Gunsmoke, Maverick, and so on, many of the tracks seem recycled directly from YIJC scores also by McNeely.
Track 13, Racing the Train, appropriately enough, feels like a return to Phantom Train of Doom (which leans heavily on Williams' Crusade score). Track 15, Albert Takes a Trip has more of a Hawkmen feel.
To my ear, the most direct re-use of themes is in track 16, The Showdown, seems lifted directly from Tally Ho (Phantom Train).
I haven't given it a full listen-through yet, but wanted to share my observations.
Given that MacFarlane and McNeely have collaborated on a YIJ homage before (adapting McNeely's "She's Wonderful Too" from Scandal of 1920 for MacFarlane's show tunes album), it shouldn't be a big surprise that the soundtrack might borrow from McNeely's work on YIJC. But, while many of the tracks are homages to classic western themes - think Gunsmoke, Maverick, and so on, many of the tracks seem recycled directly from YIJC scores also by McNeely.
Track 13, Racing the Train, appropriately enough, feels like a return to Phantom Train of Doom (which leans heavily on Williams' Crusade score). Track 15, Albert Takes a Trip has more of a Hawkmen feel.
To my ear, the most direct re-use of themes is in track 16, The Showdown, seems lifted directly from Tally Ho (Phantom Train).
I haven't given it a full listen-through yet, but wanted to share my observations.