VA - The Spaghetti Epic 2 - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (2007)

The response to the original "Spaghetti Epic -project by Colossus (The Finnish Progressive Music Association) was so good that it was natural to continue with the Western theme in another project. 'The Good the Bad and the Ugly” (1966) with Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach was the last of Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy. Long, funny and brutal, this Civil War epic is the quintessential Spaghetti Western and it is without doubt the most famous of all Spaghetti Westerns. Ennio Morricone’s musical theme for the film is instantly recognizable and it has been used numerous times in other connections. In addition to this, there were more than enough reasons to prepare ‘The Spaghetti Epic 2"-project based on this film.

The story of the film has been divided in three chapters and each band participating has chosen one chapter and made a suite inspired by it. The bands were given the usual rules of these Colossus-projects, and this time the sound of the suites was told to be like the sound of early 70s Italian progressive bands like Museo Rosenbach, PFM, Banco, Le Orme, Latte e Miele, etc.
Original 70s keyboards (Hammond, Moog, Mellotron, Fender Rhoades, Grand Piano etc) were preferred.

Bands participating in the original "Spaghetti Epic-project were so pleased by the project mat soon all three tracks of the new project were taken by Haikara, La Voce del Vento and Tilion, who all had been in the first "Spaghetti Epic"-project also. All was going well until in March 2005 Colossus received shocking news: Vesa Lattunen, the leader of the Finnish group Haikara had passed away right in the middle of the making the opening suite for the project.

The Finnish progressive scene had lost one of its most talented and enthusiastic artist. It was clear that the project would not be the same without the original and interesting music of Haikara as the suite was at the time only in the mind of Vesa. To show the respect for the music of Vesa Lattunen and Haikara the project was, in spite of everything, continued, and the release is dedicated to the memory of Vesa.

In a short notice, the Italian band Randone accepted to take the opening part of the project.

As usual, all bands participating in the project were interviewed for the Colossus Magazine, and everybody was of the opinion that these kinds of projects are very interesting, original and stimulating and that this project would present even a bigger challenge to the bands participating than the original “Spaghetti Epic“-project. The bands had learned a lot during the making of their music for the first “Spaghetti Epic“-project and were also getting new ideas and inspiration for their own releases. It was not easy to work with a movie as a theme but. together with the rules for the instruments and type of music, this gave new challenges and made the bands think harder what they were doing and how the music would sound in the end.

Raimo Eurasto. Colossus Magazine