By Odeisel
Spaghetti Westerns were part of a larger movement in response to the increasing sterility of the American Western. The name derives from the derogatory slang directed at the sub-genre’s Italian creators. The movies began a departure from the white washing of the West and an ambiguous morality that no longer embraced the conventional good vs. evil aesthetic. Spaghetti Westerns featured stronger roles for women, and cast well-known Americans in the lead roles that either made their star (Clint Eastwood) or rekindled older ones.
Five years ago, inspired by the genre, Danger Mouse (of Grey Album and Gnarls Barkley fame) and Italian arranger/composer Daniele Luppi set out to create Rome, with Jack White and Norah Jones as headline crooners, the Cantori Moderni (background choir of Westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) for depth, and the surviving musicians from the period for authenticity. The album plays like a score, with 15 tracks of differing temperament that place you in the middle of the Old West.
The album’s pacing is impeccably measured, beginning with “Theme of Rome,” which establishes gravity with cavernous, booming drums and minimalist guitar strums and an angelic wailing over simmering organs. The Jack White-crooned “Rose with the Broken Neck,” is a declaration of solitude that casts our protagonist as a tortured soul. White drifts from the plow on the farm to the train on the track, to the tracks on his arm to the train wreck; chronicling his descent into Lonerville.
The bed-time charms of “Morning Fog (interlude)” provide emotional separation and scene transition to “Season’s Trees,” a medley of strings and wind that features Norah Jones on vocals. Norah’s voice takes on a heavier, smokier presence as she ponders how what she once dreamt became the reality she now inhabits. Are we free to live our lives or are we bound by destiny to simply play our roles?
The heightened drama of “Her Hollow Ways (interlude)” forms the second scene-segueing interlude, using the choir and minimalist chimes to further her introspection. “Roman Blue” heightens the gravitas as the story develops. Lush, delicate strings invoke expansive, wide-angled views of a red-tinged desert landscape beneath the blue sky, populated with black crows waiting to feast on whatever carrion they can find.
White’s “Two Against One” features a tortured gunslinger dealing with his own demons in addition to whatever forces may be arrayed against him. He works ever-so-smoothly with the choir on the refrain; giving way to winding, descending guitar riffs and vibrant drums. The shuffling, smooth funk of “The Gambling Priest” recalls an introduction to a new character with its creeping, rattlesnake-slithering bass and a string section that hurtles a low-broil drum segment.
“The World (interlude)” invites a feeling of discovery with an undercurrent of chimes that continue into the Norah Jones-helmed “Black.” Jones continues to drift into new vocal territory with an overt assertiveness. In keeping with the Spaghetti Western, she isn’t a damsel in distress, but an unrepentant character with regret but no remorse. The triumphant feel of “The Matador Has Fallen” with its heavy deep strings, triangle and orchestral chorus over rousing drums push the narrative further. Organs bleed throughout “Morning Fog” as our protagonists wake up in a brand new world, complete with vanquished villain.
The powerfully dynamic “Problem Queen” is Jones’ tour de force, with her own voice serving as background in reverb. An urgent composition delivers a feeling of triumph and closure as she realizes that the cowboy is lonely for a reason, and now that villain is vanquished, there’s nothing keeping him in town, not even her.
That sadness drifts out in ‘Her Hollow Ways,” the penultimate scene as she watches him leave town. A psychedelic backdrop and Jack White’s high note/low note vocals deliver the closing note, “The World,” as the gun slinger rides off into the sunset. It’s sufficiently rousing enough to signal that the story is perhaps not over, just this particular adventure. The world is exactly what you make out of it, with both pleasure and peril waiting around every corner.
Rome is an ambitious, refreshing take at album construction with a brilliantly arranged tapestry of music and singular performances from both Jones and White. Norah has found another level vocally while White’s experimentation of dual-pitch recording ands a particular depth to his featured songs. Luppi and Danger Mouse have succeeded in crafting movie as record and have done justice to the spirit of the Spaghetti Western. While younger ears may lack the patience for so many instrumental tracks that aren’t club oriented, the portrait painted is rich and effective at delivering it’s tale. If only Clint Eastwood was still 30.
Out of 5
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