And that is how Morricone had finally won his first Oscar only two years ago. Although soundtrack for Hateful Eight is a solid one, the situation which brought this famous score composer his first Academy Award has more to do with the fact that many nominations slipped out of his hands undeservingly, just because he is not an American. This was also the first time that Morricone made an official soundtrack for Tarantino's movie, which is weird because the famous director used a lot of his music in his previous cuts.
This is a stellar soundtrack, but the manner in which it is conceptualized is problematic due to numerous reasons. Soundtrack is over 70 minutes long, and it should not have been more than 40 minutes. Out of 28 tracks, 16 are Morricone's compositions, while the rest contain dialogues from the movie, which is not only redundant, but it also disrupts the cohesion of the whole audio experience. The only meaningful moment comes with folk number Jim Jones At Botany Bay in interpretation of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh. Another standout is Roy Orbison's There Won't Be Many Coming Home that fits in the mosaic with its retro sentiment.
The introductory theme L'Ultima Diligenza Di Red Rock (Versione Integrale) summarizes everything that is needed from this soundtrack. Composition reflects the tension with obscure, almost eerie theme that progresses into sonic version of atomic explosion. It is amazing how much neuroticism this 80 year old man has!
Orchestra, drums, vocals, evil theme and plethora of motives create a spectrum of melodrama that does not hint anything good. It is clear that the huge effort was put in this record. The problems with Hateful Eight OST start with Overture that should have been eliminated as it serves as a segment of tension-driven Neve (Versione Integrale). Further on, I found abundance of variations to be underwhelming, as few main ideas could have been elaborated and converged into two or three tracks. Numerous variations hastily start sounding tedious. Sei Cavelli is an example for this, while Raggi Di Sole Sulla Montagna desperately tries to be modern psychedelic classic. One of the biggest absurda is L'Inferno Bianco that shows in two versions: with synth and with trumpet. The absurd is that the difference is undetectable. La Lettera Di Lincoln brings a shot of sensitivity and patriotism, and it might be the composition that saved the second half of the soundtrack.
I don't know. When I summarize all the important elements, I can not dent that this is a stellar OST. On the other hand, iterative variations sound like overcompensation for the absence of complexity. However, it is impressive that Morricone can still be this energizing.
