Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Label: Film Score Monthly
Cat.#: FSMCD Vol. 5 No 14
Country: United States
Format: CD
Release Date: October 2002
UPN: 63855801432
Notes:
From Amazon: Miklós Rózsa never agreed with the politics of the movie The Green Berets (1968), but by that time in his career, he no longer had the luxury of picking and choosing his movie projects -- if he wanted to do any film work at all, he had to consider even the improbable ones, such as this. Rózsa's contribution to the finished film is debatable. His scoring of some sequences is wonderful, such as the earnest, string-laden music accompanying the military move to Vietnam and to the base camp outside DaNang. Some of the material here recalls the other end of Rózsa's career, and his scoring of the war movies Five Graves to Cairo and Sahara (for some reason, the authors of the notes for this CD either omitted or simply forgot about those credits in their observation that Rózsa had never scored a major war movie before) -- the music depicting the attacks on the base camp and the uncovering of a spy could have slotted right in with those 24-year-old scores, or with Rózsa's film noir period of the late '40s. His lighthearted music depicting the activities of the unit "scrounger," Sgt. Peterson, and his sitar-laden work underscoring the scenes of Vietnam civilian life are less memorable, though it is interesting to hear Rózsa writing for the Chinese zither. This CD contains the original scoring for all of the scenes, including Rózsa's use of a set of orchestral variations on "Onward Christian Soldiers" that was later supplanted in the editing of the final film in favor of his original material underscoring the death of Sgt. Provo. All of that is fine material, but how well it fit in with the movie's gung-ho political sentiments and macho sensibilities is questionable -- it was almost too sophisticated for the material it was intended to accompany, though it did make the movie seem more profound and serious than it otherwise would have. The CD is well produced, with excellent sound throughout, and -- apart from some errors in the notes and a political slant to the writing some may find off-putting -- is a very satisfying release of an interesting late-career detour for the composer.
Track Listing:
1. Main Title (Ballad of the Green Berets) (02:19)
2. Petersen Caught / Sergeant Petersen (01:21)
3. South Vietnam (00:50)
4. DaNang (02:22)
5. Departure (00:51)
6. Dodge City (02:02)
7. Hamchunk Appears (02:10)
8. Requisition (01:13)
9. Casualties (01:32)
10. All the Way (01:42)
11. Bedfellows (02:26)
12. Killing Zone / The Spy (03:04)
13. Brutality / The Children (01:40)
14. The Amulet / Confidence (01:42)
15. Devastation (04:20)
16. After the Raid / Alarm (03:06)
17. The River Siene (01:53)
18. La Java de Saigon (01:07)
19. Starlight, Starbright / Ready to Fire (02:10)
20. Crash Landing (01:13)
21. Hamchunk's Dog / Hamchunk's Tragedy (02:57)
22. Temporary Victory / Aftermath (02:10)
23. Provo's Death (02:04)
24. Street Cafe (01:58)
25. Paratroopers/Frustration (05:08)
26. Chateau Costeau (01:44)
27. Seduction/Abduction (06:46)
28. The Bridge/Escape (02:40)
29. Operation Skyhawk (01:57)
30. Forgiveness / Petersen's End (02:03)
31. The End/Ballad of the Green Berets (03:05)
Total Duration: 01:11:35
Ennio Morricone e la sua orchestra e I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni
Label: RCA Italiana
Cat.#: PM 3463
Country: Italy
Format: 7" 45rpm Vinyl
Release Date: 1968
UPN: None
Notes:
Original release title: La Ballata Dei Berretti Verdi. Also contains music from: Svegliati E Uccidi
Track listing:
Side 1. La Ballata Dei Berretti Verdi (02:34)
from The Green Berets
Side 2. Una Tromba Nella Notte (02:47)
from Svegliati E Uccidi
Total Duration: 00:05:21
Ennio Morricone and His Orchestra
Label: RCA Italiana
Cat.#: PM45 3358
Country: Italy
Format: 7" 45rpm Vinyl
Release Date: 1966
UPN: None
Notes:
Also contains music from: Svegliati E Uccidi
Track listing:
Side 1. La ballata dei beretti verdi (02:33)
(SSgt.B. Sadler - R. Moore) Ennio Morricone la sua orchestra e "I cantori Moderni"di Alessandroni
Side 2. Una tromba a Dallas (02:45)
from the film Svegliati e Uccidi (E.Morricone) Ennio Morricone la sua orchestra e "I cantori Moderni" di Alessandroni
Total Duration: 00:05:18
Label: RCA Victor / Warner Bros
Cat.#: SS-1671
Country: Japan
Format: 7" 45rpm Vinyl
Release Date: Unknown
UPN: None
Notes: Fairly rare, and hard to find with the record sleeve intact.
Track Listing:
Side A: The Ballad of the Green Berets
Side B: unknown title
SSgt Barry Sadler
Label: RCA Victor
Cat.#: LPM-3547, LPM-3547RE2, LPM 3547, & LSP-3547RE2
Country: United States / Canada
Format: 33rpm LP Vinyl (mono)
Release Date: January 20, 1966
UPN: None
Label: Collector's Choice
Cat.#: DRC1-1710
Country: United States
Format: CD
Release Date: May 19, 1998
UPN: Unknown
Notes:
From Amazon.com: Barry Sadler drove a sharp spike into the already polarized American psyche with his unabashedly patriotic and pro-Vietnam War chant "Ballad of the Green Berets," which rocketed to the top of the charts in 1966. Supporters of the war in Southeast Asia embraced "Ballad of the Green Berets" as an anthem; antiwar activists derided it as jingoistic, machismo garbage. In retrospect, they were both right. Sadler, a wounded and decorated Vietnam veteran, possessed a thin, stilted baritone better suited to recitations than actual singing (which there is actually very little of herein). As a songwriter, he was little more than one-dimensional. And, sadly, like so many veterans, Sadler's life seemed to slowly unravel after the war, and after the fleeting taste of fame that "Green Berets" afforded him. Though he continued to record and write soldier-of-fortune-style pulp war novels, he never had another hit. He died in 1989 after being shot in the head near his home in Guatemala, under mysterious and somewhat seedy circumstances. Oddly, though, when heard today, far removed from its emotion-charged original context, this scant, musically inconsequential collection of guts-and-glory odes and reminiscences takes on new meaning as a slender but vivid historical document from one of America's most divided and tumultuous epochs. ~ Bob Allen
From the All Music Guide: Ballads of the Green Berets topped the album charts in 1966 and the title track reached number one and number two, respectively, on the pop and country charts. Despite the Hollywood heroism of the hit single, the album offered an occasionally gritty portrait of the war and, unlike Johnny Seay's American Reflections album from the same year, focused on the dedication and hardships of American men and women in Vietnam rather than explicitly political or patriotic concerns. Sadler wrote all of the material himself, and his sentimental vignettes struck a chord with Americans who were desperate for a less-contentious perspective on the war. Mostly a historical artifact today, Ballads of the Green Berets is a nostalgic trip back to a tumultuous time. The 1997 CD reissue offers "The 'A' Team," Sadler's only other hit single, as a bonus. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide
Tracklist:
Side 1:
1 The Ballad Of The Green Berets (Written by Robin Moore) 2:26
2 I'm A Lucky One 2:52
3 Letter From Vietnam 2:29
4 Badge Of Courage 2:30
5 Saigon 2:27
6 Salute To The Nurses 2:20
Side 2:
1 I'm Watching The Raindrops Fall 2:08
2 Garet Trooper 2:35
3 The Soldier Has Come Home 2:50
4 Lullaby 2:30
5 Trooper's Lament 3:10
6 Bamiba 2:30
[Track 13 on the CD, which was added specially for the CD issue, is “The A Team”]
SSgt. Barry Sadler
Label:RCA Victor
Cat.#: 447-0787
RCA Victor – 447-0787
Country: United States
Format: 7" 45rpm Vinyl
Release Date: 1965
Notes:
7” 45’s were also released in Spain, New Zealand, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Track Listing:
Side A: Ballad of the Green Berets
Side B: Letter from Vietnam