Track Listing

1. Main Title Theme (Billy) - Bob Dylan, Bruce Langhorn, Booker T
2. Cantina Theme (Workin' for the Law) - Bob Dylan, , Bruce Langhorne, Roger McGuinn
3. Billy 1 - Bob Dylan, Bruce Langhorn, Booker T
4. Bunkhouse Theme - Bob Dylan, Carol Hunter
5. River Theme - Bob Dylan, Bruce Langhorn, Booker T
6. Turkey Chase - Bob Dylan
7. Knockin' on Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan, Jim Keltner, Roger McGuinn, Terry Paul
8. Final Theme - Bob Dylan
9. Billy 4 - Bob Dylan, Terry Paul
10. Billy 7 - Bob Dylan, Jim Keltner, Roger McGuinn, Terry Paul

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46250 in Music
• Released on: 1989-08-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack

Album Description
Out of print in the U.S.! Bob Dylan's mostly instrumental soundtrack to the surreal Western from director Sam Peckinpah. Of the few vocal tracks on the album, the stunning now-classic (and often covered) 'Knocking On Heaven's Door' made it's debut on this release. 10 tracks. Sony.

Customer Reviews

Relive the Chase..Dylan Style
If you have seen the film Directed by Sam Peckinpah, or if you love Dylan, or even if you just love Westerns and the thematic musical scores from them, this album is for you. You can relive the chase as Pat Garrett hounds Billy the Kid from start to finish across the old west.

There are 10 tracks, music by Bob Dylan, accompanied by Booker T on Bass, Carl Fortina on Harmonium, and Russ Kunkle on Tambourine among other various artists, that capture the story. Four variations of Billy's theme, one recoreded in Mexico City with Terry Paul, tell his story.There is some great foot stompin music "Turkey Chase" and it also includes "Knockin on Heaven's Door", the sad lament of knowing the end is near.For a complete list, see buyer's info.

All the sound is distinctive and clear. It's a great album to pass the time with at home or in the car. also If you have not seen this film and you are a western or Dylan fan you might want to check it out also. Dylan has a supporting role as "Alias", Billy's friend, and he is quite good.

relax and enjoy.....Laurie

also recommended:

The Greatest Western Themes

A Contrarian's View of Dylan
Most people see Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid as nothing more than a really long super-maxi-single for "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" with several unnecessary re-mixes of the B-Side, "Billy". While it's hard to argue that there are any other songs on this album (or any other album by Dylan or not) as good as "Knockin'", if you're only interested in Bob for his words you're going to miss a whole lot here. It is easily Bob's most instrumental heavy album (and since it's really a soundtrack, that's too be expected). Most people can't even really tell these songlets apart. Which means they miss all the fun goofy humor in the banjo-laden "Turkey Chase" (my second favorite song on the album). And of the songs that do have words, you get three different vocal versions of "Billy" (numbered 1, 4 and 7 for some reason) as well as another instrumental. Sure, all three offer up pretty close to identical lyrics - all which are little more than dumbed-down Cliff's Notes versions of the plot of the movie. Musically they do each convey a subtly different mood. Okay, "Billy" is not a particularly great song, but despite its reputation as an all-time classic, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" actually is. And regardless of Eric Clapton or Axl Rose's attempts to steal this song, the Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid version remains the definitive one. Sure, this album is a lost great classic, but it's certainly worth more than just that one song.

Made the film work
Bob Dylan gathered together a cracker jack group of musicians to record this excellent soundtrack, a romantic and mythic ode to a west that could only have existed in a collaboration between two artists walking the desperate line between sentimentality and mourning.

Sam Peckinpah when making the deeply flawed but often beautiful companion film, tottered on the abyss. The film may have marked his falling off the precipice, but Bob Dylan's brilliant fusing of folk, country and western and rock provided a sonic union rarely found in soundtracks. This album serves as a funeral dirge not only for the mythic Billy The Kid, but for Sam Peckinpah also. In fact, Dylan's score makes the film work far better that it perhaps deserves to.

Granted, like the film it echoes, this album does often sound redundant. But when it hits as it does with the brilliant opening theme "Billy" (Wes Anderson resurrects it most magnificently in "Royal Tennenbaums") and of course the classic "Knocking On Heaven's Door". Dylan even pulls off a comical Kris Kristofferson impersonation in one cut. Much of this album contains arguably some of Dlyan's finest instrumental and acoustic work. The sheer sound of the music evokes strong images of southwestern sunsets and small rivers rolling lazily by sandy dunes. It evokes images of time passing and figures holding passionately to the ephemeral. To quote the film:

"It feels like times have changed"

"Times maybe. . . but not me."

Like Ry Cooder's equally excellent score for "The Long Riders", Dylan transcended time and space and created a great album that made a film work.