"For Zorn, filmscores have always been a place to experiment, and the FilmWorks Series is in many ways a microcosm of his prodigious output.

This original installment of the FilmWorks Series presents three scores ranging from punk-rockabilly (featuring the nasty guitars of Bob Quine, Bill Frisell and Arto Lindsay); a jazzy Bernard Herrmann fantasy; to a quirky classical/improv/world music amalgam for Raul Ruiz's bizarre film The Golden Boat.

Zorn's infamous one-minute arrangement of Morricone's classic The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, is included as a bonus track.

[2]The Allmusic review by Joslyn Layne awarded the album 3 stars stating "Although certainly a younger effort, there is a lot of good music on this first film works compilation.

[3] Guy Peters stated "With releases like this, Zorn was basically working outside the jazz-frame and experimenting with avant-garde compositions, but a lot of the music owes so much to jazz that his crossover tactics can be found at full-effect.

Like all of his music that is laden with shifts, gimmicks, cut-up techniques and the complete lack of convention, this volume of Filmworks may strike one as too self-conscious and studied (as in the structured improvisation of the game pieces), but it also shows you a fearless musician and composer at work, willing to take risks and not afraid to fail once in a while.

Vicki Bodner - oboe John Zorn - alto sax Robert Quine - guitar Anthony Coleman - keyboards Carol Emanuel - harp David Shae - turntable, vocals Mark Dresser - bass Ciro Baptista - Brazilian percussion Robert Previte - drums, marimba

"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" - 1:04 Robert Quine - guitar Bill Frisell - guitar Fred Frith - bass Wayne Horvitz - hammond organ David Weinstein - keyboards Carol Emanuel - harp Robert Previte - drums, percussion, vocal

Shelley Hirsch - voice John Zorn - alto sax Marty Ehrlich - tenor sax, clarinet Tom Varner - French horn Jim Staley - trombone Bill Frisell - guitar Carol Emanuel - harp Anthony Coleman - piano, organ, celeste, harpsichord Wayne Horvitz - hammond organ, piano, DX7 David Weinstein - mirage, CZ101 keyboards David Hofstra - bass Naná Vasconcelos - Brazilian percussion Robert Previte - drums, percussion, vibes, timpani, orchestra bells