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Composed and Conducted by:
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Alex North
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Orchestrated by:
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Hershy Kay
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Produced by:
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Ford A. Thaxton
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Release Date:
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December, 1999
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Availability:
Limited and numbered release of 2,500
copies; available only through specialty outlets.
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Awards:
Nominated for an Academy Award, 1975
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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Bite the Bullet: (Alex North) With the fourth limited edition release by
Prometheus Records the past several months, the most anticipated of the four is
made available for the public; Bite the Bullet, as with his other
compositions, is a coveted item for many Alex North fans, as well as those who
are in search for classics from the latter part of the "Silver Age" of film
music. North did not compose many Westerns in his career --many might consider
his best to be Viva Zapata-- but Bite the Bullet nevertheless
serves to round out a career and genre of film that were fading from the
spotlight at the time. Although North would continue on to complete a few more
average accomplishments in the 1980s, the Western genre of films was on its very
last breath of life in the mid-1970s. It is not surprising, therefore that the
music clings to a few more traditional Western elements while also embracing
some of the more unconventional methods of scoring that were popular in the
early 1970s.
Nominated for an Academy Award during the year of its release, the score for
Bite the Bullet features moments from seemingly different parts of
North's career rolled into one. The thematically rich subthemes that run through
the score add a romanticism that was missing from many scores of the time (and
are reminiscent of the "Golden Age" kind of compositions). In fact the very best
moments of Bite the Bullet are those that contemplate the relations
between the main characters in the film. Adversely, the weak parts of the score
are more difficult to enjoy for me because of my tastes in Western scores. I've
always been of the opinion that Goldsmith was producing far more enjoyable (not
necessarily more effective, but better music apart from the film) Western scores
at the time. And this is in part due to the technique differences between
Goldsmith and North. North's abundant use of percussion is, at times,
overwhelming. Also, North has a habit of leaving his treble and bass elements
out of synch, with the bass often bouncing along at a clip that is slighty
disjointed from the rest of the players. It's an odd thing to gripe about, and
this style of composition attracts a great many people. For me, however, I enjoy
the stronger, more cohesive brass elements of Goldsmith's writing for the dying
Western genre at the time.
The album from Prometheus is very complete, with an inclusion of tracks approved
by North for an album that never made to the presses twenty years ago. North's
eighteen tracks of music are highly attractive for the Western and/or North
efficionados, though the same might not be able to be said about the source cues
and marches. The Mexican sources cues can be, in all honesty, very irritating if
the listener isn't in the mood for it; the vocals in track nineteen are most
unfortunate. The marches were an interesting choice to include on the album
--we've heard them all before (or at least most of us have)-- but I suppose a
"complete" album of music from the film requires them. On the bright side, the
album is well designed, with all of North's material conveniently tracked
together for the first two-thirds of the album. The production of the album is
crisp, like the others in its series, and is available only through a limited
release. So if you're interested in obtaining a copy, do so in late 1999 or
early 2000, in case they eventually get turned over to the secondary market
only. ***
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Overture (2:43)
• 2. The Foal (2:26)
• 3. The Race (1:51)
• 4. Badlands (4:39)
• 5. Miss Jones (2:03)
• 6. Desert Ride (2:17)
• 7. Night Pause (3:05)
• 8. Old Timer's Horse (1:32)
• 9. Fun Drive (2:05)
• 10. Respite (2:10)
• 11. Carbo & Luke (2:40)
• 12. Sand Dunes (3:44)
• 13. Bite the Bullet (2:17)
• 14. Final Lap (2:42)
• 15. The Winner (2:48)
• 16. Clay and the Mexican (2:04)
• 17. Prisoners (2:44)
• 18. The Winner-End Title (1:23)
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Mexican Source Music:
• 19. Ole-Ole (1:25)
• 20. River Medley (2:44)
• 21. Mexican Dance #1 (1:22)
• 22. The Tooth (1:23)
• 23. Xalxoco Xochitl (1:13)
March Suite:
• 24. Stars & Stripes (1:54)
• 27. National Emblem March (2:12)
• 26. Drums and Bugles (1:34)
• 27. The Caissons Go Rolling Along (1:11)
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Insert contains lengthy notes about the
movie and score by Jack Smith.
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