For film score fans, Goldsmith's culmination of thematic development in the genre caused Take a Hard Ride to contain several lengthy statements of rolling, accessible orchestral harmony (over genre-favorites tambourine and guitar) that would elevate demand for the score on album. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Goldsmith's thematic identity for Take a Hard Ride is his choice of piccolo and recorder to render some sensitivity to an otherwise brutish, unsophisticated film that glorifies senseless killing. The piccolo in particular is integral in performing several of the film's smaller motifs. In the primary statements of the title theme, heard best in "Main Title," "Friendly Enemies," "The Wagon," and "A Long Walk," Goldsmith hands the theme over to high strings and brass for their most satisfying performances. Outside of these statements, Goldsmith tackles Take a Hard Ride with a wider sense of ambient sound design. Early electronics make a significant impact on the score, foreshadowing the disembodied echoing effects that would later define the Rambo scores. The use of the harmonica as somewhat of a source instrument is Goldsmith's nod to Morricone, as is some of the striking, shrill brass usage late in the score (among other techniques of disillusionment). These effects would be taken out of context in the final edit of the film and provided with far more frequency than Goldsmith had originally intended. A mingling of ethnic spice for "The Trek" is also a twist of the same style. Closer to home for the composer is the use of percussion, especially during some of the hand to hand combat scenes; for these moments, Goldsmith employs a range of thunderous timpani and medium-range drums that closely reflected his concurrent use of such sounds in The Wind and the Lion. In its full album presentation, Take a Hard Ride strikes a satisfying balance between the maturation of Goldsmith's thematic sensibilities in the genre and the Morricone-like ambience resulting from the demands of the filmmaker and sub-genre. Unfortunately, the director ultimately mangled Goldsmith's score in the film, rearranging it to death and failing to use some sequences.

On CD album, Take a Hard Ride has had a long history. A 2000 product from Film Score Monthly presented the score in its chronological and original form. Marking the first album of Film Score Monthly's third volume of Silver Age Classics products (and sporting a new look since their inaugural release two years prior), Take a Hard Ride was one of the more obscure but noteworthy releases for FSM at the time. Having provided many Goldsmith scores in the series, including the questionably redundant Patton and Rio Conchos, FSM's treatment of Take a Hard Ride was by far the most attractive Goldsmith entry of the series' early years. Like FSM's immediately previous release, The Film-Flam Man, this score had only been available before on the Society for Preservation of Film Music's tribute dinner CD to Goldsmith back in 1993, a collectible that had become one of the most rare and expensive in the soundtrack community. That tribute album contained all four major statements of the primary theme from Take a Hard Ride (listed in the cues above), so casual collectors who were never impressed by those cues on the compilation needed not investigate FSM's product. But the expanded 2000 release received strong treatment of sound quality by Intrada's Douglass Fake and, unlike many other Film Score Monthly albums in their series, offered a very simple, 45-minute experience of continuous, quality Goldsmith music. With no source cues, mono versus stereo versions, or songs, the album makes few demands. Additionally, unlike the troubles experienced by many previous FSM releases, the original multi-track (stereo) masters with individual instruments alone for Take a Hard Ride were available to Fake for the best possible mix. Crisper stereo sound has come out of a few of Goldsmith's other scores of the era, but the presentation here ranges from adequate to impressive. With 3,000 copies available to the film music community, yet another portion of the 1993 SPFM tribute album was rendered defunct. Not surprisingly, that album eventually went out of print as well and was supplanted by another remastering in 2016, this time from La-La Land Records. This presentation doesn't sound significantly better and is slightly shorter, but availability of this solid Goldsmith Western is the key attraction here. It's a relatively easy ride on the ears.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download