John Morris' soundtrack for
Mel Brooks' Western comedy Blazing Saddles may not be everyone's cup of tea, but, to quote the movie's bad guy, "rustlers, cutthroats, murders, bounty hunters, desperadoes, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con-men, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglars, horse thieves, train robbers, bank robbers, ***-kickers, ****-kickers and Methodists" may want to give it a try. As with the film, the soundtrack offers something to offend almost anyone at one point or another. Even those not offended by the campy vulgarity of the lyrics, such as the faux-
Marlene Dietrich sexuality of "I'm Tired" (sung with a sultry lisp by
Madeline Kahn), may well be offended by its blatant larceny. Most of the music here is swiped from the great Westerns of the past, but with a twist; for instance, the pseudo-heroic title song performed with heldentenor brio by
Frankie Laine. Anyone who laughed out loud at the film is likely to find much to laugh at in the soundtrack, and that's reason enough to look into it. What may prove problematic for some listeners is the disc's short running time. Even with its 15 tracks filled out with 11 bonus tracks, the whole CD runs less than 42 minutes. The performance by the Blazing Saddles Orchestra under the direction of the composer can justly be called definitive, and La-La Land Record's stereo sound is extremely vivid.