La-La Land to release 15-disc original series score set

[Maurice]

doubleohfive wrote:

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Have you bothered reading this thread yet?

Tone.

[JimZipCode]

Ok, my favorite "new" score so far: Elaan of Troyius. That thing rocks.

[ssosmcin]

Christopher wrote:

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Also, I have to wonder, are these selections of library cues not exhaustive? Because I'm sure there's at least one "Where No Man..." cue that was in "The Lights of Zetar" but wasn't heard here, namely "Force Field." So either that was re-recorded but not included on the box set, or the episode used the original recording in violation of union rules. (And come to think of it, the same goes for "Vina's Dance" in "Wolf in the Fold." That wasn't included in the second-season library cues. And the version in "Wolf" did sound like the same performance from "The Cage," though as I've learned from this set, I'm not necessarily good at discerning the difference between performances.)

The music used in Lights of Zetar and the Vina Dance in Wolf should be the original cues. Lights also used some Doomsday Machine music without rerecording it, so there was some flouting of the rules here and there (just the fact that these tapes still exist at all is one example of ignoring the rules). This is going by ear, and mine is pretty good at detecting differences between the originals and the library stuff, as well as being assured by Lukas Kendall that every cue has been accounted for on paper. There is nothing missing. Which really has to be a first. Amazing how it all survived.

It's interesting to know that Wilbur Hatch composed the first and last original music for the series. He did the first Vina's Dance "pre-recording" and then the presidential music for The Savage Curtain. Nice way to bookend the music (Sandy Courage did the first and last full scores).

[Christopher]

Captain Claus wrote:

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The music used in Lights of Zetar and the Vina Dance in Wolf should be the original cues. Lights also used some Doomsday Machine music without rerecording it, so there was some flouting of the rules here and there (just the fact that these tapes still exist at all is one example of ignoring the rules). This is going by ear, and mine is pretty good at detecting differences between the originals and the library stuff, as well as being assured by Lukas Kendall that every cue has been accounted for on paper. There is nothing missing. Which really has to be a first. Amazing how it all survived.

Thanks. I guess it's not so bad that they reused a few original cues, since they did at least record new music and paid musicians to play it, even if they didn't use it. I mean, that was the reason for the rules against reusing tapes from prior seasons -- so that the musicians could be assured of getting work on a continuing basis. In the case of "Wolf in the Fold," they did pay the orchestra to record a dance piece for Kara, so it didn't really matter that they replaced it with a recording from the first pilot (since I don't think the individual musicians would've gotten royalties anyway). The reuse of "Force Field" in "Zetar" is iffier, but at least the orchestra got paid to do all those library cues they didn't use (and which it's just as well they didn't use because they're not very good).

Kind of a disappointment that the third season doesn't have any "pure" library cues like the first two had -- just new performances of episode cues. So there aren't any "Wow!" discoveries like in the first two seasons -- "Oh, that was actually written by Mullendore/Hatch/Courage instead of who I thought!"

It's interesting to know that Wilbur Hatch composed the first and last original music for the series. He did the first Vina's Dance "pre-recording" and then the presidential music for The Savage Curtain. Nice way to bookend the music (Sandy Courage did the first and last full scores).

I had been wondering why "And the Children Shall Lead" ended up on disc 5, after the other Duning scores, even though it was recorded before them. But looking over the whole five discs, that was kind of the only place it could've gone. Disc 2 was all the Steiner material, with only 12-13 minutes of library cues (not enough to swap out for "Children"); Disc 3 paired the Courage scores; and Disc 4 had the two Duning scores that were recorded back-to-back, so it made sense to keep them together. Disc 1 had two unrelated scores, but they were both from very early in the season, so it wouldn't have made sense to push one back to disc 5. Which means that disc 5 was the only open slot left for "Children."

It's interesting. George Duning was one of the two major TOS composers who didn't work on season 1 at all (Jerry Fielding being the other -- I don't think Samuel Matlovsky counts as "major"), but in season 3 he did more music than any other individual composer. Let's see, for season 1, in terms of total minutes of music, Courage did the most (if you count the pilots as part of the season, which, musically, they effectively were), and in season 2 it was Fried.

[ssosmcin]

I'm surprised that, even after four decades of loving this music, that I'm enjoying the third season scores as much as I am. Maybe because most of them never got any kind of representation (except the three suites). Whatever the reason, I am addicted to Spock's Brain and Elaan of Troyius the most. Spectre of the Gun and Is There in Truth No Beauty? are also favorites, and it's still tough to get the suite reorchestrations out of my expectations while listening. The wailing trumpets in Beauty are a little crazy in the episode, but I love them on album. There is a lot of energy and excitement in these third season scores. Yet there was also so much haunting music which gave the season a very spooky quality. This was oddly appropriate for its 10 pm timeslot and the jettisoning of most of the humor.

Way back in The Man Trap, I was also surprised at the amount of music not used in the episode. I can see why, I guess; it's all so damned lonely and depressing. The "Conference" cue is enough to drive a person to suicide. I want to layer this music over the scene to see how it plays. Man Trap is the perfect score for the episode, but it is SUCH a tough listen. I love it, but for playing in the car, it's inappropriate. Yet his very next score, The Naked Time, is so much different. Still very somber, but a little more lively and upbeat by comparison.

I'm not one to go back and recreate all the tracked episodes (a daunting task), but I think I'll spend a little time to fill out the partial scores of Corbomite and Balance of Terror with their tracked music. Just for grins (I did some music placement in my playlist for Mirror Mirror to get the fight and Mudd's Perfidy cues in the right spots). A lot of the overlapping will make some of this difficult, but I can see why this was done. It has to be a listenable album first and an archive second. Still, I do miss having the cue breaks in The Cage and WNMHGB. And, since the music of WNMHGB is supposed to represent the unaired pilot, there should be a commercial break pause after Power Man as we go from Kirk calling the ship to the orbit shot of The Enterprise. But there ya go.

[Christopher]

I'd appreciate it if someone could compile a list of all the cues here that weren't used onscreen. I hadn't realized there were unused cues in "The Man Trap."

[ssosmcin]

Christopher wrote:

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I'd appreciate it if someone could compile a list of all the cues here that weren't used onscreen. I hadn't realized there were unused cues in "The Man Trap."

For Man Trap, there were portions of cues unused. In "Conference," all but the last few seconds as Kirk runs to the "dispensery." Also, "Lazer Dazer" the the music is dialed out as Kirk does his crawl through the sand. There are some more in there that popped up in later episodes, IIRC. Like when Crater runs off and Kirk, mcCoy look for him. A lot of that was dialed out, but I remember hearing the opening of that cue in A Taste of Armageddon and even later in Gamesters of Triskelion when Kirk gets his plan to wager for his freedom.

I'd have to go through the whole set again top compile something detailed, but Catspaw had some fly by cues dropped, probably because they sounded too much like the approach of covered wagons. The finale cue was probably too upbeat as well.

[Christopher]

Yeah, I noticed the new cues in "Catspaw." They're hard to miss.

[thumbtack]

It's interesting to discover that music I've always associated with one episode was actually written for an entirely different episode.

[Warped9]

Part of what floors me about this collection is while it all sounds consistent with each other it also covers so much range in style and sensibilities and mood. It's incredible. This really is a treasure trove and gold mine in terms of television series music. And it really is the an integral part of the soul that made Star Trek come alive for us.

I do have one quibble about this set and it has nothing to do with the music or collection. I find the case holder for the discs to be awkward and rather flimsy. You feel like you have to handle it with care or it could fall apart on you (one tray is in the Season 2 case did just that, but I managed to get it back into place). The CDs don't seem to fit snugly either and so far I've found two discs rattling loose inside. Fortunately there appears to be no damage and they play just fine.


...Listening to the first disc of Season 2 I gotta say I much prefer the earlier orchestral version of the main title theme rather than the later version with the enhanced vocals.

[Christopher]

I don't find the frames flimsy. On the contrary, I find them too hard to get the discs out of. I'm always afraid I'll break the disc if I'm not really careful. I wish someone would redesign those things so that there's some kind of easy release button or lever or something, so that it holds the disc firmly but lets go easily when you push the right bit.

[Esteban]

It gets to my only real complaint about the whole thing. Why a CD box set? How 20th century. Why not make it all available as a download? Why am I ripping these stupid CDs as we speak?

I'm smiling, folks. Trust me, I really appreciate the work and effort. Still, let's face it, this is stone knives and bearskins.

[Warped9]

Esteban wrote:

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It gets to my only real complaint about the whole thing. Why a CD box set? How 20th century. Why not make it all available as a download? Why am I ripping these stupid CDs as we speak?

I'm smiling, folks. Trust me, I really appreciate the work and effort. Still, let's face it, this is stone knives and bearskins.

Maybe it's a generational thing. A CD set is something I can hold in my hand and feel I have something tangible for the money spent. A download is just there and doesn't really feel like anything special.

I actually do understand your point, but I might have really paused over paying more than two hundred bucks just for a download. This is something they might have considered, how a lot of people might have responded to it being offered as just a download. Mind you if it had been offered as just a download than the price would certainly have had to reflect that since you wouldn't have had to pay for the manufacturing, recording and packaging of the whole thing.

[Christopher]

Esteban wrote:

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It gets to my only real complaint about the whole thing. Why a CD box set? How 20th century. Why not make it all available as a download?

How would you get the notes and the artwork?

[ssosmcin]

Christopher wrote:

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How would you get the notes and the artwork?

Not that I want this in anything other than physical media, but all of that stuff can be put into a file and downloaded. The TNG Ron Jones box had minimal physical notes. All the detailed notes were available on line.