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

[BeatleJWOL]

Dalen Quaice wrote:

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Can anybody else hear any glitches and abnormal volume level changes during some of the edits on this set?

One of the title alternate takes does drop off fairly suddenly in volume partway through, but that's the only thing I've noticed.

[ssosmcin]

Christopher wrote:

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Interesting. What makes them unlistenable?

Well, they present every single cue in the library in order of recording, not in any episodic order. There are tracks and tracks of odd guitar strums, multiple takes of slide whistles, a rejected opening theme in three parts - again not in the order they would be musically, but in the order of recording. Many cues have the sound guy announcing "Prisoner 1 take 3" or whatever. There were about three composers, the first being Robert Farnon who had his music replaced. Wilfred Josephs, Farnon, Albert Elms and Ron Grainer's work were all separated and really, it's just a hash. Farnon's compositions come across like someone experimenting with sound. It's really a mess. Later Network CD sets were organized by episode.

I get that with multiple composers creating music used for a single episode is an issue, but there had to be a better way to organize them to make it work on an album.

[Dalen Quaice]

^Thanks Beatle - for me the worst tracks are Track 12 of The Empath and Track 19 of Spock's Brain.

[ssosmcin]

Dalen Quaice wrote:

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I feel about this TOS set the way you felt about The Prisoner set (I don't have that set). I have the Dark Shadows set, which I quite love. It is complete and really has every cue for all 1225 episodes. I haven't noticed any problems with editing on that set. It came out a few years back, but it is still available from MPI.

I actually wonder if my discs are defective?

Can anybody else hear any glitches and abnormal volume level changes during some of the edits on this set? Well I find that mega-annoying to the point of having to go in and fix problems on the tracks. On a box set this expensive, I was expecting to be able to listen to the music off the discs without having to mess with it. It seems impossible for me, and this is a disappointment. I really don't have time to mess around with this, yet I've wanted a box set like this for such a long time.

I'm glad that everyone is happy with the set; and although you may think I'm just trying to pick it apart to find fault, I am not.

I have had no problems with the sound at all. The Doomsday Machine has some distortion which was inherent in the original tapes as does the first cue in Spock's Brain, but other than that, I'm very impressed with the sound quality.

If you suspect they are defective, email LaLa Land and see what they can do.

[ssosmcin]

Dalen Quaice wrote:

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^Thanks Beatle - for me the worst tracks are Track 12 of The Empath and Track 19 of Spock's Brain.

I've just listened to both of these cues and they are fine on my CDs. No issues at all.

[BeatleJWOL]

I'll have a listen to both of those as soon as I finish celebrating Elvis' birthday over here...

Nope, no problems here.

[Christopher]

ssosmcin wrote:

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Well, they present every single cue in the library in order of recording, not in any episodic order.

My impression of The Prisoner's music, just from listening to it, is that it was all basically library music, with nothing actually written for a specific scene in a specific episode. So I don't think there actually would be an episodic order.

[ssosmcin]

Christopher wrote:

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My impression of The Prisoner's music, just from listening to it, is that it was all basically library music, with nothing actually written for a specific scene in a specific episode. So I don't think there actually would be an episodic order.

Well, that's not entirely true. While they did use a great many cues from the Chappell Music Library (more so as the series progressed), around eight episodes did have scores specially written for them, but like so many other shows of the day, they were recycled endlessly. The pilot, Arrival, had a score written for it, but it was rejected. Another score was written and used with some of the rejected score plugged in as well as Chappell Library music. The upshot is that, even out of order, none of these cues were arranged or presented as an "album listening experience." It is little more than a music archive. Once I took task of rearranging them at home, it became easier to sit through. And once I got the rest of the library cues, it became a very interesting listening experience. But until I did that - total chore.

[Dale Sams]

Speaking of The Prisoner and Ron Grainer, I'm assuming everyone here knows this...but in case anyone doesn't, "The Omega Man" soundtrack is FANNNN-tastic.

I think that, "Capricorn One" and "Wrath of Khan" would be my favorite Sci-Fi scores.

[ssosmcin]

Yep, it's great stuff and was rereleased as an "unlimited edition" by FSM a few years ago.

[ZapBrannigan]

I'll happily add my endorsement of THE OMEGA MAN. If you like Silver Age film scores (roughly the 1960s and 70s) and you like jazzy, macho, vintage super-cool action music, then it's a must.

[JimZipCode]

Speaking of whether the Enterprise Incident score borrows any themes from other composers –

I've been listening to the Enemy Within score a lot. You know that 4-note motif associated with Evil Kirk that we hear all over the score? We first hear it in the teaser, "The Evil Kirk", I think that's the low piano registers. I'm going to list just a few more places – really it's everywhere in the score, this exercise is superfluous:

• The whole "Alter Ego" cue basically repeats it over and over in different instruments.
• "The Lascivious Captain" opens with it very quiet in the woodwinds, then it returns a couple times; notably when the cue picks up speed at about 1:50, the motif is in the percussion under the melody.
• In "Evil Fury", for the first 30 secs you can hear it under the brass, sounds like percussion and piano. Then after the 30-sec point where the cue slows down, the four notes are played very slowly, as beats.

Half the time I hear that motif I'm reminded of Courage's hammering 4-note theme in The Enterprise Incident. To my ears it sounds exactly the same, except Courage states it with brass and has it stand alone.

Am I right? Is it the same?

[Christopher]

I think I know the two 4-note phrases you're referring to, and no, they aren't identical.

Again I'm using the Virtual Piano applet to list the notes, and I'm not sure I've got the right key; I'm only going for the pattern here. The "Enemy Within" motif is two descending intervals, a perfect fourth and a diminished fourth, then back up nearly an octave to the first note: C-G-C#-C. The "Enterprise Incident" Romulan-ship motif is a symmetrical one, a falling half-step and a rising half-step: G-F#-F#-G. They really don't have anything in common beyond having four notes and ending on the same note they start with, and sometimes having the same staccato rhythm (although the Kaplan motif has more variations in how it's used, as you say).

[Dale Sams]

This is the post wherin I praise TOS for their "Dead world" music prominently seen in season one. Very haunting stuff.

[JimZipCode]

Christopher wrote:

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The "Enemy Within" motif is two descending intervals, a perfect fourth and a diminished fourth, then back up ... The "Enterprise Incident" Romulan-ship motif is a symmetrical one, a falling half-step and a rising half-step: G-F#-F#-G.

Ok, so note 3 is below note 2 in Enemy Within, and notes 2&3 are the same in Enterprise Incident. I couldn't decide – with the one stuck in my head, I was having trouble hearing the third note clearly in the other.

They really don't have anything in common beyond having four notes and ending on the same note they start with, and sometimes having the same staccato rhythm

That's a funny comment. "They don't have anything in common except ____ and ____ and sometimes ____." Pretty darn similar. I would have said they are two 4-note themes differing only in the third note. (If you're right about the interval values, the second note is only a half-step apart between the two; and it would be easy to mistake them, transcribing by ear.) And having the same rhythm.

But different, as you say. Thanks for the info!

Has any of this music been published, as sheet music? I Googled some last week, when I last asked the question, but all I could find with a quick search was the main title music.