Let's Listen to Star Trek: Season Three!

[Tallguy]

Hello, All! For those that have been following along, I've been listing to the Star Trek TOS scores on the 47th anniversary of the recording. (The weird date is just because I had the idea in 2013 and didn't want to wait two years. I'll probably do it again this year for the 50th - starting with Where No Man Has Gone Before - for a rounder number!)

Here's the second season thread: http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=247261

My life has been a little topsy turvy the last month or so. So I missed the recording date for the third season library music (6/25/68) and Jerry Fielding's Spectre of the Gun (7/5/68).

My actual liner notes are in a box in storage at the moment. So please feel free to call out when I make a mistake. I'm going off the track listing on LLL's website. For example I have no idea when they recorded the third season titles or why there is a stereo version.

Here we go!

The third season scores are my least listened to. I keep telling myself that I just don't enjoy the sound. I think it's a dryer sound. It sounds smaller. It sounds closer. To my mind it sounds cheaper. I know there are people who find Courage, Steiner, and Fried's work in the the third season to be their favorite. (Oh, and don't you wish people would stop saying Courage left after season one?)

I did go through a period where I only listened to season three and tried to warm up to it. That helped. Maybe this will as well.

Today I'll wander down memory lane for season three's re-recordings of music from the pilots and seasons one and two.

Wilbur Hatch conducting had a different sound from Courage. (Just as Steiner did.) He sounds a little more like "classic 50's television" to me. (I love his first season library cues.) Vina's Dance here sounds like something from a Crosby and Hope Road picture. I like how he conducted Fried's combative pieces as well.

Courage's early scores are the most interesting re-recorded library cues to me because they were recorded without Jack Cookerly's "magic box". They sound very different from the originals. The Talosian motifs might sound a little less other-worldly. But in some cases they sound more solid and grounded. Monster Illusion sounds really cool with its new instrumentation. I actually like Man Trap much better without its synthesizers.

I'm not as intimately familiar with season three so I'm not always sure where these cues showed up in their "new life". It's interesting to note how much music from the pilots was brought back three years later. Courage really did define that Star Trek sound from the beginning.

Man Trap is much more digestible in this abbreviated form.

It's interesting what was re-recorded and what was not. Look at how much Man Trap was included. But no Charlie X. No Kaplan. Fried would re-record more cues from his own Shore Leave and Amok time later on. A very different set from season two. Also no original library cues were composed like in the first two seasons.

The final season of Star Trek scores is under way. I'll be back later this week to go through the first actual score of the season, Spectre of the Gun. Please post your own comments in the meantime. We don't have much TOS music left!

 

[Tallguy]

OK, first actual score of season three!

Spectre of the Gun. Music Composed and Conducted by Jerry Fielding. Recorded 7/5/68. (I'm posting two days late.)

First off lets hit the season three recording of the main theme. Not hugely different from season two. The mysterioso notes have a double "pling". Kind of like Courage recorded in the outtakes back in season one. It's a slightly different sound but I'd have to really be paying attention to call out that it was third season. (Steiner's season one on cello is still my fave.)

Hey, it's a Fielding score! Last heard having Trouble with Tribbles. I'm not familiar with Fielding's other work. (Sorry!) So I can't tell you how much of this sounds like Fielding other than by comparing it to his other episode. There is definitely a connection. Tribbles was a partial score and this is a full one. Fielding didn't use Courage's theme on Tribbles and he does on Spectre.

If you listen to Melkot's Warning it almost has a Leonard Rosenman Star Trek IV sound. (Now I have to go back and see if I've said that about any previous TOS scores.) Fielding doesn't tip his hand much that this is about to go full on western. Maybe a little bit with the way he ends the fanfare on Melkot's Warning.

It Is Done still sounds like Fielding but it has a much more serious flavor than Tribbles (not surprisingly) and doesn't have the western hooks of the rest of the score. I'm really wishing he had gotten to do another episode now. It's pretty great.

Tombstone: And THERE'S our western in space! Are those harmonicas or an accordion? Wonderful Americana in any event.

Tribbles had it's mewling violins. Spectre has its off kilter Buffalo Gals on piano. It fits the episode to a T, but it also feels gimmicky.

His love theme is terrific. It gives the episode so much weight. I think that it's a bigger and more layered sound than Star Trek is used to at this point. It really stands out in the episode. Oh my gosh it's SO sad! With music like that they could have killed of Chekov for real!

I've also gone back and listened to the Label X re-recording conducted by Courage in 1986. (Wow. Did we really have to wait THAT long for even re-recordings of TOS scores?!?) I never got into this album except for Enemy Within. Funny. Now Conscience of the King is one of my favorite Trek scores of all. Spectre of the Gun definitely has a much bigger sound with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

My conclusion is that it is a very nice score for a pretty solid third season episode.

Please post your own thoughts on the score. I'll be back on 7/12 for Fred Steiner's Elaan of Troyius. See you then!

 

[Melakon]

I watch "Spectre" a lot, it's one of my favorites, and the score is only part of the reason why. The honky tonk piano and harmonica phrases are effective in reinforcing the unreality of the situation Kirk and party find themselves in. The mind meld intercut with the Earp funeral march to the showdown is probably the sequence where I do the most replays because the music, photography, performances, editing, stage effects for the storm and fence post hits really sell it. Then they ruin it with an obligatory Kirk fistfight. And yeah, it's a harmonica. I think there was a magazine or book reference long ago, naming the musician.

 

[Indysolo]

For example I have no idea when they recorded the third season titles or why there is a stereo version.

June 25, 1968

It seems now that anytime something was recorded with a vocal, it was done on multi-track tape, and not mono like the rest of the series. This would explain why "The City on the Edge of Forever" was recorded on 3-track tape (the episode featured the song, "Goodnight, Sweetheart"). Recording things this way would give greater flexibility to the mixer.

Season 2's main title recorded the orchestra monophonically, but there was a separate tape with a woodwind overlay and Loulie Jean Norman's vocal, so we could futz with it and make a "stereo-ish" version of that. The original mono is also presented for purists.

Season 3's main title was recorded live to 3-track. The intent of course was to mix down to mono (which was done for the series and our set) but also gave us the flexibility to present it in the stereo spread captured on the tape.

Neil

P.S. "Beyond Antares" from "Conscience of the King" was also recorded to multi-track tape, but as it was a harp on one channel and Nichelle Nichols on the other, it didn't lend itself to anything but mono.

 

[Tallguy]

For example I have no idea when they recorded the third season titles or why there is a stereo version.

June 25, 1968

It seems now that anytime something was recorded with a vocal, it was done on multi-track tape, and not mono like the rest of the series...

Thanks, Neil! That's terrifically helpful.

And yeah, it's a harmonica. I think there was a magazine or book reference long ago, naming the musician.

Wow, I'll say:

http://www.tmorganharmonica.com/index.html

From Star Trek to Rainbow Connection! Amazing!

 

[BeatleJWOL]

P.S. "Beyond Antares" from "Conscience of the King" was also recorded to multi-track tape, but as it was a harp on one channel and Nichelle Nichols on the other, it didn't lend itself to anything but mono.

Aww, no "Please Please Me"/"With The Beatles" twin-track stereo? Nice info!

 

[plynch]

Spectre is one of the best eps, what with all the excellent aspects mentioned above.

Obligatory fistfights bug me; one of the few advantages of TAS.

 

[Indysolo]

P.S. "Beyond Antares" from "Conscience of the King" was also recorded to multi-track tape, but as it was a harp on one channel and Nichelle Nichols on the other, it didn't lend itself to anything but mono.

Aww, no "Please Please Me"/"With The Beatles" twin-track stereo? Nice info!

Isn't that the worst?

Also, the music for "The Way to Eden" was mono only, so the vocal thing wasn't always a guarantee for multi-track recording.

Neil

 

[Tallguy]

Hey, I'm delighted that I've gotten some response to this topic. Third season is really kind of unexplored territory for me.

I'm still tripping that the harmonica from "the surreal western ep of Star Trek" was the guy from The Rainbow Connection (to name only a teeny part of his accomplishments).

So here's the next episode:

Elaan of Troyius
Music Composed and Conducted by Fred Steiner
Episode #57, Recorded 7/12/68

This might be my breakthrough. I'm getting used to season three. I might be coming to the conclusion that it was harder for me to get into this season because there was so much NEW music that I'd never heard before (I don't watch season three episodes very often). Season one is so iconic to me and season two built a lot on season one. (Except for Doomsday Machine and the Fried scores which are as well known as anything in Star Trek.) Season three is really its own creature.

We start with Steiner's Enterprise theme. Nice. Welcome back for season three, Fred.

This definitely sounds like a Steiner show. It's very much in the flavor of Mudd's Women or What Are Little Girls Made Of without ever explicitly quoting those episodes.

Of all the tracks in this episode I love Battle Music. It's just really really cool. I like it for bad guy music almost as much as Ruk Attack's from back in season one. Unlike the movies there isn't really a lot of "spaceship" music in TOS. You have some fantastic intros for the Enterprise based on Courage's fanfare but those are mostly very short. This is much longer.

The bass guitar under Battle Stations is also really neat. Star Trek did nice things with bass guitar.

Steiner had a habit of tracking his own episodes. Rather than re-recording or using a library cue he just dropped Balance of Terror or Corbomite Maneuver (for example) into an episode as newly recorded music. This drove me nuts in season two. He doesn't do it nearly as much here.

Speaking in terms of the La La Land TOS Box rather than the music itself: It is so cool that we have all the re-recorded library cues. Others have said it before and I agree: I can't see any other format where we would have gotten these. Maybe if we got individual episode sets. (Which is how I have all my playlists organized.)

I'll see you folks on 7/19 for Gerald Fried's Paradise Syndrome (and some library music)! Keep talking!

 

[Indysolo]

Speaking in terms of the La La Land TOS Box rather than the music itself: It is so cool that we have all the re-recorded library cues. Others have said it before and I agree: I can't see any other format where we would have gotten these. Maybe if we got individual episode sets. (Which is how I have all my playlists organized.)

There was no way I was going to be involved with this set and the library cues weren't going to be included. I always wanted them and figured they'd never be released. When I got the opportunity to co-produce this, I made sure we had them. They are part of the Star Trek music story. I'm glad you enjoy them, too!

Neil

 

[Tallguy]

There was no way I was going to be involved with this set and the library cues weren't going to be included. I always wanted them and figured they'd never be released. When I got the opportunity to co-produce this, I made sure we had them. They are part of the Star Trek music story. I'm glad you enjoy them, too!

Neil

That's wonderful, Neil. They really are a big selling point of the set.

The Paradise Syndrome
Music Composed and Conducted by Gerald Fried
Episode #58, Recorded 7/19/68

A couple of weeks ago we did cowboys. Now we do Indians.

*sigh* This score is OK. Can we get that out of the way up front? I only think this score is OK. I know a lot of people put this as a favorite. I'm trying. Really I am. I probably like this score more than I did before. I've been playing it for almost a week now. It finally began to grow on me Friday.

I'm sure part of this is because I hate the episode. There are at least a half dozen places where if the characters acted smarter then the episode doesn't happen. (This is by no means the only Star Trek episode that does this. But this one really bugs me.)

It's almost hard to deal with the fact that Gerald Fried only scored one episode in season three. He was the Fred Steiner of season two. (Fred Steiner was also the Fred Steiner of season two.)

I like the score for the Enterprise's struggle with the incoming asteroid. I certainly enjoy Fried bringing back Spock's theme from Amok Time. The bass guitar is much more clipped here than it was then. If anything it sounds even colder.

The Coplandesque theme for the planet that tops the episode is nice. It's an echo of Shore Leave. I enjoy how he weaves some of the themes into the Star Trek theme, never quite completing it to show how Kirk isn't quite complete.

I'm not as fond of his "god theme" for Kirok. It's just too "Ooga Ooga" for me. I know it's following the "Indian music" conventions of Hollywood. (Of course I loved it when Greg Edmonson did it for Firefly.)

The Miramanee / love theme is a little too cute for me. But yes, Death of Miramanee is a winner.

The library cues that Fried recorded (from Shore Leave and Amok Time) are terrific. They sound like new versions using existing themes rather than straight re-recordings.

I'm also listening to the Label X recording of the episode. I'm getting into this a little bit more. Hmmm. I might need to go back and listen to the whole episode again...

What do you all think?

Next up on August 5th is The Enterprise Incident by Alexander Courage!

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Not as familiar? It's hard to relate to a TOS fan who didn't eat up S3 in syndication along with the rest of the series.

And not loving "The Paradise Syndrome" is also foreign to me, but I know those people exist. It's a big tent.

 

[Tallguy]

Not as familiar? It's hard to relate to a TOS fan who didn't eat up S3 in syndication along with the rest of the series.

And not loving "The Paradise Syndrome" is also foreign to me, but I know those people exist. It's a big tent.

Heh. Well, I watched all of Star Trek in syndication when I was a kid. It never passed into "stone cold memorized" like the Trek movies or Star Wars did. Then there were the TNG years in my late teens and twenties. Then Trek wasn't on TV all the time. I didn't get EVERYTHING on home video until the 2000's. Almost all of my early memories of Star Trek are almost always seasons one and two. That's certainly the case musically.

I don't hate it anywhere near as much as Alternative Factor.

 

[Tallguy]

The Enterprise Incident
Music Composed and Conducted by Alexander Courage
Episode #59, Recorded 8/5/68

This episode has a bolder sound than Mr. C. left us with back in season one. He's using his fanfare with gusto, kind of returning to a sound more like The Cage rather than Where No Man or Man Trap. We get a nice intro to the episode with his fanfare as well as his captain's theme. I've always loved that theme and he uses it well throughout. The end of the first cue introduces the punching four note motif that will show up in the rest of the episode.

Listening to this score I've been trying to pay attention to the parts that are not the Romulan Commander / Love Theme. It goes on forever. Of course, re-watching the episode so do the scenes with Spock and the Commander. I do enjoy when Courage mixes the Commander's and Captain's themes in Free Enterprise. That's becoming one of my favorite TOS tracks ever.

This is score that I'm sure people were very excited about having as part of the TOS box. Almost three years later it's becoming a favorite of mine.

Go shout it from the rooftops: Courage wrote for season three! (Take THAT Solow and Cushman!)

 

[Indysolo]

Courage wrote for all three seasons!

Does Cushman also state that Courage didn't?

Neil

 

[Ssosmcin]

Courage wrote for all three seasons!

Does Cushman also state that Courage didn't?

Neil

He states that, with The Enterprise Incident, Courage returned to the series after a two year absence. He also called Plato's Stepchildren a "partial score."

Because Cushman did pretty much no research on the music other than reading the end credits and whatever memos mentioned it, he was unaware of the library music composed by Courage for the second season, usually attributing some of those pieces to the composer of the score for the episode where that piece first appeared. Such as Amok Time; he gives Gerald Fried credit for composing the "epic" opening music in act one, which was actually Courage's library cue "Ship in Orbit." And that Fried composed the somber final cue in A Private Little War, which was actually "Captain Playoff #3 (Sad and Lonely)," another Courage library cue. That was even more annoying because the music was so obviously Courage's second pilot theme motif, which he used in The Man Trap and The Naked Time. I Sent him an email with corrections when I read the second volume and his publisher kindly responded, saying corrections may be made to future printings. But I doubt it.

But, no, he didn't say Courage didn't compose music for the third season. That was solely on Justman and Solow.

 

[Indysolo]

I Sent him an email with corrections when I read the second volume and his publisher kindly responded, saying corrections may be made to future printings. But I doubt it.

As the books are self-published, we've discovered that it's easy for them to make alterations quietly. Note I didn't say "corrections".

Neil

 

[Tallguy]

Courage wrote for all three seasons!

Does Cushman also state that Courage didn't?

Neil

I haven't read season three yet. I think he repeated the old yarn in one that Courage left over the lyrics royalties. It's been a couple of years since I read it.

I know that he stated in season two that the end of Private Little War (Captain Playoff No. 3 (Sad and Alone)) was written by Steiner. Then he said Scotty's "bagpipe" music from Tribbles was written especially by Steiner for By Any Other Name. That one almost made me throw my Kindle across the room!

 

[Harvey]

That's why I still prefer reading printed books. Less collateral damage from throwing a book across the room!

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Speaking in terms of the La La Land TOS Box rather than the music itself: It is so cool that we have all the re-recorded library cues. Others have said it before and I agree: I can't see any other format where we would have gotten these. Maybe if we got individual episode sets. (Which is how I have all my playlists organized.)

There was no way I was going to be involved with this set and the library cues weren't going to be included. I always wanted them and figured they'd never be released. When I got the opportunity to co-produce this, I made sure we had them. They are part of the Star Trek music story. I'm glad you enjoy them, too!

Neil

Oh, there's so much to enjoy in the series box set, and was so happy that more than just episode scores were added. Listening to it is as enjoyable as watching TOS.