doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
That's an excellent choice. The 4-disc set is pretty awesome also!
La-La Land to release 15-disc original series score set
- Thread starter Harvey
- Start date
My Batman animated CD is on the way.
You must have noticed that the LOST IN SPACE 2 CD set is sold out. They improved the sound quality of the classic John Williams material (vs. the GNP CD) and included a bunch of other music from the series. For fans, it's well worth tracking down a copy.
I think we've merely hit a lull. I just started listening to "And the Children Shall Lead" on a more regular basis. Everyone raves about Spock's Brain (take THAT out of context, huh?) but I'm pretty cold on most of the third season except AtCSL. Ok, Specter of the Gun is another exception.
...or, you can ask yourselves:
1. Which season's music says "Star Trek" to you more than the rest--or do they equally represent that feeling/thought?
2. Do you think TOS' music is the greatest ever composed for the ST franchise?
3. Among the best--or the best score ever composed in TV history?
Finally got my set. It is a trove of information. Has there been an explanation why the main series theme is in two styles?
Haven't read through this yet, but I'm thinking it will have your answer(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_from_Star_Trek
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The Wikipedia article quotes Solow from Inside Star Trek saying that the soprano voice was dropped after the first season due to rights issues, but Solow was misremembering. In fact, the first-season theme had two versions that were both instrumental, an electric violin version arranged by Courage and a cello version arranged by Steiner. The Courage-arranged soprano version was used in seasons 2 (conducted by Courage) and 3 (conducted by Wilbur Hatch). Probably the reason for the confusion is that the electric violin in the early season-1 arrangement sounds kind of like a soprano voice.
1. Either season 1 or two as both feature my favorites by Sol Kaplan, "The Enemy Within" and "The Doomsday Machine."
2. Greatest of all the Trek TV series.
3. In my highly biased opinion, the best of course!
Now that I'm hearing The Cage score in such great quality and clarity, rather than the smear-a-thon we've lived with since the mid-80's, I can detect a soprano during the credits. I never heard that voice before, which is a real eye (or ear) opener.
I was never too bothered by the sound quality of past releases, though I'm enjoying the sonic upgrade.
I've been a little surprised at how much I'm drawn to the First and Third season scores, so different from each other.
I grew up finding the Second season episodes the coolest (the show had hit its stride but not yet suffered the worst budget cuts), and S2 has lots of indelible music, but I just haven't gotten there yet!
The only time the sound quality bugged me was with the first GNP release. The tapes for The Cage and WNMHGB were in such bad shape, it was just a little too shrill for me. It didn't help that the score were out there to begin with. Now they're soooo much nicer and easier on the ears.
Shrill is not a bad description. They weren't horrendous but the new ones are much much nicer.
Wow, that's got to be quite an experience. I always could hear the vocal, even on the GNP. OTOH, I discovered with TMP that there were some times where I would say "Oh WOW I could never hear that before!" Then I'd go listen to an earlier recording and discover that I could hear it, I just hadn't given the old recordings the laser-like focus I've given these.
1. Season 1. Hands down. For one thing look at season three and see how much of 2 they re-recorded vs. how much of 1 they were STILL using. But to me Charlie X IS Star Trek. There is certainly a lot more, don't get me wrong. But if you only had Charlie X you'd have a very good representation of the whole show. More so (IMHO) than any other score.
2. No. I love it, but the movies are going to win that fight. But after that? Yes, TOS all the way.
3. I'll waffle on that one. I'm too close to it to really make an unbiased judgement. Lost and nuBSG are pretty darn good. And that Gold fellow scores the heck out of Doctor Who. But I can't think of any other show I'd drop $200 for at a chunk.
1. Which season's music says "Star Trek" to you more than the rest--or do they equally represent that feeling/thought?
That's a tough question. I can tell you what scores I prefer, but I can't sat if one season's music sounds more "Star Trek" than the others.
2. Do you think TOS' music is the greatest ever composed for the ST franchise?
Among the best at any rate. Goldsmith and Horner did grand things, but Sol Kaplan brought movie music to the TV. I think someone else said that too.
3. Among the best--or the best score ever composed in TV history?
That's an impossible question to answer, since there has been so much great music in TV. I'll say it's my favorite, about even with the John Williams Lost In Space music. Of its era, it's easily in the top one or two. The fullness of the sound belies the number of musicians. These guys all sound great, among their best sounding work. Compare the same composers' scores to the Man from UNCLE stuff, where the ensembles were much smaller - and it showed. The music was thin and sounded like a "couple of guys in a garage." With Trek, it's like night and day.
That's a tough question. I can tell you what scores I prefer, but I can't sat if one season's music sounds more "Star Trek" than the others.
2. Do you think TOS' music is the greatest ever composed for the ST franchise?
Among the best at any rate. Goldsmith and Horner did grand things, but Sol Kaplan brought movie music to the TV. I think someone else said that too.
3. Among the best--or the best score ever composed in TV history?
That's an impossible question to answer, since there has been so much great music in TV. I'll say it's my favorite, about even with the John Williams Lost In Space music. Of its era, it's easily in the top one or two. The fullness of the sound belies the number of musicians. These guys all sound great, among their best sounding work. Compare the same composers' scores to the Man from UNCLE stuff, where the ensembles were much smaller - and it showed. The music was thin and sounded like a "couple of guys in a garage." With Trek, it's like night and day.
1. That's a real toughie. Season 1 has The Corbomite Maneuver, The Enemy Within, Charlie X, Shore Leave, and WNMHGB, while Season 2 has Amok Time, The Doomsday Machine, Friday's Child, The Trouble with Tribbles, Who Mourns for Adonais?, and Catspaw - Not to mention Season 3 with Spectre of the Gun, Elaan of Troyius, The Empath, and The Paradise Syndrome. I can't choose a season, they are all essential IMO.
2. Yep. Without a doubt. Especially considering the time constraints that the composers/musicians had to work under. Nothing against the movies or other series work, but TOS stands above them all.
3. I don't know about TOS being among the best in TV history - there's been an awful lot of great music composed over the years, and comparing TOS to many other equally classic shows is like comparing apples to oranges, really. But if you narrow it down to TV Sci-Fi shows, I'd put TOS among the all-time greats, for sure.
I've listened to the whole release now, and it's been quite an educational experience for me. I've got a few other thoughts:
I never realized that each season had a certain amount of library music. I always thought that each track was originally composed for a specific episode and then re-used later as needed. I was shocked to find that the music for Kirk's speech to Mirror Spock at the end of "Mirror, Mirror" was a library cue. I also felt that about some of the re-recorded Gerald Fried music (especially Down the Throat) that was used in Season 3.
I've really gained an appreciation for the work of Gerald Duning. I never really considered him as one of the "great" TOS composers before, but his stuff really is excellent, especially (IMO) The Paradise Syndrome and The Empath.
I really wish Sol Kaplan had scored more TOS episodes. The track where the two Kirk's confront each other in the engine room is my all-time single favorite track of ST music. I'd have almost been willing to pay the $200 for "The Enemy Within" alone. I just wonder how it would have been if he had scored some episodes that were actually scored with music from other episodes - I'd love to hear an original Kaplan score for "The Galileo Seven" or "Arena" or "Obsession".
Just a few random thoughts. Overall, I thoroughly love this release and it was worth every last penny.
Re-listeining to disc 1, track 24. Is the last part of "Stronger and Stronger" cut off? At about 33:21 of "Where No Man" the shot changes to the Enterprise in orbit with additional music and fades out as Scotty inserts the new bridge console. Is that part tracked from another piece earlier in the episode?
Update:
OK, sounds as if this part is from 0:08-0:20 into "Beyond the Pale"
Update:
OK, sounds as if this part is from 0:08-0:20 into "Beyond the Pale"
Yeah, we're so used to the tracking, even within episodes of original music, that it's easy to forget some of it is tracked. Or it just doesn't sound "right" unedited. This is one of those tracks, so I had to go back and add that bit from Beyond the Pale. Now it sounds right.
