I bought it for the Bruce Broughton suite, but ended up enjoying the Laurence Rosenthal stuff much more. The main theme is great and the quality of the actual scores leaves most of today's rubbish floundering (Giacchino aside). It gets quite a few plays in this house and is a lovely package, as is usual from FSM. In short, thumbs-up from me.
I agree with what you said about Rosenthal's contributions to the series. He worked with nearly the same instrumental limitations as did Immel and Broughton and still managed to produce music of great taste and sophistication To be fair, Rosenthal had considerably more experience than either Bruce or Jerry, both of whom were, at the time, more or less testing the experimental waters outside the boundaries of TV westerns and police dramas.
This CD was fun to produce. It was the first time I think I did an album from an entire TV series. I tried to pick the best cues and make "musical" suites. There were hours and hours of episodes to screen...with plotlines that are not very engaging. Yech.
But the music has a very evocative mood of '70s sci-fi. It was fun talking to Dorothy Fontana as well as the composers for the liner notes. I hope people enjoy the CD and it's nice people are talking about it!
Lukas
I had only vague memories of watching this series as a kid, but I was very interested in diving into the music. When I picked up the album a few years back I found that I really came back to it quite often, finding a wealth of rich thematic material and instrumentation. Kudos FSM!
I fancied the pants off Heather Menzies when I used to watch this series. My first love was The Bionic Woman herself (Lindsay Wagner). Then Jessica Lange...then Menzies and the blonde girl from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (Laurette Spang)....then pretty much any hot babe who looked cute My hormones are more steady now
I've met Laurette Spang aka Mrs. John McCook(John was on Young and Restless and is currently on Bold and Beautiful). She is still fine looking and a nice person.
I agree with what you said about Rosenthal's contributions to the series. He worked with nearly the same instrumental limitations as did Immel and Broughton and still managed to produce music of great taste and sophistication.
I have the feeling Rosenthal could write music of great taste and sophistication if you gave him a kazoo, a slide-whistle, and a set of toy cymbals.
One of the tracks from this popped up in shuffle mode today, and it just struck me again how much I love this whole CD.
Half Life is the track playing now, and I just adore it, especially the terrific scherzo-like sections. And then there's a hint of electronics that sneaks in, along with some gorgeous flute...man, what a wonderful track.
This whole CD is a gem. I have a hefty number of FSM CDs in my collection, but I think I can say that this one is my favorite. I love every minute.
Would someone explain to me why the opening title sample here is not the version heard on TV. I still have an off-air recording from the original UK broadcast and it is very different. Thanks for the reply (I don't see how to reply here). I was wrong, it just didn't sound the way I remembered.
Would someone explain to me why the opening title sample here is not the version heard on TV. I still have an off-air recording from the original UK broadcast and it is very different.
I have no idea—I was not aware any alterations were made for the U.K. If you can share or post on Youtube or something like that, I'd love to hear.
Would someone explain to me why the opening title sample here is not the version heard on TV. I still have an off-air recording from the original UK broadcast and it is very different.
I have no idea—I was not aware any alterations were made for the U.K. If you can share or post on Youtube or something like that, I'd love to hear.
Lukas
I was wrong, it just didn't sound the way I remembered.
