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That was out on CD.
Were all of the GNP Crescendo albums from Star Trek TOS released on both CD and LP, or is this only one that made it to LP?
Obviously that one was, Encounter at Farpoint was (not TOS, I know) and I don't think they did Star Trek again until Amok Time / Doomsday Machine and I don't know if those were on LP.
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Those Crescendo albums were very badly mastered in general (vol. 1 in particular). Don't think vinyl would make 'em sound any better.
Also FYI, the Label X Tony Bremner rerecordings and both volumes of Fred Steiner on Varese were also on vinyl. That's the only other TOS releated recordings I can think of that got put out that way.
I bought all of those on vinyl. But I didn't realize that this was the very first time any of this music was available. And that was after the 20 year point! And the GNP Cage / Where No Man was the first TOS series music available EVER. Astonishing.
I'll go home and give the TOS Box a hug.
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The "pre-La La Land" era of TOS music was a big chunk of my life. Counting re-recordings, we had music from 21 of the episodes, released on five GNP CDs, two Label X, and two Varese. It was a big treasure trove, but still not enough. [There was also a suite from "The Cage" that at least two labels had re-recorded, but it was way off and really missed the mark.]
GNP Volume 1 was frustrating: "The Cage" and "Where No Man" each had a superb, vital cue missing: a sexy Loulie Jean Norman vocal (re-used in "A Private Little War" and "Wolf in the Fold"), and the climactic fight music for Kirk and Gary Mitchell. The CD was mastered from Alexander Courage's personal tape copies, but I thought it sounded decent enough.
"The Corbomite Maneuver" on GNP's The Best of Star Trek Volume 2 sounded terrible, really bad, but it didn't matter because the Varese re-recording was so good, I was always going to prefer it anyway. Steiner did a GREAT job on all of his Royal Phil tracks, with the sole exception of "The Doomsday Machine," and that was okay because we had the OST.
Some posters used to complain about this or that Label X cue being off the correct tempo, but I love them. The only problem I had was two missing cues: Miramanee's pregnancy announcement in "Paradise Syndrome," and the phaser on overload in "Conscience of the King."
It was years of, not frustrated happiness, but happy frustration. There was a lot to enjoy.
La La Land brought out all the missing cues from above, plus the hotly desired "Elaan of Troyius" and other key scores, plus amazing cues from scores I didn't stress over ("Call of Duty"), plus scores I didn't know I needed until I heard them alone ("Spock's Brain"), plus all the George Duning love themes, plus the library cues, most notably "Sad and Thoughtful on the Captain's Theme." For a three-year TV series, Star Trek produced a lot of gold.
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Posted: |
Aug 3, 2018 - 8:53 PM
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By: |
Zoragoth
(Member)
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The "pre-La La Land" era of TOS music was a big chunk of my life. Counting re-recordings, we had music from 21 of the episodes, released on five GNP CDs, two Label X, and two Varese. It was a big treasure trove, but still not enough. [There was also a suite from "The Cage" that at least two labels had re-recorded, but it was way off and really missed the mark.]
GNP Volume 1 was frustrating: "The Cage" and "Where No Man" each had a superb, vital cue missing: a sexy Loulie Jean Norman vocal (re-used in "A Private Little War" and "Wolf in the Fold"), and the climactic fight music for Kirk and Gary Mitchell. The CD was mastered from Alexander Courage's personal tape copies, but I thought it sounded decent enough.
"The Corbomite Maneuver" on GNP's The Best of Star Trek Volume 2 sounded terrible, really bad, but it didn't matter because the Varese re-recording was so good, I was always going to prefer it anyway. Steiner did a GREAT job on all of his Royal Phil tracks, with the sole exception of "The Doomsday Machine," and that was okay because we had the OST.
Some posters used to complain about this or that Label X cue being off the correct tempo, but I love them. The only problem I had was two missing cues: Miramanee's pregnancy announcement in "Paradise Syndrome," and the phaser on overload in "Conscience of the King."
It was years of, not frustrated happiness, but happy frustration. There was a lot to enjoy.
La La Land brought out all the missing cues from above, plus the hotly desired "Elaan of Troyius" and other key scores, plus amazing cues from scores I didn't stress over ("Call of Duty"), plus scores I didn't know I needed until I heard them alone ("Spock's Brain"), plus all the George Duning love themes, plus the library cues, most notably "Sad and Thoughtful on the Captain's Theme." For a three-year TV series, Star Trek produced a lot of gold.
This is a *great* post, Zap, and sums up much of my feelings at the time, in particular that missing, lovely chase music in PARADISE SYNDROME (that ends with Miramanee announcing her pregnancy) and yes, SPOCK'S BRAIN blew me away! I never would have expected that such a ludicrous episode had provided such great music. It took Courage to score that episode! :-)
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Ah, Zap, you coulda plucked this right out of my brain, for the most part.
"The Corbomite Maneuver" on GNP's The Best of Star Trek Volume 2 sounded terrible, really bad
I have to pull out of old copy, but I always thought it sounded great. Light years ahead of the original LP for "The Cage" and "WNMHGB" which I felt sounded very shrill. "Balance of Terror" and "Little Girls" also sounded killer. But you're right, even though were had over 20 scores, it just wasn't enough. It was Star Trek. The Original Series. The music which was the literal soundtrack of my life.
, but it didn't matter because the Varese re-recording was so good, I was always going to prefer it anyway. Steiner did a GREAT job on all of his Royal Phil tracks, with the sole exception of "The Doomsday Machine," and that was okay because we had the OST.
"The Doomsday Machine" was the reason I bought that LP in the 80's and I listened to that cut the most. I hated what Steiner did to Charlie X's "zap" chords. VERY abrasive and as a stupid kid, I didn't understand how he couldn't replicate the sound me made in 1966. However, the cello version of the main/end theme was amazing. I didn't realize until we got the LLL box that his orchestrations for "Corbomite" on the LP were actually from "Who Mourns for Adonias?" Or at least, closer to that.
Some posters used to complain about this or that Label X cue being off the correct tempo, but I love them. The only problem I had was two missing cues: Miramanee's pregnancy announcement in "Paradise Syndrome," and the phaser on overload in "Conscience of the King."
It was years of, not frustrated happiness, but happy frustration. There was a lot to enjoy.
For a three-year TV series, Star Trek produced a lot of gold.
Maybe it's bias, but (for me at least) NO other show from that era hit the home runs Star Trek did musically. UNCLE, I Spy, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Lost in Space, The Wild Wild West...none of them had that steady stream of music that appealed to me score after score. The scores sounded lush and larger than the orchestras. Playing Gerald Fried's second season scores like "Catspaw" or "Friday's Child" and following it up with his UNCLE work....I know which I prefer.
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Posted: |
Aug 8, 2018 - 5:48 AM
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By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
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Maybe it's bias, but (for me at least) NO other show from that era hit the home runs Star Trek did musically. UNCLE, I Spy, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Lost in Space, The Wild Wild West...none of them had that steady stream of music that appealed to me score after score.
I love Star Trek, but I don't share that opinion, largely because of the inconsistent nature of the music. I think that Outer Limits (first season, at least) and Twilight Zone were much more consistent in terms overall musical identity. The only consistent thread running through the Star Trek music is the (over)use of the opening fanfare, which is more of a hindrance for me than an asset. Still, those early Alexander Courage scores are incredible.
EDIT: I mean "inconsistent" in terms of musical identity, not quality.
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EDIT: I mean "inconsistent" in terms of musical identity, not quality.
Gotcha and I hear ya. I fully admit to bias, love and nostalgia. I love the varied nature of Trek's music thanks to the different composers. It's funny how, as a kid, I didn't really notice how three of four different composers could be represented in a patchwork episode. And as an adult, sometimes I expect an album cue to veer off as it did in an episode because I'm so used to it.
I tried cobbling together a few tracked episodes and not only is it an arduous task, but a tough listening experience sometimes. Balance of Terror alone can have three different episode scores in a one minute battle sequence. Or the opening of Errand of Mercy. Just for the Klingon attack there is music from Where No Man (cut and pasted from two spots), then Naked Time, What Are Little Girls Made Of and a final burst from Where No Man again. Yikes! And those guys did with by physically splicing tape!
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Scott, I just went back and gave Steiner's Doomsday Machine its first re-listen in many years. It's better than I remembered, still not all I would ask for. And I checked Best of Trek Vol 2's Corbomite suite, and likewise its sound quality is not as bad as I remembered, but I still hear some distortion in the high trumpets, that kind of thing.
See, I got the GNP releases before the Royal Philharmonic titles. It's apparent now that Steiner's Doomsday suffered in comparison to the OST, which he was never going to beat.
And Corbomite on GNP suffered in comparison to the bright, hi-fidelity stereo version that Steiner had re-recorded. It was all relative.
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