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Composer Richard Warren Shores was born May 9, 1917 and passed away April 12, 2001. Shores started in the 1950’s by doing musical arrangements for radio and live television.
He really came out in 1959 by scoring two private detective shows: the fourth season of “Richard Diamond, Private Detective” (starring David Janssen) and the sole season of “Johnny Midnight” (starring Edmond O’Brien) at Revue Studios, aka Universal television--still at Revue, he scored two episodes of “Checkmate” and one “Alfred Hitchcock Hour”: see episode "Ride the Nightmare". Then he wrote for a legion of western series: “Whispering Smith”, “Wagon Train”, “Tales of Wells Fargo”, “Laramie”, “The Virginian”, “Gunsmoke”, “Rawhide”, “Cimarron Strip”. Among other things, he participated in one “Twilight Zone” and gave the season 5 “Ceasar and Me”.
From 1966, his first outstanding work and collaboration was for producer Norman Felton series: the WWII series “Jericho” and the two twin espionage series “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and “The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.”. But his masterpiece work remained the high concept series (western+espionage+fantasy) “The Wild Wild West” for which he provided the theme of the nemesis Count Carlos Manzeppi (see “The Night of the Eccentrics”) and some fine fast-paced and action-packed music. In the meantime, he even did a commission for “Mannix”: see the season 2 “A View of Nowhere”. The common denominator in his spy series music (“The Wild Wild West” and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”) was a strong sense of rhythm (percussions galore) with a sudden change of tempo leading to intense and urgent break beats. His season 3 score “The Night of the Firebrand” for “The Wild Wild West” was so fresh and inspired that it was heavily recycled during the final season 4.
After those great achievements, Shores finally fashioned scores for Jack Lord’s cop series “Hawaii 5-0” from season 1 to 7. In the late 1970’s, he executed the music for two memorable series: “The Quest” (a western series starring Tim Matheson and Kurt Russell) and “Hunter” (a spy series starring James Franciscus and Linda Evans). Shores asserted his admiration for one composer: Jerry Goldsmith.
Favourite Works:
JERICHO
“The Big Brass Contraband”
“Wall to Wall Kaput”
“One for the Mountain”
“Two for the Road”
“Four O’Clock Bomb to London”
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
(season 4)
“The Summit Five Affair”
“The ‘J’ for Judas Affair”
“The Prince of Darkness Affair”
“The Seven Wonders of the World Affair”
THE GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E.
“The Prisoner of Zalamar Affair”
“The Montori Device Affair”
THE WILD WILD WEST
(season 1)
“The Night of the Burning Diamonds”
(season 2)
“The Night of the Eccentrics”
(season 3)
“The Night of the Firebrand”
(season 4)
“The Night of the Big Blackmail”
“The Night of the Sedgewick Curse”
“The Night of the Kraken”
MANNIX
(season 2)
"A View of Nowhere"
Article:
"Richard Shores Remembered" by Jon Burlingame
http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2004/020604.html?IsArchive=020604
Film Score Monthly released three superb volumes of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.":
Volume 1
http://www.screenarchives.com/fsm/detailCD.cfm?ID=245
Volume 2
http://www.screenarchives.com/fsm/detailCD.cfm?ID=280
Volume 3
http://www.screenarchives.com/fsm/detailCD.cfm?ID=320
Pictures:
Watch a photomontage of Richard Shores’ music credits for the four seasons of “The Wild Wild West”:
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QUESTIONS
1. Tell me when did you first discover the music of Richard Shores?
2. What are your favourite scores?
3. What Shores CD releases do you wish in the future?
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I think my first awareness of Richard Shores was with his UNCLE scores (especially the music he wrote for 'The Seven Wonders Of The World Affair' as heard in the European feature-film cut). I then noticed his score to the tv film BILLION DOLLAR THREAT, which was in a very similar style.
Recently I've been watching HAWAII FIVE O Season 3 on DVD and he wrote some excellent scores for that series.
I would agree that some of his best work appeared on WILD WILD WEST. I'd love to see more of his work come out on CD; anything would be welcome, but it would be great one day to hear more from WWW or HAWAII FIVE O.
I'm glad he's getting renewed interest and thanks for bringing him to our attention again, Stefan.
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Anyone have his Mercury LP "Music to Listen to Lady Chatterley's Lover By?"
I have the earlier pressing of the same recording released under the title "Emotions".
Strange cover of a naked woman who seems to be suffering an adverse reaction to the music.
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If you want to hear some of his best, listen to THEMES FROM FOUR STAR PRODUCTIONS. The cue that introduced THE DICK POWELL THEATER with still photos was called NERVOUS. The main title that followed is supreme!
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Stefan, you owe it to yourself to watch FIVE-O if only to hear Shores' brilliance. I know how much you dislike the show, however...
Don't worry, I don't dislike FIVE-O: I just don't get it. I still wonder what's so special about it. Since vintage television series seem to come to an end, I will give it a try. Can you confirm that the DVD sets feature English subtitles and CC?
If yes, I will order my season set and make my homework.
Which seasons do you advise me to get first for Shores' music?
Anyway, to return to Shores, I watch for you, his MANNIX's episode ("A View of Nowhere") last week and good news: the fast-paced and action-packed sound from his espionage series is here. It's all percussions. Recommended!
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Posted: |
Mar 10, 2009 - 5:59 AM
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By: |
Jim Phelps
(Member)
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Stefan, you owe it to yourself to watch FIVE-O if only to hear Shores' brilliance. I know how much you dislike the show, however...
Don't worry, I don't dislike FIVE-O: I just don't get it. I still wonder what's so special about it. Since vintage television series seem to come to an end, I will give it a try. Can you confirm that the DVD sets feature English subtitles and CC?
If yes, I will order my season set and make my homework.
Which seasons do you advise me to get first for Shores' music?
Glad to hear that, governor! I'd say start with the Five-O's second season for maximum Shores exposure. His scores for "Sweet Terror" and "Forty Feet High, and it Kills" are highlights.
Yes, English subtitles are included. Not sure about CC; anyone know?
Be here, aloha! 
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Stefan, you owe it to yourself to watch FIVE-O if only to hear Shores' brilliance. I know how much you dislike the show, however...
Don't worry, I don't dislike FIVE-O: I just don't get it. I still wonder what's so special about it. Since vintage television series seem to come to an end, I will give it a try. Can you confirm that the DVD sets feature English subtitles and CC?
If yes, I will order my season set and make my homework.
Which seasons do you advise me to get first for Shores' music?
Glad to hear that, governor! I'd say start with the Five-O's second season for maximum Shores exposure. His scores for "Sweet Terror" and "Forty Feet High, and it Kills" are highlights.
Yes, English subtitles are included. Not sure about CC; anyone know?
Be here, aloha!
I put FIVE-O season 1 & 2 on my Amazon's wish list and as soon as there's a discount, I'll get them. I am also curious to discover the work of Harry Geller.
Does FIVE-O have connections (similar themes and characters) with WWW and MISSION?
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QUESTIONS
1. Tell me when did you first discover the music of Richard Shores?
2. What are your favourite scores?
3. What Shores CD releases do you wish in the future?
I was first made aware of Shores with the Police Story CD, which had him re orchestrating/Arranging Jerry Goldsmith music for Library cues.
I like his arrangements very much. Next came the UNCLE CD sets. I still hadn't seen any UNCLE at that time but I bought these CD's and I wasn't disappointed. I loved Shores 4th season stuff.
But it’s his Wild Wild West music, I enjoy the most, especially that fight music for Jim West that was used over and over again, when he throws himself into 4 or 6 bad guys, really brings out the fun of the show.
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But it’s his Wild Wild West music, I enjoy the most, especially that fight music for Jim West that was used over and over again, when he throws himself into 4 or 6 bad guys, really brings out the fun of the show.
Exactly... I concur.
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The First and Second Seasons of Hawaii Five-O on sale at Amazon for $20.99! Pretty inexpensive way to hear maestro Shores in action.
http://tinyurl.com/dah3js
Dear Jim,
Thanks for the reminder but I already ordered the two sets on March 17. My delivery is scheduled for April 9.
And then the Shores festival will start...
I wonder if the music of Shores follow the path of "The Wild Wild West".
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My favorite bit of Shores , beside the above mentioned "Teaser" theme for THE DICK POWELL SHOW, was his contemporary-flavored western theme for the now-forgotten Audie Murphy series, WHISPERING SMITH. Evidently, when the show was first produced in 1959 (but held back until the summer of 1961 because an anti-violence kick made the network nervous), the show had a more conventional theme by Gerald Fried, who provided underscore for the show. However, when NBC finally blew off 12-13 episodes that summer, they must have commisioned Shores to provide a more "now" western score to compete with all the hip detective shows then on TV.
The only episode that shows up booted to DVD on eBay retains the original Gerald Fried main title over much more staid main title graphics, as opposed to the high contrast layers of photos used under the Shores theme. This use of Shores instead of a rescore by Fried is a little amusing as Fried composed what is probably the most unusual Western theme of that same year--his big band jazz/western music for SHOTGUN SLADE.
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