i have the complete series on cd and the pilot episode (that was also a movie called MAGNIFICENT THIEF) have a score by Ernie Freeman ??? that is very 60's spy movies type. There are many composer like Richard Shores and many others. (i have seen only a few episodes so far ). Why can't we have a cd like the one they did with THE RAT PATROL (Dominic Frontiere) where we could have the different versions of the mighty theme by Dave Grusin and the pilot score by Freeman ?
i have the complete series on cd and the pilot episode (that was also a movie called MAGNIFICENT THIEF) have a score by Ernie Freeman ??? that is very 60's spy movies type. There are many composer like Richard Shores and many others. (i have seen only a few episodes so far ). Why can't we have a cd like the one they did with THE RAT PATROL (Dominic Frontiere) where we could have the different versions of the mighty theme by Dave Grusin and the pilot score by Freeman ?
Maybe there is a reason !
1. It's a Universal property. Universal faced a fire in the previous decade. 2. We don't know if the master tapes still exist. 4. Too many composers involved: copyrights issues galore! 3. Besides, the main reason is purely economical: not enough customers to buy the music.
Funny. When I first saw this I immediately thought of "To Catch A Thief," and had completely forgotten about the TV series with a similar title. Yeah, I liked the series, but have absolutely no memory of its music, not even its principal theme. Anybody got a sample they can post here?
If the fire did destroy the It Takes a Thief music scores and perhaps the original 35mm prints, which explains why the recent DVD release looks as if it was transferred from 16mm copies.
Personally I would only be interested in the Dave Grusin opening credits.
If I find the recent comment about scores not being lost in the fire, I'll post it here. But in the mean time, here's some quotes from the time it happened:
From Nikki Finke today:
It looks like more was damaged or destroyed in today's Universal Studios fire than anyone previously thought. I've learned that Universal Music, which is a completely separate company and owned by Vivendi (which owns 20% of NBC Universal), rents space in the huge video vault housed on the studio lot. But one source tells me that, as a consequence, inside the video vault that was billowing thick black smoke were 1000's of original Decca, MCA, ABC recording masters from the last century including a wide range of music from Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters to Judy Garland and The Carpenters. "This is a tremendous loss in music history. A very sad day indeed. It's too bad they saved the videos that they have backups on instead of the master recordings in which they do not, although they may not have had a choice since the fire had already engulfed much of the music side of the vault," a source just told me. Universal Studios tells me it can't confirm what has been damaged or destroyed music-wise at this point because it doesn't yet know what exactly was housed in the storage rented to Universal Music.
Nikki Finke's Monday update:
Universal Music just gave me a "clarification" on my report regarding UMG’s vault and the Universal Studio fire on Sunday:
"Thankfully, there was little lost from UMG's vault. A majority of what was formerly stored there was moved earlier this year to our other facilities. Of the small amount that was still there and waiting to be moved, it had already been digitized so the music will still be around for many years to come. And in addition to being digitized, physical back up copies of what was still left at that location were made and stored elsewhere. So thankfully, smart care, administration and preparation of these gems prevailed."
So let me get this straight: first there's no report of irreplaceable damage at the Universal Studios vault, then I find out there's musical history destruction because of a rental agreement with Universal Music, and now execs it's only "a little" and not a problem. Funny, because my insiders insist it's a BIG problem. Universal Music claims that over the past year it had been moving master recordings of its "big name" musical artists to the giant Iron Mountain, Pennsylvania vault -- the same one used by Bill Gates and Microsoft. What was left, Universal Music contends, was only "more obscure artists from the '40s and the early '50s." My final thought: the public may never know the truth.
