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Soundtrack fans of a certain age (i.e. those whose childhood years were spent in the late 1960s/early 1970s) will almost certainly have been indelibly marked by the music of Edwin Astley. The Saint, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), Danger Man, Department S, and many others, were scored by this immensely talented composer. During the '60s it seemed as if his music was permanently wafting from our TV screens, insinuating its slinky strings and groovy bass guitar into our impressionable young minds - so much so that, for many of us, Astley's music is THE music of our childhood, and it can instantly transport us back to those halcyon days with just a few immediately recognisable notes.
And yet Astley remains an elusive character who I know absolutely nothing about. I've never even seen a photograph of him. Perhaps that will be rectified on the 10th of March, when the same people who recently unleashed the complete scores from THE PRISONER will be treating us to a three disc set of the scores from RANDALL & HOPKIRK (DECEASED).
http://www.networkdvd.net/product_info.php?cPath=69&products_id=583
And of course this is just bloody typical, since I've spent nearly three weeks meticulously extracting the 30 minutes of incidental music that accompanies the image galleries on Network's fabulous DVD set. Bugger!
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It seems like they're going to be releasing all the ITC scores in the same fashion as The Prisoner: very short, unedited cues in recordings date order.
I might skip this one and wait for an album of a show I like (like, say The Saint or Danger Man) so then the presentation is bearable.
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Is he alive?
British composer Edwin Astley was born April 12, 1922 and passed away May 19, 1998.
A documentary about Astley's career was filmed in 2001:
"Astley's Way" directed by Geoff Wonfor.
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And of course this is just bloody typical, since I've spent nearly three weeks meticulously extracting the 30 minutes of incidental music that accompanies the image galleries on Network's fabulous DVD set. Bugger!
What do you think of "Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)" music?
Can you describe it and compare it with other ITC series?
I only know "Danger Man" and "The Saint" music.
PS: I am dying of impatience to obtain a full release of "Danger Man"...
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Yeah, Danger Man's music was great stuff. The Saint, Department S, The Baron, Man in a Suitcase, and many of the other ITC classics had fantastic scores.
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Posted: |
Feb 22, 2008 - 9:33 AM
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By: |
Tom Barnaby
(Member)
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Soundtrack fans of a certain age (i.e. those whose childhood years were spent in the late 1960s/early 1970s) will almost certainly have been indelibly marked by the music of Edwin Astley. The Saint, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), Danger Man, Department S, and many others, were scored by this immensely talented composer. During the '60s it seemed as if his music was permanently wafting from our TV screens, insinuating its slinky strings and groovy bass guitar into our impressionable young minds - so much so that, for many of us, Astley's music is THE music of our childhood, and it can instantly transport us back to those halcyon days with just a few immediately recognisable notes.
Hopefully, more scores will be coming from Network. One of the real classic shows from the that period, and it's British.
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The main theme, for sure, for randall and hopkirk, is pure 70s TV genius. And the incidental music in the shows was often slower versions of the main theme - which you can listen to all day.
Astley wrote some very very competent TV themes, as is posted above. Especially Department S and the famous original Saint theme is probably one of the best known themes of 60s British TV.
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What do you think of "Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)" music?
Can you describe it and compare it with other ITC series?
I only know "Danger Man" and "The Saint" music.
I absolutely love it, in fact if I'd been asked which Edwin Astley TV score I'd like to see released first, it would have been this one. Someone up there likes me 
Best way to describe it? It's very similar to THE SAINT scores, so if you like them you'll certainly be happy with this. Since Randall & Hopkirk deals with a detective who has a ghost for a partner, Astley chose to augment the "straight" private eye sound with harpsichord and occasionally electric organ to reflect the supernatural element. The detective aspect of the show has some great skulking around music with terrific "walking" bass guitar bouncing along under the orchestra, dynamic music for chases and fights, with the orchestra going full tilt alongside drum kit or pounding timpani. Despite the show's comic scenario of a ghostly detective, the scores never veer into obvious "comedy" music - much of the scoring is serious suspense or action music, albeit with the added colour of harpsichord or organ to remind us the show has one foot in the spirit world. It's actually very clever the way Astley manages to underscore the show's humour without ever using "funny" music, and his scoring of the more overtly supernatural scenes (a seance, a poltergeist attack) manages to avoid ghostly cliches and instead gives us some beautifully ethereal and spooky music.
Plus it has one fabulous main title theme.
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As Stephen says, Randall and Hopkirk is a great score -and a very memorable theme (far better than David Arnold's theme which was used for the revival IMO). I think it is very representative of Astley's ITC work at the time.
But if the presentation is the same as that of THE PRISONER CD set, it will be unlistenable I'm afraid. Network really do have a lot to learn about how to present scores on CD. If only Silva Screen had been able to avail of the opportunity instead....
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What do you think of "Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)" music?
Can you describe it and compare it with other ITC series?
I only know "Danger Man" and "The Saint" music.
I absolutely love it, in fact if I'd been asked which Edwin Astley TV score I'd like to see released first, it would have been this one. Someone up there likes me
Best way to describe it? It's very similar to THE SAINT scores, so if you like them you'll certainly be happy with this. Since Randall & Hopkirk deals with a detective who has a ghost for a partner, Astley chose to augment the "straight" private eye sound with harpsichord and occasionally electric organ to reflect the supernatural element. The detective aspect of the show has some great skulking around music with terrific "walking" bass guitar bouncing along under the orchestra, dynamic music for chases and fights, with the orchestra going full tilt alongside drum kit or pounding timpani. Despite the show's comic scenario of a ghostly detective, the scores never veer into obvious "comedy" music - much of the scoring is serious suspense or action music, albeit with the added colour of harpsichord or organ to remind us the show has one foot in the spirit world. It's actually very clever the way Astley manages to underscore the show's humour without ever using "funny" music, and his scoring of the more overtly supernatural scenes (a seance, a poltergeist attack) manages to avoid ghostly cliches and instead gives us some beautifully ethereal and spooky music.
Plus it has one fabulous main title theme.
Alright, I will order it. Thanks for the rundown.
I adore NETWORK's experimental presentation so this must be a fascinating experience.
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But if the presentation is the same as that of THE PRISONER CD set, it will be unlistenable I'm afraid.
I am obviously extremely biased about the RANDALL & HOPKIRK music, so I might be spectacularly wrong about this ... but I have a feeling this set will play a lot better than THE PRISONER does.
One of the problems with The Prisoner presentation was its very disparate musical styles. Also, perhaps, too many tiny cues without much substance. It's a VERY demanding listen.
Having just sat through the entire series of RANDALL & HOPKIRK, the main thing that struck me about the music was how entertaining even the shortest cues are. It is, at the very least, very accessible - consistent in style and quality. I am fairly confident that even if Network present the tracks in an archival by-recording-date sequence, they will still be immensely pleasurable to listen to. The music is that good. It has bucketloads of charm.
I would prefer them to nix the slate numbers, though. That IS rather anal.
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Alright, I will order it. Thanks for the rundown.
I adore NETWORK's experimental presentation so this must be a fascinating experience.
I don't think you'll regret buying this CD set, Stefan.
As for the 'experimental' presentation.... well, I honestly don't think it's that at all. I really don't think they have a clue about how to present these scores as a proper listening experience. OK, you could say that they've done this to preserve the scores for posterity etc and for a wider audience. That's a laudable objective but it could have been done in a far more listener friendly way.
As it happens, I think Stephen could well be right in that R+H will 'play' better, but I honestly don't think anyone needs multiple takes of different cues (certainly not placed one after the other!) and seven second cues and all the rest of it.
I remember reading an interview with Astley back in the mid nineties where he pondered possible new releases of his music (specifically at that time The Saint and Danger Man, which had been issued on LP years before but not on CD at that time). Unbelievably, he wasn't sure at the time that there'd be that much interest....!
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I remember reading an interview with Astley back in the mid nineties where he pondered possible new releases of his music (specifically at that time The Saint and Danger Man, which had been issued on LP years before but not on CD at that time). Unbelievably, he wasn't sure at the time that there'd be that much interest....!
As a teen, I used to tell myself that one day, I would get DANGER MAN by Edwin Astley: it is still my dream, my personal holy grail.
Anyway, "Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)" set will be my blue box for March.
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Ordered for 21.55 pounds.
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From the interview I mentioned, Astley had this to say on the subject of RANDALL AND HOPKIRK [DECEASED]. He was asked how he went about composing the theme and what made the music so 'hauntingly different':
"It's a matter of using something distinctive so that if you have the television on in the next room, you know that programme had started. It has to be something distinctive in the orchestration or in the tune and I suppose that's why I used harpsichord, because in those days it was a very distinctive sound. There's no mistaking the harpsichord is there? I mean, I love the sound of strings but it is not a unique sound by any means.
And the idea of using the minor key was obviously because of the 'death' part of it. But then again, I did not want it to be too miserable so I wrote a tune which you could remember. But against that was always the producer wanting a hit. But if you get a hit, when the series comes out a second time it will be dated, because a hit can only last a matter of weeks whereas a TV series could last a number of years[...] so I think that tune had to have a bit of profundity about it to last. But the aim is always for something you will remember."
With regard to his comment about a distinctive theme, I'd say R+H certainly qualifies. My own personal favourite of Edwin Astley's is DEPARTMENT S - again, if you heard this theme from another room, there was no doubting what series was about to start...!
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