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 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 1:15 AM   
 By:   ZapBrannigan   (Member)

LP releases for 60s and 70s TV scores: some shows got them, some didn't. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE got one, while STAR TREK, which was literally filmed in the soundstage next door, did not (for nearly 20 years). MANNIX was another Desilu series being shot at the same time, and it got one.

HAWAII FIVE-O got an LP, as did THE MAN FROM UNCLE. But THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, no. I mean, SIX MILLION and STAR TREK got narrated story LPs, performed by unknown voice actors if I'm not mistaken, and Leonard Nimoy sang up a storm, but music from the episode scores wasn't coming out.

To get some score music on LP during a show's first run, I'm guessing the two big factors were a killer main title and some kind of conceptual similarity to a hit movie. Thus spies and detectives got a boost from the James Bond phenomenon, and their scores got vinyl releases. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was surely planned from the start to have an LP (a great and enduring one, it turns out) because the STAR WARS album had sold 3 million copies. But shows outside the genre of any big film were out of luck.

If there's anything to my hypothesis, then SPACE: 1999 is an outlier. It came before STAR WARS and its theme music was not rocking the nation, but it got an LP release from RCA. I wonder what the real factors were.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 2:56 AM   
 By:   Bob DiMucci   (Member)

Sometimes it was just the policy of the production company, which wanted to use the album as a way of promoting the show. Four Star Productions was particularly prolific in issuing albums of its shows. From them we got:

Richard Diamond (Pete Ruggolo)
Burke’s Law (Herschel Burke Gilbert)
The Rogues (Nelson Riddle)
Honey West (Joseph Mullendore)
The Big Valley (George Duning)

And the compilation LP “Dick Powell Presents,” which had tracks from:

Black Saddle
Dick Powell Show, The
Target: The Corruptors
Gertrude Berg Show, The
Rifleman, The
Detectives Starring Robert Taylor, The
Law And Mr. Jones, The
Law Of The Plainsman
Wanted: Dead Or Alive
DuPont Show With June Allyson, The
Michael Shayne
Tom Ewell Show, The
Zane Grey Theater

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 5:17 AM   
 By:   OnyaBirri   (Member)

When I was a kid, I could not believe that there weren't Star Trek or Lost in Sapce LPs. It drove me crazy.

 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 7:38 AM   
 By:   ZapBrannigan   (Member)

When I was a kid, I could not believe that there weren't Star Trek or Lost in Sapce LPs. It drove me crazy.

Same here. It was the TV version of wanting THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and THE OMEGA MAN. Which I did. smile

 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 8:11 AM   
 By:   Jim Phelps   (Member)

Even though you guys are retroactively pouting over what you didn't have, you Trekkies still had THE TRANSFORMED MAN, which is infinitely superior to anything the likes of Steiner, Fielding, or Courage could ever create. You had everything and you didn't even know it.

I am not being facetious.

 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 8:20 AM   
 By:   Scott McOldsmith   (Member)

Ooooookay....

 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 5:48 PM   
 By:   ZapBrannigan   (Member)

Sometimes it was just the policy of the production company, which wanted to use the album as a way of promoting the show.

That must be the third piece of the puzzle right there, along with a red-hot theme like HAWAII FIVE-O had, or a wave of fan interest in the genre created by a feature film. Thanks for the listing too, Bob. It seems like you're an LP historian sometimes.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 7:38 PM   
 By:   dan the man   (Member)

There was a GIRL FROM UNCLE LP.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 7:42 PM   
 By:   dan the man   (Member)

PETER GUNN-HENRY MANCINI- THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY- LP OF BENNY HILL SONGS ETC ETC ETC ETC

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 7:52 PM   
 By:   OnyaBirri   (Member)



I am not being facetious.


I LOVE the Transformed Man and have a hard time convincing people that it's genuine and not ironic. It is a brilliant album.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 8:20 PM   
 By:   Doc Loch   (Member)

Even though you guys are retroactively pouting over what you didn't have, you Trekkies still had THE TRANSFORMED MAN, which is infinitely superior to anything the likes of Steiner, Fielding, or Courage could ever create. You had everything and you didn't even know it.

I am not being facetious.


Mr. Tambourine MAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 9:12 PM   
 By:   OnyaBirri   (Member)

My wife and I were just looking at the cover of the "Man from UNCLE" LP and said, "That's one of the most beautiful LP covers ever: Two cute guys with spy guns staring at a rack."

 
 Posted:   Sep 10, 2013 - 9:35 PM   
 By:   ZapBrannigan   (Member)

When I read Jim Phelp's post about THE TRANSFORMED MAN, I mistook it in my mind for THE ILLUSTRATED MAN. I thought he was giving us a super-harsh scolding of the "Goldsmith over TOS" variety, and really not being facetious. Whoops.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 11, 2013 - 1:03 AM   
 By:   Bob DiMucci   (Member)

In my opinion, the golden age of television series LP releases was the 1950s and 1960s. Here are the major releases of that era by genre.

ACTION / ADVENTURE

Batman
Daktari
The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.
Hong Kong
I Spy (2)
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Mission: Impossible
Mr. Lucky
The Roaring 20’s
The Rogues
The Saint
Secret Agent


PRIVATE DETECTIVE

Bourbon Street Beat
Checkmate
Honey West
Mannix
Mike Hammer
Peter Gunn (2)
Richard Diamond
Staccato
77 Sunset Strip


DRAMA

Dark Shadows
East Side, West Side
General Electric Theatre
The Loretta Young Show
One Step Beyond
Pete Kelly’s Blues
The Reporter
Thriller


POLICE

Burke’s Law
Hawaii Five-O
M Squad
Man From Interpol
Naked City
The Untouchables


WESTERNS

The Big Valley
Bonanza
The High Chaparral / Bonanza
Shotgun Slade
Wagon Train


COMEDY

The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The Beverly Hillbillies
Get Smart
Hogan’s Heroes


DOCUMENTARY

Victory at Sea
World War I

 
 Posted:   Sep 11, 2013 - 1:25 AM   
 By:   SchiffyM   (Member)

LP releases for 60s and 70s TV scores: some shows got them, some didn't. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE got one, while STAR TREK, which was literally filmed in the soundstage next door, did not (for nearly 20 years). MANNIX was another Desilu series being shot at the same time, and it got one.

I don't think there's any great mystery why this is the case.

"Mission: Impossible" had a super-hot main title theme. It was a mainstream hit at the time, and got a lot of radio play. The "Mannix" theme was not as popular, but it was by the same composer and in the same idiom. At the time, no self-respecting bachelor was without some of these hip jazz albums.

"Star Trek" was a completely different animal, and certainly was not musically in the popular vernacular of the time.

(Also, though it may be hard to remember now, the series was not the hit that either "Mission: Impossible" or "Mannix" were at the time.)

 
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