Although it's been years since the release of the excellent first volume, Film Score Monthly surprised and delighted spy fans today by officially announcing I Spy: Volume 2—The LPs for release later this week. Whereas the first volume contained complete episode scores, this one (as the title implies) will mark the CD debut of the two LPs released in the Sixties (one on Warner Bros; the other on Capitol). A reversible cover will reflect the artwork from both records. It's great to see FSM dipping back into the I Spy well, as Earle Hagen's music is one of the best things about the series! I do hope that if this one sells well they'll consider more episode score releases in the future. I Spy: Volume 2—The LPs will be out this Thursday, February 24, and available to order from Screen Archives Entertainment starting at 1PM EST.
Yes, this is excellent news. Hagen wrote some fantastic news for the series. FSM did of course release a superb disc of music from the original scores (both stereo and mono tracks) a few years back.
ReplyDeleteSadly, Kendall has since said that they won't apparently being doing any more (he never said why, although the sheer number of scores to choose from may be one reason...) so I'm afraid I think it's unlikely that this new volume (a lot of which are arrangements of tunes already on the original disc)will lead to another volume of the original scores.
I think this "2 LPs on one disc" edition is truly excellent news, but a follow-on to the existing FSM disc would have been far better. One hope another label might pick up the baton one day.
er, I meant "Hagen wrote some fantastic MUSIC for the series..."
ReplyDeleteHo hum - typing error :-)