2015 has proven not just a great year for spy movies in theaters, but also for archival spy releases. I thought Network's
Deadlier Than the Male Blu-ray would be tough to beat, but
La La Land has just done it with the announcement that they will release what's long been a Holy Grail for fans of spy music: a six-disc box set of soundtrack music from the
Mission: Impossible TV series! Produced by spy music expert Jon Burlingame (who also produced and wrote the liner notes for the excellent FSM
Man From U.N.C.L.E. soundtrack CD releases a decade ago, and literally wrote the book on James Bond film music),
Mission: Impossible: The Television Scores contains selections from all seven seasons of the iconic spy series starring Peter Graves, Greg Morris and Peter Lupus (among many others) that ran from 1966-1973, the majority of them never before released! While Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible Theme is probably the most famous and iconic piece of spy TV music ever, he is certainly not the only composer to contribute to the fantastic sound of this series. Besides Schifrin, the work of Gerald Fried, Jerry Fielding, Don Ellis, Richard Hazard, Robert Drasnin and more will will also be showcased in this box set. And every track has been meticulously restored and remastered from the original studio elements. (Most of them are presented in the original mono.) Burlingame, who personally selected each piece included, also contributes comprehensive liner notes contained in three informative booklets loaded with photos. (Just take a look at his
Man From U.N.C.L.E. liner notes for an idea of how awesome these will probably be!) According to the press release, the 6-disc set is housed in an attractive hard-cover slipcase. Just look at the picture! It's so attractive that even if it didn't have all that incredible music I'd still want this thing on my shelf! The music was restored by Chris Malone and mastered by Doug Schwartz, with art direction on the package by Joe Sikoryak.
UPDATE: Burlingame revealed on Facebook that "Every single episode that had original music is represented. In some cases it's just a few minutes; in the case of the Schifrin-scored episodes it's a lot."
Limited to 1500 units,
Mission: Impossible – The Television Scores will be available for order from
La La Land's website starting July 28, 2015 at 12 noon PST (just in time for the release of
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation in theaters) and will commence shipping out to customers on August 10. That's right around the corner! The box set retails for $99.98.
And you also need to clear just a little more room in the M section of your spy music shelf. La La Land will also release Joe Kraemer's score for
Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation on August 4. If you order through their website, the first 100 units will be signed by the composer. You can currently listen a sample track from that score on
Soundcloud.
Thanks to Collin for the heads-up!
Read my review of
Mission: Impossible: The Seventh TV Season
here.
Read my review of
Mission: Impossible: The Sixth TV Season here.
Read my review of
Mission: Impossible: The Fifth TV Season here.
Read my review of
Mission: Impossible: The Fourth TV Season here.
Read my review of
Mission: Impossible: The Third TV Season here.
Read my review of
Mission: Impossible: The Second TV Season here.
Read my review of
Mission: Impossible: The First TV Season here.
Probably the best soundtrack news that I have had this year.
ReplyDeleteApparently Jon Burlingame has said that every episode that had an original score will be represented - sometimes perhaps only a few minutes worth, but those composed by Schifrin himself will get a fuller representation.
Hopefully, even that rather goofy 'updated' MI theme arrangement which appears in many of the Season 5 opening titles will be included... ;-)
Simon
Regarding Kraemer's score... sounds quite good but from the one sample I've heard it sounds just like one of David Arnold's BOND scores!
ReplyDeleteRecorded here in England and presumably by contractor Isobel Griffiths's usual musicians (as used by Arnold), I wonder if orchestrator Nicholas Dodd is on board?
I wish they'd get back to Schifrin's original jazzy sound. Elfman may have done this best. Some of these big orchestral scores start to sound a bit interchangeable with a lot of other action scoring these days...
Oh, I'm sure that Season 5 "marching band" version will be on there! And you know what? I'm looking forward to having it! :)
ReplyDeleteGood question about whether Dodd is involved in Kraemer's Rogue Nation score! However, despite that sample, I'm not expecting Kraemer's score to sound like an Arnold Bond for the most part. McQuarrie has promised a very retro, jazzy score on Twitter, so I'm expecting something quite Schifrin-esque! We'll see in a week...
We certainly will see.
ReplyDeleteGiacchino's scores were - in my opinion - completely unmemorable. A case of quantity (all those musicians!) over quality. Composed on a computer keyboard and (over)orchestrated to the absolute maximum. Nice to see a change of composer.