Customer Reviews

Best Of Mission Impossible: Then & Now

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This release is welcome because it reissues the now out-of-print GNP Crescendo title from the 1990s at a budget price. That said, one may have criticisms about both releases.
The program presented on this CD is taken from and/or inspired by the "Mission: Impossible" series which appeared first in the 1960s and was revived in the 1980s. The gems here are the first several tracks, which are Lalo Schifrin's original 1960s theme music and several underscore cues by Schifrin used in the series, including a famous one later known as "The Plot". Also of note is an interview with Peter Graves, who appeared in both "Mission: Impossible" series.
The rest of the program, though, is rather negligible. The 1980s series music consists of a re-working of the show's theme, plus various underscore cues. All are awash in keyboard synthesizers, as opposed to Lalo Schifrin's use of live musicians (in the years between the two "Mission" series, film companies dismissed their studio orchestras due to the cost of maintaining them). A few of the 1980s cues are pleasant enough, making one think at times of New Age or Space music, but overall they lack the character of those sixties delights.
A couple more notes: for no apparent reason, the disc ends with a modern arrangement of the "Mission: Impossible" theme performed by the Israel Philharmonic and conducted by Lalo Schifrin, a take-or-leave proposition. Also, be forewarned that the booklet included with this budget release is "budget" as well, consisting essentially of the covers and little else. The inner pages are missing, along with most of the notes, a likely display of contempt for the costs involved in printing the rest.
All in all, this disc is just good, not great. If you can find it for little enough money, buy it for the wonderful Lalo Schifrin music and the Peter Graves segment.