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The Fugitive - Original Television Series Soundtrack Music by Peter Rugolo

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For those of us who were around in the '60s, the television program THE FUGITIVE still stands as perhaps the best drama series ever offered on the medium. The show had many strengths -- the writing, acting, direction -- all top-notch. And then there was the incredible music score composed by Pete Rugolo. Now, it's all here on this long-overdue soundtrack album of original music for THE FUGITIVE.

Its been mentioned by other reviewers that the sound on this album is stereo. It is not. It is rather well-recorded monaural, which makes sense given that we're talking about a 1960s TV show. Stereo wouldn't be employed on TV for another 20 years. Given the crispness of the audio, though, one might well be fooled into thinking that it must be stereo. Rest assured, these are the original mono master tapes presented at their best.

Any fan of the series will easily remember virtually each and every "cue" used in the series. Many here are presented in elongated, unedited form, giving the listener a new perspective on some of these great arrangements. Essentially what Mr. Rugolo did was to compose and arrange a large series of music cues to fit any given situation that the writers could come up with. The series music editors then just had to pick and choose from among all of these cues to make it fit the mood of that particular portion of the program.

The series also used other stock library cues, some of which are available on both the TWILIGHT ZONE and OUTER LIMITS soundtrack albums.

I can't praise this one enough. Now if someone out there would just bring the series back to TV!

There are already a number of good reviews of this CD here, and it seems to be out of print as I write this, but I still wish to add a few comments.
This disc includes, as has been pointed out by other writers, the original theme music from the 1960s TV series "The Fugitive". In addition, these recordings are not dubbed from film soundtracks, or in any other way removed from the source material, but are evidently transferred from original (possibly first-generation) master tapes.
The source used for these recordings is significant because even a transfer from a film soundtrack (as opposed to a master tape) adds a haze of background noise and removes some of the frequency range of the music.
The music on this CD leaps out of the speakers, and it is possible to hear detail that you may never have noticed no matter how hard you listened to the music when you watched the series on TV. Although the broadcast standards for the original 60s airing of the show were pretty good, your TV set probably had a "hum" in the sound due to video interference, and most television speakers weren't hi-fi quality. Thanks to this CD, your home stereo can deliver this music just the way you remember it, only better!
Just a few more brief notes. The music on this disc is all in mono, just as it was recorded--stereo television broadcasts were about a quarter of a century away when "The Fugitive" debuted. But don't mistake mono sound for inferior sound. This CD sounds fantastic! I'm afraid that most of the "episode cues" (which admittedly comprise most of this release) are not very interesting listening, and I routinely program around them when playing the disc. But I spent the money for the theme music, all of which (main and end titles, plus a "bumper" segment) is here, and I gladly paid the price of this CD for it.
UPDATE (February, 2011): This recording has been re-issued--sort of. The current release is a CD-R version (i.e., produced on a recordable disc), manufactured on demand. It appears to be otherwise identical to the earlier release of this album. If you don't have this music in your collection, here is your opportunity to acquire it.

The man was Dr. Richard Kimble, and the series was "The
Fugitive", which ran for four years, from September 1963 to
August 1967 ranked highest-rated drama and won the Emmy as Outstanding
Dramatic Series in its third season. David Janssen the star was
nominated three times as Best Actor in a Drama, creator Roy Huggins
made two suggestions - David Janssen play the title role and that Pete
Rugolo write the music.

Rugolo worked with such greats as - Stan
Kenton, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Harry Belafonte and Mel Torme...and
produced the legendary "Birth of the Cool" featuring Miles
Davis. Between 1947 and 1954 won the "Down Beat" poll as
top jazz arranger five times.

Musically speaking "The
Fugitive" was unlike any other hit series of the '60s, Rugolo
worked solely from a reading of the pilot script and the description
of the concept, working a lot of variations with every possible kind
of suspense cues, neutral cues, some sad cues and a lot of chases,
because he'd be running all the time. Every track on this CD, is
"pure classic" television scoring, ground-breaking for its
time.

Silva Screen has released the long over-due score from this
classic series, every time you heard that theme you knew it was the
music for David Janssen, absolutely the best series done and unique in
its time...and for the baby-boomers, "The fugitive" will
always be Janssen - and the music of Pete Rugolo!

Total Time: 47:18
on 24 Tracks...Silva Screen SSD-1106...(2000)

With the decision by CBS/Paramount to remove all the original music (except the show opening/closing) on the Season 2 DVDs, this is all that's left of the Pete Rugolo's music written for THE FUGITIVE.

When a copy of this CD shows up from Amazon Sellers, buy it.
Own a piece of television history.

Both DVD sets of Season 1 have most of the original music...so they too will become collector's items.

I was quite surprised (and pleased) to find this excellent Audio-CD available. All that great music from the 1963-1967 television drama series "The Fugitive" (starring David Janssen) is here. And it sounds great.

The original 1960s version of "The Fugitive" is one of the all-time greatest TV programs to ever show up on American television screens. And one of the major reasons for this praise, in my own personal opinion anyway, rests firmly on the shoulders of Mr. Pete Rugolo, who was responsible for composing the outstanding music that was heard throughout the show's four-year TV run (120 total episodes).

Offhand, I cannot think of a TV show which featured better music -- which would include the picture-perfect opening theme, as well as all the various assorted pieces of background musical cues and bridges that Mr. Rugolo wrote to adorn the interior of each of the episodes during the "Fuge" series. Rugolo's mood-enhancing melodies created for the show were (and still are today) miniature 'classics' unto themselves. I never tire of listening to the soundtrack of "The Fugitive". Truly great stuff.

This CD is divided into 24 tracks, with a total running time of 47:20. Extensive Liner Notes are included, in the form of an interesting eight-page booklet, which provides the backstory of the Peter Rugolo/Fugitive connection, as well as a few vintage "Fugitive" photographs.

Anybody who likes great TV soundtrack recordings should definitely make an attempt to acquire this Compact Disc.

The Fugitive remains among the greatest television dramas ever. The reasons for its quality - an intriguing premise, engaging characters, a superior cast, atmospheric cimematogrophy, superb scripts, and taut direction.

One other strength lies in the series' music scores. Much of the series was scored with "library" tracks, mostly from CBS' TV library of tracks scored by John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. The backbone of the series score, however, came from the tracks composed by Peter Rugolo, who was a favorite of both producer Quinn Martin and of series star David Janssen. During the show's initial run a soundtrack album was conceived, but was never released, and in Ed Robertson's book The Fugitive Recaptured he notes the enormous audience draw to Rugolo's music and how Rugolo appreciated the positive feedback.

Series creator Roy Huggins has thus finally filed in the gap the fans have long wanted - a series soundtrack. The roughly 47 minutes of music in this CD encompass just over half of the tracks used by music supervisor Ken Wilhoit in the series. The cues encompass the myriad different takes on the immortal main theme Rugolo created to fill in every conceivable mood in the show. The Main Theme is used in three seperate tracks, the full version that bookends the disc and also the stellar opening theme cue that backs the booming series, actor, and episode title credits that were a hallmark of the show in particular and of Quinn Martin productions in general.

There is also the Lt. Gerard theme, a brassy, intimidating cue that switches to understated mystery, thus encompassing the enigma that, backed by Barry Morse's superlative performances, was "the police lieutenant obsessed with (Kimble's) capture."

The only flaw in the disc is that some of the "library" tracks that also added power to the show's score could not be included. Nonetheless, this disc is a must for music and TV fans.

This is the soundtrack to the original David Janssen TV series. Pete Rugolo, who composed many hit scores for jazz, film and television classics, is finally given the recognition he deserves for this legendary television show. Anyone who was a fan of the original series will always remember the music that accompanied Dr. Richard Kimble on his lonely, four-year quest for justice. Rugolo's signature brass fanfare set the tone from the start of each episode, and the rest was history. From the main title theme to the end credits, the cuts represent the full spectrum of musical cues from the show. Nothing has been forgotten -- from moments of sorrow and introspection to the tension and terror of the chase -- at times you swear you can feel the freight trains pounding the rails with every heartbeat. Rugolo's incredible musical visualizations for the series are beautifully presented. This collection from the 1963 Quinn Martin Production has been digitally remastered and the result is surprisingly clear and crisp -- much better than might be expected. Though the liner notes offer interesting insights about into how a televsion show was scored back in the day, I would like to know how this CD came to be after all these years. All in all a collector's item to be savored.

The best score wrote for a television series.There are many television series with great themes , but for incidental music this can not be beat.You get caught up in Richard Kimble's escapades as he tries to help the various people he meets and gets caught up with in his search for the one armed man.Caught being the operative word the music makes you really feel for the caracter. The two things the Fugitive will remembered for are David Jasen and that haunting music by Pete Rugglo.

I love this music. While listening to it, I can picture David in my head looking for his shoulder as Dr. Richard Kimble. He is the only actor to play this role. Harrison Ford and others are not really qualified.

But I waited 30 years for this soundtrack to come out. Great music from a great tv show, and I liked most of the cues. Sounded much better than I remembered from the show because of more advanced technology in recording. The one thing I wish they had included in this is the suspenseful chords they used in key scenes of some episodes, with the violins playing a sustained chord, then playing it twice, then three, then four times. Doesn't sound like much, and probably doesn't look like much on the score, but it sounded great, and grabbed your attention. Scenes it was used in for example, in the pilot episode when Brian Keith's character first visits Kimble in his hotel room. Another in part two of NEVER WAVE GOOD-BYE when Gerard is questioning owners of sailboat makers. Anyway, that's my only gripe with this recording. Seemed like such an important cue because it was used in some of the show's most suspenseful moments. But no complaints about what they did use.