Customer Reviews

100 Greatest TV Themes

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a regular collector of soundtracks for the last 20 years , I've come across Silva products since 1983 (In fact the A-Team recording dates from that year!). This collection is basically a collection of their back catalogue and a few other licensed tracks. They have nearly all been re-recorded (by budget European orchestras) and are NOT original versions. This is for 2 reasons: a) So that they own the copyright to the recordings (which is vastly cheaper especially when you churn the same ones out so often) and b) Because most TV / Record companies can't be bothered to find original recordings unless they've already been licensed.

If you're expecting to find a lexicon of original TV themes as you heard them on Tv, forget this product and most other Silva screen releases. The collector's market has matured since these guys started and most collectors won't accept cheap alternatives. They now want the real thing, which is why the Television's Greatest Hits were successful and the TV Toons compilations where they bothered to track down original recordings even the TV masters in most cases.

As a musician myself, I know too well that one of the most important ingredients in ANY performance (live or recorded) is passion. The recordings here generally lack the same passion and sheer drama of the originals. Much of the instrumentation has been reduced to a cheezy, thin, plastic synthesized replica. The performances are simply a watered-down lackluster version of the classic originals. If it were not for the sheer volume of tracks compiled here, I would have rated the comp only "one star".

while some of the tracks that should have words do, others don't. The outer limits doesn't have "we control the horizontal.." and the A-team doesn't have the proper intro. Monty Python is also a midi remake of the orginal that doesn't have the cheep tinny sound that it should.

Face it, the appeal of TV theme songs is their familiarity. You know every sound in your favorites. You won't find any of that here. Some of these aren't even close to the originals. A lot are performed on cheap, lifeless digital synths. All of them sound like tired run-throughs of the music. There is no apparent interest on the part of the performers, so why should any listener be interested?

Definitely not as good as the originals. You'll probably notice the slight differences since it's stuff you saw and listened to every week or everyday in reruns growing up, but it's still an amazing collection.

The sound quality for this collection isn't much better than the samples offered by Amazon.

If you are about to be stranded on a desert island and can take only 10,000 music CDs with you, this 4-disc set should NOT be among them. These are not the themes as you heard them and remember them. They are played, sometimes well, sometimes not, by a hired orchestra playing someone else's arrangements -- moderately close, but don't even think about the cigar. And, if you're planning on ripping these, be prepared to manually edit and re-type about 90 percent of the titles, as most tracks are labeled merely "Main Theme". Only if you are truly desperate to accummulate a quantity of music without regard to the quality, then, go ahead, buy this. My copy will soon be posted for sale on eBay--"Excellent condition-played only once, and that by mistake."

The Mission Impossible theme is performed well.
The Fireball theme is actually much improved on this version. I prefer the orchestra and the vocals over the original.

Some purists may take offense with the arrangements as well as the selection 100 "greatest" themes. However, "brownie points" must be given for providing boomers with reflections from their television past.
Of course, "liberties" are taken with the arrangements but all are done in homage to their original versions. To be honest, some of the arrangements extend the themes, adding depth to the original or even making "extending" some well beyond the length of the familiar.

Highlights include themes from "The Addams Family", "The Avengers", "Barnaby Jones", "Batman", "Battlestar Galactica", "Cagney & Lacey", "Dallas" "Dr. Kildare", "Dynasty", "Falcon Crest, "The Fugitive", "Hawaii 5-0", "The High Chaparral", "The Incredible Hulk", the acclaimed mini-series "Jesus of Nazareth", "Little House on the Prairie", Irwin Allen's sci-fi quartet ("Land of the Giants", "Lost in Space", "The Time Tunnel" and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"), "Newhart", "The Outer Limits", two Roger Moore shows: "The Persuaders" and "The Saint", three Trek shows (the original, "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager", "The Streets of San Francisco", and "The X-Files".

However, the piece de resistance is "Perry Mason", one of the most memorable of all themes and the interpretation does the original justice and then some.

While there are still some that probably others would say rank higher than this compilation but it still comes highly recommended for a trek down memory lane.

Being a 4 disc set each about 70 minutes this covers some tv from the 50's with Bonanza and Bewitched to the 90's with x files and star trek deep space 9. It does a Fair job covering the shows listed. But they are remade versions and some sound not quite as the tv version did. Mostly due to the instruments are not dead on exact but they close enough some might not notice. They also made some of them longer then as heard on tv like murder she wrote didn't ever have almost 3 minutes of title sequence. As far as tv theme cds go this set does include quite a bit of stuff.