Customer Reviews

Lost In Space: Original Television Soundtrack, Volume Three

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This release is a major "find" for those who are fans of the work of John Williams. It is the third in the series of scores taken from "Lost in Space," and is, by the far, the best. The episode "My Friend, Mr. Nobody" features a poignant score by Williams's that foreshadows many of the melodies that he would later use in the blockbuster films of which he is noted. This is a true treasure because of Williams place as one of the most prolific and popular of motion picture composers. The disc also features incidental music from the LIS episode "The Derelict," with music by Hans Salter, Herman Stein, and Richard LaSalle. As a further "historical" addition, the rejected second season theme composed by Warren Barker is included. After listening to it, I can understand why!

Neil Norman, Kevin Burns, Mark Banning and GNP/Crescendo present the third installment of the Original Television Soundtrack, from the legendary sci-fi series - "Lost In Space". This album includes two of the most popular scores ever written - "THE DERELICT" music by Hans J. Salter, Herman Stein and Richard LaSalle is simply magical, menacing and mysterious, perfect ingredients for this episode. The second score on this CD is - "MY FRIEND, MR. NOBODY" music by John Williams, rarely heard is Williams at his best, with shades of the "old masters" such as Herrmann, Steiner and Waxman is prevalent.

The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen created this "Cult Classic" and the never-to-be-forgotten music, which made each and every episode completely believable week after week. So climb aboard "Jupiter 2" and reminisce about the voyages we have taken together and will again, when we are - "Lost In Space"!

Total Time: 69:07 on 18 Tracks/ GNP/Crescendo Records - GNPD 8062 (2000)

If the first two soundtracks of the series was great, this soundtrack is spectatular. It includes the complete scores of the Derelict and My Friend Mr. Nobody (at least I can't think of one musical cue that wasn't on the CD.) This is probaly one of the most creative TV soundtracks you will ever hear. It's amazing these composers could write music for these shows within a weeks span. For all of you Lost in Space fans, this is a treat. For all of you John Williams fan, this is a treasure. And the track's unused 2nd season track is just fascinating. It really is quite interesting to hear. It's like Hogan's Heroes and Lost in Space's theme songs combined to a spacy and campy feeling. Well anyway, this is a one of a kind soundtrack. You guys at GNP are doing a great job. Keep up the good work.

The first CD had wonderful tracks, but due to GNP's desire to squeeze three episodes on one CD, they left out a lot of score. Also, Reluctant Stowaway was not the version heard on TV, but an "alternate" version recorded at the time by Lionel Newman. Great stuff, but there were disappointing factors. Volume 2 was just plain ..., with some really awful music from really awful episodes (except the the season 3 theme...woth the price of the CD).

Now with volume 3, not only do we get great music, we get all (or nearly all) of the music composed for these episodes. And dare I mention, only TWO shows are represented this time. More time to release the complete scores. Plus, the actually have more TIME taken up. The previous discs were shorter (but not as short as the Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea disc...a complaint for another review).

This CD is perfect. Even the rejected season 2 theme (a laughable cross between My Three Sons and My Favorite Martian) is a hoot. My only regret about the previous volumes: since the first volume was missing stuff, we will probably never hear the scores in full. GNP is not in the habit of rereleasing "Deluxe" editions. More's the pity.

This is a wonderful release and essential for any fan of sci-fi television music, as it shows the talent that went into scores a few decades ago (as opposed to some of the dreck we get on TV these days). The recordings are beautifully preserved, and the choice of scores excellent. While it's always nice to hear early scores by John Williams, the real treasure here is Herman Stein's music from the episode THE DERELICT. While Richard LaSalle and Hans J. Salter also contributed to this score, it's Stein's work that is so powerful. Musically, I have no complaints about this CD all.

My BIG complaint, however, has to do with the liner notes. Unlike the terrific notes that accompanied earlier volumes in the series, and which actually informed you about the music and the composers, these notes are mostly self-congratulatory, telling the reader the wonderful job that GNP Crescendo is doing by releasing these scores. Reading what is essentially a press release is NOT my idea of informative liner notes. And, while it's nice to know what Angela Cartwright and Jonathan Harris think about the music from the series, I don't want to hear their opinions to the exclusion of somebody who KNOWS something about the music, but that's what happened here.

On the unforgivable side, the composers themselves are given very short shrift in the notes, as the producer tells us that the show's famous "family" theme "was NOT written by John Williams," and then he doesn't even tell us who DID write it! It was, in fact, Stein.

Similarly, the CD is indexed so that more than one composer contributes to certain index marks, but there is no timing information to tell us where one composer's music ends and another's begins. This is not very respectful to the composers or to the fans who want to know who exactly wrote this music. I hope that in the future, there's less patting themselves on the back and a little more patting the composers on the back by treating their music with a little more respect.

To sum up: great music; poor presentation for those of us who care about film and TV music.

In some ways, this CD surpasses Volumes 1 and (especially) 2 of the music from Lost In Space. All the memorable pieces of music are here, themes repeated again and again throughout the series. It's wonderful to hear the ideas fleshed out and developed completely. John Williams score for "My Friend, Mr. Nobody" holds up particularly well on it's own. And the score from "The Derelict", while not penned by Williams, contains many signature LIS themes, including the "Family" (which I used to call the "sad" music). Most LIS fans will agree that a good deal of the magic of the show (especially the first season), was derived from the gorgeous orchestral scores. This CD will not disappoint.

The third volume of the series is a dream come true for the Lost in Space music lovers out there. Many familar themes from the Lost in Space TV series on here that will take you back to your favorite episodes. A delightful improvement over the Lost in Space Volume 2 CD in my opinion (which didn't offer much) and makes a perfect companion to the Lost in Space Volume 1 CD. The only thing I can say bad about this CD, which has nothing to do with the music itself, is the glitch 19th track on this CD. After the music finishes from track 18, there is a 19th track with 6:20 of silence (which was also mentioned in another review on here)

The ORIGINAL music is obviously the best, and that's exactly what this is. You can recall Dr. Smith's greed: "... every last Diamond in that hill!" Or Penny's cry: "Mr Nobody?!" So many soundtrack CD's are not up to par; not what we remember. This IS what we remember. Thanks to Kevin Burns for salvaging those master recordings and letting fans share in this important piece of television history.

The music is wonderful; however, I have tried three different copies and all have a bogus 19th track which consists of 6:20 worth of silence. I tested them on two different players. Being "Lost in Space" at the end of a CD is especially annoying if, like me, you have a multi-disc player and expect silence only at the end of all CDs. Hopefully, this is a technical error found only on some copies of this title.

What a treasure this CD holds for the Lost in Space (as well as John Williams) fan! While the other 2 CDs had bits and pieces of various Lost in Space episodes, this has the complete sound track for two episodes. Probably the best Lost in Space episode ever, My Friend Mr. Nobody shows the innocence of a child's life and love in a friend that no adult cast member believes existed. When you add in John William's masterful and heartwarming score to this episode, you can't help yourself from feeling youthful at the beginning while feeling sad and happy at the almost religious ending. What a roller coaster ride of emotions that Mr. Nobody brings! I waited for years for this episode's sound track and I now have it to share it with my own children, who also happens loves this score. I highly recommend it to everyone. You will not be disappointed!