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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DO NOT LISTEN WHILE DRIVING OR WALKING ALONE AT NIGHT!, June 26, 2000
This review is from: The Twilight Zone: 40th Anniversary Collection (Television Series Scores) (Audio CD)
About sixteen years ago I bought the original vinyl releases of this music (on Varese Sarabande) because some friends and I had landed a radio show in that would feature radio dramas and skits written by us that would desperately need scoring. I could never forget the haunting music I'd heard a million times while watching The Twilight Zone on television even through the archaic little 3-1/2 inch speaker on the old black and white Philco. After buying all five volumes auditioned them to mark them for mood, time, cues and such...but I soon realized that I was absoulutely enthralled by the music itself. It was so evocative, so distinct and well done that it inspired me to collect soundtracks in general, for work purposes as well as enjoyment. Imagine my dismay when I found most others could not measure up even with orchestras armed with three or four times the players! Years went by. The radio show continued. The Twilight Zone scores were magical. Nearly anything we tracked them to that matched the particular mood of a cut seemed to work PERFECTLY! Sometimes we'd make it a game, dropping the needle on a cut that fit the mood and damned if it didn't score out correctly, with pauses falling as needed. People called and asked who scored this piece or that one. We'd respond "Oh...Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith and Nathan Van Cleave". We got lucky. Our radio work helped us to get into television as writers. We wondered what it must have been like for these composers when they made that leap decades before. And then...some time later...as is always the case with something you covet...I noticed one of my albums was missing. Traveling around with them finally caught up with me. I'd lost one. Volume five, I believe. Frantic, I checked every store in New York that would have it...new, used, collectors, but no dice. Out of print and out of luck. I turned my attention to the remaining four volumes. They were vinyl. They wouldn't last forever in spite of my babying and maintenance. And then I said, "Wait...perhaps the CD age would bring them all to me again in beautiful digital sound. Why worry?" The wait would be for years. When I thought I would finally have to go on e-bay, pay some ridiculous price for Vol. 5, then get the whole batch together, clean them up and burn them onto CD, the Varese CD came out...BUT IT WAS ONLY A BEST OF! ONE LOUSY CD! A TEASE! I e-mailed them "Are you going to put out the rest?" I heard back "Thank you for contacting us about our products, blah, blah, blah". I stopped looking. Until a friend at work saw the crummy Varese single disc on my desk and asked if I'd gotten the "boxed set". "Boxed set?" After I was revived, I went online and lo and behold, there it was! I listened to a sound sample...my God ! Here it was! Chock full of even more than the vinyls had. I ordered immediately. And in one of the rare occurences in American life, I got more than I bargained for! Stellar mastering and sound! The groupings by composer! Rod's openings! Truly informative liner notes. And of course...Bernard Herrmann and Jerry Goldsmith (Rivaled only in my mind by Ennio Morricone as film and TV composers) in easy to transport digital audio. I listened to them on the way home that night on the LIRR and their power remained. Was the next stop Jamaica station...or "gasp!", Willoughby? The walk home was even better! (or worse if you're a true scaredy-cat) The wind's usual tepid moan and the local mutt's howl merged with this music seemed to signal the coming apocalypse! If you are a fan of great music, and great soundtrack music, this collection is a must. Trust me, you've heard and *enjoyed this music and will enjoy it again. (*Did you know that SCTV used the two-note cue from Goldsmith's "Nervous Man In a $4.00 Room" as John Candy's "Dr. Tongue's" 3-D music cue? If they were hip enough to use Twilight Zone music, you know it's great stuff!)
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic...., March 3, 2003
This review is from: The Twilight Zone: 40th Anniversary Collection (Television Series Scores) (Audio CD)
This is a phenomenal set...a dream come true for any fan of the series...The compositions are fantastic. Other reviewers have done a better job than I can at pointing out the subtleties of this collection...I just had to write this review to rebuke the mistaken reviewer who criticized the sound quality. The quality is more than adequate considering the source material and does not take away from this collection at all. If you are a fan of the series, this is a must have and a bargain to boot!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The cream of the crop straight from The Twilight Zone, February 21, 2000
This review is from: The Twilight Zone: 40th Anniversary Collection (Television Series Scores) (Audio CD)
This fantabulous collection has had me raving ever since I received it for Christmas. In this magnificent compilation, you'll hear Bernard Herrmann create the feeling a mysterious town that is quite normal, except that all of it's residents have mysteriously disappeared. You'll float through space and return again, you'll feel the ominous presence of a tenacious hitch-hiker, you'll be surrounding by miles of bleak, desolate desert on a secluded asteroid, and feel the yurning of a man wanting to return to the parks and merry-go-rounds of his past. And that's only the first disc! The total playing time of this collection is roughly 4 and a half hours, every minute of it being intense, heart-pounding, genuinely exciting scores by the best in the business. The entire second disc is dedicated to the show's contributions of the incomparable Jerry Goldsmith (Academy Award winner with his score for 1976's The Omen) And the second half of the collection is compiled of other great film and television composers. Nathan Van Cleave (One of the very first in his field to work predominantly in electronic music and synthesizers) is displayed beautifully with his deliciously-eerie, scrumptiously-crazy Perchance to Dream, and the happy, light-hearted romp I Sing the Body Electric. Don't just take my word for it! Buy it, it's a must!
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