By Barry Gray, and various composers

Silva Screen Records.

Following their recent The Secret Service release, Silva Screen go full Century 21 with this compilation of Gerry Anderson TV theme tunes, accompanied by usually one, but occasionally none or two, incidental cues, arranged chronologically at the Stand By For Action concert in Birmingham’s Symphonia Hall in April – recorded in Superharmonisation!

Though mostly chronological, the album opens first with the Thunderbirds opening titles with sound effects from an episode teaser projected in HD on screens in the concert. This is probably the first show most people think of or hear in their heads when Gerry Anderson is mentioned; it’s kind of the calling card of the Anderson-verse, so that makes sense as an intro to the album.

That’s followed by the shows in pretty much chronological order, with the rather quirky and very much children-oriented earliest black and white TV Anderson shows, The Adventures Of Twizzle, Torchy The Battery Boy – which is a really strange lilting song quite unlike the thrilling sound we expect of the brand – and Four Feather Falls, the latter of which is the first show on the album to be a little suite or medley rather than just a theme tune, and also the first to be followed by a couple of other cues from it, in the form of the theme song, and “Two Gun Tex Of Texas.”

In fact there are a surprising number of songs on the album, with Supercar’s theme, “I Wish I Was A Spaceman” from Fireball XL5, and others. In general, they tend to be rather bland 60s pop in style, and probably were just as bland in the 1960s. More interesting quirky tracks are the likes of “King Kool” from Supercar, a very sax-heavy jazz version of the theme.

Stingray gives us the pulse-pounding action classic theme – and the title of the album – as well as a waily “Aquamarina” with a slight hint of the female acapella warble from the Star Trek theme at the beginning. It’s also represented by “March of The Oysters,” a surprisingly fun track that sounds pure Barry Gray and Malcolm Lockyer, and which would have fit right into one of the Amicus Dalek movies. Speaking of movies, the bombastic and trying-to-be-epic theme from Doppelganger aka Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun appears a little later too.

After a quick break for another Thunderbirds track – the very mid-60s glamour-waltz of “That Dangerous Game” – we get a run of three Captain Scarlet tracks – the opening narration by MC Jon Culshaw as Ed Bishop, the jazzy mystery of “The Mysterons” and as slightly painful rendition of the closing credits theme song – and four from Joe 90, comprising the theme (complete with Dr Who And The Daleks sound effects), the more intimate “International Concerto”, the action-oriented “Hijacked”, and the more relaxed closing credits music.

After that comes a run of themes only, from The Secret Service, UFO, and both seasons of Space 1999 (sans drum intro), before Terrahawks gets represented by a suite. Another suite combines the themes and a couple of other cues from Space Precinct, the largely forgotten Lavender Castle, and New Captain Scarlet – which deserves a suite of its own – before the album closes with a thrilling cue from the Thunderbirds episode “Trapped In The Sky” and the Thunderbirds closing theme.

For the most part it’s a good stretch of nostalgic listening thrills, especially after the first third or so, though your taste in music might vary enough to lead you to prefer the lighter or 1960s bland TV jazz tracks of the first half. Pretty much all the recognisable favourites are there, along with “Legacy”, an unused piece of Gray’s music which Ralph Titterton, the late keeper of the composer’s legacy, was keen should be included*. There is the occasional odd omission too, with The Protectors in particular being notably absent.

 

Apart from the absence of The Protectors, the main downsides of the album are that the audience applause is sometimes intrusive, and there isn’t any other audience interaction, so it’s difficult to see the appeal of it in the context of why people usually would buy a live album, and also that it’s hard to tell who it’s aimed at: Gerry Anderson fans will surely have all of these already.

There’s also a nice booklet with background to the concert, an intro from Jamie Anderson, biographies of the various composers and conductors, a quick summary of the history of Gerry Anderson shows, and plenty of great colour pictures both behind the scenes of the shows, and of the concert. That said, it’d be even better to have a Blu-ray of the concert, for the clips, and the cosplayers, and the orchestra all being in costume… But photos in the sleeve booklet are probably the best we can hope for here.

Verdict: Those are minor contextual quibbles though, and as both a tribute and summary to the Century 21 output it is a treat to listen to, with most of the modern performances at the concert being as good as the originals – and the occasional clip of an original voice or sound effect played at the show is a lovely little bonus when they appear. 9/10

David A McIntee

Click here to order from Amazon.co.uk

 

*Thanks to Jamie Anderson for the explanation!