Composer Harry Lubin (1906-1977) began his career in radio after first serving as an accompanist to the great Feodor Chaliapin.  Through the 1930s he would work on a number of projects from Broadway to television (beginning with The Loretta Young Show) and film (Caged Fury).  He is perhaps best known for the work he did for the Alcoa Productions of One Step Beyond (1959) and later for The Outer Limits.  Much of this is what is referred to as “stock music”, pieces that were composed for studio libraries to use at random throughout a series.  Much of Lubin’s production music was subsequently left to the UCLA library.  It is not quite clear from the low production value of this release, but some of the present music is intended to provide more examples from the classic Alcoa LP that has popped up from time to time.

Those who recall the music from these series will find that this collection holds some quite evocative music.  The first sixteen tracks present a number of tracks from One Step Beyond.  Often adding a theremin to the mix, though blended well with the orchestra, adds the proper eerie quality, nicely in the first few tracks featuring versions of “Fear” and “Weird”.  One of the better highlights is the extended “Tragic Overture” full of tragically romantic thematic writing and dark orchestral colors including the use of a mournful English Horn.  A sort of throbbing string effect often helps set the stage for the gothic music that follows.  “Pastoral Drama” provides some nice contrast with more impassioned romanticism.

As a “bonus”, there are four selections from the second season of The Outer Limits.  The first of these is a tense selection of moody atmosphere, “Hostile Galaxy”.  The female vocalise/theremin sound created in “Celestial Bodies” and later for “Call of the Sirens” are other excellent examples of Lubin’s beautiful lyric writing all equally mesmerizing.

Essentially the music tends to be a wonderfully tuneful, dark, blend of Herrmann and dramatic Alfred Newman in style.  This is all well-crafted music with often excellent thematic ideas cast in gorgeous orchestral dress.  Interesting melodic assignments help create the proper unsettling moods as needed.

While this is certainly music worth exploring for fans of classic mid-20^th Century television science fiction scoring, the release itself is fairly barebones.  Packaged with a cardboard cover and plastic disc holder, there are very few notes to be had here.  The two “unreleased” tracks, at least from what one can discern from the back cover appear to both be from One Step Beyond (a second version of “Weird” and “The Needy”).  It is also unclear just where one finds this release as it does not come up with the same tracks in what was currently available at Amazon nor does it show up at APMmusic.com one of the producers of the disc.

Operation Change appeared last summer and is a unique documentary that hopes to inspire viewers to change the world.  Bill Austin and his family were part of the backdrop to the series that takes viewers to different parts of the globe where the organization is bringing positive changes to that part of the world.

William Ross, along with Alex Kovacs, are part of the music team responsible for helping provide some additional backdrops to the information that comes across the screen.  The main title from the series has a sort of Lion King-like African feel.  The music captures a sense of hopefulness and the spirit of the endeavor as a whole.  Over eight hours of music was created for the series and some of it will be released across four downloadable volumes.   Having had a chance to hear just over an hour of some of these selections, it is rather easy to encourage listeners to consider checking out the end result.  The score material serves as a wonderful global backdrop for casual listening.  While there may be less specific ethnic music here, Ross and Kovacs provide a flavorful global score filled with just enough variety to depict the various locales.  This tends to mean a bit of drumming for African areas and some unique instrumentation for Southeast Asia.

There may be little in the way of memorable thematic writing, but that does not mean the music is any less engaging.  The overall quality of the music is among the best Hollywood can offer filled with great orchestral writing.  The individual countries (essentially identifying the episodes) are listed for the musical selections often which can also help fans locate a particular musical cue that they enjoyed while experiencing the stories.

For more information about Operation Change, head to their website: www.operationchange,com.