If you watched network television in the 1970s, or have since come to explore cop and detective series of the period, you will have come across Quinn Martin Productions.  QM was basically the go-to company for action-adventure television and essentially dominated network television throughout the 1970s.  Perhaps its most memorable series were The FBI (1965-1974), Cannon (1971-1976), The Streets of San Francisco (1972-1977), and Barnaby Jones (1973-1978).  Producer Martin also hired some of the finest names in the business to provide music for these programs often taking a personal interest in the end results.  He kept a massive collection of the series music which has now been archived with the Film Music Society.  This is the source material for La-La Land’s latest release featuring an interesting collection of music from across eight different series.

Disc One has plenty of things to recommend the set on its own.  The first is the pilot episode for Barnaby Jones, “Requiem for a Son” which features one of Jerry Goldsmith’s finest television themes and his score for the pilot episode.  The music certainly helps cement the thematic thread across these tracks which include a bumper, three main title versions, end credits, and a few experiments of ideas for “Barnaby”.  A second episode, score by Bruce Broughton, is also a nice addition.  The first disc is filled out with music for the short-lived Dan August (1970-71) which finds Dave Grusin fully utilizing his jazzier side.

Music from Cannon is perhaps the greatest highlight from disc two.  John Parker’s memorable theme anchors the pilot movie and an episode from season one, “The Salinas Jackpot”.  The disc opens though with music from another short-lived series, Most Wanted (1976-77).  Lalo Shifrin’s main title for the series is unique in its use of synthesizer and the rhythmic pulses here will also date the music a bit.  The score explores some of the classic 1970s cop music styles of his more familiar film work.  Filling out the disc are some themes for shows that never really connected with audiences.  It is a rare chance to hear music by jazz arranger Duane Tatro (The Manhunter), a Nelson Riddle theme for Caribe, as well as an early Patrick Williams theme for Bert D’angelo/Superstar.  David Shire’s main title and end credits for Tales of the Unexpected bring things to a close.

What really stands out across the two discs are the ways these different composers bring their own style and create a unique soundscape for a host of genre scores.  That the music is actually further engaging even if most sequences tend to be brief is actually even more reason to consider making this trip down memory lane.  The sound is excellent and the booklet does a good job of summarizing the overall programs and some of the music here without the track-by-track analysis which is unnecessary here.  It is worth noting that the second volume of music from Quinn Martin series is now also available from La-La Land.

Perhaps no president will be faced with the sort of action hero needs of Harrison Ford’s in Air Force One (1997).  Wolfgang Petersen’s (Das Boot, The Perfect Storm) was intended to cap the summer blockbuster season with its tale of Communists overtaking and hijacking the President’s plane with Glenn Close playing a Vice President tasked with determining whether or not to negotiate to save the important hostages.  Originally, the film had Randy Newman (!) set to provide a score for the film, but he was the first to get off the plane when his music was rejected.  And in classic Hollywood fashion, with 12 days at his disposal, Jerry Goldsmith was brought in to provide a new score.  The tight schedule meant that even the master had need of an additional composer for help and he asked Joel McNeely to write music for several sequences using themes Goldsmith had prepared for the film.  The resulting score was recorded over three weeks with both composers often working nights to add additional music or changes to existing cues.  When Varese released music from the film, they were in the midst of addressing growing frustration with their playing time for CDS, most barely hitting the 30-minute mark.  With a new Goldsmith score, this often made fans apoplectic with frustration and even doubly so under the circumstances of this particular project.  So, it is with some fanfare that Varese now corrects this with a more complete edition of the score with its broad, engaging theme and high-octane action music.

The score is spread across two discs and items are clearly marked to delineate the music that was on the original soundtrack release (though in some cases, these 8 tracks are now not edited together and receive new titles).  Goldsmith’s primary action cue kicks things off right from the start in “The Parachutes” with its blend of his finest martial and patriotic styles.  The counter to this is the Russian music that appears in the following “Parachute Attack”.  From here we are on our way through a host of thematic variants that require a constant build of tension in the enclosed space of an airplane.  Of course, this builds very early on in the superb action cue, “The Hijacking, Part One & Two”.  (It is worth noting that there are two versions of this sequence.  The initial one on disc one is the one heard on the OST.  The other on disc two is the film version which incorporates some of McNeely’s work as well.)  This moment is certainly one of the highlights of the score and a mark how Goldsmith works to build tension by shifting orchestral colors, adding different ostinatos, and moving things constantly forward.  That this happens early in the film is what will make the rest of this score an even more fascinating listen as Goldsmith then must regroup and begin the larger arch of building up the sequences that move us to the even bigger denouement of the film.  Along the way, there are moments of relaxation but the slightest hint of either the President’s or the Russian music makes the journey all the more interesting.

About 20 minutes or so of “extras” pad out disc two.  The general score presentation focuses on presenting mostly Goldsmith’s music with the cues McNeely contributed clearly marked.  The extras are film and alternate takes that allow some comparison to how some cues changed.  The notes for the album mostly review the different tracks and the score and a plot overview of the film.  Fans of Goldsmith will certainly hear many familiar tropes here from so many of the master’s earlier work brought in to help bolster an engaging theme that still makes one want to stand a salute.  The two-disc release is available with a 4000 copy run.