The Ojuka Situation (Sections A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I)
Need To Know (Sections A, B, C, D, E)
The Gun (Section A)
The Gun (Sections A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I)
The Professionals Theme
Jason King
Top Secret
Echo Four Two
Happy Go Lively [Ren & Stimpy]
Drum Crazy
Jamboree
Lullaby Of The Leaves
Winter Wonderland
The First Men In The Moon Suite: Main Titles
Moonscape And Descent Into The Moon
Encounter With The Selenites
Trek To The Giant Doors
The Monster Caterpillar
The Eclipse And Ascent Of The Great Staircase
Selenite
Pursuit And Sphere Returns To Earth
End Titles
Ibsens Hedda Suite: Main Titles
Hedda And Thea
Judge Brack
Hedda And Lovborg
The Manuscript
Death And End Titles
Prelude
Adagio
Allegro
3 Paintings By Lautrec Suite: At The Circus / Girl With Red Hair / Chocolat Dancing
Colours For Concert Band Suite: Red Heat / Blue Mist / Green Haze / Yellow Mirage
2008 three CD set. Composer Laurie Johnson is responsible for some of the best-loved TV themes ever: The Professionals, The Avengers, Top Secret, Echo Four Two, Animal Magic and This Is Your Life, to name a few. But in his... more » long career he has also written many film scores, classical works and suites for military bands. Following on from the great success of The Avengers triple CD set, this is the second volume in a series collecting together Laurie s extraordinarily varied output. As with Volume One, this set is compiled, fully annotated and mastered from the original mastertapes by Laurie Johnson himself, and packaged with photos from his own collection. Disc One contains seventy-eight minutes of music from the TV series The Professionals. Disc Two features Laurie s fabulous themes for TV shows and his film scores, along with some early singles and his orchestral concert hall work. Disc Three collects some more of his adventurous works for military bands, including 'The Battle Of Waterloo', with narration by Lord Bernard Miles. Edsel.« less
2008 three CD set. Composer Laurie Johnson is responsible for some of the best-loved TV themes ever: The Professionals, The Avengers, Top Secret, Echo Four Two, Animal Magic and This Is Your Life, to name a few. But in his long career he has also written many film scores, classical works and suites for military bands. Following on from the great success of The Avengers triple CD set, this is the second volume in a series collecting together Laurie s extraordinarily varied output. As with Volume One, this set is compiled, fully annotated and mastered from the original mastertapes by Laurie Johnson himself, and packaged with photos from his own collection. Disc One contains seventy-eight minutes of music from the TV series The Professionals. Disc Two features Laurie s fabulous themes for TV shows and his film scores, along with some early singles and his orchestral concert hall work. Disc Three collects some more of his adventurous works for military bands, including 'The Battle Of Waterloo', with narration by Lord Bernard Miles. Edsel.
CD Reviews
A Laurie Johnson Primer, Part II
johcafra | New Jersey, USA | 10/07/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I direct the reader to my review of Volume 1, though I will also here emphasize that before my purchase I had heard very little of the contents of Volume 2. On balance the latter is the more satisfying collection.
The Discs 1 and 2 television show themes and background music are for those who know the shows (which I don't). Funky, in a word. The Disc 2 Early Singles are listenable.
The revelations begin with the Disc 2 Film Scores. The suite derived from Nathan Juran's First Men In The Moon instantly invoke pictorial memories of that film, with the peerless Lionel Jeffries and Ray Harryhausen's craftsmanship. That suite and the next, for Trevor Nunn's Hedda (which I've yet to view), reflect and underscore the composer's friendship with Bernard Herrmann.
Of the Concert Hall Works on Discs 2 and 3, the Concerto is a pleasurable surprise and complements Volume 1's "Synthesis" symphony. For the Royal Military Spectacular the Disc 3 Lautrec Suite is infectious, and Colours invites at least a repeat listen.
The genuine treat lies at the end of Disc 3. It might be better to categorize the nearly 25 minutes of The Battle of Waterloo (a "musical diorama") among the Royal Military Spectacular, but its pairing with The Wind In The Willows (Tone Poem) is brilliant counterpoint. Stateside listeners may recognize the voice of Waterloo's narrator from Alfred Hitchcock's remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. Willows is a remarkable work that I listen to again and again...
This joins Volume 1 as the most surprising introduction I've had to a composer in a good long while, and very much worth the combined purchase.
Track Listings (45) - Disc #1