TV Thriller Themes - Johnny Gregory

 

Perry Mason

TV Thriller Themes

Johnny Gregory and His Orchestra

Philips PHM 200-027

1962

From the back cover: No matter how much criticism and objection may be leveled by various guardians of the public's morals (many of them self-appointed), there is no doubt whoever that thrillers of crime detection are consistently among the most popular programs screened on the nations T.V. channels.

Although we realize subconsciously that the respective heroes and heroines are invisible, immortal and laws triumphant in the end, we still tune in each week at the appointed hour to watch their exploits and hazards, and we still enjoy it just as much, even though the eventual result is a foregone conclusion. And what's so wrong about a few hours of fictions fisticuffs and some imaginary mortalities, providing justice prevails a the final reckoning?

Johnny Gregory and his orchestra present here six of the familiar themes from American series as sell as five of his signature tunes from the British (B.B.C. and I.T.V.) channels' regulars.

Nelson Riddle penned a suitably "mobile" theme for Route 66, which stars Marty Milner and George Maharis as Tod and Bus, two hefty, high-principled wanderers who encounter adventure every week as they travel throughout the States via (what else?).

George Dining provided a Latin mood for "Tightrope," in which Michael Connors as Nick, the undercover police agent, dispenses a smooth line of talk and some hard hitting in his lone battle against the underworld.

The profile Mack David and Jerry Livingston produced an ideal atmospheric number for the '61 series The Roaring Twenties, which starred Dorothy Provine as the dizzy blonde singer Pinky Pinkham and Donald May as the inquisitive, intrepid newspaper columnist Pat Garrison during the turbulent era of Prohibition, bootleg hooch, wild parties and flourishing gangsterism.

Jazzman Count Basie wrote a dramatic them for M Squad, the vehicle for Lee Marvin who, as a tough, shrewd Frank Ballinger, proves weekly that homicide never pays.

Philip Green furnished an appropriately haunting tune for Ghost Squad, the British equivalent of Tightrope in which Sir Donald Wolfit as Sir Andrew Wilson and Michael Quinn as Nick Craig direct and operate the "organization."

It is without doubt that Tarantino Rojas never dreamed when he wrote the lilting baion Sucu-Sucu that one day it would introduce the British Top Secret series starring William Franklyn as suave, debonair Peter Dallas, British agent of law and order in South America.

Fred Steiner composed the theme for Perry Mason, that brilliant attorney, played by Raymon Burr, who solves his cases in courtroom drams more often that not.

Johnny Dankworth applied a touch of cool school modern jazz in his theme for The Avengers, the series starring Ian Hendry as the crime-conscious Doctor Keel and Patrick Macnee as the enigmatic special agent Steed... Laurie Johnson wrote an impressive theme to mark Eric Lander's promotion from Sargent to Inspector Baxter in Britain's Echo Four-Two. David and Livingston obliged once more and contributed to the well-known private-eye occupants of 77 Sunset Strip with a bright, distinctive theme to match their address. Elmer Bernstein, like Johnny Dankworth, called on modern jazz to establish the musical identity of piano-playing Johnny Staccato, alias John Cassavetes, in his club-based campaign against wrongdoers.

All in all, eleven themes are brought together in this album, and are played effectively – as they were intended to be heard.

Route 66

Tightrope

The Roaring Twenties

M Squad

The Avengers

Sucu-Sucu (Theme from Top Secret)

Perry Mason

Echo Four-Two

Ghost Squad

77 Sunset Strip

Johnnyu Staccato