BUCK ROGERS on CD

A couple years ago, Intrada released two multi-disc CD collections of incidental music from both seasons of Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. The two volumes represent pretty much all of the original musical cues composed by Stu Phillips, Johnny Harris, Les Baxter, Bruce Broughton and several others for the 1979-80 NBC space opera series.

They've gotten a bit hard to find, and are expensive when you do, but they come highly recommended, as they transport you back to Buck's 25th century and provide hours of nostalgic listening.

Today's post, though, is primarily to showcase the gorgeous cover art by Paul Shipper. They're great illustrations.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Soundtrack Ad

Over Christmas with the family, I was surprised to discover that my teenaged niece was a big Star Wars fan. Of course, I was too, when I was her age, but it wasn't quite the same back then. For one thing, there wasn't all the cool collectible stuff back in my teens. Early on, practically all we had were the paperback novelizations, the Marvel comics, some tee-shirts and the soundtrack albums on vinyl LPs.

Today I've got this whimsical newspaper advertisement (from the UK, I believe, though I may be mistaken) for the John Williams Empire Strikes Back soundtrack album. Really needs a comma between Jaws and Dracula, though... unless there was a vampire shark movie I missed?

New BUCK ROGERS (1979) Soundtrack From Intrada

I haven't seen (or heard) this myself, but I understand that Intrada has recently issued a 3-CD Special Edition soundtrack containing the majority of music cues from the first season of Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, composed by Stu Phillips, Johnny Harris, Les Baxter and others. According to the company:

3-CD world premiere release of soundtrack music from Season One of cult sci-fi TV series starring Gil Gerard. Generous set features primary episode composer Johnny Harris, who also arranged & conducted numerous versions of Glen A. Larson theme music, plus episode scores from Les Baxter, Richard LaSalle, Stu Phillips. Styles of music emphasize exciting symphonic splendor and colorful sci-fi atmosphere, but listeners will also find some rollicking outer space pop sensibilitiy to balance. While show was broadcast only in mono, Universal fortunately elected to record in 1/2" three-channel stereo format with vivid, punchy dynamics. Engineers recorded with mono in mind but happily ensured stereo mixes were possible for internal needs. All rolls of tape were vaulted in pristine condition

It retails for a hefty $35 bucks - which is why I don't have it. But I really want it. And I'll want the Season Two set they're promising, too. Sigh...

It doesn't seem to be currently available from Amazon, but it can apparently be ordered directly from the Intrada website (where you can find a complete track listing, as well).

Meco's STAR TREK/THE BLACK HOLE Disco Album Art

Just for fun, here's the striking album art for Meco Monardo's 1980 album, Music From Star Trek/Music From The Black Hole - his attempt to recapture the success that his Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk album had a few years before.

Unfortunately, the Jerry Goldsmith and John Barry scores for these films didn't quite lend themselves to disco-ization quite as easily as John Williams' sweeping Star Wars music - though, to be honest, I do rather enjoy Meco's "Star Trek Medley."

"Stand by for warp drive in ten seconds..."

I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper (1978)

I've often written about how 70s sci-fi and disco music are intertwined in my mind thanks to artists like Meco, Giorgio Moroder and Geoff Love and their dance arrangements of film and TV scores by John Williams, Stu Phillips, Jerry Goldsmith and others. Most successful of these, of course, was Meco's Star Wars & Other Galactic Funk LP which became a huge club and radio hit.

There was more to the sci-fi/disco connection than just re-arranged movie themes, though. In England in 1978, the disco dance troupe Hot Gossip recorded and released their only bona fide hit, I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper, with lead vocals by future West End/Broadway star Sarah Brightman.

An anonymous Star Kid sent me the link to this YouTube video today, and rather than bury it in the comments section of an unrelated post, I thought I'd embed the video here as its own blog entry - mostly because I really like this song and wanted to be able to find it quickly myself. Enjoy!

Disco Space!

Another disco album inspired by John Williams' Star Wars themes and melodies, this one by "Blue Galaxy & his Orchestra." I'm posting this mostly because I like the album art - and the misspelling of "Star Treck" - or is that how it's spelled in France...?

Disco Dance Party Monday

Laziest - and booty shaking-ist - Space: 1970 post ever.

Obit: John Barry, R.I.P.

John Barry, the acclaimed film composer who was probably best known for his scores to Born Free, The Ipcress Files, Body Heat, Midnight Cowboy, and the majority of James Bond films between 1963's From Russia With Love and 1987's The Living Daylights, passed away Sunday at age 77.

Among his many memorable musical scores were the themes to Space: 1970 favorites Starcrash (1978):

And The Black Hole (1979):

Barry was a versatile and influential composer, and will be greatly missed.

Happy Holidays!

Season's Greetings from R2-D2, C-3PO and all of us at Space: 1970. Our post-Apocalyptic holiday posts will resume shortly.

Christmas In The Stars.

Tripping The (Star)Light Fantastic

Let's face it: thanks to Meco Monardo, and his popular dance arrangements of John Williams' epic Star Wars themes, the science fiction of the late Seventies will always go hand-in-hand with disco music.

While that's a bitter pill for a lot of fans to swallow (I know one second-generation Star Wars fan who flat-out refused to acknowledge the existence of the Meco record), the fact is, I don't mind. I like disco, always have. And while I wouldn't want a steady musical diet of its thumping, mechanical bass line, neither do I object to the stuff in small doses. It's cheerful, and fun, and helps me remember my childhood.

I received the original Meco Star Wars And Other Galactic Funk LP as a birthday gift back in the day (still love that cover art!), and also picked up The Empire Strikes Back 45 RPM single a few years later. I vaguely recall having a couple of other disco "sci-fi" compilations on record and cassette over the years, too.

One I didn't own then was Geoff Love's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Other Galactic Disco Themes. However, I recently stumbled upon a download of the album, and I can't seem to stop listening to it.

Aside from the CE3K theme, it also features a very catchy arrangement of the Logan's Run TV show theme, a couple of Star Wars themes, Blake's 7 (I really need to see some of those some day), The Omega Man (!) and couple of originals. Love and his orchestra recorded lots of TV and movie theme compilations, and many of them are quite good, but this one is my current favorite.

If you're interested, you can download it here.

Oh, and yeah - that is a Darth Vader disco ball.

Disclaimer: These links aren't mine, I didn't upload the albums, and take no responsibility for 'em. I'm just posting the links for informational purposes.

Happy Holidays!

Season's Greetings from R2-D2, C-3PO and all of us at Space: 1970. Regular posting will resume shortly.

Christmas In The Stars.