Preview: Thunderbirds
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SKU: A0.872279
Composed by Barry Gray. Arranged by Kevin Riley. 20th Century,Film/TV. 61 pages. Kevin Riley #478724. Published by Kevin Riley (A0.872279).The score was composed by Gray, who served as musical director for all of the Anderson productions up to the first series of Space: 1999. In response to Gerry Anderson's request that the main theme have a "military feel", Gray produced a brass-dominated piece titled "The Thunderbirds March", which was recorded in December 1964 at Olympic Studios in London. The end titles were originally to have been accompanied by "Flying High", a lyrical track sung by Gary Miller with backing by Ken Barrie. Ultimately, a variation of the march was used instead. Incidental music was recorded over nine months between March and December 1965. As most of the music budget was spent on the series' earlier episodes, later instalments drew heavily on APF's ever-expanding music library. Peel considers "The Thunderbirds March" to be "one of the best TV themes ever written—perfect for the show and catchy when heard alone".Morag Reavley of BBC Online argues that the piece is "up there ... in the quintessential soundtrack of the Sixties" with the James Bond films and the songs of Frank Sinatra, Elvis and The Beatles. More generally, he praises the series' "catchy, pulse-quickening tunes", as well as Gray's aptitude for "musical nuance" and the mixing of genres.Heather Phares of Allmusic considers "Thunderbirds Are Go!"—the track accompanying the launch sequences of Thunderbirds 1, 2 and 3—to be a reflection of the mod aspect of 1960s British spy fiction. She also highlights Gray's homage to—and divergence from—musical norms, commenting that his score "sends up the spy and action/adventure conventions of the '60s very stylishly and subtly". David Huckvale identifies Wagnerian homage in both the theme music and the series' premise. Noting that the theme's opening string ostinato is similar in effect to a recurring motif in Ride of the Valkyries, he also likens the Thunderbird machines to Valkyries themselves: "Their function is more benevolent than those warrior maidens, but they do hover over danger, death and destruction."Kevin J. Donnelly of the University of Southampton acknowledges the series' "big-sounding orchestral score", which he compares to that of a live-action film.He also suggests that the music serves partly to draw attention away from the physical imperfections of the puppets.
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