The early Supermarionation shows of Gerry Anderson were mainstays of my childhood. I would regularly watch Stingray, Supercar and Fireball XL5. All were graced with Barry Gray's wonderful music. Later, when Anderson turned his efforts toward live action in things like Doppleganger (which I saw for the first time on network TV sometimes in the arly 70s) UFO and Space:1999, Barry Gray was there. In fact it was with heartbreak that I immediately noticed the absense of Gray's music in the second season of 1999. The fact for me was that Gray's music was an integral component of any Anderson production. Why, my exposure to him was entirely through the Anderson shows.

Barry Gray passed some years ago and I have not encountered another musician who has dupilicated his very unique manner. His music was at once British in tone (I regrettably cannot define what that British sound is... it just had that character to me) with a strangley oriental architecture at times. He was classically trained yet was a pioneer in the use of electronic music and, as would surely please DANIEL2, readily made use of contemporary elements in his compositions.

Barry Gray is rarely mentioned in these circles most likely because few know of his work but also perhaps because of the very British nature of his music. Nevertheless he remains for me an unsung hero of film music. Indeed he was considered a national treasure in his native England during his lifetime.

I encourage all my fellows to seek out his work if given the chance. And for those who have been influenced by the music of Barry Gray please add your thoughts to this thread. Mr. Gray would surely be pleased.

BTW, SPACE: 1999 is coming to DVD on January 30th. You can pre-order the first two sets (packaged in the same manner as the DVD release of THE AVENGERS series - more great music!) from Amazon.com. The THUNDERBIRDS are set to launch on DVD later in 2001....

Yup - I am a Gerry Anderson nut. HAL (and Chris, and anyone else), I have the definitive SPACE: 1999 CD music releases, thanks to a friend I met at the site OnLine Alpha. Both (Year One and Year Two) are two-disc sets with a couple of hours of music on 'em. They were produced and retailed through a UK-based organization called FANDERSON, which supports all of the Gerry Anderson shows. I will only be too happy to make copies for you, if you like, as they are now OOP and quite pricey through eBay. E-mail me & let me know! This is an open offer, and not for money - these things were on my own personal Grail List for a long time, so I'll be happy to share with another True Believer. Shall I go ahead and plan to make you some, Chris?

I am also hunting down some UFO scoring. I'll let you know if I bag anything.

You can download about 14 MP3s of UFO music from: http://ufo.simplenet.com/music/index.html

Other Barry Gray music can be downloaded at: http://ufo.simplenet.com/barry/index.html

Mark H, you may already be aware that the original theme and end titles to UFO is available on an album called This Is...Cult Fiction Royale though strangely it starts with the closing credits and then the theme?!, Also included on this album is originals from Fireball XL5, Stingray and Supercar. The sound quality on some of the sources leaves something to be desired.

That British sound...mmmm?
As defined by the likes of....
Laurie Johnson,Ron Goodwin,Edwin Astley,John Scott,Ron Grainer,John Barry and of coarse Barry Gray

I wish Guy McKone were still here!

As to UFO: for my money, that opening theme was as good as any he did. Very propulsive & funky.

Stephen, is there a THUNDERBIRDS CD available; and if so, is it still in print? I haven't seen one second of the show in about a quarter of a century - but I still recall some terrific music from an episode involving a Concorde-ish jet landing on some little flat-bed cars (!), and some sort of drill-vehicle in a volcano.....

Another CD featuring TB music is "FAB: Music From The TV Shows By Barry Gray" (Silva Screen, FilmCD124). It's not technically a Barry Gray CD - it's a re-recording by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (!) and though in some ways it's better than "TB Are Go" it also has its fair share of frustrating moments (liberties taken with tempos and orchestration) and tends to overdose on the march theme. It does have some action stuff on it, though, and at one point tries out that familiar bongo-driven thing - but dubs the bongos in way too low! Boo!

I'm still holding out hope that Fanderson will overcome whatever obstacles they're facing and give us all what we want - an honest-to-God genuine Thunderbirds CD, maybe even a double CD like their amazing Space:1999 release ... wow, that'd be something. If I hear anything about a TB release from them I'll be sure to post it on this board.

Please let me know what you need in trade, man.

Do any of our British friends have those THUNDERBIRDS DVD's? I saw them at Amazon.uk the other day.....

And I too thought there was a "British sound," although I only know about Gray, Laurie Johnson, and Ron Grainer.

There's one thing I would really, really like: Almost every Year 1 episode of Space 1999 ended with a brief cue that seemed to say "Respect the profound mysteries of the universe," or musical notes to that effect.

Does anyone have an mp3 of that?

I'll follow this with an e-mail.

Thanks

I saw Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (Doppelganger) at the drive-in when I was a kid. I remember the next day as I was raking grass looking up in the sky the and thinking there's another kid out there just like me, also raking grass, only in the opposite direction.

Any chance we'll ever see Gray's great score to Journey?

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Hope this isn't a really obvious question which I'm just missing out, but when I used to watch The Thunderbirds when I was
young, I could never understand what FAB stood for?

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I saw Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (Doppelganger) at the drive-in when I was a kid. I remember the next day as I was raking grass looking up in the sky the and thinking there's another kid out there just like me, also raking grass, only in the opposite direction.

Any chance we'll ever see Gray's great score to Journey?

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Hope this isn't a really obvious question which I'm just missing out, but when I used to watch The Thunderbirds when I was
young, I could never understand what FAB stood for?

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Originally posted by Greg Bryant:
I don't think it's a dumb question. I too would like to know what FAB stood for.

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Check out the Fanderson website at http://www.kikgraphics.demon.co.uk/fanderson.html#Club

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Originally posted by CindyLover1969:
Yesterday in the Cinema Store I saw a 2 CD set of Gerry Anderson's stuff with music from [b]Twizzle all the way up to Space Precinct (cough, spit). If I could be absolutely sure this was a legal set I'd snap it up.[/B]

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Sounds interesting but doesn't sound legit?!

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Originally posted by PeterK:
Good conversation of yore. "Thunderbirds" and "Captain Scarlet" are now out on CD (Silva Screen). News on any more Barry Gray soundtracks? These are pretty cool...

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I believe Silva in cooperation with Fanderson are going to release U.F.O. and Stingray but I wouldn't hold your breath, there was a full year gap between the release of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet!

Gae

]

Don't be a stranger

It's got the opening title narration, both versions of the end titles...y'know the ones, semi vocal and the other one sung by The Spectrum, some alternate stuff...in fact it's got bloody loads of stuff on it.

and DEFINATELY go to here http://www.crc.paragould.ar.us/~adam/fab/c21/bgdatabase which has loads of downloadable sound clips...enjoy

[Message edited by Timmer on 02-23-2004]