Editorial Reviews

As the title suggests, Silva's One Hundred Greatest TV Themes collects over four decades' worth of memorable theme songs, from The A-Team to The X Files. Unfortunately, the set doesn't include any original versions of themes. Instead, ensembles such as the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Daniel Caine Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Orchestra do their best to recreate the sound of the originals, but the results are mixed. Predictably, the songs that were more orchestrally-based to begin with, such as the sweeping, string-driven themes to Dynasty and Dallas sound great, while some of the more rock or electronic-based pieces like the themes to Batman, M*A*S*H, Knight Rider, and The X-Files are clearly inferior to the versions that open each of these shows. However, most of the themes work pretty well; highlights include the themes from The A-Team, Perry Mason, Peter Gunn, Hawaii 5-0, Taxi, Twin Peaks, and Magnum, P.I.. The collection also features lots of great themes from British shows such as Thunderbirds, The Avengers, The Prisoner, and Red Dwarf. It also pays extra attention to the music of science fiction series over the years, collecting the themes to the first Star Trek series, as well as Deep Space Nine and Voyager, not to mention the themes to Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, and The Outer Limits. While its emphasis is definitely on quality rather than quantity, One Hundred Greatest TV Themes still has enough worthwhile moments that diehard TV geeks might appreciate it. Heather Phares, All Music Guide

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