Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Runaway Train(Trevor Jones, 1985)
Awesome movie with a pretty cool electronic/orchestral score by Trevor Jones.






Gothic (Thomas Dolby, 1987):

This score was performed mostly on a Fairlight CMI III synthesizer, with some of the tracks scored for orchestra.

Red Heat (James Horner 1988), Tracks 2,4,6,7,8 have some massive synth sounds. Don´t know what synths he used: http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=1911


The Beast of War (Mark Isham1988):

I don't know what synths Jamer Horner used on that score either (nor on any of his other scores for that matter).
I'm not that familiar with his film scores. Anyway, according to Forrest's A-Z of analog synthesizers he used a Jupiter-8, OB-8, Matrix-12 and MKS-70 at some point in his career.

On a side note, I just bought Trevor Jones' complete Runaway Train OST and it's spinning in my CD-player as I type this.
If you're into electronic/orchestral action scores I highly recommend this one. Lots of cool analog and digital
synth work to be heard on there.
Dave Lawson (ex Greenslade) was the main synthesist/ketboardist on many scores by Trevor Jones, incl. Runaway Train.
He also played the keys on Derek's Wadsworth's sci-score to the 2nd season of Space: 1999 (aka Moonbase Alpha)
back in 1976.

Here's a short clip from the intro to the 2nd season:

Derek Wadsworth died last December unfortunately. According to an interview he did years back the synths on the Year 2 soundtrack were a Micromoog through a Roland Space Echo and some string machine he thought might have been a Polymoog, although given when the soundtrack was recorded I'm guessing it was more likely a straight up stringer like a Solina.

Strangely the German version of the series, Mondbasis Alpha 1, used Jean Michel Jarre's "Oxygene 2" as its theme. And the great Ennio Morricone wrote music for a film compiled out of three episodes that was shown in theatres in Italy, although the series retained the bulk of its original music when shown on Italian TV.(The Italian network RAI was one of the financial backers for the first seaon of episodes.)

Derek (R.I.P.)was right about the Micromoog, but the stringer was indeed a Solina. Dave Lawson confirmed it to me recently. He also told me he used an ARP 2600 during those sessions (he found a diary from July 2nd, 1976
which states CTS Studios 2-6pm Arp 2600, Arp String Ensemble and Micro Moog £72:00).

Dave eventually acquired a Polymoog, along with an Oberheim 2-voice, when he was in the States in January 1978 (prior to that he had an early PM from Norlin UK as a loan/demo). Somewhat later he had an Oberheim 4 voice and a modular 8 voice with programmer (which he used on a BBC TV series called "Horizon"), and after that both an OB-X and Prophet 5 rev 2 plus an OB-1. Dave Simmonds did a mod on his P5 by replacing the modulation wheels with an Oberheim OB1 pitch bend lever.
The modified P5 saw lots of use on Trevor Jones' scores to Dark Crystal and Runaway train. Listen to those deep ominous drones heard throughout RT, that's the P5 layered with Synclavier II.

As much as I love Morricone I don't like his version, too much avant garde for my taste.

there's also a tv commercial for the "concord" from 1970's that feature beautifull analog synth chords and melodies ......

tim gueguen wrote:

tim gueguen wrote:I should have done this before, but here's the opening to Invasion UFO. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz8CqrYwGOo Anyone have a clue who the music is by? Its definitely not Barry Gray!

I eventually found out the answer to this one. It's a piece by Francis Monkman of Curved Air and Sky fame called "The Dawn of an Era." You can hear it and other music from Gerry Anderson's UFO here:
http://ufoseries.com/music/index.html

FYI: The track in question was recorded way back in late '77/early '78 for the library album "Energism". The album was
originally released in 1978 on the Bruton library label (UK) and then re-released commercially by Klaus Schulze's own label in 1980.

stephen wrote:Not really a movie, but in the early 80s there was a kids TV programme in the UK called Think Again... Here's some more Mr Monkman with the closing theme to the show... (Ascent of Man begins at 1:43 the clip)

This track is also taken from Francis Monkman's library album "Energism" (1978)

Actually, the BBC 1 clip posted by 'stephen' above contains an excerpt from the track "The Achievements Of Man", not
"Ascent Of Man" (which is a different track on the same library record).

Btw, I just came across a copy of this very rare library album ("Energism") by Francis Monkman and I think it's very good.

I was just reading thru a few of these posts and saw that the credit for the opening score for the TV SERIES edition of Tales From The Darkside was wrong, I believe at least. I think you guys were intially listing the composer for the Tales from the Darkside Film, not the series.

I was actually watching a few episodes today that I have DVR'd and hit pause at the end where it lists credits for music. The original TV series theme was written/performed by Donald Rubinstein & Erica Lindsay, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_darkside. The voice over was by Paul Sparer.

All music within the programs was borrowed from library releases for awhile, then i think they brought in a composer but i cannot remember the name of the guy...i believe his last name is Stein though.

Dreamscape (1984) - Maurice Jarre:



Synthesizer programming by Craig Huxley

Gear used included Roland Jupiter-8, Serge modular synthesizer, Yamaha GS-1, Synclavier II
and Linndrum.

Micke wrote:Enjoy

The video clips are listed in chronological order:



Doctor Who - Meglos soundtrack (Peter Howell & Paddy Kingsland, 1980)

WOW I cant believe I missed this in your your first post the meglos soundtrack! Awsome micke I always liked this one with crazy catcus clones. cronic hystriss loops and last zolpha-thuran synth sounds.! Props micke!

Yeah I agree with you, the synth scores to MEGLOS and FULL CIRCLE are pretty cool indeed. If you
haven't done so yet, I'd recommend you to check out Paddy Kingsland's and Peter Howell's
other Dr. Who scores from the early eigties. Kingsland's music for "Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy"
is pretty good as well.


Here's some new video clips I found from the ultra cheesy sci-flick LASERBLAST

Laserblast (1978) - Richard Band & Joel Goldsmith:



The CS-80 and CS-60 are all over this soundtrack. Seeing that the music was recorded at the end of '77
this has got to be one of the very first movies/scores to feature the CS-80.

Micke wrote:Yeah I agree with you, the synth scores to MEGLOS and FULL CIRCLE are pretty cool indeed. If you
haven't done so yet, I'd recommend you to check out Paddy Kingsland's and Peter Howell's
other Dr. Who scores from the early eigties. Kingsland's music for "Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy"
is pretty good as well..

I liked that lazerblast sound.Lessiure hive ,Meglos Full Circle,State of decay and Warriors gate all have that nice polished 80's dr who synth sound.Warriors gate and meglos stand out.My all time favorite pre-80's dr.who synth sounds where the Krotons, Mind Robber, and the Sea Devils.Many old ones had great synth effects that could be creepy or manic.Love it and the sounds influenced my mind for a lifetime .

A good while back on this thread I mentioned that Parks Canada ads in the early '80s used an eerie piece of electronic music. Here it is:



Sounds like a Minimoog does the lead. Anyone know this piece of music?