Cult Fiction Royale

After talking with friends about TV series of old (we are all in our mid-fifties now), I was searching through various TV themes and came across this double CD that's been in constant rotation in my car for months now.47 tracks, with the *original* music (not remixed or re-imagined) from The Avengers to UFO, TV and film.Also, the current price of this double CD is so low now it's a crime not to buy it.HUGE wave of nostalgia with this CD, I had forgotten about how great some of these are and if you want even more nostalgia, you can also get this on cassette!

I came across this by chance as I was scoping out TV theme cds. I already had one other compilation from the Cult Fiction soundtrack stable, called 'This is the return of Cult Fiction' (Which is one cd, but has some great tunes on it, like 'Get Smart', 'Enter the Dragon', as featured in Japanese TV show Banzai, and the legendary Gallery music from 'Vision On', to name but a few!) but you get a little more pence for your bob, bang for your buck, with this double dunt of retro TV greats. There's one that was featured in a Lucozade advert a long time ago, or some such soft drink, but it was the theme to a TV show I'd never heard of! There's the usual classic standards, like Mission Impossible, and Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlett, Joe 90, and the added bonus of Aqua Maria, the closing titles music to Sting-ray....Stingray! There's the Dempsey and Makepeace theme, (doesn't Michael Brandon aka Dempsey, look like Fox Mulder off The X Files?) Space 1999, and Tales of the Unexpected (written by the same man who gave us the Doctor Who theme!). One of my favourites is the Van Der Valk theme, 'Eye Level', but, having heard other versions of that track, I don't think it's the best version out there, as there are other TV theme cds that do this particular track justice. I was also disappointed that the Thunderbirds theme didn't include the famous countdown.(Five ,four, three, two, one...thunderbirds are go!) The recordings are all original, and generally, it's pretty good! Going even further back, there's the theme to Crown Court, 'Distant Hills' included in this compilation. The Supercar theme made me laugh! It's a slice of the golden age of TV history, before we had too much choice. If TV themes from yesteryear are your thing, then this is definitely for you!

Only 4 stars because they really are original themes and not remastered but still terrific reminders of when a theme instantly brought the genre to life as opposed to some of the instantly forgettable stuff around today. Well worth a listen for anyone who remembers the films and T.V. they headed up.

Very good compilation of TV and Film themes spread over 2 Cd's. However as with most compilation I question the masters these recording came from. You have various quality in sound. I think a few where re recordings and some just taken from DVD soundtracks as the masters where not availble. All good if your on a nostalgia trip, I especially enjoyed Space 1999 and Bullit. However dodgy editing afoot with the likes of Jason King whereby they have got the DVD master and edited the start and end credits together (badly) to make one track. Likewise a rubbish 'remix' of The Professionals that really sticks out like a saw thumb here as all the other tracks at least sound the era, this has overdubbs galore. The original was much better. 3/5

Superb compilation - I had this on cassette tape in the late 90's and finally replaced it with CD. Some great tunes from some very cool, old telly programmes on this collection. Love it!

Teks me back t' time o' decent telly 'n' filems, tha nos!

An absolutely awesome double CD set (deleted) It's out of this world catchiness will remind you instantly of long-forgotten and eagerly awaited adventure themes.Fireball XL-5 is a great example here-even having the turbo-rocket ascending noise as the prologue to the main theme!-very nostalgic early sixties!! Persuaders/Avengers likewise.It's a prized possesion and would never let mine out of my sight!

Fantastic collection of magic memories of some great tv programmes.