Intrada Soundtrack Forum

I've babbled numerous times about my extreme fondness for the music for older Universal TV shows. Now I know that Intrada likes to keep their plans secret, but I have a question with regard to the elements situation for some classic Universal shows.

Specifically, is it known that Universal kept and has much of the original tapes for The Six Million Dollar Man, Columbo, Kojak, Kolchak, Night Gallery and Ironside?

Is it safe to assume that most of the wonderful 80s Universal TV music is safe and sound?

This isn't an inquiry as to whether they will be released anytime soon, but rather a question of if they are even reasonably possible. Of course, please don't feel pressured into answering. Thanks in advance either way.

Generally speaking, until we are actually working on a project and dealing with specific rolls of tape in the vaults, we just have no way of knowing what really survives or not. But so far, everything we have chased after has survived more or less intact. So there is always room for optimism.
--Doug

Thanks again for the information; it's great to see that your luck has been nearly perfect with Universal. The fact that the seemingly selective studio has been working with you on a continual basis is further proof of your label doing everything right.

And thanks for releasing so much great television series music in general. I can't get enough of your Amazing Stories and Then Came Bronson releases, and I am getting a lot more enjoyment than I had initially expected from your Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica albums.

My enthusiasm for the series mentioned in the first post mostly centers around the supremely skilled quadfecta of Silver Age television composers: Oliver Nelson, Gil Mellé, Billy Goldenberg and John Cacavas. They are far from popular names among today's collectors, but man did they make lots of excellent and unique music that truly helped define the content they scored.

The Mike Post and Pete Carpenter explosion of the 80s helped pave the way for an abundant source of tuneful and addictive television scores that are every bit as endearing as the shows themselves.