If at first you succeed with a good idea, why not continue? That may well have been the premise behind Television's Greatest Hits, Vol. 4-7, four individual compact discs which help chronicle the history of theme music in television shows. Worldly success greeted the first three volumes, which have sold more than one million copies and reached the top 5 in Australia and top 20 in Japan and France.
The four volumes, as a group, aren't for everyone. While they share the common bond of television themes, each volume represents a distinctly different era of the boob tube. As such, listeners may wish to purchase only one or two of the "new" themes, rather than all four, based on age and individual preferences.
The televisions featured on the front of each volume are indicative of their original era - whether the larger boxes of the 50s and 60s, or the remote control of the 1980s. These covers also utilize the "3D" effects (which have also been recently seen on Tool's Aenema) to give a more unique look to each disc.
As always, the liner notes by Tim Brooks (co-author of The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present) help to fill in the gaps in TV history. This is true even for the recent themes; in 10 years from now, "How Do You Talk To An Angel" might still be receiving commercial airplay, but most people won't know anything of the television show from which it came, The Heights.
The 1950's volume (#4, "Black and White Classics") is arguably the weakest compilation of the group. Because the best themes have already been used in Volumes 1-3, this serves mainly as a point for completists who want to have an obscure theme song. While shows such as "Walt Disney's World" and "Candid Camera" are hardly unknown, this volume contains more themes from short-lived shows than any other.
Volume 5 ("In Living Color") chronicles the 1960's and 1970's - and is an ideal addition even for those who weren't around in the tie-dye or leisure suit years. Many of the themes such as "Bionic Woman" are floating around in reruns, and Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual" has been around forever. Alternative music afficionados who purchased Saturday Morning (the album full of cover versions of cartoons) can find out what the "original" versions of songs such as "Gigantor", "Hong Kong Phooey", "H.R. Pufnstuf", "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" and "Banana Splits" sounded like - and why even a band like the Dickies would choose to remake the "Tra La La" song.
Volumes 6 ("Remote Control") takes a look at the late 1970's and early 1980's. Again, as many of these shows make (or have made) the rounds in reruns - see "CHIPS", "Airwolf", "Mork & Mindy" - present familiarity is high on these themes. Fans of the Naked Gun trilogy will recognize the "Police Squad" theme - Leslie Nielsen starred in this short-lived show which helped spawn Frank Drebin's movie career years later. The theme to the cult British comedy, "The Young Ones", is also a pleasant surprise on this volume.
Since the original series of Greatest Hits was released in the late 1980's, a whole generation of shows have lacked their themes on CD. Volume 7 ("Cable Ready") remedies this omission with 65 themes (27 of which are still on the air) running the gamut from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" to "The Simpsons", and including hip writers such as the George Clinton-penned "Tracey Ullman Show", Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh ("Liquid Television"), and Danny Elfman. And even if a Barney song is included here, the rest of the collection makes this a thoroughly enjoyable modern collection of themes.
With four different discs, Television's Greatest Hits Vol. 4-7 will bring back some pleasant memories - and at least one of them will be right for you.
