CD: Lost in Space — Volume Three (Salter, Stein, LaSalle, Williams)

Lost in Space

- Original Television Soundtrack -

Volume Three

Music by

Hans J. Salter, Herman Stein, Richard LaSalle, John Williams

GNP/Crescendo Records

2000

***

I'd forgotten I had this CD, probably because I grabbed it when the disc was released in 2000, then filed it away, somehow burying it in the process. Four years earlier, record company GNP/Crescendo released a 6-CD set titled "The Worlds of Irwin Allen", a fine sampling of scores from Allen's 1960s SF-fantasy television programs: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964 - 1968, ABC); Lost in Space (1965 - 1968, CBS); The Time Tunnel (1966 - 1967, ABC); Land of the Giants (1968 - 1970, ABC). In the set were two discs for Space. The featured CD here was a follow-up volume, due, apparently, to the fact that the boxed set sold above expectations.

At any rate, with the exception of some Voyage, the Irwin Allen shows were pretty terrible: fine, even great, when we were children, but at best we look now at them with a mix of nostalgia and "when I was a kid I thought this show was great".

Lost in Space — Volume Three features the work of Hans J. Salter, Herman Stein, and Richard LaSalle, all of whom shared scoring responsibilities on the episode, "The Derelict". The special team wrote music to enhance the episode's strange and eerie alien environment. Special mention must be made of Stein's affecting "Family" theme.

Maestro Williams' score for "My Friend, Mr. Nobody" is a beauty, perfectly complementing the sweet story of Penny Robinson and her special friend.

Postscript: Back in the day, the composer went by the name of "Johnny" Williams, which is how his name appeared in Space's credits. However, for the release of this CD, "John" was it for reasons not lost on the reader.