CD REVIEW - STAND BY FOR ACTION! THE MUSIC OF BARRY GRAY


Stand By For Action! The Music of Barry Gray
Silva Screen Records SILCD1279 (UK)
40 Tracks 79:04 mins

Due for release on 4th May is a splendid compilation of music by Barry Gray for all the wonderful Gerry Anderson puppet and live action shows produced during the 1960s and early 1970s. Although splendid though it may be, I do have my reservations about it in that it's been a while since the label released full albums of music from Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 and I was rather hoping they would go on to similarly release the music for other shows, particularly my favourite, Stingray. I just hope that this release does not mark an end to these wonderful Barry Gray albums.
But to the album at hand, which features themes and suites from 10 of the Anderson/Gray collaborations, some of which has been previously released on the aforementioned discs, but there's plenty of unreleased material as well. There are a couple of tracks from their very first collaboration on Four Feather Falls; three tracks from Supercar; four from Fireball XL5, including the memorable "I Wish I Was a Spaceman; five from Stingray, including "Aqua Marina;" four from Thunderbirds; six from Captain Scarlet; five from Joe 90; two from The Secret Service; five from UFO; and four from Year 1 of Space: 1999. All the principal themes are here and it all makes for the perfect nostalgia trip for those of us who grew up with these shows.
The album is accompanied by a memorabilia-filled booklet, which also has a track-by-track guide to the music by Barry Gray archivist Ralph Titterton.
Head on over to www.silvascreenmusic.com where you can find more info, preview tracks and pre-order your copy, or you can download individual tracks if you prefer.