An oddball pairing of two very different scores for two very different TV pilots, by – you guessed it – two very different composers. One of the final titles issued by the much-missed Film Score Monthly label, the obscurity of the scores presented probably kept this release obscure as well, but it’s very much worth a listen.
Still in his “Johnny Williams” days prior to shedding his jazz musician moniker, John Williams turns in a fascinating score to an unsold 1966 series pilot that didn’t get an airing in a TV movie slot until 1968. The main theme from Nightwatch has hallmarks of Williams’ past – there’s a strong rythmic influence from his Lost In Space theme – and his future, namely in an echoing brass motif that would later find use, in a slightly slower form, aboard the Death Star. But put those two elements together and the result is almost, at the risk of committing sacrelige, Goldsmithian. And that’s a description that applies to parts of Williams’ score for the Robert Altman-directed pilot, while just as many parts are unmistakably Williams. It’s a fascinating selection of music from a period when Williams’ playbook wasn’t set firmly in Star Wars/Jaws/Superman/Indiana Jones mode. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of those, but the Nightwatch score is a bit more experimental – and the fact that elements of it show up in his later work speaks to the fact that not only did Williams deem his experiments to be of value, but he also probably never expected this material to resurface again.
Aired in 1972 as another unsold pilot, Killer By Night starred Greg Morris, fresh off of Mission: Impossible, in a gritty crime drama about trying to track down a disease carrier trying to remain at large in a heavily populated area. None other than Quincy Jones scored this project, which, like Nightwatch, vanished into obscurity after its premiere. (I don’t know if it’s amusing or sad that it’s now easier to hear the music from either of these shows than it is to see the shows themselves.) Jones’ score fits somewhat into the expected jazz category for an early ’70s crime noir, but the somewhat scientific element of the storyline gives Jones a good excuse to get spooky with it too, adding some weird synthesizer to the lineup and letting the listener know this isn’t just going to be car chases and gunfire. Some tracks do fit right into the early ’70s TV jazz pigeonhole; the end credit theme gets wonderfully funky, and still other tracks pour on the weird. It’s as different as you can get from Nightwatch, but both are equally welcome.
That either of these scores exist, and can be listened to, at all is a real treat. (The Altman pilot scored by John Williams is so obscure it doesn’t even appear in Altman’s IMDb listing.) There was a time when the boutique soundtrack labels could drop real surprises in our laps like this one and curious soundtrack fans were up for the discovery. These days, out-of-left-field releases like this are more rare – the soundtrack labels have to line up titles that they’re certain will sell, not just titles that will spark mere window-shopping curiosity. That’s a loss for us all. Because this kind of music, dusted off after a long rest in the vault, tended to be the most wonderfully surprising stuff.
Nightwatch – music by Johnny Williams
- Nightwatch Main Title (1:01)
- Bertil’s Bomb (0:49)
- Lund’s Problem (2:14)
- Lund’s Leap (1:59)
- The Cradle Might Rock (0:46)
- Granstrom’s Headache (1:01)
- A Child’s Fear (1:57)
- Kathryn Flees (0:36)
- The Run (0:50)
- By the Fence (1:29)
- Stumbling Around (1:01)
- Entering the Hospital (0:32)
- Inside the Hospital / The Final Dash (3:07)
- The Waiting Room (1:04)
- End Title (1:20)
- Nightwatch End Title (0:51)
- Chicago Group (source) (3:12)
- Bumper #1 / Bumper #2 (0:19)
- Promo (0:40)
Killer By Night – music by Quincy Jones
- Main Title / Opening Hold-Up (4:23)
- Dead Dip Bird (1:44)
- High Rent District (0:51)
- Doctor, Come Home / Girl Died (1:44)
- Point One (0:47)
- Somethin’ Def (0:43)
- Oxygen Tent / 22 Possibles / His Room (1:26)
- Sweaty Meeting (0:36)
- No Title (2:12)
- Doctor, Wife & Supermart (0:49)
- 4th Cut to Hood / Wait (1:06)
- Microscope / Let’s Get Him (3:11)
- Cut To Cops (2:25)
- Police (2:00)
- Door Up the Ladder (2:01)
- End Title (3:32)
- Tracey Source (3:13)
Released by: Film Score Monthly
Release date: November 3, 2011
Total running time: 59:20