"As a regular collector of soundtracks for the last 20 years , I've come across Silva products since 1983 (In fact the A-Team recording dates from that year!). This collection is basically a collection of their back catalogue and a few other licensed tracks. They have nearly all been re-recorded (by budget European orchestras) and are NOT original versions. This is for 2 reasons: a) So that they own the copyright to the recordings (which is vastly cheaper especially when you churn the same ones out so often) and b) Because most TV / Record companies can't be bothered to find original recordings unless they've already been licensed.If you're expecting to find a lexicon of original TV themes as you heard them on Tv, forget this product and most other Silva screen releases. The collector's market has matured since these guys started and most collectors won't accept cheap alternatives. They now want the real thing, which is why the Television's Greatest Hits were successful and the TV Toons compilations where they bothered to track down original recordings even the TV masters in most cases."
Quantity Over Quality
usgoldsilver | San Francisco, CA United States | 01/14/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"As a musician myself, I know too well that one of the most important ingredients in ANY performance (live or recorded) is passion. The recordings here generally lack the same passion and sheer drama of the originals. Much of the instrumentation has been reduced to a cheezy, thin, plastic synthesized replica. The performances are simply a watered-down lackluster version of the classic originals. If it were not for the sheer volume of tracks compiled here, I would have rated the comp only "one star"."
Midi and no words
Jeffry Engert | Chicago, IL USA | 06/02/2004
(2 out of 5 stars)
"while some of the tracks that should have words do, others don't. The outer limits doesn't have "we control the horizontal.." and the A-team doesn't have the proper intro. Monty Python is also a midi remake of the orginal that doesn't have the cheep tinny sound that it should."
Feh.
Kimba W. Lion | the East Coast | 11/25/2007
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Face it, the appeal of TV theme songs is their familiarity. You know every sound in your favorites. You won't find any of that here. Some of these aren't even close to the originals. A lot are performed on cheap, lifeless digital synths. All of them sound like tired run-throughs of the music. There is no apparent interest on the part of the performers, so why should any listener be interested?"
Pretty close to original recordings
DSM | 07/24/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Definitely not as good as the originals. You'll probably notice the slight differences since it's stuff you saw and listened to every week or everyday in reruns growing up, but it's still an amazing collection."