|
|
The Prisoner Music ArchiveSection Four (page two)Discography and information on recordings
|
I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape by The TimesTHE TIMES were originally known as "The Teenage Filmstars" and formed by Eddie Ball with his friend, John East, while still at Art School. They originally recorded "I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape" back in the "Filmstars" days but have re-recorded it several times since.The 7" single and 12" six-track maxi-single illustrated here also included the "Theme From Dangerman" and a track called "The Chimes Of Big Ben", the latter having no obvious Prisoner connections. The cover art on both 7" and 12" releases feature Eddie Ball in Number Six blazer outside No 6's "Village home" at Portmeirion. A promotional film for the single was shot at Portmeirion using members of Six Of One and some unsuspecting tourists. There is also a re-issued LP which features the song. The photographs on the cover are all taken from the promotional film referred to above. A re-vamped version of "I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape" can be found on The Times' 1990 release "Et Dieu Crea La Femme". The CD version ONLY has two extra, unlisted, tracks which include four minutes of the song now featuring sections of The Prisoner Theme, and samples of "I Yi I Yi I Yi" , "Thanks for the trip Dad" , "I will not be pushed ... etc" , and "We want inf ... inf ... information".
|
 
|
Prisoner/Danger Man/Dry Bones CD
This was a CD single, released in 1993 by Bamcaruso Records, from newly restored master tapes. The first track is the 1967 re-recorded special pop-radio single version of "The Prisoner" by Ron Grainer.
Track two is the single (45 RPM) version of the DANGER MAN soundtrack followed by the "Dry Bones" song done by the Four Lads and featured in "Fallout".
Bamcaruso, who were instrumental in getting the very first "Prisoner" soundtrack album made, do not appear to exist anymore and the CD is not listed in current UK catalogues.
TOP OF PAGE
Number Six by TabooTaboo is actually one man - by the name of Keith West - who has been in the music business for over 30 years as a musician, vocalist and producer. He had a hit in the UK in 1967 with a record called "Excerpt From A Teenage Opera", perhaps better known by it's alternative title "Grocer Jack". The record went to Number Two and was in the charts at the same time as "All You Need Is Love".
West is a long-time Prisoner fan and created his "Number Six" record almost
by accident, having been in the studio playing about with "House" and "Acid"
styles and coming up with a bass and drum dance-style backing track to which
he added sampled Prisoner dialogue, snatches of The Prisoner Theme plus an
improvised distorted guitar segment. The cover features a chess-board design with McGoohan in his "Checkmate" costume. The 12" version of the record comes with yellow badge with a "Mr Smiley" face behind bars.The record gained quite a few airplays and settled into the top 30 for a short time before sinking fast. It's not the most successful attempt at a Prisoner dance track and is irritatingly monotonous in parts - repeating the word "Six" twenty or thirty times can get on your nerves after a while.
Fallout by Alternative Radio
Alternative Radio is a four-man band consisting of three brothers,
Rob, Alan and Andy Fennah plus Ian Lewis. They live in Merseyside in the UK
and had been playing live gigs for around ten years at the time of releasing
"Fallout".The main Fallout track (Radio Mix) uses samples taken from The Prisoner soundtrack and the voices of Patrick McGoohan, Leo McKern, Fenella Fielding and Alexis Kanner plus Rover's distinctive roar can be heard. The Club Mix has sparser vocals, mainly by Alexis Kanner while "Super Seven" and is mainly music with just the occasional snippet of the "I know every nut, bolt and cog" dialogue" between Mrs Butterworth (Georgina Cookson) and McGoohan. The 7" version has just the Fallout Radio Mix with an instrumental version on the "B" side. The format of sampled voices laid over a dance track is probably the best of the genre. There is also an unreleased French version of the record which uses the equivalent dialogue taken from the soundtrack of the French version of The Prisoner. 
FALLOUT (Radio Mix)This the best version for just listening to, it's an easily identifiable toe-tapper with the sampled Prisoner dialogue perfectly counterpointing the various twists and turns of the music. FALLOUT (Club Mix) The club mix is, as it's name suggests, the version to play if you want to dance. The heavy dance beat pushes forward almost immediately with some surprising jazz piano sharing centre stage with rather sparser vocals mainly provided by Alexis Kanner. Alternative Radio also recorded a version of "Fallout" which uses the Prisoner opening dialogue from the French-language series. Very film-noir it sounds too - it could almost come from the French new-wave era, maybe a Lemmy Caution film. Unfortunately it was never released and remains an odd-ball collectors item. A sample of this track is included on the JUKEBOX PAGE Can I buy it?Yes, the record is a collectors item but Pulse Records have a limited number of copies available on 12" & 7" vinyl. Visit the PULSE RECORDS WEBSITE to get more information about Alternative Radio and their music. TOP OF PAGE The Prisoner by F.A.B.
This late 1990 release came in several different formats. The 12" (12 FAB 6), cassette (FAB 6) and CD (FAB CD6) all feature three different vocal mixes, the "Confidential Mix", the "Free Man Mix" and the "Solitary Club Mix". The 7" disc includes the "Free Man Mix" on the A-side and an instrumental version - the "Big Ben Mix" on the B-side. The record got into the charts but only as high as Number 56. It was also included on an LP compilation called "Power Themes 90".As with most of the sampled/stuttered prisoner releases, "The Prisoner" by F.A.B. is as unmemorable today as it was then except for one interesting fact. McGoohan claims he nearly had a heart attack when he heard it! When he was in the UK to help launch Caterham Cars' "Prisoner Special" Caterham 7 (ie: their replica Lotus 7) he said that he'd been sent a pre-release copy and was so angry he almost collapsed. There's a totally out-of-place rap section in the middle (presumably by MC No 6) which certainly has me reaching for the bucket. There were a load of promotional copies on the Caterham stand which had to be hidden whenever McGoohan was around. Mr F.A.B. was not a happy man on that day! TOP OF PAGE Neil Norman's "Greatest Science Fiction Hits III"(Comments by Victor Volkman)
I purchased the entire three volume set of "Greatest Science Fiction Hits" by Neil Norman. Neil Norman is apparently an accomplished musician since he plays synthesizer, guitar, theremin, and percussion on the album. The arrangements are musically sound, but just not the same as the original recordings. Norman inserts a continuous gratuitous percussion line that reminds me of "Hooked On Classics". The recordings were made in 1984 by GNP/Crescendo Records (GNPD2163). They were transferred to CD in such a hurry that the liner refers to music on "side one" and "side two". Excuse me but there's only one side on a CD! There is no emblem describing how the disc was made, so I'm assuming its "AAD" (the worst possible). Anyway, Norman does a passable rendition on his 1:05 version of Ron Grainer's classic theme. (see note below - Ed) His guitar and brass (trumpet/trombones/french horns) are right on target, but the monotonous drumbeat gets in the way. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this disc unless there is at least four of the other seventeen tracks that you really want. Total running time for the disc is 39 minutes (the shortest track is 37 seconds) so you may feel cheated out of something. Certainly this three LP volume set would have fit much better on two CDs. * * * Editor's note: This question of track length has plagued me for years. Just for the record, Ron Grainer's manuscript indicates that, for recording purposes, the opening titles theme was timed at 1minute 47 seconds (ending as McGoohan slumps on the bed. The end titles version was timed at 1 minute 6 seconds (actually six and two thirds but who's counting!) Any differences (either on the TV screen or on CD) are due to either deliberate speeding up for dramatic effect or errors creeping in after several-generation copying. There is also some difference between UK and USA episode prints due to TV standard conversions which can contribute timing errors. When you watch an episode, it could have been processed any number of times - from 35mm film to 16mm film to U-matic tape to UK VHS PAL to USA VHS NTSC to French VHS Secam and probably back again! I quite like the Neil Norman version (this is the end titles) and at 1 minute 5 seconds it's quite close. * * * TOP OF PAGEThe Prisoner Theme
Apart from the various incarnations of The Prisoner Soundtrack album, the TV version of the main theme was never released commercially in either single or album form. It would certainly be too short for a single anyway in it's TV form, so Ron Grainer re-wrote and re-recorded an extended orchestral version specifically for comercial release. |
|
TOP OF PAGE |
HOME PAGE |
NEXT PAGE |