Knight Rider: Best of Don Peake - Volume 2
Don Peake
" Peake could have easily gotten films Dave Grusin or Lalo Schifrin got and did the funk with "Written by Justin Boggan - Review of the regular release
First off, I got to comment on the mastering: the mastering on this CD is superior to Volume 1, no question. In fact, it's almost completely on par with FilmScoreMonthly.com's mastering Stu Phillips's music for their (sold out) Knight Rider score CD. I wish V1 had sounded this good. The crystal clarity, the dynamics, the fullness of it, and so far not too much reverb as V1 occasionally suffered from.
There is one slightly annoying thing: when a score is recorded, before each take the man in the mixing booth calls out which cue it is ("Cue 2M3, take three") and on the CD those call outs are left in and not edited out.
The CD starts off with a long remix of the main title music; it's basically the same, with an extra backbeat added, then some samples of K.I.T.T. talking. It's a little annoying, like the long remix of the "Futurama" theme from the agency promotional score CD (Christopher Tyng).
"Topaz Connection": what a great "Knight Rider" '80's score! At times it's almost theatrical in its sound - Peake could have easily gotten films Dave Grusin or Lalo Schifrin got and did the funk with, but why he didn't, I don't know. This score also features an instrument not on any of the other CDs: a saxophone
"Hearts of Stone": not quite what the first episode score was, but still lots of fun.
The bonus tracks:
- Politics of Dance:
this is a sound, with I think Hasselhoff singing
- Remember the Knights of Love:
another song.
- White Bird
The song I think all KR fans love. I was actually going to ask Hitchcock Media if it's possible to include that on a future CD. I'm a score lover and 99.9% of the time I am AGAINST songs being on a score CD, but this is a rare exception because the song is beautiful and has a wonderful instrumental melody underneath it. Speaking of instrumental...
- White Bird (instrumental)
Ha! Just the music, no singing. Cool as hell. I loved loved loved Peake's two brief arrangements of the song in V1, (though they just may be edits). The important thing left out of the booklet is who composed this orchestra backing. I want to know. This is not a special arrangement for an instrumental version. The best I can tell that it's the exact same version playing under the above track.
That concludes the CD. My only complaint is there are only two episode scores on the CD – they could have easily dumped "Politics of Love" and "Remember the Knights of Love" and fit another episode score on the CD. There are also no track names for the score cues.
On a ten-star rating system of overall CD quality, I would have to give it 8 stars -- that many because of the two useless songs, only two episode scores, and the take calls.
I say bring on Volume 4!
Tracklisting
1. Knight Rider Theme (Rockin' new treatment) * (06.11)
Tracks 2-13 from Episode "Topaz Connection"
2. M-102 (1.23)
3. M-201 (2.09)
4. M-405 (0.30)
5. M-501 (0.25)
6. M-601 (2.55)
7. M-601A (1.09)
8. M-602 (0.46)
9. M-202 (0.31)
10. M-301 (0.37)
11. M-103 (1.29)
12. M-503 (0.53)
13. M-304 (0.52)
Tracks 14-27 from Episode "Hearts of Stone"
14. M-104 (1.11)
15. M-302 (0.26)
16. M-303 (1.40)
17. M-502 (1.53)
18. M-504 (0.31)
19. M-101 (0.25)
20. M-206 (0.32)
21. M-501 (1.02)
22. M-401 (1.02)
23. M-503 (0.30)
24. M-402 (0.18)
25. M-304 (1.29)
26. M-103 (2.06)
27. M-205 (2.21)
Bonus Tracks
28. Politics of Dance (3.16)
29. Remember the Knights of Love (3.07)
30. White Bird (2.40)
31. White Bird (Instrumental Version) (2.43)
* Main Title written by Stu Phillips and Glen Larson
Total Length: 47.02
There is one slightly annoying thing: when a score is recorded, before each take the man in the mixing booth calls out which cue it is ("Cue 2M3, take three") and on the CD those call outs are left in and not edited out.
The CD starts off with a long remix of the main title music; it's basically the same, with an extra backbeat added, then some samples of K.I.T.T. talking. It's a little annoying, like the long remix of the "Futurama" theme from the agency promotional score CD (Christopher Tyng).
"Topaz Connection": what a great "Knight Rider" '80's score! At times it's almost theatrical in its sound - Peake could have easily gotten films Dave Grusin or Lalo Schifrin got and did the funk with, but why he didn't, I don't know. This score also features an instrument not on any of the other CDs: a saxophone
"Hearts of Stone": not quite what the first episode score was, but still lots of fun.
The bonus tracks:
- Politics of Dance:
this is a sound, with I think Hasselhoff singing
- Remember the Knights of Love:
another song.
- White Bird
The song I think all KR fans love. I was actually going to ask Hitchcock Media if it's possible to include that on a future CD. I'm a score lover and 99.9% of the time I am AGAINST songs being on a score CD, but this is a rare exception because the song is beautiful and has a wonderful instrumental melody underneath it. Speaking of instrumental...
- White Bird (instrumental)
Ha! Just the music, no singing. Cool as hell. I loved loved loved Peake's two brief arrangements of the song in V1, (though they just may be edits). The important thing left out of the booklet is who composed this orchestra backing. I want to know. This is not a special arrangement for an instrumental version. The best I can tell that it's the exact same version playing under the above track.
That concludes the CD. My only complaint is there are only two episode scores on the CD – they could have easily dumped "Politics of Love" and "Remember the Knights of Love" and fit another episode score on the CD. There are also no track names for the score cues.
On a ten-star rating system of overall CD quality, I would have to give it 8 stars -- that many because of the two useless songs, only two episode scores, and the take calls.
I say bring on Volume 4!
Tracklisting
1. Knight Rider Theme (Rockin' new treatment) * (06.11)
Tracks 2-13 from Episode "Topaz Connection"
2. M-102 (1.23)
3. M-201 (2.09)
4. M-405 (0.30)
5. M-501 (0.25)
6. M-601 (2.55)
7. M-601A (1.09)
8. M-602 (0.46)
9. M-202 (0.31)
10. M-301 (0.37)
11. M-103 (1.29)
12. M-503 (0.53)
13. M-304 (0.52)
Tracks 14-27 from Episode "Hearts of Stone"
14. M-104 (1.11)
15. M-302 (0.26)
16. M-303 (1.40)
17. M-502 (1.53)
18. M-504 (0.31)
19. M-101 (0.25)
20. M-206 (0.32)
21. M-501 (1.02)
22. M-401 (1.02)
23. M-503 (0.30)
24. M-402 (0.18)
25. M-304 (1.29)
26. M-103 (2.06)
27. M-205 (2.21)
Bonus Tracks
28. Politics of Dance (3.16)
29. Remember the Knights of Love (3.07)
30. White Bird (2.40)
31. White Bird (Instrumental Version) (2.43)
* Main Title written by Stu Phillips and Glen Larson
Total Length: 47.02