Annotator
Ralph Titterton
acknowledges at the outset that the '60s British marionette children's series
Joe 90
"was not the commercial success of the [producer]
Gerry Anderson
series that preceded it," and that may help explain why
Reynold da Silva
's
Silva Screen Records
, in coming out with
soundtrack
versions of such other
Anderson
series as
Thunderbirds
, overlooked it for some time. But, like the other series, it employed
Barry Gray
as composer, and programs do not succeed or fail because of their music.
Gray
's work, collected here in more than 78 minutes of cues, is perfectly adequate, if not inspired.
is an eclectic who has no problem writing generic music for a chase scene or a thrilling climax, but who likes to throw in a lot of musical flavors. His main theme, with a twangy guitar leading the way, is very much of its late-'60s era, but he will also introduce any one of a number of unusual instruments -- banjo, Spanish guitar, accordion -- to change the sound of his music. And he uses quotes from the American and French national anthems as well as
"The Volga Boatmen"
to set the geography of his scenes. At other times, he will provide music in various styles, from
classical
to
country
. This is not great writing, but it no doubt worked well when applied to the adventures of the nine-year-old title character who roamed the world having science fiction/spy adventures. ~ William Ruhlmann