THE HORN OF PLENTY Theme MP3 Teaser

(26 March 2013)

Udi Harpaz' magnificent start to Airwolf's 3rd Season with the bombastic, military and creepy score to introduce John Bradford Horn as the nemesis of the Airwolf universe, with this medley of four cues from 'THE HORN OF PLENTY', performed by Mark J.Cairns from the Airwolf Extended Themes soundtrack.

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The Teaser MP3 file (4-part suite):

• Airwolf 'THE HORN OF PLENTY' Teaser MP3 (Mk3n)

One of the most disturbing scenes I've ever seen in any show, let alone Airwolf was when Jan-Michael Vincent as 'Hawke' had his eyelids taped over for a brain-washing sequence by the show's new recurring nemesis, John Bradford Horn (played wonderfully here by the late actor, RICHARD LYNCH) in the Airwolf 3rd Season opening episode, 'THE HORN OF PLENTY'. The 2nd Unit filmed most of it out at Vasquez Rocks (emulating the first scene in the show's 'PILOT' episode).

Two very memorable Guest Star performances from the late RICHARD LYNCH (playing 'John Bradford Horn') and the beautiful CATHERINE HICKLAND as Horn's daughter, 'Angelica', in Airwolf's 3rd Season premiere episode, 'THE HORN OF PLENTY'.

This is arguably one of Udi Harpaz' wildest and most bombastic works for the show with this wonderful military-based, and sometimes creepy (mainly) orchestral score mixed with big FM synth sounds from the Yamaha DX7, that created one of the strangest soundscapes from the musical repertoire of the entire series.

But then it's definitely the creepiest episode of the entire series with the jaw-droppingly shocking deaths of both main leads (Hawke and Dom)... Hawke killed Dom (although it turns out they're tranquilizers) and then Caitlin thinks she's killed Hawke with the experimental serum to correct his brain-washing. Obviously it's all designed to shock the viewer, and boy, it does! There's really nothing quite like it (Alex Cord had two goes at the brain-washing over the series run ['FALLEN ANGEL' / 'FORTUNE TELLER'], but this was the most creepy of all of them) and it's definitely one of the most "Adult" scripts from the show's run; beautifully filmed and Directed too with wonderful lighting (despite the grey Autumn skies at Vasquez Rocks) and unique camera angles by director, Sutton Roley.

I picked four different musical sequences for this medley including where Dom lands Airwolf in exchange for getting Hawke back only to be shot by him (Udi titled this "Good Luck, Kate"; then a little Easter egg with an unused alternative cue (that I knew Udi did in the original recording session) when Hawke was taking off in Airwolf at dawn; the third cue is when Archangel, Dom and Cait are in the back of the limo with Archangel briefing them on the experimental serum and Plan B, and the final one is the wonderful capture of Horn's Volvo 740 by Airwolf at the end, only to have the shocking reveal that Horn and Angelica have escaped and the Volvo was a decoy, all leading in to the final motif coda to end titles.

The wonderful film location of Vasquez Rocks in California was the eerie setting for Horn's base and actually for the entire 2nd Unit shoot. Actress CATHERINE HICKLAND (above right) is basically looking at the field where Hawke shot Dom, and also where Airwolf stopped Horn's Volvo 740 at the very end. This was the second outing for the show's 2nd Unit, the first time being for the 'PILOT' episode in Sept 1983.

JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT was brilliantly on form at the start of the season putting in an emotional performance for the 3rd Season's premiere episode, 'THE HORN OF PLENTY'. The other three lead actors of ERNEST BORGNINE, ALEX CORD and JEAN BRUCE SCOTT all got to put in great performances too.

MUSIC CUE SHEETS

I think this is a wonderful occasion to show you what a Music Cue Sheet from the original scoring sessions looks like. I've only got a few of these in my collection but this episode is one of them:

ECHOS FROM THE PAST Theme MP3 Teaser

(9 March 2013)

"ECHOS FROM THE PAST" - Final Cabin Theme scene

from the Airwolf Extended Themes soundtrack 2CD

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Some Airwolf fans have labelled this the 'Holy Grail track with no name' from Airwolf's 1st Season episode 'ECHOS FROM THE PAST', which is the final orchestral theme playing in the cabin when Hawke returns home after "dumping his helicopter out the back of a cargo plane".

The "ECHOS FROM THE PAST Final Cabin Theme" Teaser MP3 file:

• Airwolf 'ECHOS FROM THE PAST - Final Cabin Theme' Teaser MP3 (Mk4)

"He dumped his helicopter out the back of a cargo plane!' - the late MICHELLE NICASTRO as 'Nurse Susan' explains to Archangel (played by ALEX CORD) how she really didn't see where they landed (and keep Airwolf hidden securely).

"You don't have a home of your own? Of COURSE we do! And offices in a half dozen locations." Archangel (played by ALEX CORD) and Marella (played by DEBORAH PRATT) start Hawke's debrief after letting themselves in, and then realise that Hawke & Dom have had Nurse Susan with them the entire time and worry about the security of her knowledge of the top-secret helicopter.

I personally think that this is the best "tag ending" of any of the episodes of the Airwolf series' entire run with a quick epilogue of how Hawke got home and the debriefing that Archangel and Marella thought they were going to get at the cabin, but instead had a tired, cranky and weary Hawke just wanting to unwind, enjoy a brandy and get to bed.

So the intrusion of the CIA agents leaves a sour taste in his throat at the start of scene. This quickly progresses into Archangel's shock that an outside person accompanied them on the mission and the subsequent wind-up of Archangel quizzing them all on whether Susan knows where their top-secret asset is kept (for the sake of National Security of course). But Hawke and Dom don't miss the opportunity to wind him up, which Susan then gets in on the joke by denying all knowledge... "Sorta!"

"So she knows where Airwolf is hidden? Is THAT what you call his helicopter? Uh, we didn't tell her the name... we thought we'd keep that FROM her!" - the wind-up is played from all sides on Archangel.

So, the reason fans thought the accompanying orchestral background music theme for this scene was the Holy Grail was that they didn't know if it was an existing classical piece or whether Sylvester Levay created it.

As far as I'm aware (I've still to confirm this with Sly as when I asked him in Munich last month he couldn't remember but would check) it's completely Sylvester's creation as it is actually heard in the background of a previous Levay work, a 1984 TV Movie called 'TIME BOMB'.

He laughed when I reminded him the track was in that production too from the same year and he immediately replied with "yeah, it probably saved me time!"  :)

So one more to go...

'THE HORN OF PLENTY' suite's mix will be the last full mix I'll be working on and then a tweak to ;KINGDOM COME to finish the entire album. Then the souvenir cover booklet's design and packaging and we're done.

PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT score MP3 Teaser from Airwolf's 1st Season

(10 February 2013)

"PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT" suite including the 

Russian song of the Revolution "Poljuško Polje"
from the Airwolf Extended Themes soundtrack 2CD

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Well, here it is finally, a definitive version of Airwolf's 1st Season episode 'PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT' made up of four different scenes: the opening lab sequence when Rostoff comes through the door to kill his comrades with the Soviet's deadly nerve agent, Airwolf flying nap-of-the-earth with the SLAS system trying to evade the MIGs in the dark, the Russians closing in on the Rostoffs and Dom at the Kirivitz cabin, finishing with the final cello solo & orchestral rendition of the Russian 'Song of the Revolution' - Poljuško Polje (see the lyrics below) underscoring Tanya Rostoff's singing.

The "PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT" Teaser MP3 file:

• Airwolf 'PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT' Suite Teaser MP3 (Mk4)

Airwolf's 1st season episode PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT's most iconic theme is probably the Russian folk piece 'Poljuško Polje' both played on a balalaika and sung by Rostoff's brother-in-law Ivan Turgyev (played by actor, RADU GAVOR) and later the young Tanya Rostoff (played forlornly by actress, LINDA GROVENOR) at Hawke's cabin, accompanied by Hawke on the Stadivarius cello and then the full orchestra. There was an interesting scene in the script that was (probably shot but) left out of the final edit where both Rostoff and his wife came out on the porch and joined in the singing as well, but it was felt that the freeze frame on Hawke was more relevant to Hawke's story arc and journey over the season.

Rostoff (played by actor RICK LENZ) tentatively looks through the porch window of his brother-in-law's farmhouse in Kirivitz with Hawke & Dom to surprisingly find the local Soviet militia being entertained by his brother-in-law Turgyev and Rostoff's wife and daughter, with Hawke's suspicion that they're waiting to arrest him for the theft and deaths at the top-secret Soviet lab.

There's a great mix of synth and orchestral within the episode and Sylvester Levay really delivered some of the series' most atmospheric synth work, including the use of the randomising "Arpeggiator" on the synth bass-lines (here, thankfully transcribed note-for-note exactly like the original off-air version by the patience and virtue of professional transcriber, John Rogers for me, for that total authenticity. Thanks John!) It just makes the MIG avoidance sequence below.

Airwolf's 2nd Unit Director, Aerial Co-ordinator and amazing stunt pilot, DAVID JONES used to love creating vortices in dust & smoke with the chopper on film, here within the 'PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT' episodic theme score when Airwolf is trying to avoid being picked up on the Russian MIGs' radar, so have to fly nap-of-the-earth.

Actor RICK LENZ played Soviet double agent, Vladimir 'Moses' Rostoff to perfection, here killing off his Soviet comrades in a 'lab accident' with a top-secret Soviet nerve agent; then meeting up with Hawke & Dom in Airwolf before flying with them to collect his wife and daughter to defect with them as well.

And for those of you wanting to know what Turgyev and later Tanya were singing, here are the original Russian lyrics... 

Poljuško Polje Sing-A-Long Lyrics
Polyushko, polye,

polyushko shiroko, polye ...
Yedut, ey, po polyu gyeroyi,
ey, da ruskoi armiyi gyeroyi.

Dyevushki platshut,
dyevushkam sivodnya grustno:
Milý da v armiyu uyekhal,
ey, da milý v armiyu uyekhal.

Dyevushki, gliantye,
dyevushki, utritye slyozý!
Pust' po silnyeye grianyem pyesnyu,
ey, da nasha pyesnya boyevaya.

Tol'ko mý vidyim,
vidyim mý syeduyu tutshu:
Vrazhya da sila iz za lyesa,
ey, da vrazhya sila slovno tutsha

English translation of Poljuško Polje

Field, my field, my wide field,
The heroes ride over the field,
Hey, the heroes of the Red Army.

The girls are crying,
The girls are sorrowful today,
Their sweethearts went away for a long time,
Hey, their sweethearts went away to the army.

You girls, cast a glance,
cast a glance in our direction,
Wave far down the road,
Ey, the happy road.

We only see
We see a grey mist,
The hate of the enemy behind the forest,
Hey, the enemy's hate, like a mist.

Hey, girls, look,
We are ready to engage the enemy,
Our horses are fleet-footed,
Our tanks are fast-driving.

Hey, while on the collective farms,
The work is efficiently progressing,
Today we are watchmen,
Today we are keeping watch.

The ECHOS FROM THE PAST Cabin epilogue theme will be next up very soon.

Airwolf "BLAZE" Theme MP3 Teaser from the PILOT

(3 February 2013)

Wagner-esque "BLAZE Theme" from Airwolf's TV PILOT episode from Airwolf Extended Themes soundtrack

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After last weekend's amazing time spent with original Airwolf composer, SYLVESTER LEVAY (see Jan Szulew's separate Munich Trip Blog post on his Orchestrator's blog) outside Munich, Germany, this weekend has been back to the grind.

So, I've two MP3 teasers ready to Blog, the first of which is here for the Wagner-esque theme that Sylvester Levay wrote for the egotistical character actor, Blaze (played by the brilliant John Calvin) in Airwolf's TV PILOT episode; the Movie PILOT had different (inferior) music on this particular track.

The "Blaze" Teaser MP3 file:

• Airwolf 'BLAZE Theme' Teaser MP3 (Mk8)

1st Season Airwolf 'PILOT' episode had the superb Bellisario regular JOHN CALVIN acting in the brilliantly egotistical role of 'Blaze', who thought he could fly a chopper better than Hawke. Shows off Don's humour to the fore.

Sylvester Levay wrote a wonderful Wagner-esque theme for the egotistical character of 'Blaze' on the fictional movie set in the Airwolf TV 'PILOT' episode. Here Dom is trying to explain to the local television news report Mona Khan (played by the DEE DEE RESCHER) about the hammerhead stall manoeuvre that Blaze has just pulled inadvertently whilst trying to control [in sheer terror!] the Hughes 500 [later used as Caitlin's Highway Patrol chopper in 2nd Season episode, 'SWEET BRITCHES'] for the cameras.

Sylvester Levay's character theme that he composed for Blaze during Airwolf's Pilot episode, and one of my personal favourite just perfectly summarises the naive showmanship that the egotistical movie star is trying to portray for the cameras and Mona Khan's local news crew.

Using lots of bombastic brass and quick string runs, it provides the wonderful Don Bellisario black humour of watching Blaze's sheer terror during his losing more and more control of the flight and over-estimating his own abilities. Was Don having a dig at certain Hollywood actors at the time? We'll never know.

"There!" as Blaze comes blazing around the corner on the deck to dust the camera crew. Both JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT and JOHN CALVIN got separate joy-rides up in the Hughes with 2nd Unit Director and Pilot, the late DAVID JONES, acting to a static camera which you can see the shadow off on Jan's shirt.

INTERESTING TRIVIA FACT TO FINISH

If you look really closely you can see this one-shot, multi-camera take of Aerial Cameraman, STAN McCLAIN (Left) holding the big 35mm film camera on his right shoulder, with the late DAVID JONES doubling for Blaze. Then it's cut from Stan's camera to the two cameras on the ground as they pass over the crew. 

In the take-off shot you can see Jetcopters' owner PETER McKERNAN, Snr in Hawke's seat with his arms folded.

So 'PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT' and its Holy Grail Russian "Song of the Revolution " Poljuško Polje theme will be following this Blog next. "PROOF" though, has proved challenging, as there's another live cello solo in the last part of this one for the Russian theme. It's being mixed in with orchestral and includes the lab sequence at the start, the encounter with the MIGs and the tune when the Russians are closing in on Dom and Moses' position in the cabin, to finish with Hawke's cello rendition when Natalya Rostoff is singing her version of Polusko Polje (we've obviously left her voice out!). It's now finished so it's just as soon as I can get the time to get another blog up you'll all here it.

Airwolf "EAGLE'S CELLO THEME" MP3 Teaser

(23 December 2012)

The "EAGLE's THEME" from Airwolf's 'PILOT' episode and later the synth version from 'BITE OF THE JACKAL' performed by Mark J.Cairns and composed by Sylvester Levay from the Airwolf Extended Themes soundtrack

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The Teaser MP3 file (3-part suite):

• Airwolf 'EAGLE'S THEME' Teaser MP3 (Mk4Dn)

1st Season Airwolf episode and fan-favourite, the cello solo that was the basis of the 'EAGLE's THEME' (aka "Eagle's Serenade" / "Hawke's Theme") with Hawke serenading both the lake's bald eagle and Gabrielle during the "PILOT" episode and used later in the season as a synth version in 'BITE OF THE JACKAL' episode.

The "EAGLE's THEME" from both Airwolf's 'PILOT' episode and 1st Season episode 'BITE OF THE JACKAL' was always intended as Hawke's love theme for both Gabrielle and the eagle. Both original composer, Sylvester Levay and Creator & Executive Producer, Don Bellisario always referred to it as "HAWKE'S THEME" during actual production.

This is probably the best known of Airwolf's 1st Season character themes with the famous cello solo and orchestral score for 'EAGLE'S THEME' (aka "EAGLE'S SERENADE" / "HAWKE's THEME") and probably Sylvester Levay's best-loved of his episodic theme music that even the general public remember.

Even though Sylvester did a cracker cello solo and orchestral with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra for the original Airwolf Themes 2CD, it didn't include the later synth version that was used during the 'BITE OF THE JACKAL' episode.

The synth version of the "EAGLE's THEME" can be heard during the sequence where Hawke is re-fitting the damaged tail rotor during the early 1st Season Airwolf episode 'BITE OF THE JACKAL'. There was just a hint of the flirtation with the female character of the week, Miriam Santos (played by 'RUTH BRITT').

So we brought in a live cellist to play the solo again with a slightly different performance to what the Munich Philharmonic did and a little closer to the original.

The last part, played totally by synth, creates a slightly dreamy sound, helped by some of the odd chords (I have Jan to thank for helping to decipher some of those) which added to the ambience of my original take done at Einstein in ProTools.

Attracts eagles, girlfriends AND FISH! A little trout

jumps out of the water to hear the cello solo!

WHAT I THOUGHT OF IT

Airwolf fans always love the "cello theme" as many call it, and even casual fans who sort of remember the show from an earlier broadcast seemed to connect with the emotional content of this piece and they remember in the back of the dusty brain matter somewhere. Jan-Michael Vincent really sold the emotional performance in his three outings with the cello during the 'PILOT' episode even if his finger place and bowing action and laughable to real cellists. Makes a lovely, memorable visual though.

WHO COMPOSED THE CELLO THEME FOR THE EAGLE IN AIRWOLF? 
It's a common question to ask "who composed the cello theme with the eagle?". Well, it wasn't some long-dead classical composer, or some obscure working resurrected for the show, it was our own Sly Levay.

WHAT'S COMING NEXT?

I'm currently working on 'PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT' and then 'THE HORN OF PLENTY' to finish off my CD2 of Airwolf Extended Themes 2CD Soundtrack. After that I'll be tweaking some of the other orchestral-heavy tracks to be even better.

"PROOF" though, is proving challenging, as there's another live cello solo in the last part of this one for the Russian 'Song of the Revolution' tune called "Polusko Polje". It's being mixed in with orchestral and will include the lab sequence at the start, the encounter with the MIGs and the tune when the Russians are closing in on Dom and Moses' position in the cabin, to finish with Hawke's cello rendition when Natalya Rostoff is singing her version of Polusko Polje (we've obviously left her voice out!). I've the first half mixed so far, as of today, the orchestral is proving harder than I thought.

JAN'S BLOG -- STATUS

As I said earlier in December, Jan's pretty much finished his CD1 for Airwolf Extended Themes (he created his final one in mid-December 2012 to take his tally to 23 tracks!), so go and have a listen to his various Airwolf Main Themes on his own: Airwolf Orchestrator's Blog.

For progress of were we are with the Airwolf Extended Themes project as a whole, please see the updated Pre-Production Tracklist here.

OUR AIRWOLF WEBSITE

And the official Airwolf Themes website is always HERE, and the main Airwolf Discussion Forum is HERE.

OFFICIAL AIRWOLF DOCUMENTARY

Marty Grant's on-going progress as Producer & Director of the other big Airwolf creative project (which I'm Co-Producer on)... the official Airwolf DOCUMENTARY can be found on his Blog and if you haven't seen the cool Music Teaser Promo we did for the documentary were the original Airwolf cast and crew describe what they remember and felt about Sylvester Levay's music on the show, then go see the awesome 16:9 HD video on our YouTube channel. Make sure to change it to 1080p HD 16x9!

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'AIRWOLF II' MP3 Airwolf teaser Blog

(12 November 2012)

Udi Harpaz fantastic episodic score from the 'AIRWOLF II' episode in Airwolf's early 3rd Season

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The Teaser MP3 file:

• 'AIRWOLF II' Teaser MP3 (Mk6)

3rd season Airwolf episode and fan-favourite, 'AIRWOLF' II' provides a big orchestral-heavy score in four parts, perfectly illustrating Harlan Jenkins (played to egotistical perfection by WINGS HAUSER) single-minded theft and subsequent battle with Hawke, pitting the two Airwolf choppers and two Airwolf test pilots against one another.

The Zeus demo sequence provides the third part of the score with fast, aggressive strings with synth overlay as a back-drop to all the best Redwolf action. Great shot of Archangel after Zeus reveals Redwolf's existence for the first time.

Big synth and heavy orchestral score for Airwolf's early 3rd Season music score for 'AIRWOLF II' and probably one of Udi Harpaz' best-loved of his episodic theme music from his stint on the show.

This 8-minute epic for the fan-favourite episode is made from a medley made up of four parts:

The first part is the Opening sequence (with the guest star credits etc.) were Archangel and his "Archangela white lady" pilot, Amanda lands at the Chamber of Commerce' black tie dinner to chew out Hawke in his visceral and mental war of thinking that Hawke was part of a USAF military train hijacking to secure Airwolf weaponry.

The second part of the theme is from Harlan taking the camo net off Redwolf for his duel with Hawke and the sequence with Harlan flying around Hawke, Dom & Archangel in their JetRanger after initially stealing Redwolf. Big, BIG, aggressive cello and contrabass action here.

The third part is from the Zeus demo sequence of Airwolf II's upgraded capabilities over the original Lady, with the fourth part being the fight sequence between Hawke, Archangel and Alonzo Del Olmo's goons at his Derado Canyon ranch.

WHAT I THOUGHT OF IT

'AIRWOLF II'  was an interesting and different start to the series as Udi brought in a different composing style for the season ("THE HORN OF PLENTY" season premiere the week before started it) for Exec Producer, Bernie Kowalski, which he took right through to 'FORTUNE TELLER' really, with much more emphasis on orchestral over synth, but still combining the two.

The strings in 'AIRWOLF II' are just so intense, fast and were just plain crazy and time-consuming to mix (that's the Mk6 draft mix version you're listening to above as it went through plenty of iterations), as it was a trade-off in converting the original Mono off-air version which is very flat and mid-range for mid-80s TV speakers as well as under all those Redwolf foley FX and actors' dialogue, to having the full dynamics of the orchestra.

I didn't want it to become too "muddy" at the bottom end either as I feel you should always be able to hear all the instruments with high-end audio gear, which you can.

It's the guys with the bottom end gear (like the tiny, free speakers you get with a Dell PC) I fear for though as I'm pretty sure it'll push their systems to breaking point - nothing I can do about that though - and will sound crap on there anyway - this one was for the good gear to play with. I've tested it on everything from an iPod/iPhone to audiophile' system and it blew the ears & doors off.

WHAT'S COMING NEXT?

As I said in yesterday's "FAMILY THEME" Blog, I've nearly finished mixing the "EAGLE'S THEME" (both real cello solo, orchestral and synth version) with some final tweaks and changes still to do; so after that, all that's left is 'PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT' and 'THE HORN OF PLENTY' mixes to finish my CD2 of Airwolf Extended Themes 2CD Soundtrack. So, it'll defo not be out this side of Christmas, before you ask again.

DID I HEAR TALK OF COSTS OVER ON THE 'AIRWOLF THEMES' CHAT FORUM?

Yes, the 2CD will **probably** be in and around GBP £30-ish per set (or that's what I'm aiming to keep it around) but final licensing costs from Universal (we've increased to 40+ tracks - YEAH, we've added more to Jan's CD1 so details on that upgrade soon - now up from 35+ which is horrendously high in music terms) and production costs will dictate the final figure. Quite a few folks have asked how much they should squirrel away from their Christmas budget. Well, that's my best estimate so far.

The awesome AIRWOLF II helicopter aka "Redwolf".

JAN'S BLOG -- STATUS

Jan's pretty much finished his CD1 for Airwolf Extended Themes, so go and have a listen to his various Airwolf Main Themes on his own: Airwolf Orchestrator's Blog.

For progress of were we are with the Airwolf Extended Themes project as a whole, please see the updated Pre-Production Tracklist here.

OUR AIRWOLF WEBSITE

And the official Airwolf Themes website is always HERE.

OFFICIAL AIRWOLF DOCUMENTARY

Marty Grant's progress on the other big Airwolf project... the official Airwolf DOCUMENTARY can be found on his Blog and if you haven't seen the Music Teaser Promo we did for the documentary were the original cast and crew describe what they felt about Sylvester Levay's music on the show, then see the awesome 16:9 HD video on our YouTube channel. Make sure to change it to 1080p HD 16x9!