From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Airwolf Themes
Airwolf Themes
Airwolf Themes soundtrack at the time, Cairns decided in early 1994 to produce his
own high-quality soundtrack for the series using the
episodic scores from the first three seasons of the series
to create the first 22 synthesizer-based tracks on the
soundtrack, including various medleys and character
themes. This was produced entirely by ear on Yamaha
and Korg synthesizers, sequenced on an Apple Pow-
erMac.
Finding Levay
But by early 1997, Cairns had felt there was something
lacking in the production – the mainly orchestral themes,
so a search was made for both the show’s two main orig-
inal composers, Sylvester Levay and Udi Harpaz. Levay
Original 2CD Special Limited Edition Cover.
had left Hollywood in the early nineties to move to Ger-
Soundtrack album many and Harpaz had moved back to Israel, so tracking
them down had proven difficult to this point until Cairns
Released US:February, 1999
UK:February, 1999 found an on-line discussion fan forum for the first of Le-
vay’s musicals, Elisabeth (Musical), allowing him and fel-
Recorded November 1998 low producer, Gerry R. Forrester to finally make initial
Genre Soundtrack contact.
They subsequently contracted Levay to create three
Length 73.32 minutes
special bonus medleys which would be mainly
Label GER Soundtracks – GERCD3 orchestral-based scores, composed and arranged from
his character-driven 1st season works from the series. Le-
Producer Mark J.Cairns
Gerry R. Forrester vay then used the 80-piece Munich Philharmonic orches-
tra during a recording session on November 29, 1998 at
Airwolf Themes is a two-CD soundtrack album for the SL Studios in Neuhausen, Germany. The tracks were sub-
1980s American action television series series Airwolf sequently mastered by Bernie Grundman in Hollywood
(1984–1986) The program concerned a supersonic mili- (the engineer responsible for Michael Jackson’s best-sell-
tary helicopter, codenamed Airwolf, and her crew as they ing album of all time, Thriller and Bad albums. Cairns’
undertook various missions, many involving espionage, CD1 was engineered and mastered at Einstein Studios in
with a Cold War theme. Antrim, Northern Ireland.
The soundtrack was created over a five year period
by Airwolf fan Northern Ireland-based graphic designer, 2CD Special Limited Edition
Mark J. Cairns in collaboration with original composer
Sylvester Levay, with a foreword by the series’ creator, Once production of the two separate CDs was completed,
Donald P. Bellisario. including a 20-page liner booklet containing an exclusive
Levay interview, the ’Airwolf Themes: 2CD Special Limit-
ed Edition’ finally shipped during February 1999 to those
The soundtrack’s creation who had reserved them six months beforehand, mostly
After the original CBS series was cancelled in 1986, Mark Airwolf Appreciation Association’ members although af-
J. Cairns headed the International Airwolf Appreciation terwards remaining copies shipped to many other coun-
Association for nearly 10 years (from 1988–1998) so he tries purely from direct sales over the internet. Only 1000
had an in-depth knowledge of the series including its mu- copies were ever made.
sic cues. There had been other cover versions of the dis-
tinctive Levay-penned main theme over the years but
these tended to be quite different from the sound and
feel of the original score. Due to various licensing issues
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Airwolf Themes
eBay phenomena World Record tions of the series’ Main Theme from the first three sea-
sons.
soundtrack The second release ’Airwolf Extended Themes’ will be
a 2CD limited edition release in late spring 2012. Polish-
By the turn of the Millennium the ’Airwolf Themes: 2CD
born musician Jan Michal Szulew will be the main
Special Limited Edition’ had become very collectible
arranger and orchestrator this time concentrating on
gaining regular eBay bids (being sold by people who’d re-
variations of the show’s main theme tune with Mark
served and bought more than one copy) in the region of
J.Cairns producing episodic-based bonus tracks for the
$350–$510 per set. On the March 18, 2000 the bids cul-
second CD release only.
minated in a new record[1] for a television soundtrack
when a set sold for $715.03 on eBay. This was subsequent-
ly broken on March 25, 2004 when a Washington-based Promo Videos
seller sold his spare 2CD set for $765.03[2], and then for a An official promo video teaser trailer was also released to
third time $981.74[3] on the March 10, 2006 remaining the promote all three Airwolf Themes soundtracks at the end
’Most Expensive Television Soundtrack of all Time’. of August 2009. Four additional video teaser trailers were
also produced showing a wider range of the content of
Re-Release for Digital Down- each individual EP track.
loads Track listings
Airwolf
’Airwolf Themes CD1 by Mark J.Cairns’
• Main Theme – 3rd Season Opening titles (1:01)
• ’THE AMERICAN DREAM’ (5:26)
• ’ANNIE OAKLEY’ (4:36)
• ’DAMBREAKERS’ (3:24)
• ’DESPERATE MONDAY’ (4:43)
• ’DISCOVERY’ / ’HAWKE’S RUN’ (3:33)
• ’FALLEN ANGEL’ (3:54)
• ’FIGHT LIKE A DOVE’ / ’BITE OF THE JACKAL’ –
"Coming Down" (1:30)
• ’FORTUNE TELLER’ (4:37)
• ’HAWKE’s RUN’ / ’KINGDOM COME’ – "Try and cut
’em off!" (2:23)
• ’THE HUNTED’ (2:41)
• ’HX1’ (2:37)
• ’INN AT THE END OF THE ROAD’ (3:37)
• ’MAD OVER MIAMI’ / ’PRISONER OF YESTERDAY’ –
"South America" (3:42)
Airwolf Themes cover for the 2008 re-release
• ’PILOT’ / ’MOFFETT’S GHOST’ – "Moffet’s Theme"
(6:13)
’Airwolf Themes’ was re-released on December 20, 2007
• ’NATURAL BORN’ (2:09)
as a digitally-remastered, downloads-only version
• ’ONCE A HERO’ (2:38)
through Pinnacle-Digital.com/7-Digital. It has been re-
• Main Theme – 1st Season Closing titles (1:26)
leased in AAC, MP3 and Windows Media Audio/WMA au-
• ’SHORT WALK TO FREEDOM’ (6:19)
dio formats. It was later released via Apple iTunes Store
• ’SINS OF THE PAST’ (2:16)
during January 2008. Further outlets have been added
• ’SWEET BRITCHES’--"Opening Chase" (1:34)
since then.
• Main Theme – 2nd/3rd Season Closing titles (3:02)
Airwolf Levay’
’Airwolf Themes Special Bonus CD2 by Sylvester Levay’
Sequel Soundtracks • Main Theme – Extended Aerial ("Red Star Test
Run" – ’PILOT’ Film Version) (3:35)
There will be two future sequel Airwolf soundtracks re-
• ’ECHOS FROM THE PAST" – Medley ("St John’s
leased.
Theme" / "Gabrielle’s Theme") (3:33)
The first digital download-only EP release, entitled
• 1st Season – Medley (’ONE WAY EXPRESS’ / ’MIND OF
’Airwolf Main Themes’ has been made available from late
THE MACHINE’ / "Moffet’s Theme" / "Eagle’s
September 2009 and contains four tracks based on varia-
Serenade") (4:50)
Airwolf
’Airwolf Main Themes EP by Jan Michal Szulew’
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Airwolf Themes
• 2nd–3rd Season Closing Main Theme (Extended)
(06:00)
External links
• 2nd Season Minimalist Main Theme (Extended) • Filmmuziek.com
(05:00) • Mfiles Review
• 1st Season Synth Main Theme (Extended) (06:40) • Music from the Movies Review
• Minimalist Main Theme (Extended) (06:12) • More info on the world record
• Airwolf Fans’ Feedback on album
• Soundtrack Collector
References • SoundtrackGuide.com Most Expensive CDs
[1] Soundtrackguide.com.: "[1]", 2007 • Film Score Monthly interview
[2] "AirwolfThemes.com", 2004 • Sylvester Levay at the Internet Movie Database
[3] "AirwolfThemes.com", 2006 • ScoreTrack.net
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Airwolf_Themes&oldid=468379638"
Categories:
• Television soundtracks
• 1999 soundtracks
• Double soundtracks
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