Escape From Television – Jan Hammer

This is one of those albums that I've been listening to for, ooh, about 17 years now, and counting.

It all began in 1991, when Herschel lent me his copy, which I gave back to him within a very reasonable amount of time indeed.

I don't know what it is about synth music, but I've loved it ever since I got into Doctor Who. Maybe it's the crisp cleanness of the sound. Maybe it's the adventure of hearing music made out of sounds that don't naturally exist anywhere on Earth. Or maybe it's because every note carries an implication that the advance of technology will actually make tomorrow a better place.

And Hammer knows what he's doing, mixing electronic sounds with more traditional instruments, in such a way as to make all this new stuff sound comfortably familiar.

One thing his melodies never do though is sound over-produced. I don't think there's a single track on here that doesn't at least sound improvised.

Except for the 9mm remix of Crockett's Theme. I don't understand remixes. They always offer the familiarity of the original, which by definition they must then fail to deliver on.

I never really followed Miami Vice, the show for which these instrumental tracks provided the incidental music. However whenever I did dip in, it was generally very visual and cinematic, and these romantic musical flights must have gone very well with all that.

Available to sample and buy here.