Silva Screen: The Caves of Androzani soundtrack / competitionBookmark and Share

Tuesday, 19 March 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The first in a new range of classic Doctor Who soundtracks will be released next week by Silva Screen Records, delving back to the end of the Fifth's Doctor's era with Roger Limb's score for The Caves of Androzani.

Silva Screen: The Caves of AndrozaniThe Caves of Androzani was Roger Limb’s seventh of eight contributions to the series, and the first of his two very successful collaborations with director Graeme Harper. Broadcast in March 1984, the 4 episodes showed the regeneration of The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) into The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker). In 2009 The Caves Of Androzani was voted the best in the history of the series by fans.

Roger Limb comments on working on The Caves of Androzani:
In 1984-5 we had new tools at our disposal including the Fairlight Computer Music Instrument (CMI) which I used to create the rhythmic percussion figures, and the wonderfully versatile Yamaha DX7 which was a landmark in the development of the synthesiser. I’d read the scripts but it was only when I saw the edited episodes on VHS that my ideas started to take shape. The greatest slice of luck was having Graeme Harper as director. He was able to explain exactly what he wanted from me, a great advantage!

Roger Limb was part of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop team which he joined in 1972. Perhaps best known for his work on Doctor Who, from 1981 to 1985, Limb composed the music for the The Keeper of Traken, Four to Doomsday, Black Orchid, Time-Flight, Arc of Infinity, Terminus, The Caves of Androzani and Revelation of the Daleks. In the 80s and 90s Limb has contributed music to a number of television series including The Justice Game, Aliens in the Family, Thinkabout, The Box of Delights, Kevin and Co, Martin Luther: Heretic, Storytime and Look and Read. He is also known for the now cult "Swirley" tune, a happy piece of electronic music that was used as the theme to the BBC's Service Information news bulletins in the late 70s and early 80s.


1. Doctor Who (Opening Theme) (00'39")
2. Androzani Minor (01'46")
3. Gun-Runners (00'59")
4. Morgus and Chellak (01'06")
5. Death Sentence (01'36")
6. Sharaz Jek (01'49")
7. Death Under the Red Cloth (02'10")
8. Androids (00'50")
9. Next Time It'll Be for Real (01'07")
10. Nobody Lives for Ever (02'16")
11. Spectrox (01'11")
12. Salateen (00'32")
13. Exile (01'06")
14. Clever Little Android (00'44")
15. Two Kilos, What a Deal (00'50")
16. The Magma Beast (02'14")
17. Blind Fools (00'34")
18. Tear His Arms Out (02'37")
19. Stage Three (01'54")
20. Geostationary Orbit (01'43")
21. The Girl Will Be Alone (01'00")
22. Peri Abducted (01'28")
23. Vertical Descent Pattern (00'32")
24. It Could Have Been Worse (02'08")
25. Do You Think I'm Mad? (02'56")
26. The Doctor Pursued (03'13")
27. Mud Burst (01'58")
28. Morgus and Stotz (01'03")
29. Face Off (01'11")
30. Morgus Kaput (00'37")
31. Not Beaten Yet (01'21")
32. Milk of the Queen Bat (07'04")
33. Return to the TARDIS (00'50")
34. Is This Death? (02'18")
35. Doctor Who (Closing Theme) (01'20")

The soundtrack has been restored by Mark Ayres, who explained to us the differences between these new CD presentations and the isolated scores that have been presented on some of the classic series DVDs in the past:

The DVD isolated scores are straight off the original tapes (resync'd-mono, but and also quite heavily compressed as per the original transmission so as to level match the soundtracks). There is little attempt at remastering, and the AC3 encoding on the DVD is similar to MP3, so lossy. The CD soundtracks are fully remastered (de-noising etc.), maintaining the greater dynamics of the original masters, and in "stereo". They all also feature (where possible and appropriate) additional and/or alternative cues.

The presentation is entirely different - the DVD isolated scores are designed for educational purposes, really (so that the viewer can see how the composer works to picture, but without the dialogue and effects getting in the way!); the CDs are presented at the highest quality for listening purposes.

Additionally, in some cases to come I have found better tapes since we did the DVDs.

The Caves of Androzani is released on the 25th March 2013 and is available for pre-order.

Competition

We have three copies of the CD up for grabs, courtesy of Silva Screen. To be in with a chance to win a copy, please answer the following question:

The Caves of Androzani was Graeme Harper's (credited) directorial debut for Doctor Who - which is the most recent broadcast episode to date that he has been credited as director?

Send your answers to this email address with the subject "curiousity has always been my downfall", along with your name and address. The competition is open worldwide, and the closing date is the 31st March 2013.




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