May 1, 2020
Silva Screen has released two new DOCTOR WHO television soundtracks by Dudley Simpson and Paddy Kingsland
Silva Screen’s latest classic DOCTOR WHO soundtracks offer Dudley Simpson’s THE SUN MAKERS (1977), the fourth serial of the 15th season, with Tom Baker as The Doctor, and Paddy Kingsland’s THE VISITATION, the fourth serial of the 19th season, with Peter Davison as The Doctor. Both releases are now available on CD, vinyl, or digital download.
Composer Dudley Simpson’s first contribution to DOCTOR WHO was his music for “Planet of Giants” (starring William Hartnell as the first Doctor) in 1964. By the end of the 1960s he was the program’s “go to” composer, scoring a total of 294 episodes up until his last, “The Horns of Nimon,” in 1979. Looking purely at the 1970s, encompassing the episodes starring Jon Pertwee as the third Doctor and Tom Baker as the fourth (seasons 7 to 17) there were 58 stories over 272 episodes, with Dudley scoring 51 (234 episodes). An amazing body of work; and that’s just DOCTOR WHO, let alone BLAKE’S SEVEN, MOONBASE 3, TARGET, PAUL TEMPLE, THE TOMORROW PEOPLE, THE BROTHERS and many, many more. He started that period on DOCTOR WHO using a very small orchestra, moved into working entirely at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on EMS synthesizers for a year (assisted by Brian Hodgson), then added percussion, then back to a small band with Radiophonic synth overdubs, until his final few episodes where the synth became part of the band. Sadly, only two complete scores from this era survive. One is THE MIND OF EVIL, one of those EMS scores from 1971; the other is the one is this release, THE SUN MAKERS from 1977.
“The Visitation was the fourth adventure in the nineteenth season of Doctor Who, and in late 1981 I went over to Shepherds Bush for a meeting with the director Peter Moffatt to view the edited tape of episode one,” composer Paddy Kingsland said of scoring the series. “My Radiophonic Workshop colleague Dick Mills, who was providing electronic sound effects, was also present. We would decide whether each sequence would be better served by an emphasis on effects or music. It is easy to reach a state of affairs where the music and effects fight each other; by simplifying one or other at the outset saves later difficulties.
“The score is quite somber although there are elements of ‘yea verily’ type music to set some scenes, which have a lighter texture. I played all the parts, using the synthesizers of the day, Oberheim, Roland and ARP, adding bass guitar plus drums and cymbals… not to mention my trusty Fender Mustang guitar.”
For tracklist or to order, see silvascreen
