Thoughts on "Escape From Television"?


SonnyCrockettBurnett01

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I personally LOVE the album, but I do wish Jan would've provided new material that had a Vice sound to it... Favorite songs off the album: "Crockett's Theme""Last Flight""Night Talk""Miami Vice Theme""Rico's Blues""Theresa""Rum Cay". Least favorite songs: "Columbia""Forever Tonight""The Search" (From "The Trial And The Search").What do you guys think?[ATTACH=CONFIG]7019[/ATTACH]

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Fantastic album but it should've been a 2 disc set. Even though it was released early in the shows 5 year run there were way too many popular cues that were missing.

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Fantastic album but it should've been a 2 disc set. Even though it was released early in the shows 5 year run there were way too many popular cues that were missing.

My feelings as well.I guess we're lucky we got what we got!
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Fantastic album definitely and a must have for a VICE fan. Own the CD version."Crockett's Theme", "Miami Vice Theme" plus "Tubbs and Valerie" are my favorite tracks.:cool:

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It's a great album, unless you happen to own The Complete Collection in which case it's basically redundant. Still, the latter's ridiculously expensive and it doesn't have the two or three non-Miami Vice tracks from Escape... on it.

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Its a great album, even the cover is great!I agree on the 2 disk thing (Although When released it was on record, cassette & cd)I wish the extended versions of these tracks where on itE.G.Miami Vice ThemeCrocketts ThemeTubbs and valerie (The track I do not have but want badly) Very rare find these days

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

It's a one of a kind album and one of the greatest instrumental synthesizer albums ever released. Jan takes the themes he developed from the show and works them into 3-4 minute structured songs, almost like radio pop. Except they are dark, moody, vibrant, lush, dreamy...he covers a variety of textures that elicit a vast range of emotions. The non-MV tracks could easily fit into MV or (and in fact pieces were used) or exist on their own merit. Snapshots was almost as good too, in my opinion, but is sadly forgotten. The fact that Miami Vice was able to inspire so much creativity in visual editing, clothing, and music...is really humbling. TV soundtracks were common then...but a soundtrack consisting solely of exclusive instrumental songs inspired by and from the show...was rare then and rare now.

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I think for it's time, it was a decent effort.  Clearly he could've added more cues and/or rare stuff, like "Trudy's Theme." 

Edited by mvnyc
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I think for it's time, it was a decent effort.  Clearly he could've added more cues and/or rare stuff, like "Trudy's Theme." 

 

 

Easily could have added more I agree  :D  :)

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Judging by the way Jan transformed the cues into structured songs for the album, I doubt he wanted to load the album up with too much stuff, as much as it pains us. It wouldn't have been an album anymore. And he probably knew he'd have the opportunity to release more down the road. just some speculation.

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  • 2 months later...

I love "Before the Storm". I feel like its a song that would be perfect to use in a C+T video montage. Good times, trying times and general vice moments (nothing too dark).

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"Escape from Televison" was a pretty nice album. I bought it the first time when I was 13, on cassette, right when it first came out. It was pretty cool to have a piece of Miami Vice music that I could listen to over and over again.

I think Jan Hammer showed with this album that he was a huge part of what made Miami Vice such a cool show. Musicians who can throw together a few chords and a few hooks on two or three synthesizers are a dime a dozen, and were already a dime a dozen back then. But he made the show come alive, and his themes were so good that you enjoyed listening to them over and over again. Just think that "Crockett's Theme" was a Europe-wide top 10 hit in 1987. And "Escape from Television" really was a collection of some of the best and most memorable themes.

And when you listen to most instrumental albums of the time, for example movie soundtracks by relatively unknown musicians, their stuff ist just forgettable and doesn't work outside of  the film that they were written for. Hans Zimmer is maybe an exception, I like the Rain Man soundtrack and still enjoy listening to "Leaving Wallbrook", a.k.a. the "Rain Man Theme". Hans Zimmer was almost equally skilled with his Fairlight as Jan Hammer... but in the end, nobody comes close to Jan Hammer's works, and every one of his "Vice" related albums, whether it's "Escape from Television", "Snapshots", or "The Complete Collection", are simply among the best works of instrumental theme music that were ever produced.

I also really like the track "Made For Each Other" which he did just a few years ago with Junkie XL. It's just as "crisp" as haunting as all his other stuff. So much so that I've made my ringtone out of that track :cool:

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Some of my favorite moments in life are associated with driving around listening to that album. 

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vor 41 Minuten schrieb nofretz:

Some of my favorite moments in life are associated with driving around listening to that album. 

Definitely.

I've got a whole "Jan Hammer" folder on my SD card that goes into my car radio.

At the moment, what I like the most is when I happen to be driving through downtown here at night, and then I put "Evan" on and turn it up... that track has just something about it, it just captures the essence of that nighttime urban atmosphere.

Oh and I also like listening to the main theme from "Phil the Shill". That's another track that just captures that "nighttime urban" mood for me.

I've also got a folder with select music from the episodes on that SD card... most of it tracks that weren't on any of the MV albums... like "Voices" by Russ Ballard, or "Call it Love" by Yello. Oh, and "Caribbean Queen", when it's 85 degrees outside and I'm driving with  the windows down... ;)

 

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21 hours ago, nofretz said:

Some of my favorite moments in life are associated with driving around listening to that album. 

Yes nice album 

even "Before the Storm " sounds great which didn't appear till late 1987 in Miami Vice :D

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vor 18 Stunden schrieb Matt5:

Yes nice album 

even "Before the Storm " sounds great which didn't appear till late 1987 in Miami Vice 

What's funny is that both "Before the Storm" and "Forever Tonight" are mentioned in the original 1987 sleeve notes of "Escape From Television" as NOT being from any of the episodes. "Forever Tonight" made it into the season 4 episode "Child's Play"... that decision was probably made after the album was released. It came out in spring of 1987 IIRC, and filming for season four didn't start until late summer.

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On 7/6/2016 at 6:53 AM, Daytona74 said:

What's funny is that both "Before the Storm" and "Forever Tonight" are mentioned in the original 1987 sleeve notes of "Escape From Television" as NOT being from any of the episodes. "Forever Tonight" made it into the season 4 episode "Child's Play"... that decision was probably made after the album was released. It came out in spring of 1987 IIRC, and filming for season four didn't start until late summer.

That's very interesting, really. I've always wondered if Jan Hammer during the 4th Season thought like "If i just could find a scene for these 2... it would give an additional meaning to the record". I am glad he did it. I just love the teaser of Child's Play. There's a kind of excitement and tension on "Forever Tonight" that is just so right for that scene. 

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To be very honest, I personally think that "Forever Tonight" and "Before the Storm" are both somewhat unremarkable tracks. Given Jan Hammer's usual level of musical genius.

Maybe Jan Hammer included them on the album to show that he could do other things besides write amazing score music for Miami Vice. But I would probably have liked it better to hear another two familiar scores from the series.

That's kind of why I eagerly bought both "Snapshots" and "The Complete Collection" almost the day they came out. 

Also, have you guys listened to the Secret Admirer soundtrack? One of Jan Hammer's side projects from 1985... 

 

 

Edited by Daytona74
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