Not being of the era of the original Mission: Impossible, I can't say that I'm greatly familiar with the show, although I have seen a handful of episodes which I mostly enjoyed. Certainly, some of the missions the writers came up with were most ingenious, albeit the kind of thing that only writers of a TV show could come up with. This album provides a nice sampling of music from both the original incarnation and a re-invention of the show that happened in 1988 - something that I can't say I was actually aware of. The first half of the album is thus devoted to the music of Lalo Schifrin and the second selection to composer John E Davis who was brought in to score the new version. Most of the selections from particular episodes are short, but the music all flows together quite well; this isn't exactly through composed underscore and serves to merely enhance the atmosphere of the show rather than provide a dramatic narrative thrust.
Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme is rightly revered and hugely famous and certainly the most famous TV theme ever composed in 5/4 time - the off kilter and memorable rhythm being perhaps why it is so indelible. The theme is presented in several different versions that no doubt evolved for different seasons of the show. The second most important aspect of the show, musically, was The Plot which serves as the primary motif in the underscore proper. It should be noted that the original shows didn't really have wall to wall action and were far more suspenseful than action packed. It is perhaps this aspect that director John Woo should have considered before filling the second movie version of the show with wall to wall guns and fist fights all done as some kind of weird ballet. Schifrin's music is of course very much of the era, in the same way that John Barry's Bond music sums up the jazzy and sophisticated world of spies the 1960's seemed to offer.
From track 17 onwards we are into the updated version presented in 1988, which was evidently short lived and judging by some of the photographs preferred to fill its air time with blandly handsome actors, rather than the more mature, but far more sophisticated ensemble who populated the original. When someone like Lalo Schifrin writes such memorable music, it would take a pretty good composer to effortlessly update it. Danny Elfman did an outstanding job on the first movie, but sadly John E Davis offers little more than a fairly standard 80's TV thriller style cues. The sophistication and style of Schifrin's music is replaced with a synthesized, disco type sound (think Bill Conti's For Your Eyes Only). It is not overtly dreadful, but pretty insipid when played side by side with the originals. Schifrin's music might not have been hugely dramatic, but it was very stylish and gave the show a sophistication that it was unlikely to achieve on its own. Davis' music comes across as being compitent and functional.
The album is rounded out by an interview with Peter Graves which is probably passably interesting for fans of the show and followed by a live performance of a Mission: Impossible suite by the Israeli Philharmonic, conducted by Schifrin. While this seems like a good idea, the sound quality is pretty dreadful, although the performance isn't bad by any means. As with Star Trek or any cult TV show, fans will likely love every minute of it. Well, they are likely to love every minute of Schifrin's efforts. His music is certainly entertaining and funky, but I wouldn't really want to subject myself to Davis' music more than once. The liner notes provide some background on both composers, but little information about the show itself. A nicely produced album, although dedicating the entire running time to Schifrin wouldn't have been a bad idea. However, there's about enough variety to sustain interest (in the first half at least) and despite the age of some of the older recordings, with pretty sharp and hiss free sound.
Rating ~ 