Superman has gone from comic book, to the original TV show in the 50's to a series of increasingly dire movies but was given a new lease of life in the TV series which starred the sexy duo of Terry Hatcher and Dean Cain as Lois and Clark. Of all the incarnations that I've seen, I actually felt that apart from the first couple of movies, this was the most successful segment in the Superman franchise to date. It had a nice balance between action, some pretty nifty villains as well as the wonderful will they/won't they relationship between Clark, Superman and Lois. Of course when Lois and Clark/Superman finally get it together it rather last the on/off charm and went off the boil somewhat. I suppose after all that waiting, it was always going to be a disappointment.
John Williams' Superman concert march embodies both the heroic patriotism and the innocence of the two person love triangle in his gorgeous love theme. Even Jerry Goldsmith's efforts with Supergirl didn't quite capture the spirit so perfectly. I was pleasantly surprised at how good Jay Gruska's theme actually was. While it was never going to compete with Williams' effort, it is suitably heroic, tuneful and reasonably memorable; certainly a million times better than many US TV themes on similar big budget shows. It wasn't really used extensively during heroic moments, but was just hinted at from time to time. I guess you can't play the theme every time something heroic happens in a weekly TV show, it would just become tiresome.
This album isn't from one episode in particular, but I think was sequenced as a very extended suit. All the tracks are (I assume) appropriately named so fans will probably have a pretty good idea which track is from which episode. As all the music is composed by Gruska there is a good stylistic continuity which would have been lost with different composers. There are of course action segments such as The Mothership and The Final Battle which are bright and brassy with occasional hints of the main theme. As the romantic angle takes a much more prominent role in this incarnation, there are of course numerous more intimate sections. Unlike Williams' sweeping romanticism, Jay Gruska's romantic music is more gentle jazz, mainly featuring saxophone and piano. Anyone who has watched the series will undoubtedly recall the way that pretty much every episode ended with a playful piano riff (although these are strangely short in supply). Other more tender moments such as Superman Says Goodbye feature piano and strings, which if not exactly an original concept, does the job perfectly well.
A couple more unlikely cues are also included, most notably Lois' Big Band and Clark's Salsa which are short, but great fun. Rounding out the album is what could have been a nice symphonic rendition of the main theme, but unfortunately it is a pretty awful pop remix that is just tedious and doesn't work at all. It seems that no matter how hard anyone tries, it is almost impossible to produce good extended versions of TV themes. I suppose they are, by nature, short and to the point pieces of music and the extension ruins the overall effect.
This is neither the best nor the worst in TV music. It does have enough charm to make it several notches above typical television music and the fact that there is a much better than average diversity in style, moving from action, to romance to music for the criminally insane. The decision not to feature music from just one episode or to attempt to just provide suits was almost certainly a good one as it just allows the music to bubble along without the feeling that every two minutes we're moving to a new episode. I do wonder if the music will be exactly what one might expect since it generally features cues that are perhaps slightly different to the normal underscore. Of course endless piano riffs would certainly become tiresome and so while it means the album selections are a little unexpected, this is probably for the best. Enjoyable though it is, it possibly doesn't have the longevity that it should, but it's certainly worth a listen and fans of the show will probably love it.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 57:38