Prisoner or Prisoner Cell Block H as it’s known in the UK was an Australian serial drama which began filming at the end of 1978 and wound up Autumn 1986, creating 692 episodes which are still enjoyed by many and better still gain new fans every year, recently finding a legion of new young fans who discovered the show via the re-imagined ‘Wentworth’.
One of it’s many pleasures is the music. Initially it was planned as a 16 weekly episodes arc for new fish Karen Travers and Lynn Warner but proved so popular they quickly shifted to a twice weekly serial. William Motzing wrote a small number of dramatic cues to cover the basic range of moods and these were padded out with library cues. After a few episodes the library cues took over with Montzing’s pieces popping up on occasion, mostly when someone was leaving (cue ‘sad‘ cue).
Australian dramas (or soaps) went off air over Christmas and always ended on a juicy cliffhanger. Here they are.
1979: The Janet Dominguez Escape
Banged up for terrorism, Janet Dominguez does not play ball or adhere to the rules laid down by Governor Erica Davidson and the Department. She needs to break out. Young rebel Ros Coulson went to a respectable private girls school, funded by her single Mum who worked as a prostitute. Ros shot and killed mob matriarch Toni McNally who had killed her mother for having an affair with her husband. She too disliked the rules enforced by the screws as much as the prisoner code laid down by Top Dog Bea Smith.
Dominguez uses Ros to plan her escape, with Ros drugging the screws tea urn with pills smuggle inside a pen, laying the way for her terrorist chums to break in.
Johnny Pearson’s KPM dramatics feature heavily in moving the action along and Themes’ ‘Breath of Danger’ (recently reissued) sets the tone as the terrorists bust into Wentworth through the roof.
Finding a book in the library about the old Wentworth Holding the women discover there are a series of tunnels undeneath the prison grounds. Meanwhile Department visitor Stuart Gillespie is pushing the women and staff alike over the edge with his restrictions and increasingly stricter discipline. Judy Bryant has had enough and wants to bust out the joint. Others decide to join her and the Cinderella panto, performed for local school kids is the ideal time for ‘The Wentworth Six’ to make their escape
Goaded by Mari Winter, Sandy Edwards feels pressured to do something to satisfy the women who are frustrated and angry. Things spin out of control and we have a full scale riot on our hands.
Four series with nearly all of the incidental library music cues, in order in the best quality I could muster. I’ve enjoyed doing it and it feels good to have finally sorted them out, to have dug out some of those long term unknowns after all these years (thanks to Pumi & Shadok for help).
1: Breezin’ – Keith Mansfield
2: No Place to Go – John Cameron
3: Unknown 13 (The Bigger They Are) – Unknown
4: Prowl – Frank McDonald, Chris Rae & Gary Shury
5: Itchy Funk – Miki Antony, Barry Blue & Tom Parker
6: You’ve Got What It Takes – Alan Parker
7: Pendulum 1 – Steve Gray
8: Roughed Up – Steve Gray
9: Norfolk Fog – Vladimir Cosma & Michel Bernholc
10: Dissolving Images – Keith Mansfield
11: The Plot Link 1 – Brian Bennett
12: Cat and Mouse Filler 3 – Simon Park
13: Love Deluxe – Keith Mansfield
14: Undatum – Johnny Pearson
15: Happy Hearts – John Scott
16: Stalk – John Saunders
17: Gear Shift – Dave Richmond
18: Surveillance – Brian Bennett
19: Reggae Holiday – Irving Martin & Brian Dee
20: Unseen Danger – Steve Gray
21: Electra Streak – Irving Martin & Brian Dee
22: Trigger Finger – Frank McDonald & Chris Rae
23: Lazy Sunday – Duncan Lamont
24: Warm Feeling – Dave Richmond
25: The Intruder – Alan Hawkshaw
26: Cooking Along – Irving Martin & Brian Dee
27: Getting Close – Brian Bennett
28: Unknown 16 (Jack or Knave) – Unknown
29: Thug – Brian Bennett
30: Black Stockings – David Lindup
31: The Sweeney (Closing Theme) – Harry South
ONE (Series 1. Pt.1):
1: Wheel Man – Keith Papworth
2 : The Loner – Cy Payne
3 : Hogan’s Thing – Simon Haseley
4 : Pusher – Alan Parker
5 : Vice Grip – Steve Gray
6 : Suspense Chord No. 2 – Pete Willsher & Keith Chesher
7 : Sunny Laze – John Cameron
8 : Jay Walking – John Cameron
9 : Bora – Simon Haseley
10 : The Tension Mounts – Steve Gray
11 : The Sweeney Theme – Harry South
12 : Condition Red – Barry Stoller
13 : Underlying Expectancy – John Cameron
14 : Slayed – Danny Edwardson
15 : Movement One – Barry Morgan & Herbie Flowers
16 : Drama Seven – Barry Morgan & Herbie Flowers
17 : Acquital – David Lindup
18 : Riot – Johnny Pearson
19 : Silver Sand – Les Baxter
20 : The Action Scene – Alan Hawkshaw & Keith Mansfield
21 : Pop Piano – Johnny Pearson
22 : Gut – Alan Parker
23 : Hawkeye – Simon Park
24 : Touch Of Plush – John Cacavas
25 : Selections of Sullivan – Anthony Mawer
26 : Mighty Atom – Steve Gray
27 : Here Comes The Blues – Alan Hawkshaw
28 : Soft Pop Guit-Arp – Mat Camison
29 : Echo Four – Nachum Heiman
30 : Thousand Watt Work-Out – John Moran
31 : Nightwatch – Dave Richmond
32 : Closing I-Dent – Harry South
TWO (Series 1. Pt.2):
1 :Opening I-Dent -Harry South
2 :Prelude No 1 -Walter Warren
3 :Music A La Mozart -Wilfred Josephs
4 :The Loser -Phil May, Pete Tolson & John Povey
5 :Car-Test -Roland Kovac
6 :Hideout -Brian Bennett
7 :Heavy Lead -Dave Richmond
8 :Solid Pursuit -Clive Hicks
9 :Poor People -John Moran
10 :All I Want To Be -Danny Edwardson /Seamus Sell
11 :Make It With Me -John Moran
12 :Everyday Sunshine -Danny Edwardson
13 :Dream Machine -Danny Edwardson
14 :Hot And Heavy -Danny Edwardson
15 :Rebel -John Moran
16 :Piano Roller -Johnny Pearson
17 :Flashing Knives Stephen Gray
18 :L’Escadron Joyeux Vladimir Cosma
19 :Watchful Eye -James Clarke
20 :The World Is Ours -David Holland
21 :Vibes In Counterpoint -Bill LeSage
22 :The Apartment -Duncan Lamont
23 :The Net -Sam Spence
24 :Swallowtail -Brian Bennett
25 :Angel -Brian Bennett
26 :Who Dun It -Danny Edwardson
27 :Statosphere -Alan Hawkshaw
28 :Piano in Partyland -Marian McPartland
29 :Touch of Ivory -Marian McPartland
30 :Approach -Clive Hicks
31 :Celestial Cantabile -Don Harper, Delia Derbyshire & Nikki St. George
32 :Bulls Blood -Duncan Lamont
33 :Flying Squad -Brian Bennett
34 :Regrets -Steve Gray
THREE (Series 1. Pt.3):
1 :Drama One -Barry Morgan & Herbie Flowers
2 :Undergoove -Alan Hawkshaw
3 :Drama Two -Barry Morgan & Herbie Flowers
4 :Love In The City -John Stokes
5 :Andantino -Francois de Boisvallee
6 :Out and About -Johnny Pearson
7 :Little Big John -Simon Haseley
8 :Return To Summer -Reg Tilsley
9 :Dank Earth (Sting No 2) -Don Harper
10 :Sun Pretty -Anthony Mawer
11 :Our Song -Roger Webb
12 :Crime Club -Reg Tilsley
13 :Warm Hearts -Alan Hawkshaw
14 :Madelene -Alan Parker
15 :Dramatic Minutes -Vladimir Cosma & Michel Bernholc
16 :Theme Number 3 -Harry South
17 :Theme Number 1 -Harry South
18 :Theme Number 10 -Harry South
19 :Smooth And Cool -Nick Ingman
20 :Electric Bird -Simon Park
21 :Face at the Window -Jack Trombey
22 :Fast And Slow Shadows -Johnny Scott
23 :The Big Fuzz -Johnny Pearson
25 :Clammy Hand -Jack Trombey
25 :Heavy Truckin’ -Simon Park
26 :Underworld 3 -Reg Tilsley
FOUR (Series 2. Pt.1):
1 :Unknown 1 (Chalk and Cheese) -Unknown
2 :Peace -Peter Gosling
3 :Passing Glance M-arian McPartland
4 :Attack -Steve Gray
5 :Still in the Place -Gordon Grant
6 :The Grey Man Moves Version 2 -Gordon Grant
7 :Smoke Rings -Roger Webb
8 :Steam Heat -Barbara Moore
9 :Love Of A Lifetime -Keith Mansfield
10 :Unknown 2 (Supersnout) -Unknown
11 :No Man’s Land – Jack Arel
12 :Sideral Rhytmic – Jack Arel & Pierre Dutour
13 :Dangerous Connection Gordon Grant
14 :Vital Spiral -Gordon Grant
15 :Drama Special Pt 2 -Ralph Marco
16 :Drama Special Pt 1 -Ralph Marco
17 :Big Shot -Keith Mansfield
18 :Lazy Evening Blues -Alan Parker
19 :Unknown 4 (Big Brother) -Harry South?
20 :Contact -Peter Reno
21 :Low Tide -Ludovic Decosne & Pierre Daubresse
22 :Like a Song -Simon Park
23 :The Tail -Brian Bennett
24 :The Investigator -Brian Bennett
25 :Speed Trap -Brian Bennett
26 :Midnight Rhapsody -Alan Hawkshaw
27 :Robot Boogie -Steve Gray
28 :Battle -Duncan Lamont
FIVE (Series 2. Pt.2):
1 : Unknown 5 (Golden Fleece) – Unknown
2 : Caprice – Steve Gray
3 : Holy Mackerel! – Brian Bennett
4 : Sweet Talkin Rag – Sam Fonteyn
5 : The Message – Brian Bennett
6 : Echoes At Dusk – Clive Hicks
7 : Light Six – Barry Morgan & Herbie Flowers
8 : Country Blues – Duncan Lamont
9 : Two Minutes Precisely – Derek Scott
10 : Funky Pusher – Wally Asp
11 : Cumulus -Wally Asp
12 : Bodyguard – Keith Mansfield
13 : Romance – Alain Poinsot
14 : Fragrant Rose – David Lindup
15 : Stake Out -Duncan Lamont
16 : Still Strings -Gordon Grant
17 : Heart Pulse -Pete Willsher & Keith Chesher
18 : The Grey Man Moves Version 1 -Gordon Grant
19 : Gypsy Girl – Bruce Howard
20 : Jingle 1 – Benoit Kaufmann
21 : Ergon – Brian Bennett
22 : Screeching Chase – Gordon Grant
23 : The Journey – Duncan Lamont
24 : Keep On – Keith Mansfield
25 : Night Bass Chase – Gordon Grant
26 : Travelling to Meet – Gordon Grant
27 : Chasing the Face – Gordon Grant
Six (Series 3. Pt.1):
1: Time Out -Stanley Myers
2: Name Of The Game -Brian Bennett
3: Low Profile -Steve Gray
4: Dossier -Brian Bennett
5: Helicop -Alan Tew
6: Cymbass -Richard Eldwyn
7: Funky Express -Duncan Lamont
8: Limit Of Endurance -Mike Vickers
9: Occult -Eric Peters
10: Surf Rider -Mike Vickers
11: Epidemic -Ron Geesin
12: Voyager -Anthony Mawer
13: Spot and Chase -Gordon Grant
14: The Open Door -Steve Gray
15: The Heist -Brian Bennett
16: Suspect -Clive Hicks
17: Mademoiselle -Steve Gray
18: The Mating Game- Steve Gray
19: Ladybird -Brian Bennett
20: Running Again -Gordon Grant
21: Drama Six -Barry Morgan & Herbie Flowers
22: Confunktion -Dave Richmond
23: Unknown Theme Harry South
24: Suspense Is Killing Me -Dave Richmond
25: Sleeping Giant 2 -Keith Mansfield
Seven (Series 3. Pt.2):
1: Glittering Mud – Steve Gray
2: The Robbery – Wally Asp
3: Mexican Stripper – Syd Dale
4: Stoned – Clive Hicks
5: Strange Moons, New Suns – Duncan Lamont
6: Thermal – Wally Asp
7: Money Runner – Alan Tew
8: The Build Up – Alan Tew
9: The Prowler – Alan Tew
10: Encounter – Ted Sommer
11: Shark – David Holland
12: Corn Ball – Brian Bennett
13: Master Plan – Alan Tew
14: Journey to a Rainbow – David Holland
15: Mr. Smith’s Dream – Reg Tilsley
16: Making History – Simon Park
17: Frenzy – Ron Geesin
18: Unknown 7 (Sweet Smell of Succession) – Unknown
19: Running Man – Gordon Grant
20: Sax Appeal – Vladimir Cosma
21: Freak Out – John O’Brien-Docker
22: Rock Fugue – Alan Hawkshaw
Eight (Series 3. Pt.3):
1: Looking For ‘G’ Version
2 – Gordon Grant 2: Dirty River – Graham Preskett
3: Blue-Nosed Gopher – Graham Preskett
4: The Big Cat – Duncan Lamont
5: Redeye – Graham Preskett
6: Dixie Lady – Graham Preskett
7: Arrival at Z – Gordon Grant
8: Piano Nocturne – Marian McPartland
9: Passing Hours Suite – Clive Hicks
10: Gigue – Simon Munting
11: Moving Around – Gordon Grant
12: I Could Not Believe My Eyes – Phil May & Pete Tolson
13: Walk Away – John Povey
14: Blood On the Flowers – Preston James
15: Double Shuffle – Preston James
16: Maniac – Steve Gray
17: Line Of Enquiry – Brian Bennett
18: Errol’s Choice – Alan Hawkshaw
19: Jane – Simon Haseley
20: Let’s Walk – Tony Kinsey
21: Ride to the End – Gordon Grant
22: Scouring the Streets – Gordon Grant
23: Police Car – Dave Richmond
24: Simple Samba – Duncan Lamont
25: Industrial Waste – Dave Richmond
26: Elemental – Simon Benson
27: Unknown 9 (On the Run) – Unknown
28: Lonely Woman – Tony Kinsey
NINE (Series 4. Pt.1):
1: Montego Bay – Brian Bennett
2: Flying Fists – Brian Bennett
3: In Suspense – Brian Bennett
4: Maniac – Brian Bennett
5: Prowler – Brian Bennett
6: Heavy Traffic – Brian Bennett
7: Rock ‘N’ Roll Music – Bruce Howard
8: Nerve – Keith Mansfield
9: Unknown 10 (Drag Act) – Unknown
10: Poetry of Motion – Keith Mansfield
11: Way With Women – Jack Trombey
12: Lazy Day Dreamer – Peter Cox & Mike Moore
13: For Whom The Bell Tolls – Eric Allen & Frank Reidy
14: Closing In – Frank Reidy & Eric Allen
15: Thoughtful – Brian Bennett
16: Tension In The City – Miki Antony/ Tom Parker
17: Dank – Frank Ricotti & Les Hurdle
18: Productivity – Les Hurdle & Frank Ricotti
19: The Plot – Brian Bennett
20: Pulse Macabre – Irvin Martin & Brian Dee
21: Unknown 11 (Nightmare) – Unknown
22: Dissolves – Les Hurdle & Frank Ricotti
23: Funko – Irving Martin & Brian Dee
24: Earthy – Irving Martin & Brian Dee
25: Getaway – Brian Bennett
26: Funky Moog – Miki Antony, Barry Blue & Tom Parker
27: Costa Del Soul – Miki Antony, Barry Blue & Tom Parker
28: The Ballad of Bridie Magee – Patrick Campbell-Lyons
29: Routine Check – Brian Bennett
30: The Big One – Alan Tew
31: In Danger – Brian Bennett
32: Unknown 12 (Nightmare) – Unknown
33: Darkside – Brian Bennett
34: Stress – Francis Monkman
TEN (Series 4. Pt.2):
1: Breezin’ – Keith Mansfield
2: No Place to Go – John Cameron
3: Unknown 13 (The Bigger They Are) – Unknown
4: Prowl – Frank McDonald, Chris Rae & Gary Shury
5: Itchy Funk – Miki Antony, Barry Blue & Tom Parker
6: You’ve Got What It Takes – Alan Parker
7: Pendulum 1 – Steve Gray
8: Roughed Up – Steve Gray
9: Norfolk Fog – Vladimir Cosma & Michel Bernholc
10: Dissolving Images – Keith Mansfield
11: The Plot Link 1 – Brian Bennett
12: Cat and Mouse Filler 3 – Simon Park
13: Love Deluxe – Keith Mansfield
14: Undatum – Johnny Pearson
15: Happy Hearts – John Scott
16: Stalk – John Saunders
17: Gear Shift – Dave Richmond
18: Surveillance – Brian Bennett
19: Reggae Holiday – Irving Martin & Brian Dee
20: Unseen Danger – Steve Gray
21: Electra Streak – Irving Martin & Brian Dee
22: Trigger Finger – Frank McDonald & Chris Rae
23: Lazy Sunday – Duncan Lamont
24: Warm Feeling – Dave Richmond
25: The Intruder – Alan Hawkshaw
26: Cooking Along – Irving Martin & Brian Dee
27: Getting Close – Brian Bennett
28: Unknown 15 (Victims) – Unknown
29: Unknown 16 (Jack or Knave) – Unknown
30: Thug – Brian Bennett
31: Black Stockings – David Lindup
32: The Sweeney (Closing Theme) – Harry South
TOTALS 228 Tracks including the Harry South commissioned originals and the unknowns.
I’ve enjoyed this journey. Thanks for the company.
The final leg, Series Four. With Robin Phillips leaving KPM and setting up Bruton Music, this new library is featured heavily in the last series. With an established relationship with ITV, particular LP’s had been commissioned for ‘The Sweeney’ (KPM 1157 ‘The Hunter Suite’ and it’s sister release KPM 1168 ‘Drama’), which is why titles on the original cue sheets are different from those on the LP. They hadn’t yet appeared on any library LP and sometimes TV companies would ask for a specific type of music, agree they would use it extensively, bringing in money to the library and it’s composers with the agreement that the library wouldn’t release to other companies on vinyl for a set period.
Bruton inherited the Regency Line library and consequently put the best stuff out as a Bruton LP. This is why ‘Pulse Macabre’ appears in ‘The Sweeney’ before it had a Bruton release. It had been released on Regency Line, which is where the music editor must’ve sourced it.
I think Brian Bennett and Bruton must have done well out of ‘Drama Montage’- it was used a lot; not only in ‘The Sweeney’ but also in Famous Five, Prisoner Cell Block H, ‘Scream For Vengeance’, ‘Getting Even’ (aka ‘Tomcats’), a UK headache tablet advert, etc.
1: Montego Bay – Brian Bennett
2: Flying Fists – Brian Bennett
3: In Suspense – Brian Bennett
4: Maniac – Brian Bennett
5: Prowler – Brian Bennett
6: Heavy Traffic – Brian Bennett
7: Rock ‘N’ Roll Music – Bruce Howard
8: Nerve – Keith Mansfield
9: Unknown 10 (Drag Act) – Unknown
10: Poetry of Motion – Keith Mansfield
11: Way With Women – Jack Trombey
12: Lazy Day Dreamer – Peter Cox & Mike Moore
13: For Whom The Bell Tolls – Eric Allen & Frank Reidy
14: Closing In – Frank Reidy & Eric Allen
15: Thoughtful – Brian Bennett
16: Tension In The City – Miki Antony/ Tom Parker
17: Dank – Frank Ricotti & Les Hurdle
18: Productivity – Les Hurdle & Frank Ricotti
19: The Plot – Brian Bennett
20: Pulse Macabre – Irvin Martin & Brian Dee
21: Unknown 11 (Nightmare) – Unknown
22: Dissolves – Les Hurdle & Frank Ricotti
23: Funko – Irving Martin & Brian Dee
24: Earthy – Irving Martin & Brian Dee
25: Getaway – Brian Bennett
26: Funky Moog – Miki Antony, Barry Blue & Tom Parker
27: Costa Del Soul – Miki Antony, Barry Blue & Tom Parker
28: The Ballad of Bridie Magee – Patrick Campbell-Lyons
29: Routine Check – Brian Bennett
30: The Big One – Alan Tew
31: In Danger – Brian Bennett
32: Unknown 12 (Nightmare) – Unknown
33: Darkside – Brian Bennett
34: Stress – Francis Monkman
Series 3 draws to a close with these last five episodes. Series 3 has had some great music in it and as the fourth series approaches Bruton Music were setting up shop, giving the music editors more ‘Dramatic Moods for Fights, Action and Car Chases’ LPs to needle drop.
‘Dirty River’ and ‘Dixie Lady’ from the ‘Country Thing’ LP were also used for the soundtrack for once-seen-never-forgotten UK film ‘Diversions, directed by Derek Ford aho also gave us the elongated PIF ‘Take An Easy Ride’ (both were chock full of De Wolfe tracks). Those of you who’ve been following Retro-Teque from way back may remember I compiled soundtracks for both around 2010-11.
This volume has a couple of tracks from the great ‘Blood On the Flowers’ LP, from ‘Loving Arms’, including the fantastic and brooding title track.
1: Looking For ‘G’ Version 2 – Gordon Grant
2: Dirty River – Graham Preskett
3: Blue-Nosed Gopher – Graham Preskett
4: The Big Cat – Duncan Lamont
5: Redeye – Graham Preskett
6: Dixie Lady – Graham Preskett
7: Arrival at Z – Gordon Grant
8: Piano Nocturne – Marian McPartland
9: Passing Hours Suite – Clive Hicks
10: Gigue – Simon Munting
11: Moving Around – Gordon Grant
12: I Could Not Believe My Eyes – Phil May & Pete Tolson
13: Walk Away – John Povey
14: Blood On the Flowers – Preston James
15: Double Shuffle – Preston James
16: Maniac – Steve Gray
17: Line Of Enquiry – Brian Bennett
18: Errol’s Choice – Alan Hawkshaw
19: Jane – Simon Haseley
20: Let’s Walk – Tony Kinsey
21: Ride to the End – Gordon Grant
22: Scouring the Streets – Gordon Grant
23: Police Car – Dave Richmond
24: Simple Samba – Duncan Lamont
25: Industrial Waste – Dave Richmond
26: Elemental – Simon Benson
27: Unknown 9 (On the Run) – Unknown
28: Lonely Woman – Tony Kinsey
LINK updated 19/04/20 with ‘Gigue’ fixed – HEAR HERE!
Ready for Series 4, which incidentally should take us to about 300 individual tracks?!
Rolling on with Series Three and up next is the Seventh Volume (approaching 200 tracks so far).
1: Glittering Mud – Steve Gray
2: The Robbery – Wally Asp
3: Mexican Stripper – Syd Dale
4: Stoned – Clive Hicks
5: Strange Moons, New Suns – Duncan Lamont
6: Thermal – Wally Asp
7: Money Runner – Alan Tew
8: The Build Up – Alan Tew
9: The Prowler – Alan Tew
10: Encounter – Ted Sommer
11: Shark – David Holland
12: Corn Ball – Brian Bennett
13: Master Plan – Alan Tew
14: Journey to a Rainbow – David Holland
15: Mr. Smith’s Dream – Reg Tilsley
16: Making History – Simon Park
17: Frenzy – Ron Geesin
18: Unknown 7 (Sweet Smell of Succession) – Unknown
19: Running Man – Gordon Grant
20: Sax Appeal – Vladimir Cosma
21: Freak Out – John O’Brien-Docker
22: Rock Fugue – Alan Hawkshaw
‘Mexican Stripper’ had a skip and has been replaced with a new one HERE.
The two David Holland tracks I recorded from my LP but it’s a bit noisy so have replaced those two tracks as well.
I decided I’d re-arrange all my LPs and found some old print outs that map the history of how the music used in ‘Dawn of the Dead’ was discovered and shared. Here’s some of the stuff I can remember in a rough chronology.
In 1996-97 I bought a pile of library records (a big pile of 800). It included a very good run of De Wolfe LPs from around 1976 / DWS/LP 3300-ish. At that time I was looking for funky stuff, breaks, etc. as well as any cues from Prisoner Cell Block H that I was a huge fan of at the time.
It took months to go through these records as I was working full time and young so out a lot with friends. You can see my first notes in pencil (these records cost me about 6p each- I wasn’t bothered about writing all over them at the time!). You can see where I’ve written ‘D‘ or ‘DOTD‘ next to a track (or ‘P‘ for Prisoner).
I missed big tracks like ‘Mask of Death’ on this first marathon but with so many records stacked all over my bedroom floor I was doing a half second needle-drop on every track. I was spotting stuff from ‘Prisoner’ as well plus tons of other TV shows and films. It starts making your mind go a bit weird and you’re dreaming about doing it. I remember ‘Figment’, I initially recognised but didn’t know where from- I did think it was ‘Prisoner’ for a while and you can see I’ve written ‘Dawn of the Dead?‘.
I moved from my Mum’s house to a flat in this period in the mid-90’s and can remember which location I was in when finding different cues which helps roughly date things. I remember changing job in 1997 and this also helps me remember when I found a track. At this point I had never heard of anyone else finding a single Dawn track.
I found ‘Fugarock’ pretty quickly which I absolutely loved and I recognised ‘Telex’ on the same LP (Sounds Unusual- DWS/LP 3304). ‘Telex’ is instantly recognisable to UK fans as the Alpha Films logo, heard at the start of the print for the Intervision video releasefrom the early 80’s and one of the first films I rented as a youngster in this new world of VHS and Beta heaven.
I remember a year or three later (now in another flat so must have been 2000) trying to convince some dude on an online forum that the DOTD track was Derek Scott’s ‘Fugarock’ and he was having none of it and telling me it was something else. At that time short of phoning him up and playing it doen the phone we had to agree to disagree.
I had moved from cassettes to Mini Discs by now but didn’t know how to record stuff on to my PC so I couldn’t prove it to him.The ‘Sun High’ LP stuff I found pretty quickly. You can still see on the sleeve that I circled it and wrote ‘P?‘ (meaning ‘Might have been used in ‘Prisoner’). I was flicking through these records at such a rate I knew I recognised it but didn’t know where from at the time. It seems ridiculous now because other tracks on the same LP were used by Romero but I wasn’t thinking about it in that way and still didn’t know that much about how LPs were catalogued. I must have found ‘Spinechiller’ a bit later because I was in the flat. I picked out a random LP and started to run a bath. From the bathroom I heard the intro to ‘Mask of Death’ and was deliriously excited legging it into the front room to see what it was!
In this first batch I found nine LPs with Dawn cues on; those above and also the ‘Cosmogony’ LP, ‘Empty Horizons’, ‘World Power’… I can’t remember what else off hand. I know that when the Trunk compilation came out there was only ‘Dank Earth’ that I hadn’t found yet.
I had offers of lots of money to sell them (£1000 Canadian Dollars so about £70 per LP) but never did I’m glad to say.
In March 2001 Chris Stavrakis posted up a cue list on his website. It had been transcribed from hand written notes so included multiple errors (LPs were written down as 8056 instead of 3056, names were incorrect or incomplete, ‘Spinechiller’ was listed as 3309, not 3300, etc). I didn’t see it until October 2001 when I emailed him and said I had these nine records so could correct some of the errors and add some of the tracks that were missing- ‘Fugarock’, ‘Queka’, ‘Flossie’, etc weren’t on the original list along with some other really big titles.
Chris lived in Pittsburgh I think so had access to the source materials. I was in the UK where you could find the records so we made a pretty good team. Now I had a list of the records I started finding and buying them.
Check out this fax to Warren De Wolfe:
And a follow on one to order the records- note me correcting him that it is 8056 I want NOT 3056!!
As the records arrived I realised that the list was full of errors. There were a substantial number of tracks that were on the list but not actually used which was annoying at the time as I didn’t have a lot of money!
The list must have gone through multiple updates and at this time I hadn’t met anyone else who had found or had any of the cues. They were still extremely elusive.
Here’s the list with my handwritten additions, etc:
So many errors/ incorrect information on these!
Around this time I was swapping Mini Discs with a guy called Alan H in Australia. He had some of the Sylvester ones so I was able to verify or cross off more cues from his rips. This is how we did it in 2001- no online sharing and buying LPs from mailing lists before eBay really kicked in.
I sent Chris the tracks by mail and here’s an email from him on November 28th 2001, with more detail for the ‘Spinechiller’ LP:
I also faxed Warren De Wolfe about them releasing the tracks on CD before I moved in to my second flat so it would have been the late 90’s. He suggested |I find a publisher and get back to them. I didn’t have a clue where to start so forgot about it until the Trunk comp came out in 2004.
Finally some more handwritten stuff I found with me starting to list chronologically:
Sometime between 2001 and 2004 the Complete Soundtrack started selling on eBay, and this was the first time the tracks were ‘out there’ and readily available to a lot of people.
What’s particularly interesting is these incorrect lists. It would appear George Romero changed his mind and tried out various cues before the final cut. I don’t doubt that at some point ‘Once’, ‘Non Vibrato’, ‘Trumpet Requiem’, ‘Synchropulse’ etc were all used in some cut of the film and replaced with Goblin music or other library cues.
It gives an unseen snapshot into the history of a film loved by so many, not least me who as a young teen rented the Intervision video of DOTD from Radio Rentals (complete with Alpha Films logo and it’s ‘Telex’ cue from Derek Scott and the same LP that ‘Fugarock’, ‘Scarey I’ and ‘Scarey II’ are on) so many times and that soundtrack became emblazoned on my memory forever.
Second Sight release their mega Blu Ray set this year including a second disc of ‘Unreleased Library Music’. I wonder what will make it to the final list and what will be left out.
When I was 5 I sat cross-legged in Miss Blackwell’s class in the main assembly hall at my junior school watching the Schools programmes and remember vividly the credits for ‘Stop, Look, Listen’.
The theme tune to ‘My World’ stayed with me for years and when I bought a copy of ‘Happy Pastimes’ on Themes blind many years later I instantly recognised the music.
I was born in the year that News at Ten adopted a KPM track, ‘The Awakening’ as it’s theme tune and this music theme, along with ‘Mastermind’, ‘Dave Allen at Large’, ‘This is Your Life’ and may others filled my head with sounds that have stayed with me until now.
When i was 10 I was watching ‘Grange Hill’ and wondering why ‘Give Us a Clue’ on ITV had the same theme tune.
TV and music have always been important to me. At 10 I was recording onto cassette my favourite TV programmes and listening to them again and again. Consequently incidental music and themes found their way into my head more and more. To this end I can hear just a second or two of something and instantly it sparks in my brain as recognition.
When I was 15 videos were big. We had rented a video recorder from Radio Rentals in town in the pre-video shop days- no one could afford to buys one back then. The shop had only a handful of Intervision tapes and I soaked up Dawn of the Dead, Rabid, Shivers, Carrie, etc multiple times.
Why was I hearing the ‘News at Ten’ theme in the middle of ‘Beyond Atlantis’ and why was ‘Mastermind’ playing in ‘Delirium’?
In the middle of a video boom we could watch anything. All the horrors my big brother and sister had seen at the cinema and told me about. I was wagging school to watch ‘The Exorcist’ at my mates house and watching films that would have otherwise been forgotten forever if VHS & Betamax hadn’t saved their sorry asses.
When I was 20 I was at art college and as old cassettes came up for sale at car boots and markets I got more and more into video nasties and cheap exploitation films. I love these films. I was a big record collector; hip hop, house, funk, soul & jazz as well as film soundtracks. I started to record some of the music from the videos as there were no soundtracks ever released for these films. I’d listen to these on my two deck stereo in my room.
When I was 25, against my better judgement I found myself a huge fan of Australian soap drama ‘Prisoner Cell Block H’. I had a whole new bunch of friends which were in two camps really and both of these would come back from a club and watch Prisoner. Whichever bunch of friends I was with I couldn’t get away from it. I had labelled it as rubbish and never watched an episode, even though I was a massive fan of the Women In Prison genre.
I started to secretly like it. I had to back down as I had vehemently moaned about them making me watch that shit so many times. Then I started to love it and secretly video it to watch myself. I was hooked on it. And the music.
‘Prisoner’ was an hugely successful Australian drama aired between 1979 and 1986. It told the story of the inmates and officers of the women’s prison Wentworth Detention Centre. It broke barriers with storylines of rape, incest, lesbianism (daring at the time), hangings, murder, etc. They were banging out two hours a week so it was soap standard production but the whole thing pulled me in and I loved it. Murder, violence and death pretty regularly, fights and riots, women swearing and sticking it to the man. I was in.
My favourite cues:
Fugitive: Already familiar to me from ‘The Retriever’s I loved this. (@40 mins)
Industrial Sabotage: I was desperate to find this and it took a while. KPM all along (of course it was). (@36 mins)
‘Prisoner’ used library music through it’s entire run of eight years and 692 episodes, using well over 1, 400 different library tracks to help tell it’s story. Initially producers asked composer William Montzing to score some music for a 16 part series and these can be heard in the early episodes but once it ignited and they want to long running serial the use of library cues became the norm.
From episode 1, as drug addicted Sally Lee is chased down the corridors by screws Meg Jackson and ‘Vinegar Tits’ Vera Bennett with Brian Bennett’s ‘The Plot’ bursting out of our TV speakers to the final notes of Richard Harvey’s ‘Four Winds’ as the gate finally closes in episode 692. Bruton and partularly KPM were used heavily by the music editors on the show. De Wolfe were used in the middle period and labels like Sonoton, Sound Stage, Selected Sound, Intersound, Parry, Golden Ring and two tracks from Conroy made up the Wentworth playlist.
I noticed that I recognised some of the music from ‘Rabid’, ‘Shiver’s, ‘Dawn of the Dead’, ‘Scream For Vengeance’. ‘The Retriever’s’, ‘Delirium’, ‘Getting Even’, ‘Chocky’, the ‘Solpadeine’ advert, ‘The Sweeney’, ‘Columbo’, ‘Deep Throat’, ‘Shoestring’, ‘Girls On Top’, ‘The Hanged Man’, ‘The Famous Five’, etc, etc. I had these on cassette and listened to them in my bedroom.
Around this time I was making short films (usually a killer on the loose) with my mates. I had an on-the-shoulder VHS camcorder that recorded directly on to a full sized VHS cassette. We filmed things chronologically and edited in camera. We would go back to mine and while they sat drinking tea I would put music on it and then we’d piss oursleves laughing at the finished product. The music I used was from soundtracks (‘Carrie’ bucket scene sped up) or some track recorded from ‘Prisoner’ or an exploitation or horror film. I still had no idea what a library track was at this point even though they were all around me.
Alongside this CD had come out and I was buying lots of soundtrack type stuff- ‘Easy Tempo’ compilations, ‘Dusty Fingers’, ‘Mood Mosaic’, etc. I was heavily into obscure films and buying imported magazines and fanzines. I was importing Italian soundtracks left and right and buying all the Lucertola Media and Crippled Dick CDs, one of which was the superb ‘3 Films By Jess Franco’ of which an edited down version became the much celebrated ‘Vampyros Lesbos’ CD.
When the ‘Sound Gallery’ came out it was another compilation in the vein I loved and this was really the start of my library music experience. Here was a stream of KPM tracks that I hadn’t yet linked to all this incidental stuff I was always listening to.
Library music came to me in big in two strands.
A ‘Prisoner’ fan had a couple of CDs that had some ‘Prisoner’ music on and I had to have them. I so wanted to have the tracks without the bits of dialogue, the squeak of a door or the sound of car doors slamming over them. I found out they were Bruton CDs from Zomba music so I got on the phone and got some CDs sent to me.
I was amazed.
Track after track I recognised not only music from ‘Prisoner’ but also from films, TV shows and adverts. It might seem silly to you now but this was pre-internet and I had no conception that these had once been records or how they’d been distributed. A woman at Bruton told me that these CD compilations were of hand picked tracks that they felt still might have commercial appeal (at that time in the 90’s). They weren’t ‘archive’ releases but more a chance to get a bit of money out of old stock tracks I guess. Anyway I loved them.
By the time I got ‘Drama/Crime’ and heard what I didn’t yet know was BRJ 2 ‘Drama Montage’ I was ecstatic. Here they were; so many of the tracks I had craved for years in crisp CD quality: ‘The Plot’, ‘In Danger’ (used in ‘Prisoner’ and ‘Scream For Vengeance’) and so many more.
At around the same time my fellow funk collector mate heard a KPM library LP played at a London record fair and couldn’t believe what he heard. The Mohawks ‘The Champ’ had been a massive record for us for years at all the clubs we went to and we knew now that The Mohawks were in fact a crew of studio session musicians recording for labels like KPM.
He hit gold when a mate of ours spotted an ad in our local paper; an old gentleman selling a load of KPM records. My mate had a car so went and picked up 100+ LPs for £20, including both Big Beats, the Flamboyant Themes, etc, etc.
I went around his house and we went through them. The geek in me was creaming his Levi Sta-press as LP after LP delivered the goods. Beats, breaks, basslines, organ grooves, killer riffs. I wanted to kill him I was so jealous.
Not only this but my head for a tune was buzzing. He’ was dropping the needle and I was hearing ‘News at Ten’, ‘Grange Hill’, ‘Mary, Mungo and Midge’, ‘Noseybonk’, ‘Vision-On’, music from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, ‘Torso’, ‘Mastermind’, ‘Delirium’, ‘Beyond Atlantis’, etc, etc, etc
And ‘Riot’ that I loved from ‘Prisoner’ and ‘The Sweeney’.
I needed some bargaining power to get my mitts on this record that had ‘Riot’ on it.
By the time the ‘Blow Up: Exclusive Blend’ was out in the mid-90’s I already had most of the tracks on cassettes form Paul’s records and was on the hunt for library records of my own. I spent a good twenty years of my life in record shops. Everyone hated going anywhere with me because I had to go through everything if i found a record shop or second hand shop.
I asked at a big record shop at a local town and the woman said her landlord had offered her a pile of these and she’d turned them down. She gave me his number so my mate Emma drove me to where he worked and there sat a huge pile of records. 800+
He wanted £130 for them but I felt disappointed as I went through- none of the killer hammond organ green sleeved KPMs I was looking for. It was just a pile of Bruton, De Wolfe, Rouge, Hudson, Chappell, Firstcom, Sonoton, etc. My heart sank but I bought them anyway thinking there might be something good in there. At this time it was all about the 60’s kitsch, funky sound- no one was chasing head nodding drama beats.
I got home and started ploughing through them. It sounds stupid but i hadn’t really put two and two together and wasn’t expecting to find all the ‘Prisoner’ tracks I’d wanted but that’s what happened. After my first needle-drop stint I had found 150 ‘Prisoner’ incidental tracks over a couple of days and many more over the months and years (some tracks don’t jump out or are too hard to spot when needle dropping so many in one go and I found tracks I’d wanted for years were in this stash but remained unfound for a decade or more!). This was way before YouTube when I only knew one person who had ever found a ‘Prisoner’ track. He had heard some music on a reconstruction of the Carl Bridgewater murder and contacted the production company to see what it was. It was ‘Breaking Out’ from Themes International; initially on LP TIM 1037 ‘Street Level’ but more recently on one of KPMs archival ’60’s & 70’s’ CD releases. I had similarly found ‘Funky Feeling’ from the Bruton BRH 04- ‘Disco Happening’ LP, by calling ITV to ask about the disco music I heard in a ‘Girls On Top’ episode that I’d also heard loads in ‘Prisoner’. I was calling old TV studios, hospitals and the labels themselves trying to get old records. Someone at KPM told me they had skipped ‘several tons’ of vinyl… doesn’t bear thinking about.
I was jumping for joy as a track I LOVED was there amongst the piles and piles of records. ‘Computer Crime’ was a ‘Prisoner’ standard, used multiple times over the years, most notably during a big fight in the 1982 cliffhanger ‘fire’ episode. It had been worth £130.
It was in this haul where I first heard the ‘Dawn of the Dead’ cues too. I found nine or ten LP’s that had music Romero used in this film I loved and had seen again and again. I even faxed De Wolfe about them releasing a soundtrack and they suggested I find a publisher and get back to them. I wish I had as years later the music did get a CD release and do really well. I got offered a lot of money for these DOTD records but kept hold of them. I hooked up with Chris in Pittsburgh via on online forum. He had a handwritten cue sheet for DOTD and between this and my records were able to start putting the soundtrack together. The cue sheet had loads of errors which resulted in me buying a few records (directly from De Wolfe at £18 each at the time) to find there was no Dawn tracks on them. I think Romero had chopped and changed the soundtrack a few times in post production and it gives a flavour of tracks he was considering and threw out. I recorded the tracks and sent to Chris and he compiled a homemade compilation which soon after started being sold online at £25 per CD.
‘Mask of Death’ also appears in episode 375 of ‘Prisoner’! (@7 mins)
Every time I went back I found more and more good stuff. I started listening to the LPs in their own right. The BRI series, many of the De Wolfe LPs I enjoyed having on in the background and I started to record the best stuff on to cassettes.
As MiniDisc took over I was starting to find out where to find records and making MiniDisc compilations and playing them as I walked to and from work. I found ‘Drama Montage’ 1 and 2 at £40 each on a website in the early pre-eBay days of the internet. It seems like a massive amount to pay back then but I had to have them to see what other tracks were on there. I started to think like a music editor and was buying stuff based in the track descriptions or anything that sounded remotely dramatic or suspensey.
At this time I was buying 80’s drama and synth stuff for 50p because people were looking for the killer funk stuff. My mate rightly predicted that all the stuff I was into might become collectable in a few years and people would be chasing it and that’s what happened. Once beat makers and producers started using library music in their tracks people were ravenous for it. I was able to spot obscure library cues in hip hop tracks only because they were so familiar to me from TV shows.
I was buying records from De Wolfe directly (£18) and I bought a copy of every Amphonic for £2.50 each from them directly. Erica Dale found the last ‘Small Group and Synthesizer’ for me behind a large plant pot in their offices, after initially saying every copy had gone.
At the time the Gap ad was using ‘Wild Elephants’ from that LP.
The labels themselves created strews of Kitsch archive CD releases and this led to many commercial released CDs too. I started getting large amounts of records and focused mainly on KPM, Bruton and De Wolfe. I bought loads of records at 50p or a £1 and KPM in particular I had many a small haul of them for a pound a pop. No one wanted the 80’s ones seemingly.
In March 2010, now in my 40’s I started a blog, the first retro-teque and started sharing rips of the records I had. My recordings were awful, flat compressed 128kbps flies but I didn’t know how to do anything else. Back then we were just happy to hear it. I made a load of compilations collating all this stuff I had been listening to for years.
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I also, alongside this had a website detailing the ‘Prisoner’ music. http://www.prisonermusiccues.com or something similar. I got bored of doing both and in November 2012 I scrapped them and started a small message forum/ board for library music. At the time I was bouncing between the-breaks, verygoodplus (formerly vinylvultures), ‘The Sweeney’ board, the ‘Prisoner’ board and I wanted one place where I could post an ID request or a shout out for a particular track. I had intended to change the name later and did suggest themoodcreators but people said stick with librarymusicthemes as it did what it said on the tin.
I continue to buy vinyl but on smaller scale. The last haul was only a couple of years back. 180 records for £30 (I did have to drive miles to collect them though). The pictures didn’t look like much but I took a punt.
And what a punt it was.
There is still some good shit out there. This haul bought me so close to a complete KPM set so I just had to go for it. Ever the completest.
The music forum has grown and I never imagined there were 100’s of people who like this stuff. I had only imagined a place with about 30 people who I probably already knew but now with one place to go instead of many.
At 50, I continue to love and learn more about library music. New fans keep coming out of the woodwork and I keep finding new tunes.
At 60, maybe I’ll have a full run of De Wolfes and that elusive Bruton catalogue I wished I’d bought when it came on eBay………
1 Mini Link 11 – Johnny Pearson 2 The Awakening – Johnny Pearson 3 Cock Of The Roost – D. Jackson 4 A Hippo Called Hubert – Joe Griffiths 5 Mini Movement – Johnny Pearson 6 Glad Gadabout – Johnny Scott 7 Goofy – Cliff John 8 The Free Life – Alan Parker 9 Brass Monkey – John Cameron 10 Chicken Man – Alan Hawkshaw 11 Mini Link 10 – Johnny Pearson 12 The Good Word – Johnny Scott 13 Gala Performance – Laurie Johnson 14 Approaching Menace – Neil Richardson 15 Studio 69 – Alan Hawkshaw 16 Motivation – Alan Parker 17 Darkside – Brian Bennett 18 Summer’s Coming – Keith Mansfield 19 Time Zero – Hervé Roy 20 Mask of Death – Jack Trombey 21 Pop March – Johnny Pearson 22 In Danger – Brian Bennett 23 Unease – David Lindup 24 Funky Sunrise – Duncan Lamont 25 The Plot – Brian Bennett 26 Funky Feeling – Miki Antony/Barry Blue/Tom Parker 27 Riot – Johnny Pearson 28 Industrial Sabotage – Johnny Pearson 29 Fugitive – Johnny Pearson 30 Breaking Out – Ray Russell 31 Computer Crime – George Fenton/ Ken Freeman 32 The Four Winds – Richard Harvey 33 Life Of Leisure – Keith Mansfield 34 Wild Elephants – James Clarke
Prisoner or Prisoner Cell Block H as it’s known in the UK was an Australian serial drama which began filming at the end of 1978 and wound up Autumn 1986, creating 692 episodes which are still enjoyed by many and better still gain new fans every year, recently finding a legion of new young fans who discovered the show via the re-imagined ‘Wentworth’.
Johnny Pearson’s KPM dramatics feature heavily in moving the action along and Themes’ ‘Breath of Danger’ (recently reissued) sets the tone as the terrorists bust into Wentworth through the roof.
This is it. It’s over. We are through!
Series 3 draws to a close with these last five episodes. Series 3 has had some great music in it and as the fourth series approaches Bruton Music were setting up shop, giving the music editors more ‘Dramatic Moods for Fights, Action and Car Chases’ LPs to needle drop.
I decided I’d re-arrange all my LPs and found some old print outs that map the history of how the music used in ‘Dawn of the Dead’ was discovered and shared. Here’s some of the stuff I can remember in a rough chronology.
I moved from my Mum’s house to a flat in this period in the mid-90’s and can remember which location I was in when finding different cues which helps roughly date things. I remember changing job in 1997 and this also helps me remember when I found a track. At this point I had never heard of anyone else finding a single Dawn track.
Chris lived in Pittsburgh I think so had access to the source materials. I was in the UK where you could find the records so we made a pretty good team. Now I had a list of the records I started finding and buying them.
In March 2010, now in my 40’s I started a blog, the first retro-teque and started sharing rips of the records I had. My recordings were awful, flat compressed 128kbps flies but I didn’t know how to do anything else. Back then we were just happy to hear it. I made a load of compilations collating all this stuff I had been listening to for years.
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