Requests

Surprise Surprise (1992)

(August 2020)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
TA
Tao
So the only way this track is going to surface is if it comes from Ray Monk, but as most have mentioned - he's not forthcoming with this works.

It's a great shame with tracks like this that are essentially lost to the sands of time.
RO
robharrison

Central was quite "good" at this, having lost all the music beds for Bullseye at some point after the show finished, so Bullseye 2006 had to remake pretty all the musical assets which are heavily based on the original. Same thing happened with Bob Holness Blockbusters, they lost the original music dub to that as well, so it only exists as such on the episodes and there is no clean copy without the "and now please welcome the host of Blockbusters" voiceover.


Central may have lost the tapes Neil but trust me they are in the hands of serious collectors and composers. I know for a fact as I was once treated to a barage of old gameshow music direct from the master tapes at a studio a few years ago now. I heard the original tapes of Blockbusters, Bullseye, FamilyFortunes, TPIR, 3-2-1, BobsFullHouse, GodenShot to name just a few, i couldn't believe they all still existed and in glorious stereo too!
I remember saying to him some people would kill for these but he was ever so protective of them, I was frisked on entering and leaving the room lol
Jokes aside, I'm just sharing this with you to put a stop to all the crazy ideas people have about tapes being destroyed, lost or thrown in a skip years ago...they're really not!
Last edited by robharrison on 3 September 2020 7:13pm
TA
Tao

I remember saying to him some people would kill for these but he was ever so protective of them


I believe it - and it's insane that people are so protective of this stuff. Ultimately - it's music, and people get enjoyment out of listening to it. The part that I struggle with is that some of these serious collectors derive their own enjoyment from the "I have it, but you don't" aspect. Not saying that's the case with everyone -- but it happens quite a bit.

Whenever I contact composers myself, I always offer to pay for a copy of the works I'm requesting (and pay well, too) -- they don't create for free; and I don't expect them to hand over their work for free. Most ask me to make a donation to charity, and I do.

The most frustrating scenarios are composers who arranged tracks for game shows (or other TV productions) which haven't aired for many years, in some case decades, and the works are essentially lost to the sands of time. It's a great shame they're not available to purchase like every other entertainment medium. Licenses and all at play, yadda yadda, I get it. Just speaking out loud Smile
Last edited by Tao on 3 September 2020 11:39pm
NB
NicB1971

Central was quite "good" at this, having lost all the music beds for Bullseye at some point after the show finished, so Bullseye 2006 had to remake pretty all the musical assets which are heavily based on the original. Same thing happened with Bob Holness Blockbusters, they lost the original music dub to that as well, so it only exists as such on the episodes and there is no clean copy without the "and now please welcome the host of Blockbusters" voiceover.


Central may have lost the tapes Neil but trust me they are in the hands of serious collectors and composers. I know for a fact as I was once treated to a barage of old gameshow music direct from the master tapes at a studio a few years ago now. I heard the original tapes of Blockbusters, Bullseye, FamilyFortunes, TPIR, 3-2-1, BobsFullHouse, GodenShot to name just a few, i couldn't believe they all still existed and in glorious stereo too!
I remember saying to him some people would kill for these but he was ever so protective of them, I was frisked on entering and leaving the room lol
Jokes aside, I'm just sharing this with you to put a stop to all the crazy ideas people have about tapes being destroyed, lost or thrown in a skip years ago...they're really not!


This confirms what I had been told from a reliable source at Central who joked that certain tapes had miraculously grown legs and gone walkies into the boot of someone's car. The "missing" tapes included the Blockbusters intro, outros, and stings; and the brilliant Jack Parnell's Family Fortunes theme and stings, plus a few others including Bullseye. I could be wrong but I think John Patrick had his own copies as head of music at Central; unlike Ed Welch because his Blockbusters (Quiz Wizard) theme had been re-recorded by Central and the orchestral arrangement we are familiar with was significantly different (and far superior) to the original synthesised version floating around on YT I'll stand corrected but wasn't Quiz Wizard re-recorded in stereo in 1991/2? Crossroads was in there but that had resurfaced in excellent condition and uploaded to another forum.
There is definitely someone gloating and wringing their hands in glee when they see us pine for the clean cuts of these iconic themes and they then put them on and maniacally laughing like someone possessed. It is like a collector of fine arts who acquires priceless antiquities from dubious sources with no questions asked. All quite sad that they will never see the light of day.
PE
Pete Founding member
It's a shame that its often the non-library versions are the ones most wanted. K P M's archive is now available on Spotify (and its magnificent obviously) yet the blockbusters music is always "what's the least distorted MP3 you can find".
WH
Whataday Founding member
I was never released probably because it was never recorded. It was always played live by Ray and his orchestra afaik each episode. If you were to listen to each ep back to back you'll find the intro theme is slightly different each time, he was forever tweaking the arrangements. Vocals were on click track if they needed and sometimes Cilla would sing live. The stings and such were played live as well so they could time it better depending on how long it took the guests to enter and get to the sofa.


This isn't correct. They stopped using a live orchestra at some point during the 90s.
PE
Pete Founding member
I was never released probably because it was never recorded. It was always played live by Ray and his orchestra afaik each episode. If you were to listen to each ep back to back you'll find the intro theme is slightly different each time, he was forever tweaking the arrangements. Vocals were on click track if they needed and sometimes Cilla would sing live. The stings and such were played live as well so they could time it better depending on how long it took the guests to enter and get to the sofa.


This isn't correct. They stopped using a live orchestra at some point during the 90s.


Yes when you listen to the later eps its an inferior mix Sad

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