SUMMARY: RUNNING TIMES: SEE BELOW
For Airwolf’s final season in 1987, musician Rick Patterson recalibrated original composer Sylvester Levay’s instrumental score, as well as incorporated his own new themes.
From the Airwolf: Themes From Season Four album released in 2014, Season Four’s ‘love theme’ is a separate track, as are each of its three variations. As heard in the episode, “Blackjack,” the love theme’s primary version runs 1:41. A slower rendition (call it Variation A) runs 1:54. A slightly speedier version (Variation B) clocks in at 1:38. The up-tempo rendition (Variation C) last only 1:30. These four themes often circulated throughout the 1987 season’s twenty-four episodes on the USA Network.
Note: On the album, these four themes are Tracks # 2-5.
REVIEW:
Rick Patterson’s primary version (1:41) easily prevails as the best of the four. It’s actually something of an underrated gem, as the track should be easily recognizable to anyone who has seen Season Four’s transitional episode, “Blackjack.” Frankly, it merits mention as among the best non-Levay themes that the entire Airwolf series had.
However, there’s a noticeable drop re: its dubious variants, at least how they are presented here. The audio quality of both Variations A (1:54) and B (1:38) is oddly compressed, as if they were spit out by somebody’s half-working synthesizer. Between the two of them, Variation B is clearly better, in part since the lethargic Variation A makes for some dreadful listening. As for the comparatively zippy Variation C (1:30), it sounds less compressed than Variation B. However, Variation C’s ninety seconds are still forgettable. Of these four tracks, only the love theme’s primary version (1:41) deserves any consideration as a worthwhile download.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6 Stars (for the primary version) and 2-4 Stars (for the three variants)
Note: Instead, as a recommendation, a full-length version of Patterson’s upbeat Airwolf: Season Four theme was released as a 2012 single.
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