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Here's the long and boring story of the evolution of this compilation [if you want to avoid all this, skip down to the line with all the asterisks]: Originally, I was going to make a Soundtrack Gamut, A-Z, Vol. 2 (get Volume 1 here) as a way of using a bunch of tracks that people had requested. But when it came time to compile it, I kept trying to make it work, but I found the A-Z format too restricting. Too many tracks began with the same letter, the comp didn't flow well, etc. so I thought I'd just do a regular compilation but call it Soundtrack Gamut, Vol. 2.

But when I tried to rearrange the tracks to include things people requested and things I wanted to feature, the tracks were so diverse that I still couldn't figure out a good flow for the comp. Then I noticed that a bunch of the tracks had crime in common so I was going to change it from a Soundtrack Gamut volume and just call it Crime And Punishment (though the same thing happened when I made up the Tico To Tico crime comp, way back when). But that didn't work either because the tracks still had too many different types of sounds.

So, it occurred to me that since I already had a few tracks like Murder by Death and Clue grouped together that people had asked about, I decided to make a whole comp of nothing but mystery tracks. That meant starting from scratch and building a whole comp around a handful of tracks. And what started out as one straightforward compilation mushroomed into 4 or 5 different ones (including the Spy compilation below).



Well, when I changed it over to a whole mystery comp, it wasn't that long ago, so this compilation still feels very much incomplete. In fact, I had the whole thing done as one CD-length comp and was ready to zip it and post it, but there were a couple of extra tracks I wanted to include and then I kept adding to it, so now it's almost the size of two volumes [Update: now it's actually well over that]. But rather than wait until I came up with 20 extra minutes of music to fill it out, I decided to post it as one giant comp. Also, because it started out as one volume and was meant to stay that way, I couldn't figure out a good breakpoint to split them into two volumes; it really flows as one gigantic one. That's the problem with adding from the middle. Unless you want to completely rearrange everything, it works better as one giant compilation.



It's all boring stuff that nobody else but me cares about, but I mention it because as you can tell, this thing has gone through more changes than I care to think about. And normally when that happens, I would keep the comp around until I collected more material and made sure it was good, but I really just wanted to post it. I get this feeling that I'm missing a lot of obvious entries, but I didn't really do an exhaustive search of my collection or think about all the possibilities as much as I probably should have. As it is, it's sort of the compilation that never ends.



And some items are in storage like versions of the Remington Steele, Murder She Wrote, or Hercule Poirot TV themes [Update: Just snuck in Potsdamerplatz's version of the Poirot theme at the last minute. Thanks so much, Potsdamerplatz!......and I waited so long to finish it, 'Bistis6' was great enough to come up with 'Without a Clue', 'Quinlan' was nice enough to provide 'Remington Steele', & 'Filmpac' was also kind enough to commit Murder......She Wrote, that is. Thanks guys! You are great! (Have I said that before?)] [2nd Update: And now I've added some more, so more random thanks to any and all sources that I'm too lazy to attribute here!].

Also, other items like video & audio cassettes with things like The Thin Man and Charlie Chan movies on them (if anyone has any of these or any other additions, I'd love it if you'd post them!) are also in the dreaded storage in another town. And some things I didn't have at all like the themes from The Thin Man, Mr. & Mrs. North, or Miss Marple (new & old) TV series, for example. And if anybody has any music from movies like The Lady Vanishes, Marlowe, or The Last of Sheila, for instance, I'd love to have them! And there are so many others I know I'm forgetting. I know if I waited, I might be able to hunt a few of those down, but again, it's gone through more changes than Joan Rivers has gone through faces so I didn't really want to wait. And I didn't even get a chance to download anybody's files from the 2nd Requests post [Update: but now I have!], so I get the feeling that there are probably a bunch of things people have posted here and around the net that would fit, so I'll probably expand this as I run across more stuff (like anybody but me really cares!).



Also, there were other Sherlock Holmes-related tracks I could've added, but it would've been too much like the compilation Var*se put out (which had a nice selection, by the way), so I left a bunch of those off.

And speaking of things I left off, I concentrated on mysteries & detectives that had traditional mystery elements and drew the line at other kinds of mysteries. For instance, Philip Marlowe, Virgil Tibbs, & Lew Archer apply, but Jim Rockford, Inspector Clouseau, John Shaft, or Dick Tracy I left off. I also drew the line at thrillers and horror mysteries (e.g. North By Northwest, Family Plot, Basic Instinct, Twin Peaks, Scream, Prom Night, etc.).



I really enjoy this compilation despite how quickly it was put together, but in these cases, I always wonder whether it's a good comp or just something I like because I associate all these good memories with the music. Looking over the list, I think there are only about 6 of these films & TV shows that I haven't seen, so it's a very high percentage of good nostalgia associated with this one. Still, I think all the music is top notch, so even if you haven't seen the movies and TV shows that these come from, you should still enjoy it (well, what do you expect....it's free).

And I had a devil of a time normalizing these comps (what's new?). I can't use software like MP3 Gain because it's DOS based and my operating system has been somewhat messed up (I suspect because I'm constantly running out of hard drive space....long story.....well, really it's all the downloading), so I had to normalize these things one track at a time. It's enough to drive you crazy (and it takes forever). And of course, coming from so many different sources, they all have different sound qualities as well as volumes. It really does drive you nuts trying to reconcile some of these things, so be kind enough to forgive any lapses in quality (but then again, why should you start now?).



And I probably should mention something about these films & TV shows, but it's another one of those cases where if I started I probably wouldn't stop, so it's best I leave it alone.

************ End of long, boring story........if you were skipping all that stuff, you can stop right here and continue reading ******************

There are some incredible composers on here and musically, there should be something for everybody in this comp. Want some Sylvester Levay or Mark Snow? How about some Nigel Hess or Ron Grainer? What about some John Barry or Dave Grusin that you don't get to hear all the time? Here, have some Quincy Jones or Duke Ellington. And don't forget to get your Adolph Deutsch and Leighton Lucas on your way out. Everything from Alwyn & Addison to Zaza & Zittrer!

In any case, enjoy this tribute to detective fiction with a nod to everyone from Hercule Poirot to Simon Templar, Miss Marple to Virgil Tibbs, Lew Archer (Harper) to Sherlock Holmes, Phillip Marlowe to Columbo and so many more!

Track List:

01 - Foul Play (1978) (Charles Fox) - Get Me to the Opera On Time
02 - Sleuth (1972) (John Addison) - Overture
03 - Death Trap (1982) (Johnny Mandel) - Main Title
04 - Murder By Death (1976) (Dave Grusin) - Main Title
05 - The Cheap Detective (1978) (Harry Warren & Johnny Mercer, arr. by Patrick Williams)
06 - Clue (1985) (John Morris)
07 - The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) (Jerry Goldsmith) - Main Title
08 - Who's Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe? (1978) (Henry Mancini) - Main Title
09 - Silver Streak (1976) (Henry Mancini) - Silver Streak - [perf. by Henry Mancini]
10 - Breakheart Pass (1975) (Jerry Goldsmith) - On The Move / Runaway
11 - Murder on the Orient Express (1974) (Richard Rodney Bennett) - Entr'acte
12 - Evil Under the Sun (1982) (Cole Porter) - Hotel Exterior
13 - Death on the Nile (1978) (Nino Rota) - Main Titles
14 - Appointment With Death (1988) (Pino Donaggio) - Main Title
15 - The Alphabet Murders (1965) (Ron Goodwin) - Suite
16 - Ten Little Indians (1989) (George S. Clinton) - Dinner For Ten
17 - Ten Little Indians (1966) (Malcolm Lockyer) - Main Title / End Title
18 - Miss Marple films (1962-1965) - Miss Marple's Theme (Ron Goodwin)
19 - Maigret (1960-1963 TV) (Ron Grainer) - Maigret Theme - [perf. by The Eagles]
20 - Maigret (1960-1963 TV) (Ron Grainer) - Maigret
21 - Monk (2002-present TV) (Jeff Beal) - Main Title - [1M2]
22 - Columbo - Ransom For a Dead Man (1971 TV) (Billy Goldenberg) - Columbo Theme - [perf. by The John Gregory Orchestra]
23 - Columbo - Ransom For a Dead Man (1971 TV) (Billy Goldenberg) - Seq. 6
24 - Columbo - Ransom For a Dead Man (1971 TV) (Billy Goldenberg) - Seq. 7
25 - McMillan & Wife (1971-1977 TV) (Jerry Fielding) - [perf. by The John Gregory Orchestra (1976)]
26 - Quincy, M.E. (1976-1983 TV) (Glen A. Larson) - Theme
27 - The NBC Mystery Movie (1971-1977 TV) (Henry Mancini) - Mystery Movie Theme
28 - Banacek (1972-1974 TV) (Billy Goldenberg) - [perf. by The John Gregory Orchestra (1976)]
29 - Remington Steele (1982-1987 TV) (Henry Mancini) - Theme - [perf. by Henry Mancini]
30 - Hart To Hart (1979-1984 TV) (Mark Snow) - Theme - [narr. by Lionel Stander]
31 - Murder She Wrote (1984-1996 TV) (John Addison) - Theme
32 - Ellery Queen (1975-1976 TV) (Elmer Bernstein) - Opening Theme
33 - Hardy Boys - Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977-1979 TV) (Glen A. Larson & Stu Phillips)
34 - Probe (1988 TV) (Sylvester Levay) - Theme
35 - Return Of The Saint (1978-1979 TV) (Brian C. Dee & Irving L. Martin) - [perf. by Saint Orchestra]
36 - The Saint (1962-1969 TV) (Edwin Astley)
37 - The Saint (1962-1969 TV) (Edwin Astley) - The Saint - [perf. by Orbital (1997)]
38 - The Saint (1997) (Edwin Astley) - Track 05
39 - The Saint (1997) (Graeme Revell) - Track 17
40 - Mystery! (1980-present TV) (Normand Roger) - Theme
41 - Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989-present TV) (Christopher Gunning)
42 - Inspector Morse (1987-2000 TV) (Barrington Pheloung)
43 - Cadfael (1994-1998 TV) (Colin Towns)
44 - Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996-1998 TV) (Nigel Hess)
45 - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984-1994 TV) (Patrick Gowers) - 221B Baker Street (Opening Theme)
46 - Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) (Bruce Broughton) - Main Title (Short Version)
47 - They Might Be Giants (1971) (John Barry)
48 - They Might Be Giants (1971) (John Barry)
49 - A Study in Terror (1965) (John Scott) - 'Elementary, My Dear Watson'
50 - Murder By Decree (1979) (Paul Zaza & Carl Zittrer)
51 - Dressed To Kill (1946) (Frank Skinner) - The Music Box
52 - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) (Cyril Mockridge) - Moriarty - The Game Is Afoot
53 - Opening Credits to Universal Sherlock Holmes films (Frank Skinner)
54 - The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) (James Bernard)
55 - The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) (Michael J. Lewis) - Spirit Of Baskerville
56 - Without A Clue (1988) (Henry Mancini) - End Titles
57 - Sherlock Holmes In New York (1976) (Richard Rodney Bennett) - Main Title
58 - The Seven Percent Solution (1976) (John Addison) - Duel For A Lady
59 - The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) (Miklos Rozsa)
60 - Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) (David Snell) - Main Title / End Title
61 - The Glass Key (1942) (Victor Young) - Main Title / End Title
62 - Green For Danger (1946) (William Alwyn) - Main Title
63 - Stage Fright (1950) (Leighton Lucas) - Main Title / End Title
64 - Dial M For Murder (1955) (Dimitri Tiomkin) - Main Title
65 - The Maltese Falcon (1941) (Adolph Deutsch) - Street Scene
66 - Laura (1944) (David Raksin) - The Laura Suite: Theme And Variations [Edited]
67 - The Big Sleep (1946) (Max Steiner) - Love Themes
68 - The Long Goodbye (1973) (John Williams) - The Long Goodbye (Trumpet Version)
69 - Farewell My Lovely (1975) (David Shire) - Main Title (Marlowe's Theme)
70 - Chinatown (1974) (Jerry Goldsmith) - Love Theme From Chinatown (Main Title)
71 - L. A. Confidential (1997) (Jerry Goldsmith) - The Victor
72 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) (Alan Silvestri) - Valiant & Valiant (Reprise)
73 - The Naked Face (1984) (Michael J. Lewis) - Main Theme
74 - Presumed Innocent (1990) (John Williams) - End Credits
75 - Witness For The Prosecution (1957) (Matty Malneck) - Main Title / End Title
76 - Perry Mason (1957-1966 TV) (Fred Steiner) - Perry Mason Theme - [perf. by Buddy Morrow (1959)]
77 - Anatomy of a Murder (1959) (Duke Ellington) - Main Title and Anatomy of a Murder
78 - In The Heat Of The Night (1967) (Quincy Jones) - Whipping Boy
79 - Harper (1966) (Johnny Mandel) - Harper Does It Better
80 - They Call Me Mr. Tibbs! (1970) (Quincy Jones) - Call Me Mr. Tibbs (Main Title)
81 - Charade (1963) (Henry Mancini) - Main Title

pw = youdont

You will need all 4 files before you extract!

Soundtrack Gamut, Vol. 2 - I Love A Mystery - Part 1 (Rapidshare) - around 80 MB
Soundtrack Gamut, Vol. 2 - I Love A Mystery - Part 2 (Rapidshare) - around 80 MB
Soundtrack Gamut, Vol. 2 - I Love A Mystery - Part 3 (Rapidshare) - around 80 MB
Soundtrack Gamut, Vol. 2 - I Love A Mystery - Part 4 (Rapidshare) - around 64 MB

OR

Soundtrack Gamut, Vol. 2 - I Love A Mystery (Megaupload)

around 304 MB

Notes on the compilation:

#1-#7: Ironic all-star mystery puzzles.

#5: Patrick Williams did the score, but this selection is really just an arrangement of the song, 'Jeepers Creepers' by Harry Warren & Johnny Mercer (1938). The perfect love song for Peter Falk's character. And I'm not absolutely sure Patrick Williams did the arranging, but I put it down that way, so there you go.

#9-#11: Train mysteries. Anybody out there have any of the music from any one of The Lady Vanishes versions?

#11-#15: Hercule Poirot mysteries.
#11-#18: Agatha Christie mysteries. Anybody out there have any music from The Mirror Crack'd or any of the Helen Hayes, Joan Hickson, or Geraldine McEwan Marple shows?

#16-#17: Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. I think the first version of this story I ever saw was the 1960's version with Hugh O'Brian. It's main title is fantastic! I think of that movie as being the 60's equivalent of doing a remake today, but adding splashes of horror and gore. You can just imagine if they were to remake Ten Little Indians today what it would be like. They would add hot young stars and make it a little more horrific. Which is what I suppose they did with the 60's version. Some may consider watching Fabian choking to death as he's being poisoned as poetic justice. I liked Fabian though so I probably wouldn't be one of those people. But I suppose if they were looking to cast that part today for a singer with a less-than-perfect voice, maybe B. Spears? (once they got through installing the revolving door at the rehab center, that is).

Still, I liked the 1960's version. I always tried to watch the original 1940's version when I was a kid, but I could never make it past the first 5 minutes. Always seemed kind of boring. But when I was a little older, I finally sat down and tried to give it another chance because it had such a great reputation and of course, I realized how stupid I was. It's fantastic! Clearly the best version of them all. Deftly directed by Rene Clair with a great cast. If anyone out there has music from it, I'd love to hear it.

And I've never been able to sit through the 1970's version with Elke Sommer. Maybe it's another case of my unfair prejudice, but that one seems deathly boring. Well, really more like excruciating. I really should sit down and watch it though if they ever show it again on TV just to be sure. Would love to hear Bruno Nicolai's music for it though if it hasn't already been posted somewhere in the blogosphere.

And the 1980's version with Frank Stallone (included on this comp....and by the way, thanks, Bistis6! You're great!) was third best out of the four, but I thought at least the premise was pretty interesting. Instead of an isolated island, a snowbound mountain top, a stalled train, or any of the other devices they use to strand a group of people together, this time they had them on safari. I thought that was a pretty clever variation on the theme. The safari aspect's also reflected in George S. Clinton's music.

And I think I've typed the name, Frank Stallone, on this blog more than I ever imagined I would.

#22-#28: Part of the umbrella NBC Mystery Movie line-up (and #20-#25, specifically the Sunday Mystery movie). In those days, they alternated those shows (with McCloud), I'm guessing because it was pretty hard to write and film a 90-minute show week after week. They were very lucky that the shows they started out with were all very popular. Later shows they added to the lineup, like Banacek, were a little less successful. Quincy was one of the few exceptions to that general trend though. Jack Klugman apparently hated the mystery aspect to the show at least as far as the Mystery Movie mold went, so he had the creator (or producer?) ousted and that's why you see the shift towards more activist plots later on. I remember learning about things like autism, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and Tourette's syndrome from that show 10 years before these things became so prominent in the public consciousness.

#22-#24: This music comes from the 2nd Columbo TV-movie, 'Ransom For A Dead Man' starring Lee Grant (not as Columbo, by the way, but as the murderer........but wouldn't it have been interesting if she had played Columbo?). 'Prescription: Murder' was the first TV-movie, if I remember right, starring Gene Barry as the medical culprit. Columbo was a little less rumpled in that first movie. I really enjoyed both of those movies and Billy Goldenberg came up with some great music for 'Ransom For A Dead Man'. I was going to use the original score for the first track, but I used John Gregory's version instead because I really liked what he did with it.

#32: This was a short-lived show (starring Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen). It was a good (but formulaic) show. I'm sure they would've called it 'Law and Order', but they knew they had to save that title for 20 years hoping that good, but formulaic shows about catching criminals would catch on. Elmer Bernstein wrote such a great theme for that show! (Would you expect any less?) I can still picture the chessboard in the opening. I wish they would re-run that show again (but how many times can you show the same handful of episodes?)

I think it was the failure of this show that inspired the people behind it (Levinson & Link, if memory serves) to create another mystery show about a mild-mannered mystery writer-turned-detective some years later. I think it was called, 'Murder, She Wrote' or something like that.

#33-#34: Two Parker Stevenson TV mystery shows. And there's a sentence I never thought I'd type in my entire life.
#34: 'Probe' wasn't on very long. Just one season (or less). I can't quite remember if it got cancelled before the end of the season. He played a genius in I think a think tank who liked to solve mysteries (especially if they involved science). His sidekick was played by Ashley Crow who was the humanistic 'yin' to his clinical 'yang'. Twenty something years later, she now plays the mother of the cheerleader on the TV show, 'Heroes'. I didn't recognize her at all until I'd been watching the show for a while and then saw her name in the credits. The same goes for Jack Coleman as the father. They're both almost unrecognizable from their roles in the 1980's (he on 'Dynasty' and her on 'Probe'). Their personalities and looks on that show are so different from those 80's roles!

#35-#39: Some Saintly music. The TV shows (starring Roger Moore and Ian Ogilvy, respectively) and the more recent film starring Val Kilmer focused more on the adventurous side of Simon Templar, but the books and the earlier films with George Sanders and others were more in the mystery vain (though they also had their adventure). I would've loved to include the whistling theme he had in the movies (composed by Roy Webb, I think), but I don't have it. And it's pretty short too. Edwin Astley came up with a pretty great 'whistling' theme for the TV show though. And I always loved the theme from The Return of the Saint too. I remember the days when CBS couldn't compete against the juggernaut that was Johnny Carson and so they re-ran British TV shows like The Return of the Saint and The New Avengers in that time slot. It kind of makes me wish that networks had the guts to run counter-programming like that today. I always think that if they're going to give up scheduling anything against American Idol, for instance, they should just stick a British TV show on or maybe a documentary opposite it. That would be pretty interesting. (I can just see network executives jumping out of high rise buildings as we speak.)

And it occurs to me that Roger Moore shows up a lot on this comp (sometimes as The Saint, sometimes as Sherlock Holmes, and occasionally as a psychiatrist).

#40-#45: British TV detectives that in the United States are all shown on the PBS TV show, 'Mystery'. There are a ton of those themes I know I should include but it gets back to that whole 'putting it together in a slapdash fashion' and the whole 'brain not functioning' thing.

#42 - A flawed but brilliant Oxford Chief Inspector played by John Thaw (note the 'Morse' code worked into the music! I think it may actually be the Morse code for the word, 'Morse'.)
#43 - A Crusader-turned-monk detective (with one mean tonsure!) played by Derek Jacobi
#44 - An old-age pensioner (or what we like to call a senior citizen on Social Security here) turned private detective played by Patricia Routledge. She, by the way, had some of the toughest luck of anybody who tried their hand at Broadway success. She should've been a big Broadway star 3 or 4 times over, but somehow always managed to get stuck in turkeys. She may hold the record for winning a Tony for a musical that had the shortest run of any show that had a Tony-winning performance. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think it's true. If I remember right, it was Darling of the Day with Vincent Price. She always got in projects that looked like they would be hits with great composers, lyricists, producers, etc., but she ended up being recognized as the stand-out in major flops. You'd think working with people like Leonard Bernstein, Alan Jay Lerner, Jule Styne, & Leslie Bricusse would guarantee some success, but I guess not. Then it was back to England for her and success on British television. Oh, well.

And I was glad for Dominic Monaghan's success in the Lord of the Rings movies and on the TV show, 'Lost', but I always felt a little bad that that meant there would probably be no more Hetty Wainthropp mysteries with him as sidekick. I have a feeling that he doesn't feel the same way though.

#45-#59: Sherlock Holmes (and people who think they're Sherlock Holmes) mysteries. I know I'm also leaving out a ton of material here, but you do what you can.

#51: Holmes, after hearing it once, memorizes the tune on a music box which contains a vital clue and whistles it back to himself.

#52: And this is the eerie tune that accompanies George Zucco as Moriarty in the film (and also possibly in later films (without Zucco), but I can't remember).

#58: This music accompanies the exciting duel on the train at the end of the film.

#62: This is a fantastic film with Alistair Sim as the slightly eccentric (well, really, that pretty much covers any of his roles) police detective investigating murders at a remote hospital. If you ever get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. And when I watched it, it was on a broken VCR with sound problems. This was back in the prehistoric days and this VCR didn't even have a wireless remote! The rewind button on the wired remote didn't work, so every time I wanted to go back to catch a piece of dialogue on a tape that was putting out extremely low volume, I had to keep stopping the tape and do a fast rewind on the unit itself! So the normal TV reception would return every time I stopped the tape and would be blaring 1000 decibels throughout the house. Which might've worked out better, except I was watching it late at night, so the whole 'waking up the household' thing wasn't so good. The low volume coupled with the fact that people were speaking in 1940's British vernacular, 1940's British police & medical jargon, some of whom had thick accents, all while trying to follow a murder mystery, didn't really help. And despite all that, it was well worth it!

#63-#64: Hitchcock 'mysteries'. Well, Dial 'M' For Murder was more of a traditional mystery (well, just in comparison to Stage Fright). Can you really count it as a mystery when you already know who the killer is? But then again, I suppose you'd have to rule out Columbo if that were true. And in 'Stage Fright', you're not really sure who the killer is, so that probably qualifies. Though Hitchcock didn't really make traditional mysteries so much as thrillers and suspense films. But these two films are about as close as you're going to get, I guess.

#65-#72: Some film noir (and its variations) that involve Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, and Roger Rabbit among others. And don't be surprised if Los Angeles shows up in a lot of them.

#74-#77: Some legal mysteries. (that don't involve O.J. Simpson)

#78-#80: And I just had to add this note so I wouldn't end on the words, 'O.J. Simpson'.

While it's easy to forget in the movies because Sidney Poitier played such an iconic role, Virgil Tibbs was a traditional mystery detective in the books and it still shines through especially in the first film, 'In The Heat of the Night'. I'm still waiting for another sequel. Maybe, 'They Call Me GRANDPA Tibbs!'.