The Prisoner Music Archive Part Three

All music referred to in this article was especially written and recorded for The Prisoner series at the Denham studios. The producers also made extensive use of the Chappells' library of pre-recorded music but this is not covered here.

The Denham Tapes

All of THE PRISONER incidental music and main themes were recorded at the ITC studios at Denham, UK in 1966/7. Very little documentation has survived on the technical aspects of filming and recording of The Prisoner and I've certainly never heard of or located any documentation on the music recording sessions, so as what equipment was used, what instruments were played or even who the musicians were is difficult to determine. All information in this section of the archive therefore has come from the memories of various people who were around at the time or from hints gleaned from background conversation on the tapes themselves. I've tried to avoid speculation where possible but occasionally that's all there is left.

The actual tapes of the Prisoner recording sessions may still exist but their whereabouts is unknown. I was able to conduct a search of what was left of the Denham Studios when I was getting the first release of The Prisoner Soundtrack album together but the situation wasn't promising even then. Taking the technology of the time into account I would have expected seperate rolls of professional quality reel-to-reel tape for each session, properly labeled and recorded at a professional-quality speed of 30 inches-per-second and therefore on reels of at least 7" in diameter but probably larger.

What eventually turned up at Denham was a rag-tag assortment of tapes, different sizes, different makes, and recorded at a domestic hi-fi quality of 15 inches-per-second. I can only assume these were "safety copies" which someone took at the time of the original recording. The professional tapes themselves would be unplayable on domestic tape recorders due to the size of reel and the recording speed but the safety copies could be carried anywhere and easily played on virtually any domestic or semi-pro tape recorder. They were probably used by Albert Elms and the production team to demo the music and perhaps to help decide on which tracks to use during the action on screen. Some of the music, while obviously scored for specific scenes, would be re-used elsewhere if appropriate and it would make sense to have rough copies available to audition likely tracks.

This meant they were in mono and the sound quality was slightly lower than the originals would have been. The originals may well have been recorded in basic stereo, there's no way of telling, but there would really be no need for stereo TV soundtracks in those pre-digital, pre-nicam days. Mono still ruled the day and in fact you could walk into record shops and buy the latest Beatles album in either mono or stereo.

The tapes themselves were by and large direct copies of a particular "roll", but some had mixed content. The number of the roll was sometimes marked on the tape box and occasionally referred to at the beginning of the tape by the recording engineer. There appeared to have been 16 original rolls altogether but not all of them turned up in the safety copy box and some of the music is therefore probably lost forever. The musical pieces on the tapes were without titles and, rather like the fictional environment they'd ultimately be heard in, they were known only by their own unique number.

The format for the recording sessions is for the recording engineer to announce the number of the piece to be recorded and the "take" number, allow a couple of seconds to allow everyone to quieten down and get ready, then the piece is played. Sometimes it comes right first time and they move on to the next one, sometimes there's a fluff or a misplayed note and another take is called for. This repeats until the take is considered acceptable and this is the one which makes it to the soundtrack. No attempt is ever made to add further "polish" - once it hangs together, they move on.

Roll Six	Roll Nine
65 take 2 65 take 3 66 take 1 67 take 1 68 take 1 & 2 Tannoy 100 take 1 101 take 1 101 take 2 102 take 1 103 take 1 & 2 104 Rehearsal and takes 1 & 2 105 take 1 106 takes 1, 2 & 3 107 take 1 108 take 1	A6M take 1 & 2 1M7 take 1 A5M3 Radetski March take 1 A5M3 Radetski March take 2 A2M2 take 1 A3M4 take 1 A3M2 take 1 & 2 A4M2 take 1 A3M2A take 1 A4M2 takes 2 & 3 A4M2 take 5 A5M1 take 1 A5M2 take 1 Wild track 1 Wild track 2 Wild track 3 Wild track 4 Wild track 5 A6M2 takes 1 & 2

The incidental music recording sessions

The musical director for The Prisoner series was Albert Elms. While some of the music for the series was to be drawn from the Chappels music library and the title theme would be ultimately be written by Ron Grainer, it was Albert Elms who wrote virtually all the incidental music and conducted the musicians. Both Robert Farnon and Wilfred Josephs had been asked to provide the main title theme and they wrote and actually recorded their versions of it. These efforts were rejected but not wasted as Albert Elms took what they'd written and adapted it for use as incidental music as he did with a couple of classical composers.

The Albert Elms sessions comprise by far the largest collection of specially recorded music on the tapes. Probably done over a few days, the same instrumental lineup is used throughout and the sound quality is homogenous. The instruments are mainly woodwind and brass with a 'clangy' lead guitar used occasionally and there are some sequences with nothing but drums. Noticable is a total lack of strings. The pieces range from relatively lengthy (around three minutes) to a few seconds (referred to as 'stings' - a quick burst of music used for dramatic emphasis). Most of the incidental music recorded at these sessions actually appeared in the series somewhere but there are a number of pieces which didn't make it. Additionally Elms recorded about twelve minutes worth of classical-sounding music, mainly on harpsichord but none of this was used either. There's a lot of work involved in these sessions and the musicians give every appearance of enjoying themselves. They've obviously done it all before and there's a lot of laughing and insult-trading between takes.

The Robert Farnon Prisoner Theme

Robert Farnon's brief from Patrick McGoohan was to write him a theme for The Prisoner and make it "something like The Big Country theme", which had been a major Western film. Whether Farnon misunderstood, we'll never know, but what he wrote was EXACTLY like The Big Country with powerful sweeping strings and strong imaginative rhythms. A wonderful theme for a Western which in other circumstances would still be played today, but unfortunately it was totally inappropriate for a spy/secret agent/surrealistic drama like The Prisoner.

The Farnon theme, like all the Prisoner music, was recorded at the Denham studios. Blissfully unaware that his efforts were destined for the dumpster, the composer conducts the session himself, his Canadian accent can be heard while discussing a "missing diminuendo" at one stage and an occasional "Sorry, Bob" comes over as a musician plays a bum note or two. This session includes variations on his basic theme for opening titles and closing credits plus two 'ins-and-outs' for commercial break segues. The timings are different to the ones used by Ron Grainer and it would appear that the original title sequence for The Prisoner was to have just sound effects to begin with, then gradually bring the theme in as the McGoohan character leaves Westminster. It certainly doesn't fit any other way.

Denham Master Roll 14
Robert Farnon Session

Recording Sequence
A1M1 - 0:43 - takes 1 to 4 (Number 4 miscued as A1M1A)
A1M1A - 1:21 - takes 1 to 3
A1M1B - 0:41 - takes 1 to 9
A1M1C - 0:08 - takes 1 to 3
A3M2 - 0:35 - takes 1 and 2
A6M6 - 0:08 - takes 1 and 2

The Wilfred Josephs Prisoner Theme

Wilfred Josephs was then asked to write the theme. This time a little more insight was given into The Prisoner's style and he produced a more appropriate big-band tune with lots of percussion and punchy brass. Unfortunately it was a bit too much over the top and it too was rejected.

Wilfred Josephs Recording Session
Denham Master Roll 16
One track available only
Length 2:19

Actually there's not much to go on here as the complete recording session tape has never come to light. It's probable he would have done a complete session to include the usual opening and closing themes plus variations and ins-and-outs but all that remains is his version of the opening titles theme dropped into the "working copies" tapes. It's sandwiched in between a bunch of what I can only decribe as "odds and ends" so was obviously never seriously considered. Having said that, the theme isn't so bad and it certainly works very well as incidental music. You can hear it in it's Albert Elms version as Number Six approaches the helicopter during the escape attempt in "Arrival".

Like the Robert Farnon theme, the Josephs one is shorter than perhaps expected and confirms that the title sequence was originally intended to be mainly sound effects. Also, as I discuss elsewhere, although Ron Grainer wrote his theme to fill the whole title sequence (length-wise), his manuscript reveals he wrote a lot more music (density-wise) than he actually recorded. The Grainer theme is exactly the length of the sequence but the manuscript reveals a lot of crossing-out, again perhaps indicating that McGoohan wanted a thinner music track with more emphasis on sound effects.

The Ron Grainer Prisoner Theme

Ron Grainer's session is more easily catalogued as the pieces are easily identifiable and I can refer to his notes on the manuscript. Surprisingly, his session is the sloppiest of the lot, with certain musicians finding the going very difficult. The trumpets, for example are often guilty of bum notes and false starts. The drummer also has his problems and, in one take he plays at an ever-increasing pace, finally ending up several bars ahead of everyone else. The first take of the title theme is horrendous!

When Patrick McGoohan called Ron Grainer in to discuss writing the theme, legend has it that McGoohan whistled a few bars of what he thought might be a good "tune" and asked him to go away and expand it into the required piece. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but whatever came back met with approval and, on Sunday 5th March 1967, Ron Grainer and session musicians recorded numerous takes of the main theme from 2:00PM onwards at the Denham Studios, in Middlesex, UK.

Eric Tomlinson was the sound mixer. He now works at the EMI Abbey Road studios in London where "All You Need Is Love" was re-mixed.

Unfortunately there are no surviving records of who the musicians were on any of the recording sessions, except that some research reveals that the following were at some or all of them.

Martin Kershaw - Lead Guitar
Vic Flick - Lead Guitar
Terry Walsh - Electric bass
Roy Willocks - Woodwind

The best-known of these is Vic Flick who provided that distinctive liquid guitar which provides much of the feel of the piece. Besides being a session musician, he was part of The John Barry Seven who had a number of hit records in the early seventies. John Barry became a rather famous composer and, among a lot of other things, wrote and recorded the James Bond theme with Vic Flick playing lead guitar and providing the distinctive "DANG-a-dang-dang-DANG-dang" hook which everyone remembers. As another piece of trivia, the James Bond theme was recorded at CTS studios where we re-mastered the first Prisoner soundtrack album.

Martin Kershaw recalls that the score he was shown was covered in crossings-out and pencil markings; "That was how the session scene was, back then. Parts were written in the back of taxis on the way to sessions � sometimes the copyist would be working as you played a take."

"Ron Grainer wanted a twin lead guitar sound, and because the studio had no multi-track facilities, he hired two players. Ron really knew what he was doing with guitar scores. He understood what was possible between strings, and all about the instrument's range. In The Prisoner, he scored for two rhythm guitars, playing different positions for a really big chord sound."

The band finished the music for the show in that one Sunday afternoon session, but this wasn't particularly unusual at the time. Vic Flick; "There was no room for second-rate guitar playing � although there was a lot of work around, it was incredibly competitive. You would just sight-read what was in front of you and go home. To be honest, I can't even remember the session"

The instrument lineup on the Denham Prisoner recording session was :-

2 Trumpets
Piano
Drums
2 Trombones
Organ
Timpani
2 Flugelhorns
Bass Guitar
Percussion
2 Bass Trombones
2 Electric Guitars
Acoustic Bass

Denham Master Rolls 13 and 14

Track Designation	Takes	Length of final take	Comments
B1M1	1 thru 7	1:47	Standard Opening Titles, first part. Ultimately edited out, there is a short 4-note percussive musical burst just before the congas begin.
B1M2	1 and 2	1:17	Standard Opening Titles, second part. Never actually used in the title sequence except for the slow guitar 'intro' part which follows The Prisoner's awakening in The Village, and is then faded out as the "Where am I?" segment begins. This 'second part' is only ever heard complete once in the whole series, at the beginning of "Fallout". Those with a reasonably musical ear will notice a very flat note by the lead trumpet at one stage.
A1M1	1 thru 6	2:14	Opening Titles - longer version for 'Arrival'. As with the shorter version, there is a 4-note opening burst just before the congas which was edited out for the soundtrack.
A1M2	1 thru 4	1:48	Opening Titles, second part - longer version intended for use in 'Arrival'. In the episode it was faded out after the slow guitar part and the rest never used. All four takes are badly played.
A6MX	1 thru 3	1:07	End Credits
Ins and Outs	1	Three sections, 3.8, 5.4 and 5.6 seconds respectively.	These short sections of the theme, complete in themselves, were for use as segment intros and out-tros for commercial breaks.

Odds and Ends

The actual sound effects, such as Rover's distinctive roar, footsteps, vehicle noises and so on, were done in a proper sound effects studio in Boreham Wood, but there were a lot of experiments using musical instruments recorded at the Denham studios. The 'Tannoy' sound for example is actually played on instruments and is probably the only Denham 'sound effect' which appears in the series without further processing. There were also a lot of Denham attempts at 'Rover' sounds but none were actually used - perhaps because they were intended for the aborted mechanical Rover. The Denham tapes included a whole recording session of these, for want of a better phrase, funny noises but there is little of significance. The only moderately interesting sequence is a solo piano trying out various nursery rhymes (right hand only), perhaps as a precursor to the orchestrated ones used most memorably in "Girl" and "Once Upon A Time".

Reel 16 is the last tape in the bunch. It opens with some manic solo drumming which stops and starts and goes on for more than ten tedious minutes. It obviously belongs to the incidental music sessions because the engineer's announcments indicate so, but none of it appears on The Prisoner soundtrack.

Then comes the Wilfred Josephs version of the theme. This is without any opening announcement and without studio noise.

The Denham tapes conclude with a series of adverts for the series comprising an odd stereotypical American voice over episode extracts. The voice-overs are hilariously badly written and over-the-top. The voice is that of David Heally.