''TV's Top Themes'' is an album by composer, arranger and conductor Pete Rugolo featuring performances of theme music from popular

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

s recorded in 1962 and first released on the

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

label.Mercury Records Catalog: 20700/60700 series
accessed October 6, 2016

Reception

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

,'' in its May 19, 1962, issue, gave ''TV's Top Themes'' its 4-star "Strong Sales Potential" rating with this review: :Pete Rugolo and his orchestra present a timely collection of TV themes wrapped in jazz-flavored treatment and utilizing the complete orchestra. Rugolo's arrangements provide the listener with a vivid and colorful picture of each show's subject matter. "Theme From Ben Casey," "Theme From Route 66," "Theme From Dr. Kildare" and "Naked CIty Theme" sound best. Dealers could do well to use packages as display items. Also good deejay material. '' Cashbox Magazine'' was similarly upbeat in the review of the album that appeared in its May 26, 1962 issue: :Pete Rugolo’s latest outing for Mercury spotlights the themes from a host of video favorites presented in a highly listenable manner. The orkster uses very effective arrangements to indicate the mood and flavor of the shows they represent and proves that each theme has its own musical merit. . . . There’s enough listening enjoyment here to attract a wide variety of record buyers.

Track listing

# "Theme from Ben Casey" ( David Raksin) – 2:07 # "Medley: Theme from The Dick Van Dyke Show/Dobie" ( Earle Hagen/ Lionel Newman, Max Shulman) – 2:14 # "General Electric Theatre Logo" ( Stanley Wilson) – 1:57 # "87th Precinct" ( Morton Stevens) – 2:08 # " Theme from Route 66" (

Nelson Riddle Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many world-famous vocalists at Capitol Records ...

) – 2:43 # "Medley: Theme from Andy Griffith/My Three Sons" ( Earle Hagen,

Herbert W. Spencer Herbert Winfield Spencer (April 7, 1905 – September 18, 1992) was a Chilean-born American film and television composer and orchestrator. Spencer gained industry fame when he teamed up with fellow 20th Century Fox orchestrator Earle Hagen ...

Frank De Vol Frank Denny De Vol (September 20, 1911 – October 27, 1999) was an American actor, and using the name De Vol was an arranger and composer. As a composer he was nominated for four Academy Awards. Early life and career De Vol was born in Moundsvi ...

) – 2:10 # "Medley: The Case of the Dangerous Robin/Theme from The Barbara Stanwyck TV Show" ( David Rose/ Earle Hagen) – 2:43 # "

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...

" (

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and song-writing duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films. Evans wrote the lyrics and Living ...

Jay Livingston Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison, March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a song-writing duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote music and Evans t ...

) – 1:41 # " Theme from Dr. Kildare" (

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the Rambo (franchise) ...

) – 1:34 # "''

Ichabod and Me ''Ichabod and Me'' is an American situation comedy television series starring Robert Sterling and George Chandler that aired in the United States during the 1961–1962 television season. It depicts the life of a New York City newspaper reporte ...

'' Theme" (Pete Rugolo) – 1:37 # "Naked City Theme" (

Billy May Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''The Mod Squad'' (1968), ''Batman'' (with '' Batgirl'' them ...

) – 2:27 # ""Nervous" (Theme from The Dick Powell Show)" (Richard Shores) – 2:54 *Recorded at United Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA on February 26, 1962 (tracks 1, 4, 10 & 11), February 27, 1962 (tracks 3, 5, 7 & 9) and February 28, 1962 (tracks 2, 5, 6 & 12).

Personnel

* Pete Rugolo –

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, conductor * Bones Howe –

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

*Unidentified orchestra

References

{{Authority control Pete Rugolo albums 1962 albums Mercury Records albums Albums arranged by Pete Rugolo Albums conducted by Pete Rugolo