May 22, 2009

GIVE-AWAY: PRISONER SET

GIVE-AWAY: PRISONER SET!-FINISHED
In celebration of my birthday week and the over 8,000 visits to the Spy Vibe website (not including the blog site visits) in its first four months, I'm giving away lots of special prizes! Yes, it's a heartfelt thank you to you Spy Vibers. As readers of Double O Section will know, NETWORK is an fantastic UK resource for cult spy DVD and soundtrack sets. Their newest release is the complete soundtrack set for JASON KING! I urge Spy Vibers to check out their on-line shop. Their sets are produced with impeccable quality and detail. And to help illustrate that I am giving away one new copy of their amazing PRISONER soundtrack set!


From their website: Compiled from the original master tapes by Eric Mival (music editor on the series) Network is pleased to announce the release of a 3 CD set, available exclusively from this website. This album comprises the vast majority of music specially composed for the series (including a number of unused cues) presented in the order they were recorded. Complete with new notes by Eric which elaborates on his time on The Prisoner and a reproduction of his original music 'bible' giving an alternative and fascinating perspective of the production of the series, this new release is an essential purchase.

Disc one features the original scores and themes for Arrival by Robert Farnon and Wilfred Josephs together with a selection of Ron Grainer's themes including newly discovered original recordings of his earliest version known as The Age of Elegance. Discs two and three includes completes scores for Degree Absolute, Play In Three Acts, The General, Free For All, Hammer Into Anvil, Face Unknown and Living In Harmony finishing with a few additional music cues for Fall Out.

TO WIN:
A random drawing will be made on June 1st. To enter, simply post a comment on this announcement at the Spy Vibe blog, telling us who your favorite British spy is and why. That's it. Good Luck! Stay tuned for more prizes.

9 comments:

  1. My favorite spy Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) in "The Prisoner." This show came on I think in 1968 in the United States. I was 13 and was completely captivated by the series, the bubble, and of course the anti-hero, Number 6. Despite the intense psychological games, he managed to maintain his integrity and best every Number 2. Each episode was almost like an intricate chess game of manoeuvres and out-manoeuvring. It didn't drive him crazy and he never gave up. What a role model--he questioned authority and stood up for freedom. And here's the rub--on the day of the 17th episode, my father made me go and mow the lawn of a spinster lady, which job he had found for me without consulting me. Back then there weren't videotape recorders and I was crushed to have missed it. In fact, I did not get to watch it until about 30 years later when my local US public television station rebroadcast the series. So I got to see my hero who was probably about my age by now, as suave, sophisticated and cool as he had ever been. knemes0@yahoo.com

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  2. I think the quintessential British spy was Dangermouse! Yes, there are many other choices -- perhaps Harry Palmer would take second place with me -- but Dangermouse encompassed everything that was fun about the British spy explosion of the '60s long before the despicable Austin Powers came along.

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  3. I guess Number Six himself is my favorite British spy! I go hook, line, and sinker for the theaory that John Drake is Number Six and that copyright issues kept them from actually prevented the actual association. I love McGoohan's tightly-wound persona and intelligence. A fascinating character and a fascinating man.

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  4. My favorite spy show will always be the Avengers with Emma Peel and Tara King! Seeing this show during it's original run on tv as a young boy gave me hope for my life as an adult that one day it would become as exciting as the life of those characters was. After finishing school I would become a professional spy! And I did, well, sort of, in a mirror Earth anyway! LOL

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  5. Favorite British spy??? Jason, that's nearly impossible to choose! All the spies I love best are British! 007, John Steed, John Drake, Emma Peel, Harry Palmer, Smiley, Number Six (although like C.K. I also lean toward the school of thought that he and Drake are one and the same), Modesty Blaise (well, Britain's her adopted nationality, anyway)... There are too many to list! Especially if you include sometime spies like Modesty, Simon Templar, Lord Brett Sinclair, etc. So who will I choose? I guess it has to be James Bond. Cliche, I know, but he's the daddy of them all, isn't he? Bond is certainly the ambassador on behalf of all fictional British spies to the world at large, and thus the most accessible. 007 is the first British spy I ever encountered and the reason I ever got into all of those others. It would probably be more fun to get drinks with John Steed, but I guess I'll pick James Bond as my favorite British agent.

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  6. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't partial to Patrick McGoohan's John Drake and Number 6 characters, but Patrick McNee's John Steed is right up there with them. But, the most well-balanced British spy for my TV enjoyment is Roger Moore as The Saint. The Saint was capable, determined, suave, and humorous all-in-one. Drake and Number Six (by virtue of his predicament) was properly serious but often too dry and grim. Steed was a calm, cool, and collected character, often too cool... aloof, even. I enjoy them all, but The Saint gets top honors in my book.

    Kevin Bonnett

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  7. Definitely, definitely either Harry Palmer, for his working class roots, his surly attitude, and his cooking ability. OR Number Six for his individualism and his refusal to give in to the potential of an easy life if it meant trading his freedom.

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  8. Fave British Spy - John Drake in "Secret Agent." What I dug about this show is its reliance on wits as opposed to violence or gadgetry. It's an interesting way to put forth a series' protagonist. What must've been a huge constraint for the writers also ended up forcing great creativity.

    That, and of course the idea that he could be No. 6...

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  9. My fave has got to be John Steed. No one could beat Steed for grace under pressure. Lined up before a firing squad and asked if he has a last request, Steed answers, "Yes, cancel my milk." In another scene, realizing a gun is pointed at him, he says, "I do beg your pardon, I'm forgetting my manners" and raises his hands in the socially accepted manner.

    Polished, smooth, impeccably attired, and when the situation calls for it, remarkably ruthless and cutthroat. With apologies to 007, no one's ever made being British look so cool as my boy Pat Macnee. Not bad for a Canadian. :-)

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