10.26.2017

Retro Roundup: Airwolf Theme and Intro

Even though I never watched this show during it's initial run back in the 80's, somehow I knew this song and I never forgot it. Weird. Since I'm hitting the 80's shows pretty hard right now courtesy of Hulu Plus, I finally decided to dig into this one. I'm only on Part 2 of the 2-Part Season 1 Pilot, but so far it's just okay. That first episode wasn't very strong, but I've also noticed that can be typical for these shows. I felt the same way about The Greatest American Hero, but as the season progressed, it got better and stronger, finally finding it's stride. I'm hoping the same will happen with this one.

One of the shows strongest elements is undoubtedly it's intro theme and score, courtesy of Sylvester Levay. It's pure 80's synth magic and easily one of the best 80's intro themes ever made.


This intro floored me. It's amazing. Considering they only used footage from the very first episode, it's even more impressive because that episode wasn't anything to get excited about. But it's that song, courtesy of Sylvester Levay, who by the way, did the excellent synth score for the Stallone classic Cobra. Sadly, the score has never gotten an official release in the United States on vinyl, cassette or CD. It wasn't until 1994 that a die-hard Airwolf fan, and head of the Airwolf Appreciation Association for 10 years, Mark J. Cairns, decided to make his own CD release, which today is mega-rare and I've never come across one. Though the theme can be found on vinyl from Germany and France as a maxi single, as far as I know, it never got a release officially here. If anyone has this CD, please hit me up!

Here is info on the Limited Edition CD release by Mark J. Cairns via Wikipedia:
Airwolf Themes is a two-CD soundtrack album for the television series released in February, 1999. The 73 minute soundtrack was created over a five-year period by a fan, Northern Ireland-based graphic designer Mark J. Cairns, in collaboration with original composer Levay, with a foreword by the series' creator, Bellisario.
After the original CBS series was cancelled in 1986, Cairns headed the International Airwolf Appreciation Association for nearly 10 years (from 1988–1998). He decided in early 1994 to produce his own high-quality soundtrack for the series using the episodic scores from the three seasons of the series to create the first 22 synthesizer-based tracks on the soundtrack, including various medleys and character themes. Only 1000 copies were made.
The first digital download-only EP release, entitled 'Airwolf Main Themes' was made available in September 2009. It contains four tracks based on variations of the series' Main Theme and was a preview of the future Extended Themes release.
A further 42-track, 146 minute, enhanced two-CD, limited edition soundtrack album release called 'Airwolf Extended Themes' (containing both a CD of the series' main theme variants, and a second CD of the episodic themes) was released on 26 March 2014. Bulgarian-Polish musician, Jan Michal Szulew, was the main arranger and orchestrator on the first CD, and Mark J. Cairns the arranger and overall producer of the second CD on this soundtrack. 2000 copies were made.

source: Wikipedia

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