Sold Date: February 28, 2023
Start Date: January 31, 2023
Final Price: £25.00 (GBP)
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BRAND NEW

First Ever Vinyl Release

Grass Green Vinyl

Gatefold Sleeve with Track Notes

The origins of the series The Secret Service began in 1968 whilst working at Pinewood Studios, Gerry Anderson bumped into a familiar face of stage and screen: comic actor Stanley Unwin. With his whimsical charm and hilarious gibberish double talk (playfully christened ‘Unwinese’) Unwin had earned great popularity throughout the 50s and 60s and the Anderson's immediately knew that they had found someone to base their next puppet series on. For several years the Century 21 team had toyed with directly basing a puppet character on a real-life actor, now the time had come to make it a reality. Duly, the Andersons developed a premise around Unwin, returning to their ‘unlikely spy’ scenario which had worked so well with Joe 90, they created ‘Father’ Unwin, a kindly priest who, despite outwardly disappearing into whimsy, doubles as a determined agent for British Intelligence. In the series the lines would be blurred even further between the miniature Supermarionation world and reality, as live action footage of Stanley Unwin would also be used in the series.

To appropriately reflect the The Secret Service’s premise and compliment the gentle title sequence created to introduce the series, Barry Gray decided step completely away from his usual attention-grabbing themes and write a three-part fugue in the style of the Baroque composer Bach. To perform the vocals, the Mike Sammes Singers were hired, the vocal group who Gray had used on the Supercar theme back in 1961. Once coupled with soft organ and minimalist percussion, a truly unique piece of inventive music was born to bookend Father Unwin's adventures, which perfectly captured the off-beat nature of the series.

SIDE A

1.            Century 21 Logo                               Barry Gray Orchestra

2.            Robbery at Healey Automation  Barry Gray Orchestra

3.            The Secret Service Main Titles    Barry Gray Orchestra

4.            Calling Father Unwin                      Barry Gray Orchestra

5.            Operation Intercept                        Barry Gray Orchestra

6.            250 Hours                                           Barry Gray Orchestra

7.            Sabotage                                             Barry Gray Orchestra

SIDE B

1.            Aerial Spies                                         Barry Gray Orchestra

2.            The Unwilling Accomplice             Barry Gray Orchestra

3.            Feathered Bombers                        Barry Gray Orchestra

4.            Ambush                                               Barry Gray Orchestra

5.            Bufflers Halt Reopens                    Barry Gray Orchestra

6.            The Train Hijack                                 Barry Gray Orchestra

7.            The Secret Service End Titles       Barry Gray Orchestra

D