Jonny Quest Soundtrack Review

This is Matt Verbois from La La Land Records

and you've entered the La La Land Lounge on GeekCast

Radio. Welcome to the La La Land Lounge here

on GeekCaster Radio. I am of course, Steve Trenum.

Mike, this is episode four of the La La Land

Lounge and joining me for the first time and

this is Doug Abel from Talking About My Generation.

Hello. Hello, sir. How are you? Oh, I'm good.

I'm good. That's good. That's good. For those

of you who don't know or for those who have heard,

probably Doug doesn't know, La La Land Records

is a soundtrack release company based in... I

think out there in California, and they put on

a lot of awesome soundtracks I have been doing

written reviews for them from 2013 till about

Early late last year, and I decided I needed

to do it change it up a little bit. I get tired

of writing I just got into this whole funk where

I just couldn't write anything so it wasn't just

because of La La Land or anything else but over

the years they've sent me a bunch of soundtracks

which I've reviewed now we're gonna take a look

back an audio look back at some of those and

Even some of the new releases that they've got

coming out actually released last week on October

13th was their two CD set limited edition of

3 ,000 units of Johnny Quest. That's right folks,

we got Johnny Quest here. La La and Records and

Warner Brothers present the world premiere release

of the original television score to the 1964

-1965 classic animated Hanna -Barbera adventure

series, Johnny Quest, with user Clive William

Hanna. Joseph Barbera and Hoyt Curtin. Musical

direction by Hoyt Curtin and Ted Nichols. Requested

by fans for decades, the thrilling and groundbreaking

original music from one of the most beloved 60's

animated shows of all time finally makes its

official debut with this deluxe knockout 2 CD

presentation. Musical genius of Hoyt Curtin,

with some pop cats who we knew, is on full display

here, filling jazz -infused action scoring, brimming

with excitement and drama. Produced by Lucas

Kendall, Taylor White, and Nick Manieri. Mastered

by Doug Schwartz, the Susie limited release of

3 ,000 mutes includes bonus tracks and features,

fascinating in -depth liner notes by film music

journalist John Burlingame, and writer Jeff Bond.

Adventurous art design by Joe Sanora, a compliment

to the celebratory release. That will fill fans

of all ages now it has been years since I've

seen the original Johnny Quest So I actually

had to go back and look like I thought this thing

ran forever I didn't realize it only had one

season. It only had 26 cards. Yeah I'm like cuz

everything back then was first run. Well, okay,

so when I say back then I mean the 80s when I

was a kid in the 80s Everything to me was first

run syndication I didn't really even I know this

is gonna sound stupid as hell even Batman 66

I thought was current to the 80s obviously it

wasn't duh, but it's just one of those things

where That's the first time I was able to experience

it. I didn't realize that. Oh, yeah, it's I mean,

I know Johnny Quest has had a Bunch of remakes

and reboots over the years, but I could have

sworn that first show the original show and more

than just 26 episodes so As I've already said,

this is a 2 CD release. It has 53 tracks of HDIS,

giving it 106 total tracks. I have to go back

and watch the show to see the music in context.

The problem with Johnny Quest is that there's

so much action and so much talking. Not that

this is a problem with watching the cartoon,

but just trying to learn the music in the context

of the show. There's so much sound effects with

action and whatever else and voiceover Unless

it's a scene where nobody's talking and nobody's

blowing something up. I could I barely noticed

the music It's it's there though. I mean you

can you can definitely tell it's there. Oh Yeah,

I could definitely tell it's there and I'm not

sitting here saying anything I'm not trying to

say anything negative about it. I'm just saying

that I Outside of the main theme, which I'm sorry,

that opening is way too long. Not the music,

just the opening itself. Okay, okay, I was gonna

say the music I thought was great, but yeah,

you're right about the opening. Yeah, no, no,

the music is great, but that opening scene that

has all these action shots and various things,

and I'm like, okay, that's very cool looking,

but... That's like a minute and 57 seconds. That's

almost a two minute long opening and I'm like

Wait, what? It was it was very reminiscent for

me of the old Irwin Allen films like voyage to

the bottom of the sea or the time tunnel You

know lost in space that sort of thing because

they had long long lead -ins with Everything

that you'd see so it was you know You get like

45 seconds to a minute of this huge lead -in

for it It was just like my god, and I kept watching

that and thinking This is Arwen Allen. They're

copying that. See, and it's not so much the music

that I have a problem with, and we'll talk more

about the music here in a moment, but when watching

the show back to learn about the music in its

context, that opening, I wasn't expecting something

super quick. Most cartoons, whether they're from

the 60s or 70s or 80s, They usually have, like

you said, a minute or a minute and fifteen second

opening. But this is one minute fifty -seven

seconds. Almost a two minute long opening. And

it was just too damn long to watch for as many

episodes that this score has on it. Because what

I like to do is, as I said, I want to see the

music in the context of each episode. So I tried

to watch all of the episodes that have score

releases on this. Sadly, that didn't happen.

In total, you've got about 2 hours and 32 minutes

of music here with a 2 CD set. I really enjoyed

it. I thought it was a fun listen through. Like

I said, I do like the opening theme. I didn't

realize that they were, like, I didn't really

put jazz and action adventure. Show together,

but it works it very much work. Yeah, I mean

it was it was I'm listening to it and all I could

think was it's not the It's not the beatnik,

you know offbeat type What's the word I'm looking

for Improv you know improvisational jazz type

of thing, but it definitely had that that 60s,

you know late 60s or early 60s era Jazz what

you hear like almost like a Charlie Parker type

sound which is what it reminded me of Yeah and

again this show is you know is a product of his

time back in the 60s The music for me as I'm

listening to it as I said I did very much enjoy

it I do have several favorite tracks off of here

But at the same time I'm not exactly sure I'm

not exactly sure how many people this is going

to appeal to like I know a lot of us grew up

watching Johnny Quest and we love that action

-adventure kind of aspect but at times some of

the music it doesn't feel repetitive but it's

not even that the fact that they move put the

main theme into it so like you know you have

a hero's theme kind of thing it's not even that

it's just each song does tell a story within

each episode and that's good but i'm not sure

if this is something i could listen to on a regular

basis like on a on you know every once in a while

you know i i listened to it like two or three

times before we recorded this thing um and i

do enjoy almost all of the music yeah i mean

i i get what you're saying it's not a It's not

a Justice League or Batman, you know the animated

series type of Soundtrack if that makes any sense.

It's Again, like you said, it's not bad. It's

just not something you can listen to over and

over and over again You know repeatedly like

you can some of the others. It's it's good to

insert in there and I Don't even want to say

like you can listen to pieces of it because you

really can't it would be taken out of context

for some of it Yeah, well like they have Okay,

so in the in the two CD set According to my iTunes

track 54 in my playlist is actually track one

of the second disc Which is the Johnny quest

art card and see here. I thought the art card

I thought that what I thought that was different

each time apparently it's not I went back and

looked at several episodes and apparently The

art, like when I say art card it's the opening

title where they give the name of the episode,

you know what I'm talking about? So, I thought

those were all different because I'm used to

watching shows like He Man and the Master of

the Universe or She -Ra Princess of Power where

those each one of those they have one or two

varying art card themes for those and they rotate

them. So it's not all the same one at the same,

you know every single episode Going back and

watching through Johnny quest. I I Still enjoy

it. I haven't why I haven't seen the show in

years I couldn't even tell the last time I probably

saw an episode of Johnny quest even on TV and

syndication was probably Anywhere between 87

and 90. Yeah, I just it's just It's a show that

lives in my memory that oh, yeah I remember that

and I remember Johnny and Haji and Sim Sim Salabim

and Bandit always barking and everybody's saying

oh yeah Bandit you're right or oh no Bandit don't

do that was the funniest thing watching some

of these episodes was Bandit would do nothing

but bark and then any of the characters that

were Interacting with him. They would just assume

he's you know It's almost like they could understand

him like they had an animal translator in nature

or something from dr. Doofenshmirtz. I don't

know You know, yeah, I mean one of my favorites

with him was uh when they were I want to say

it was terror island when they show They show

everybody at the chinese restaurant and they're

getting their picture taken and bandit immediately

has to weasel up and to have his picture taken

And I was just kind of like okay, really? Of

course he was a ham and that's what race even

said I just I kind of went okay, you know, it's

cute but This that was the other thing that was

kind of odd for me as I'm watching this. I Didn't

really I I didn't watch all the episodes because

there's just way too many for me to sit down

and watch this Yeah, I didn't have the time for

it but in the few episodes that I didn't watch,

Haji never said Sim Sim Sala Bim. So I'm thinking

that that was from like the 90s version that

they did. No, no, he said it was which episode

was it that I watched? It was. It was probably

it was probably the robot spy or. I think it

was Riddle of the Gold, one of those where he

was... They had gone up against somebody who

was trying to kidnap a girl or some other kid

and Haji's like, here, look. Oh no, no, that's

not what it was. He did it to Bandit in one of

the early episodes, one of the first ones. I

forget which one it was. It actually might have

been the very first episode, The Mystery of the

Lizard Man. where he pulled out the magic coin

trick and that's when he said it so I distinctly

remember hearing him say that because I had to

then obviously quote him saying that and the

funny thing is according to certain searches

on Google Sim Sim Zabim apparently in most modern

terms means madness I guess, I don't know. I

did spend the full two hours, 32 minutes listening

to all these tracks. I do enjoy the music. I

think it's wonderful that Long Line put this

out. I think it's great that we finally have

Hoyt Curtin's music. And that was the other thing.

I know you don't have the type of pitch you need

to hear, but the liner notes in this basically

tell the story of how the whole show came about

and everything else, the music, and they talk

about how... back in those days, it wasn't often

that the actual musical composer or director

got a credit. Think of Mel Blank Steel with Warner

Brothers where only his name could appear as

voiced by, it's that same kind of thing. So that's

why you have William, Hannah, Joseph Rivera,

and Hoyt Curtain along with Ted Nichols. So that

was kind of fun. In the line of notes they talk

about, you know, Trying to come, you know handle

rubber I had this stable it as the longest time

Flintstones Jetsons all that and they wanted

to do something completely different and this

was completely different This was an action adventure

show for children. I mean Johnny 11 years old

There's so I think in this you know, and he's

got his dad All right folks We've taken a little

break in between the first portion of this episode

of the La La Land Lounge and now because the

audio gremlins decided to basically destroy part

of the audio that Doug and I had recorded. So

we are back now and wrapping up the Johnny Quest

La La Land Records 2 CD set score. It's 106 tracks

between two discs, 53 tracks each disc as I've

said already in the past 14 -15 minutes. Uh I

do love this music. Uh as we've been saying,

I'm just not sure if this is something I can

listen to on the regular. It's nice that it's

there. It's great to go back and rewatch the

first and only season of the original Johnny

Quest. Um any final thoughts from you on on this

on the CD score set? Uh not much. Not much different

from what you've already said. It's basically,

you know, like you said, it's good music. It's

it's great. It's got a nice beat but It ain't

no batman the animated series or justice league

unlimited soundtrack Yeah, well I mean For it's

time, I think it really works. And back then,

especially in the sixties, you know, in the sixties,

you had Flintstones and Jetsons and you had a

few other Hanna -Rivera stables. And then this

was them, as we've already said, basically breaking

out into something new and cool. And I would

assume that most people that grew up in like,

you know, even though my mom's now passed away

almost a year and a half you know she was born

in fifty four so by sixty four when this came

out she was ten years old so she was i don't

know i assume she was in the johnny quest uh...

i know she like beanie and cecil so there's that

but it's you know i'm just saying people of that

age not you know anywhere between i'd say five

and ten year olds in nineteen sixty four i'm

sure this was their version of whatever the hell

properties you can We could list off for the

80s for us. And it did change Hannah Barbera's

landscape a little bit. It added a flavor that

was not there. So that's why I also appreciate

the music. Again, like I said, unless I have

the need to feel adventurous, since it's an adventure

show, I guess. Overall... 0 to 5 rating scale

on the GCR Universal rating scale. I'd probably

give the two CD set a four and a half. I'm only

gonna give it a four and a half, and that's a

good grade, four and a half out of five. I'm

only gonna give it four and a half because as

I said, it's not a score that I will be going

back to on a regular basis. Out of the stuff

that La La Land Records has released since I've

been working with them, Shaft, Samuel L. Jackson's

Shaft from 2000. Any of the Batman the animated

series stuff as you've already mentioned Superman

the animated series The flash superhero that

kind of stuff. That's kind of like my go -to

wheelhouse for for for soundtracks for this If

we've offended anybody with our opinion We're

sorry not sorry. I guess I don't know but this

it is what it is Zero to five. What would you

give Johnny quests to CD set? I'd probably go

with a four out of five. It's Like you said,

it's a great soundtrack and I'm glad they finally

got it out onto a soundtrack because people have

been wanting this for decades Mm -hmm, but at

the same time Like you said, it's not something

I could listen to all the time. Yeah, absolutely

That's really where I'm kind of downgrading it

that half -star from what you graded it at. Yeah,

absolutely Coming up next here in the LA lounge.

I don't actually know folks. I'm not sure uh...

looking at my my stack of cds over here i've

got uh... justice league vs teen titans and batman

bad blood i've got blind spots season one ooh

nineteen ninety six is primal fear talk about

a twentieth anniversary release uh... let's see

what else is over here uh... we've got oh ferris

we can do ferris next so yeah we'll celebrate

another thirtieth anniversary ooh that would

be so cruel Next episode, episode 5 of the La

La Land Lounge. The Primal Fear of Ferris Bueller.

We'll cover Primal Fear and Ferris Bueller in

the same episode. Oh boy. That would be funny.

I'd actually have to go back and watch Primal

Fear. I remember that movie, but I don't remember

it that well. I just know that it's Richard Gere,

and I think it's Ed Norton, or I don't know.

I could be wrong. Might be somebody else. Yeah,

I'm more of the fairest person. I can quote you

lines from that thing all day. Pardon me, but

you're an asshole. You know? Swing batter, swing

batter, swing batter, batter, batter. Yeah. Yeah.

So, who knows? Just trying to figure out ways

to bring in interesting various soundtrack reviews

from the La La Lounge. As I said, I'm doing the

audio reviews instead of written reviews at this

point. I think that would be kind of interesting

to compare something that came out 30 years ago

versus 20 years ago and basically a comedy...

coming -of -age film versus uh... suspenseful

thriller so who knows uh... that's a good for

us here on the lounge where the people find you

online sir you can find us out at my generation

podcast dot com i'd check out all of our process

for talking about my generation out there you

can also write me at on twitter at espersi o

u t or you can write us at my generation podcast

at gmail dot com Yes, and that's going to do

it for us here in the Lawn & Lounge. Go over

to LawnandRecords .com where soundtracks live

to get all your soundtrack needs.