Mister 8

If you’re working on a secret agent themed design project and want a genuine retro feel without resorting to overstated curly serifs and slants, why not turn to the fonts used by the originals? We’ll start with a bit of James Bond:

From Russia With Love Poster

The second James Bond movie asked you to “Meet James Bond” in what I believe is a variation of Cooper Black. Note the single tiered ‘a’ in the poster, however, compared to the double-tiered ‘a’ in the sample below:

Cooper Black

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Man From U.N.C.L.E. Album Cover

Welcome to Tablature Tuesday here at Mister Eight, where we’re hoping to start a weekly presentation of guitar tablature for fledgling Vic Flicks out there. Last week, you jammed along to John Barry’s spy-fi-like “Beat Girl,” but this week, it’s actual secret agent sounds for you:

e|----------------------------------|
B|--------------8-6----6h8p6p0------|
G|--------6---7----------------6-7--|
D|------5---------------------------|
A|----5-----------------------------|
E|--3-------------------------------|

[See the full tablature]

This is the tablature to the end title version of the theme, written by Jerry Goldsmith and arranged by Lalo Schifrin for the second season of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. I can’t figure out where I got this mp3 of the extended theme from as I can’t find it on the excellent four-disc release from Film Score Monthly. The second season theme is a less orchestral version of the original main theme that I think works better for guitar, but you can probably extrapolate most of what you need to know about the original brassier main theme from it.

This one had a tricky part that, as far as I can tell, doesn’t appear on the show (the bridge-like section where the root goes to F) and I’m not sure if it is entirely correct, but I’m happy to take suggestions and corrections!

The late Goldsmith’s theme to the Man From U.N.C.L.E. was nominated for both an Emmy and a Grammy in each award’s “Best TV Theme” category. Jon Heitland, in his The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Book: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of a Television Classic, had this to say about Goldsmith’s theme:

As early as October 1963, Norman Felton knew he wanted Jerry Goldsmith to compose the theme for the show…Goldsmith composed a rousing, powerful theme for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. that was used, in slightly varied forms throughout the series…The theme song was played during the opening and closing credits of each episode. The theme was extremely popular, and for a time, a 45-rpm single version was on the market…The U.N.C.L.E. theme was performed by the Gallants, but they received screen credit only in one first season episode, “The See Paris and Die Affair,” in which they played nightclub musicians.

Here are the opening credits to the second season of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.:

I must apologize for my lack of posting as of late. This week has been busy, and I spent much of the time I’d allotted to the half-done redesign of the site, and not developing my content for the week. For this, I apologize! I’ve also had a conference paper due, a nasty fall down the steps that I’m still dealing with pains from, and my wife leaving town and then returning….

Still, no excuses. I’ve let you down, all six of you, and I hope to make it up by tossing a bunch of new content at you this weekend. Hopefully. Time allowing.

First up is a continuation of the theme of the month, which you’ve probably forgotten by now, which is spy-surf music, guitar instrumentals with twangy, machine gun firing low E strings and clap-clap…clap drum patterns. In our first installment, we presented surf songs that took on James Bond themes…this time out, we’ll be presenting surf covers of classic 60s spy television! Like last time, clicking the album covers will take you to Amazon, where a portion (usually some pennies) of your purchase, I must admit, goes to me. I promise to spend it on something awesome.

Because it’s I Spy week (you may have forgotten that too, considering it started two weeks ago), we’ll start with a version of I Spy — this one by the Clee-Shays, whom we covered last time. Available on the collected album Dynamic Guitar Sounds of the Clee-Shays:

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Next up is a track that’s not really a spy theme, so much as a detective theme…except I just remembered that it was the theme for the video game Spy Hunter, so take that! In any case, the track is Peter Gunn, the classic Mancini song, as done by the master, some say the inventor, of surf guitar: Dick Dale! You know Dale, as thanks to Pulp Fiction, it’s impossible not to — he wrote and recorded the song “Miserlou” that’s often thought of as the theme for the film. He’s also seen in a few 60s-era surf movies, dressed as a gypsy and, if I recall correctly, singing. This particular rip comes from his Greatest Hits, 1961-1976, but I think it was originally recorded for Rock out with Dick Dale and his Del-Tones. This is truly one of the best songs ever recorded by one of the greatest guitar players ever, and I hope you enjoy it!

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We’ll stick with another classic surf band, the Challengers, with their version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The Challengers were formed from the disbanded Bel-Airs, a young Los Angeles band who are now best known for their song, “Mr. Moto” (they also did a version of Peter Gunn, but it doesn’t compare to Dale’s, and is missing that reverb surf sound). The Challengers were drummer Richard Delvy, Jim Roberts on keyboards, bassist Randy Nauert, and guitarists Glenn Grey and Don Landis, and they, alongside Dale and the Beach Boys, were responsible for kick-starting surf music as we know it today. This cut was originally recorded for the vinyl album Man From U.N.C.L.E., which also featured a version of “Secret Agent Man,” but was ripped from Killer Surf: The Best Of The Challengers.

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Speaking of “Secret Agent Man,” that’s what we have up next. There are probably hundreds of covers of this song in the world, all feeding off the original instrumental version by the Ventures. I’ve listened to many of them, and I think this is one of the best, while still retaining the feel of the Ventures’ version. It’s by a band called Cosmonauti, an Italian band from Rome, who also do amazing covers of Ennio Morricone songs. It’s a bit difficult to find actual information on the band, but here’s what I could dig up: the band consists of Stefano “Justo” Giustiniani and Andrea “Joseph” Lauri on guitar, Massimo “Jr.” Petrozzi on bass, and Alessandro “Petrosh” Petrozzi on drums. Also, they are amazing. Aren’t those the essentials?

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“Secret Agent Man” was the American theme song to the British show Danger Man. In the U.K., viewers of the show heard the following theme, “High Wire” The following version was recorded by Man Or Astroman?, whom we also discussed last time. This version has some thunderous keyboards and some crazy thereminesque sounds, and it’s also the only cover of “High Wire” that I know of to be in existence (silly me…the Clee-Shays have one on the album that I took the other songs from!). The song comes from the 7″ UFOs and the Men Who Fly Them…good luck finding that one. I got this one from an online compilation of rare and unfindable Astroman? songs.

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And we’ll pick up next time with covers of Get Smart, Mission Impossible, The Avengers, and The Persuaders!

Watchmen is the topic of the weekend, at least at my house. One of my favorite superhero comic works ever (Rorschach is based on my favorite superhero of all time, The Question), I’ve been waiting the last year with mixed feelings for the film adaptation, and left the theater Friday night with mixed feelings as well. I agree with everyone who has said that it was probably the best Watchmen movie that we could hope for, but I still don’t think it achieves the power of the original. The issue comes down to subtext, and the film’s inability to trust the audience — there’s one scene where Dr. Manhattan simply declares something to another character that we as viewers should have already figured out, and it robs the scene of its power. There are too many scenes like that. Still, one of the best opening credits sequences ever.

I wanted, because the comic series (I’ve never read it in graphic novel form, and think it’s best enjoyed an issue at a time, like an old Republic serial [wink, wink]) and the movie are still fresh in my head, to point out a few references in the original text that you all might enjoy. The first comes in issue #11, in the back matter, as Adrian Veidt gives an interview on the Committee to Re-Elect the President:

Man From U.N.C.L.E. reference in Watchmen

The second is not technically a spy fic reference, but an Outer Limits reference. For the sake of my Culp-loving pals over at the I Spy Forum, however, I want to point out the television clip in issue #12 (from the episode “Architects of Fear” which has similarities to the conclusion of Watchmen):

Robert Culp in Watchmen

Don’t forget that I met Robert Culp a few weeks ago. And on Friday, hours before seeing the film, I was standing at the base of Madision Square Garden, wondering if Pale Horse was going to play there anytime soon. I’m practically Captain Metropolis over here….

This is sort of another follow-up post to our look at Ennio Morricone’s “Deep Deep Down” from Danger! Diabolik earlier in the week, continuing to spotlight musicians who have Italo-espionage influence in their music.

First, in the comments section of our last post, Nick of DVDTrash pointed out another Diabolik themed video, this one made semi-official by the acting presence of John Philip Law and direction from Mario Bava’s son, Lamberto Bava. Nick writes at his site:

Lamberto Bava has directed a music video for Italian pop group Tiromancino very much in the style of Diabolik, so much so that Diabolik himself John Philip Law is in the video with a small cameo. Also stars Dan McVicar as Diabolik and the lovely Claudia Gerini as Eva Kant.

Next, our new pal Simon from the band Kriminal Hammond Inferno emailed to tell us about his other band, The Lunar Tikis. He writes:

The Lunar Tiki’s began as instrumental surf trio (Luc on drums, Flupke on bass, Roland on guitar) in 2003. When Simon came in 2004 with his Hammond organ, the band slightly changed their direction and covered more 60’s music, including some spy themes like “Man from UNCLE,” “The Persuaders,” “High Wire” (from Danger Man) and “The Money Spyder” (James Taylor Quartet) but also 60’s classics like “She’s Not There” and “Green Onions.”

In 2006, they became “Leo & the Lunar Tiki’s” with a young girl singer, Léonor. They stopped with spy music then.

You can learn more about the Lunar Tikis at their website.

Simon sent along some MP3s from the Lunar Tikis’ early days as an instrumental band. Enjoy!

The Man From UNCLE

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The Money Spyder

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High Wire / Danger Man:

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The Persuaders:

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Simon was kind enough to tell us the chord progression to the last of these songs, and so we’ll soon be featuring the tablature to the Persuaders here at Mister 8!

But that’s not all. Simon also tells us more about his other band, Kriminal Hammond Inferno:

In 2006 Simon had the opportunity to make a side project with Kriminal Hammond Inferno with Daniel Wang on drums, and they included Lunar Tiki’s cover songs plus 2 new scores from Danger:Diabolik , “The Bubble Theme” and “Deep Deep Down.” They played in 2007 in Italy and Belgium with as guest Sarah Bogart for those 2 songs and performed in 2007-2008 in UK , Netherlands and Belgium .

Here is the group, with singer Sarah Bogart, singing the other theme from Danger: Diabolik!:

And here’s the end of a concert in Rome where they do a different version of “Deep Deep Down,” this time with some Italian lyrics (also includes a rocking version of Green Onions):