Customer Reviews

Escape From Television

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I have been a huge fan of Jan Hammer, going back to before his Miami Vice days. I enjoyed Miami Vice (at least the first 2 years, before it lost its way). Jan Hammer's music really added to the atmosphere and tone of the show. On top of that, Hammer was very influencial to the music of the times.

This album is consists of bits of the soundtrack from Miami Vice. The sound is bright, lively and beautiful in parts. This came at the dawn of the digital age, with clear music and a very high dynamic range.

In spite of all that, this is not a good album. It is TV program background, composed to go along with a certain dramatic scene. When the music is pulled out of the context of the show, it loses its meaning. That would be OK if the compostitions could stand on their own, but these can't for the most part.

On their own, most of the compositions are weak. They are very short (around 2 to 3 minutes) and not very complex. They have a simple theme that is repeated over and over.

These tracks weren't meant to be complete compositions, but were meant to be background music. They weren't meant to overwhelm the scene, but to set the mood. I guess if that you want to recreate the Miami Vice lifestyle and need some background music for it, this is the perfect disc.

This CD is 46 minutes. It has a "bonus" track that is a 6 minute extended version of Forever Tonight, which really illustrates the tediousness and repitition of the music. There are 3 very good tracks that do stand on their own. But, that is not enought to recommend this CD.

The liner notes for the CD are great. They explain which episode each track was from and what was going on in the actual scene.

Note that no matter how much you think you would like this, you don't want to buy. If you know you are going to like it, you should get the Miami Vice: The Complete Collection. It has all these tracks plus much more.