The Music From Peter Gunn / More Music From Peter Gunn

BMG's French unit has issued this 24-bit remastered edition of the combined music by Henry Mancini from Peter Gunn and More Music from Peter Gunn on one CD. There's some difference, but not an enormous amount, between the sound on this CD and the Buddha label remastering of Peter Gunn from 1999 -- on the main title theme, for example, the sound is closer and the piano comes in heavier, and there's a real up-close-and-personal rasp to the brass and saxes, and it is easier to make out nuances in the work of the individual players on saxes, trumpets, and even the drums. This improvement may not be quite enough to justify a new purchase for anyone who owns the Buddha disc, but the presence of the complete contents of More Music from Peter Gunn (only four tracks of which were appended to the Buddha Peter Gunn) does -- these may not have been the first important jazz sides to come out of television, but they were the first to have a lasting impact on music or popular culture, still resonating 40 years later. On the other hand, the annotation on the Buddha disc, by Will Friedwald, is a lot more useful and enjoyable than the essay (in French) by Stephane Lerouge in the French disc's booklet, although the latter does have a good command of '50s American popular culture. ~ Bruce Eder