One of the greatest TV soundtracks ever released, it only took 40 years to come out on CD: Morton Stevens’ best-known (and now iconic) theme, Hawaii Five-0. Stevens composed a tremendous amount of music for television but this is what he’ll always be remembered for (he won two Emmys for Five-0 music written after this album’s 1970 release). I interviewed Stevens shortly before his death and drew on that for some of my notes.
When I 
was producing the first Man From U.N.C.L.E. album, I was unaware that its fourth-season composer had passed away. I really loved Dick Shores’ music, not only for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. but also for The Wild Wild West, It Takes a Thief, Hawaii Five-0 and other series of the 1960s and ’70s. I met him in 1991 and had a fun time at his house. I was astonished that there were no obituaries and his death had seemingly gone unnoticed. I decided at that point to write a long chronicle of his life and career, which begins here, continues here and concludes here. His daughter and her family were wonderfully cooperative and supplied some of the photos that accompany these pieces. I took the color shot that tops the final piece.