“The Hanged Man” was a short-lived British crime drama TV series created and written by Edmund Ward, starring Colin Blakely, Michael Williams and Gary Watson. It was produced by Yorkshire Television (now ITV) and only eight episodes were made, originally aired between February and April, 1975. It has been described as a tense, well-made thriller.

The music for this series was written by British composer Alan Tew and recorded in Munich by an assembly of studio musicians known as “The Rhythm Section”, but named “Bullet” specifically for the soundtrack album release: Les Hurdle on bass, Barry Morgan on drums, Alan Parker on guitar, Frank Ricotti on percussion and Alan Hawkshaw on keyboards, plus members of the Max Greger Orchestra, from Germany, on horns.

But this soundtrack wasn’t written by Tew specifically for the series. Instead of commissioning a composer to write a score, Yorkshire Television used library music, specifically from the Themes International Music Ltd. library, founded by guitarist Parker, keyboardist Hawkshaw and drummer Morgan along with producer Graham Walker, Yorkshire Television’s music director. This is music designed as background material for radio, TV and film, which has also appeared on TV shows like “The Two Ronnies”, “The Sweeney”, “SpongeBob SquarePants” and the blaxploitation spoof movie “Black Dynamite”. Track 4 (“The Heist”, a.k.a. “The Big One”) is well-known by veteran American TV viewers as the theme for the court show “The People’s Court”. This piece was also used on the British detective show “Van Der Valk” and the American exploitation 1979 film “Malibu High”, as well as on porn flicks “Barbara Broadcast” and “The Satisfiers Of Alpha Blue”. The American 1978 porn movie “The Other Side Of Julie” made extensive use of both versions of the “Hanged Man” theme (tracks 7 and 14), plus some other cues from the soundtrack album.

Originally released in 1975 on Contour Records, this LP is a 1998 reissue by DC Recordings.

(00:00) Video intro

SIDE A:

(00:21) 01. Contract Man (a.k.a. “The Rub”)
(02:53) 02. G.B.H. (a.k.a. “Helicop”)
(05:52) 03. Road Runner (a.k.a. “Money Runner”)
(08:16) 04. The Heist (a.k.a. “The Big One”)
(12:00) 05. Duluth Blues (a.k.a. “Final Statement”)
(12:52) 06. The Spic (a.k.a. “Surveillance”)
(14:29) 07. Hanged Man (a.k.a. “The Detectives (Long Version)”)

SIDE B:

(17:00) 08. Blue Panther (a.k.a. “White Elephant Walk”)
(18:30) 09. Killer Hill (a.k.a. “Master Plan”)
(22:00) 10. Smokey Joe The Dreamer (a.k.a. “Eyes”, including “The Detectives (Interlude)”)
(24:13) 11. Gentle In The Night (a.k.a. “The Build Up”, including “Night Watch”)
(28:45) 12. The Peterman (a.k.a. “The Fence (Version B)”)
(30:59) 13. Funky Bear (a.k.a. “Total Silence”)
(32:29) 14. Hanged Man (a.k.a. “The Detectives (Slow Version)”)

Numark TTXUSB turntable – Nagaoka MP-500 phono cartridge – ART DJPRE II phono stage preamp – Vinyl record vinilo LP