Issue 124 PDF

For this month's Electronic Sound cover feature, we're taking a deep dive into the music of GERRY AND SYLVIA ANDERSON's sci-fi TV shows, much of it the work of cult British composer BARRY GRAY. 

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson produced some of the most exciting children's television of the 1960s and 1970s. The list – 'CAPTAIN SCARLET', 'THUNDERBIRDS', 'JOE 90' and 'FIREBALL XL5', to name a few of their programmes – goes on and on. And Barry Gray's music, which was initially orchestral but later increasingly electronic, was crucial to the success of them all. The former RAF pilot was responsible for the sonic magic of both the Andersons' puppet shows and their live action dramas like 'UFO' and 'SPACE: 1999'. Captain Scarlet, the indestructible hero on the cover of this issue, wouldn’t have been the same without Gray's remarkable soundtracks.

We have a host of fantastic interviews beyond our lead feature, including the one and only WOLFGANG FLÜR, the hotly tipped MIKI BERENYI TRIO, Ivor Novello Award winner HANNAH PEEL, Buried Treasure label boss ALAN GUBBY, early Factory group SWAMP CHILDREN, the ever-essential PENELOPE TRAPPES and Belgian maestro WALTER VERDIN. Plus Kris Needs on HI-NRG, Ben Willmott on FINNISH ELECTRO, and a whole lot more besides. All of which is totally F-A-B, as they used to say on ‘Thunderbirds’.