Knight Rider: Original Television Soundtrack, Vol. 1

It was way before his singing career.  It was before he was a superstar in Germany.  It was before he took to the ocean saving lives.  It was after he played a doctor on "The Young and the Restless".  I am referring, of course, to actor David Hasselhoff, and the hit television show "Knight Rider".  Michael Knight is a lone crimefighter whose sidekick comes in the form of an indestructible, artificially intelligent sportscar.  When growing up, I always thought it would be cool if cars could talk; "Knight Rider" satisfied that craving with the introduction of K.I.T.T. (voiced by William Daniels).  Produced by Glen A. Larson, who also brought us such classic television shows as "The Hardy Boys Mysteries", "Battlestar Galactica", "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", "Magnum, P.I." and "The Fall Guy" (I'll leave out "Manimal" for now), the show's main theme was composed by Larson with Stu Phillips.  However, the show's underscore was composed by Don Peake, and now there's a promotional album featuring four complete episodic scores from the third season of "Knight Rider" in "Knight Rider: Volume 1".

The album begins with the music from "Knight of the Chameleon".  The episode focuses on a master of disguise who escapes from jail with two goals in mind: commit one more major robbery, and kill the man who put him away - Michael Knight.  The music ranges from suspenseful synth with intermittent drum hits ("Track 2") to improvising action ("Track 6") to heroic renditions of the "Knight Rider" theme ("Track 12").  The famous bass line is present throughout most of the action cues, even if they end somewhat suddenly, given the short length of the majority of tracks.  A source cue is also presented ("Track 9"), a Middle-Eastern ethnic dance number that runs for over three minutes long (one of the longer cues in the episode)! 

In "Lost Knight", K.I.T.T. loses his memory after an electrical surge, and befriends a young boy who can identify a pair of criminals that Michael Knight is hunting.  The score for this episode is definitely cut from the same cloth as the one preceding it.  The only major difference is that the "evil suspense" cue uses a different motif.  A landmark episode in the series, "K.I.T.T. vs K.A.R.R." featured a showdown between K.I.T.T. and his evil twin, K.A.R.R.  The score is much more electronic than usual (yes, there's a lot of synth in general, but this is full-on electronica), which underscores the battle between the intelligent machines.

"Knight in Retreat" allows Michael Knight to investigate a plot to steal a prototype missile guidance system.  Allowing him to go undercover and in "disguise",  a long source cue ("Track 52") is a great jazzy number that provides a welcome change from the repetitiveness of the other underscore.  As much fun as this album is (and it truly is fun), it suffers from repetitive-numbness syndrome.  The cues begin to run together, and any change in pace or texture is welcome.  The greatest bits of the album come in the form of the bumpers.  An action cue will suddenly burst into a fanfare of the main theme, just before the show went to commercial.  Those bumpers (also used for the last track of each episode), infused the listening experience with a life-saving shot of "fun".  Sadly missing from the album are Stu Philips opening and closing titles, although the main themes are heard throughout the score.

For Volume 2 I hope that Don Peake goes for a slightly different approach to the album - more variety in the score, from more episodes.  Don't try to give us complete scores from four episodes; give us 20 suites from 20 episodes!  I had heard that there are plans for a "Best of Knight Rider" album, and I hope that it satisfies those small requests.  For now, though, this album takes the "Guilty Pleasure of the Year" award, and if you're a die-hard "Knight Rider" fan, you can't miss out on this one.