Space:1999 The Music

THE MAKING OF THE SOUNDTRACK ALBUM

I drove to PolyGram’s large warehouse in Hayes and, after much signing of papers, I found myself the proud guardian of 21 decaying tapes in tatty old boxes, none of which had seen the light of day since Barry Gray and Derek Wadsworth relinquished them over 20 years ago. After weeks of anticipation, we now had the tapes in our hands, but they were, of course, old analogue 1″ and 2″ multi-tracks – useless to us in the age of the digital studio.

Transferring the tapes was essential, but most of the studios we called were unable to help, frightening us with tales of shedding oxide, crumbling tape resin and astronomical restoration costs. After six or seven doom-laden calls, it became apparent that these tapes were well past their sell-by date.