The Incredible Hulk

Joe Harnell and action-hero television show fans can finally rejoice! A promo album of Harnell's music to the classic 1978 television show, "The Incredible Hulk" has been released. The album begins with the first version of the main title theme - a fast paced disco-esque cue, utilizing the now instantly recognizable "Lonely Man Theme". Performed with strings and accentuated with brass and percussion, this theme is both heroic and yet tragic at the same time. After all, if you were a scientist cursed with becoming a huge green hulk every time you got emotional, you would be lonely as well. The second cue on the album is the "Love Theme" from the show - and it's quite a beautiful piece - a female choir even joins in towards the end.

We then encounter the music that Harnell wrote for the "Pilot" episode of the show, which seems to be rather tense music which could be looked upon as a basis (in part) for some of his later work on "V: The Miniseries". "Growing Anger" is a great cue, as it starts out rather subdued, but slowly builds more and more as the strings fill with tension. The use of some electronic effects does not go unnoticed, as it probably underscored the moment that Dr. Banner transformed into The Hulk. There is a lot of underscore in this part of the album, which some might find a bit dull since the same musical phrases tend to be rehashed quite a bit. The final cue in this part of the album is, of course, "The Lonely Man Theme", which is a very soft, somber piano piece from which the main title is derived.

The second part of the album is comprised of music from the series: suites from various episodes are presented for us to listen to. The second version of the main title theme is presented - it is slightly shorter than the first version, but is of better quality and not much different. "Married: The Wedding" contains a very enjoyable rendition of the love theme, and "Ricky: Montage" has a well-done harmonica solo which lends a western flare to the score. Many of the tracks here are enjoyable to listen to, but again, some of them are primarily underscore, which might not be as interesting to listen to as others. The final cue on the album is a real throwback to the 1970's: the disco version of the theme from "The Incredible Hulk". Cheesy to say the least, this last track brought a smile to my face and allowed the album to end in a fun way. (Ironically, the "disco" part wasn't too dissimilar from the original main theme - just more upbeat!)

This album was pulled together from various sources, and it shows - some tape hiss is present on certain tracks, and while the entire album appears to be stereo, the separation on some cues is more prevalent than others. Released as a promotional album by Harnell, this album isn't available in stores, but can be bought from Super Collector and Screen Archives Entertainment.