DERRICK turns 50 this year, but the extremely popular and highly successful German crime series has gone quiet. This is due to chief inspector Horst Tappert"s posthumously publicized Nazi past. A comparable TV series, on the other hand, continues to run unwaveringly to this day: DER ALTE. What they both have in common, and the subject of this album, is that Peter Thomas was one of their musical creators in their early phase. Peter Thomas and his Sound Orchester composed and played the music for the first DERRICK episode "Waldweg" (1974). Six more followed. The composer and musician even made a cameo appearance in the DERRICK episode "Death of the Trumpeter" (1976), where he is in the audience of singer Sabrina (Emy Cesaroni) and briefly interacts with her. The corresponding track "Ohne Dich Ist Es Nacht" once was a successful single and can be heard on this album. Three years later, in 1977, Peter Thomas even wrote the theme music for the first 100 episodes of the TV crime series DER ALTE, as well as the music for four episodes, including the first "Die Dienstreise". Musically, the range extends from a discofox version of "The House Of The Rising Sun" to easy listening and krautrock and funky instrumentals. It"s surprising how experimental people were in the seventies when it came to the musical equipment of TV series, before the synthesizers overtook everything in the eighties. More than half of the tracks on this album are previously unreleased, so we can confidently speak of a premiere. As a bonus, two tracks from the first DERRICK episode are included, which have turned up in the estate of Peter Thomas. From the same source - but only included on the CD for reasons of space - come the presentation of two versions of the "DER ALTE" title theme presented by Peter Thomas and a demo version of "Ohne Dich Ist Es Nacht" sung by himself. After Bruce Lee: The Big Boss, Winnetou and Old Firehand, Steiner - Cross of Iron 2 und Edgar Wallace this is the fifth LP/CD release in a series dedicated to the German composer Peter Thomas (1925-2020). The illustrations on and in the gatefold cover of the LP and the digipack of the CD, which perfectly capture the look of the series, were created by Adrian Keindorf. The LP is released on black 180g vinyl in a lined inner sleeve. DERRICK aka. INSPECTEUR DERRICK, L"ISPETTORE DERRICK DER ALTE aka. THE OLD FOX, LE RENARD, IL COMMISSARIO KÖSTER Musikalisch reicht die Spannweite von einer Discofox-Version von "The House Of The Rising Sun" über Easy Listening bis zu krautrockigen und funky Instrumentals. Es überrascht, wie experimentierfreudig man in den Siebzigern noch bei der musikalischen Ausstattung von TV-Serien war, bevor die Synthesizer in den Achtzigern alles überrollten. Mehr als die Hälfte der Titel auf diesem Album sind bisher unveröffentlicht, man darf also getrost von einer Premiere sprechen. Als Bonus sind zwei Stücke aus der ersten DERRICK-Folge enthalten, die im Nachlass von Peter Thomas aufgetaucht sind. Aus derselben Quelle - aus Platzgründen aber nur auf der CD enthalten - entstammen die von Peter Thomas moderierte Präsentation zweier Versionen des "DER ALTE-Titelthemas" sowie eine von ihm selbst gesungene Demo-Version von "Ohne Dich Ist Es Nacht".