Sound Peaks – Johnny Jewel’s “Themes For Television”

One of the highlights for me from Twin Peaks on Showtime was discovering the music of Johnny Jewel. His 2017 album “Windswept” was on heavy rotation leading up to the start of season 3 last spring. So imagine my delight when I learned on May 21, 2018 he was releasing a follow up album of Twin Peaks-inspired tunes titled “Themes for Television.”

JOHNNY JEWEL’S “THEMES FOR TELEVISION”

Johnny Jewel
Johnny Jewel took the ring

According to Pitchfork, the double LP contained 56-minutes of music, “allegedly meant for David Lynch and Mark Frost’s “Twin Peaks: The Return” on Showtime. Jewel reportedly composed 20 hours of music for the show and submitted somewhere between five and seven hours to Lynch for potential use.”

Wow! More music from a place both wonderful and strange. I immediately ordered the double album and CD from Italians Do It Better, Johnny’s own record label. Here is a breakdown of what arrived in the mail today.

Johnny Jewel Packaging
Heavy box packaging

The album and CD arrived in a heavy cardboard box marked “Fragile.” There was an image of Johnny Jewel sporting the ring first seen in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. His version of the ring was made specifically for Twin Peaks Season 3 on Showtime.

Themes for Television
“Themes for Television” album cover

Upon opening the box, I removed the double-LP which was wrapped in plastic (of course!!).  This first edition album was produced and mixed by Johnny Jewel.

Themes for Television
Back of album cover

It was mastered by Mike Bozzi at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Mike has been nominated for four Grammy awards including Kendrick Lamar’s album “Damn.”

The album was cut by Bernie Grundman, an award winning audio engineer,  in Hollywood, California.  Grundman was a 1978 Grammy Award Winner for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording which was Steely Dan’s “Aja.”

Themes for Television
Gatefold artwork fror “Themes for Television”

Artwork was created by Johnny Jewel with photographs by Rene and Radka. Rene is from Cologne, Germany and Radio is from Prague, Czech Republic. These photographers reside in Los Angeles and work between New York, Paris and Los Angeles. Their work is stunning!

JOHNNY JEWEL’S DREAM ONE VINYL ALBUM

Dream One
Dream One Album Sleeve Front
Dream One
Dream One Cover Back

The double-LP was divided into two “Dreams.” The Dream One album sleeve contains more photography from Rene and Radka.

Dream One
Dream One Side 1
Dream One Album
Dream One Side 2

Each album was pressed on 180 Gram Cherry Pie (!!) vinyl.

JOHNNY JEWEL’S DREAM TWO VINYL ALBUM

Dream Two
Dream Two Album Sleeve Front
Dream Two Album Sleeve
Dream Two Album Sleeve

Dream Two album sleeve has a haunting, monochromatic image of a woman taken by Rene and Radka.

Dream Two Album
Dream Two Side 3
Dream Two Album
Dream Two Side 4

JOHNNY JEWEL’S “THEMES FOR TELEVISION” CD

I also ordered the Compact Disc of this album because I’m a completist.

Themed For Television CD
CD Cover Front
CD
CD Cover Back

Unlike the double-LP, there was only one CD that contained all musical tracks from this release.

CD
Themes for Television CD

A real treat was discovering wonderful folded posters packaged with the LP. One featured artwork from the cover of “Themes for Television,” while the was created in 2017 and contains an image of Laura Palmer in a smashed glass frame.

Themes for Television

Folded Poster

Italians Do It Better also included Johnny Jewel’s 2014 release, “The Other Side of Midnight” in the package. It was a nice surprise to find a bonus CD.

JOHNNY JEWEL’S THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT

The Other Side of Midnight

The Other Side of Midnight

The Other Side of Midnight

Finally, there was a postcard advertising Carla Dal Forno.

Carla Dal Forno

Carla Dal Forno

This release is a fantastic addition to my ever growing Twin Peaks music collection, especially for the price. The double-LP was only $20 while the CD was an additional $3. It’s worth every penny! Visit the Italians Do It Better online store to place your order.

Author

  • Steven Miller at Twede's Cafe enjoying cherry pie and coffee

    A "Twin Peaks" fan since October 1993, Steven Miller launched Twin Peaks Blog in February 2018 to document his decades-long fascination with David Lynch and Mark Frost's wonderful and strange show. With his Canon camera in hand, he's visited numerous film locations, attended Twin Peaks events and conducted extensive historical research about this groundbreaking series. Along with fellow Bookhouse Boys, he dreams of creating a complete Twin Peaks Archive of the series and feature film. Steven currently resides in Central Florida.

    View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Top