Cain’s Hundred features a grim and moody sound befitting the darkness of the criminal underworld—with flashes of light for the innocent characters trapped therein. Goldsmith blended blues and militaristic influences in what Hugo Friedhofer called “federal music” for the driving series theme. As with almost all of the composer’s television work, the underscores bristle with the invention, exciting modernist effects and emphasis on melody that would make him one of the greatest film composers of all time—and especially groundbreaking in the 1960s.
FSM’s premiere CD of the Cain’s Hundred television soundtrack features Goldsmith’s four episode scores and title music—including a different arrangement of the theme created for the pilot (which was aired midway in the series’ run). Filling out the disc is a Morton Stevens score for a subsequent episode in which Stevens re-recorded and slightly adapted Goldsmith’s title music. Liner notes are by television music authority Jon Burlingame.
