Miami Vice Wiki
Miami Vice: The Complete Collection

Artist(s)
Top Chart Position (Top 200)
Did Not Chart
Year Released
2002
RIAA Certification
NONE
Preceded By
Followed By

Miami Vice: The Complete Collection is a 2002 album by Jan Hammer, consisting entirely of instrumental pieces he composed for Miami Vice. While selections of Hammer's music had been released previously, extensive demand from fans of the series convinced Hammer to finally release a more comprehensive 2-CD collection of his score music from the show.

The set's first disc collects together various Miami Vice score cues that had been released previously (namely on the three Miami Vice soundtracks and Hammer's own albums Escape from Television and Snapshots), newly remastered for this release. The second CD, meanwhile, features previously unrelesed cues, although for contractual reasons the tracks are actually re-recordings created by Hammer in 2001 rather than the originals featured on the show. Nevertheless, these cues represent the first time several fan favorites were released, most notably "The Talk" (from the celebrated gas station scene in the first season's "Evan"), which was used to underscore several key moments later in the series, often dealing with the death of a major character.

Availability[]

Unlike most other Miami Vice soundtracks, The Complete Collection was released on CD in only limited numbers. Owing to the immense demand from fans, these quickly sold out and today copies are highly sought after, selling for up to and over $400 each. However, the album was later made available to purchase as a digital download (from sites such as Amazon) in 2011, offering a far more reasonably priced alternative to the rare physical copies. The digital download version also included a bonus track on disc two, "South Beach", which was originally featured on the Jan Hammer album The Best of Miami Vice.

Notes[]

  • One notable omission from the album is the track "Forever Tonight", which appeared in the episode "Child's Play" and was previously released on Hammer's Escape from Television album in 1987 and as a single the same year.
  • The track "The Trial and the Search" is actually an amalgamation of two different tracks. In fact, despite both sections being used on the show on multiple occasions, they never appeared together or even in the same episode.
  • The track "South Beach", included as a bonus with the digital download version only, never appeared in any episodes of the series, although it was originally composed for use on Miami Vice. The episode it was set to appear in, and the reason it was later dropped, are not known.
  • The album covers all four seasons that Jan Hammer scored, although only "Wedding" is actually taken from season 4, no doubt owing to Hammer's decreased involvement with the show by that time. None of his co-compositions with John Petersen are featured.

Track Listing[]

Disc One[]

Track Title Time Notes/(First) Appears
1 "Miami Vice Theme" 1:00 Opening of every episode
2 "Crockett's Theme" 3:32 Single version; first heard in "Stone's War"
3 "New York Theme" 2:59 "The Prodigal Son"
4 "Tubbs and Valerie" 3:32 "Rites of Passage"
5 "Evan" 3:06 "Evan"
6 "Rum Cay" 3:03 "One Way Ticket"
7 "One Way Out" 4:15 "Lombard"
8 "Flashback" 3:19 "Brother's Keeper"
9 "Chase" 2:39 "Brother's Keeper"
10 "Theresa" 3:07 "Theresa"
11 "Columbia" 2:39 "The Prodigal Son"
12 "Marina" 3:41 "The Great McCarthy"
13 "Last Flight" 3:30 "One Way Ticket"
14 "Night Talk" 2:44 "Made for Each Other"
15 "Payback" 3:45 "Little Prince"
16 "Poem" 3:05 "Free Verse"
17 "Rico's Blues" 2:54 "The Great McCarthy"
18 "The Trial and the Search" 4:55 "Golden Triangle (Part II)"/"Tale of the Goat"
19 "Wedding" 3:23 "Like a Hurricane"
20 "Miami Vice" 2:26 Single version; never appeared on the show

Disc Two[]

Track Title Time Notes/(First) Appears
1 "Candy" 3:03 "Golden Triangle (Part I)"
2 "Voodoo Dance" 3:48 "Calderone's Return (Part II)"
3 "Lombard Trial" 2:35 "Lombard"
4 "Boat Party" 3:06 "Cool Runnin'"
5 "Angelina Flashback" 3:26 "Calderone's Return (Part II)"
6 "Rain" 2:33 "Milk Run"
7 "Clues" 3:53 "The Home Invaders"
8 "Crockett's Return" 3:23 "Give a Little, Take a Little"
9 "Shadow in the Dark" 3:08 "Shadow in the Dark"
10 "Incoming" 2:06 "Back in the World"
11 "The Talk" 5:11 "Evan"
12 "Gina" 3:01 "Brother's Keeper"
13 "Stone's War" 2:02 "Back in the World"
14 "El Viejo Mix" 3:05 "El Viejo"
15 "Airport Swap" 2:20 "No Exit"
16 "Russian Story" 4:13 "Bushido"
17 "Cool Runnin'" 2:35 "Cool Runnin'"
18 "Texas Ranger" 2:21 "El Viejo"
19 "The Great Boat Race" 2:52 "The Great McCarthy"
20 "Golden Triangle" 2:47 "Golden Triangle (Part I)"
21 "Runaround" 3:22 "Little Prince"
22 "South Beach" (Bonus track) 3:23 Digital download only; never appeared on the show
21 "Turning Point" 1:25 "El Viejo"