The early 1980s was an interesting time for music; the punk scene was reaching its apex, more and more pop divas were appearing, Michael Jackson made a huge splash with his Thriller album, and hip-hop artists were using more samples than a comedy track from Dickie Goodman! What fans of 80s music don't talk about very much is the film and TV music. Some of this music was written for a specific work, such as the John Williams score to the 1983 film Return of the Jedi. However, there is a lesser-known side to film and TV music; production libraries. When Richard Harvey recorded his Nifty Digits album in the late 1970s, he had high hopes of getting it released by mainstream record company EMI. However, as his style was something that had never really been heard before, as you will see in the paragraph below, the major British record companies, which were expecting wild punk music at the time, turned the album down. However, EMI's music library affiliate, KPM Music, agreed to make it available for licensing for use in films and broadcasts.

The first thing you will notice when you fire up this album is that it sounds like a cross between Mannheim Steamroller and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. However, this album predated Mannheim Steamroller by about four years!
The opening track, "Motor Roller", has the high-speed, Steamroller-esque feel, along with plenty of electronic sounds to match. It generally keeps to one style, though the end of the piece has some whirling, spinning scales that make it feel like one heap of an 80s dance track!
The second and third tracks, "Festival" A and B, have a very festival-like feel to them, like one of the more medium-tempo Mannheim Steamroller Christmas tracks. However, the third track has more of a Renaissance feel, while the second is like a modern electronic take on the Renaissance music genre. The wind instruments are what makes this one shine.
The fourth and fifth tracks, "Exchange" and "Dragonfly Dance", are variants on the same theme. Very fast-paced, "Exchange" has the Mannheim Steamroller spirit, with a harpsichord playing a key role and all kinds of nifty little bell sounds and other percussion punctuating the piece. The part where the piano comes in is where the piece is at its highest. "Dragonfly Dance" is basically the same piece, but with mostly just piano, harpsichord and light percussion. Not quite as varied as "Exchange", but still a magnificent piece.
The sixth and seventh tracks, "Water Course" A and B, are all about the woodwinds here. Slow, relaxing flute tracks harmonize with each other, and when the keyboards join in, the track only gets better; the piece ends with the keyboards making a nifty whirlpool of notes that is very difficult for almost any musician to replicate. Track seven is a short track with just three harmonizing flute parts and nothing else; this track was probably designed as a short, approximately thirty-second clip likely used as an opener or music for a commercial. Track six, along with track four ("Exchange") were used together in the Sesame Street "How Crayons Are Made" segment. These tracks have also been used in other media, such as a mini-documentary about Glasgow.
The eighth and ninth tracks, "Storm Riders" and "Nifty Digits", show the more rock-oriented side of the composer. "Storm Riders" is basically a Trans-Siberian Orchestra song sixteen years before that band existed; the electric guitar, percussion and keyboards blending in that way most people only associate with TSO. Perhaps they knew about this record when they got started! The title track, "Nifty Digits", has a sort of TSO/Mannheim Steamroller mix feel to it; that blend of guitar, percussion and electronic keyboard is still there, along with a piccolo sound that may or may not be synthesized. Not as hard rock as "Storm Riders", but in some ways it's niftier!
The tenth and eleventh tracks, "Song of the Open Spaces" A and B, are the highlight of the album. The tenth track starts with this picturesque piano sequence that is played several times; other instruments join in when the main melody begins. It sounds very well-orchestrated; then the chorus sequence starts again; this time the tension builds up, and when the main melody comes back in, the electric guitars and percussion are ready, and it's like TSO once again! Even though the percussion goes away at the end of the piece, that doesn't mean it doesn't have a big ending! The eleventh track has the same chorus melody, but it just keeps repeating throughout the entire piece; there is no percussion, but the electric guitar is sure going on a spree, even going as far as making a callback to the beginning of the album! Even the bass joins in on some of this action, and bass usually isn't known for doing that! This track is noteworthy for being one of very few tracks published by KPM Music to end in a fadeout, and there are thousands of songs in their library!
The twelfth track, Air Spirals, pretty much describes itself; the dulcimer sound in this short piece sounds like it's making musical spirals in the air! But when it stops spiraling, you briefly hear a variant on the melody of the next piece!
The last four tracks make a great ending. "Soft Caress" could have easily been a solo piano piece, but with the addition of woodwinds and such, it has a fuller sound, reminiscent of the typical use of a minor key in a film score. "Victorian Lullaby" uses the same kind of instrumentation, but in a much happier, major key and a more uplifting tempo. "Light Dancing" is basically the musical equivalent of a delightful, short frolic through tall grass, or tiny people dancing in a Disney-esque fantasy forest. The final track, "Graylands", is a little more intense than what we've been hearing for the past few tracks; the electric guitar and percussion is back, along with an oboe which we haven't heard anywhere else on this album. The melody is just a "Soft Caress" variant, with a keyboard sound in the background reminiscent of "Light Dancing". It's like TSO meets Steamroller again, and it's a perfect track to end the album with!

As you can see, Nifty Digits is an iconic album; originally only available for licensing, it got in the hands of record collectors when producers didn't need vinyl anymore in the 1990s. However, at some point, KPM Music decided it was time to reissue old vinyl albums in a modern digital format, so this 1980 album finally got its reissue in 2009. Tracks from this album have been used everywhere from Sesame Street's "How Crayons Are Made" to Story Teller's adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Nobody knew that the sounds we now associate with Mannheim Steamroller and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra were actually used by a modern composer in 1980 before either of those bands existed! Who knew that such a magnificent piece of music could be written by the very same session musician who played the pan flute solo in "The Circle of Life" from Disney's The Lion King?

Click the link to listen to the album.
http://www.emipm.com/en/browse/labels/KPMLP/1251