| Legend | |
| Type: | soundtrack |
| Artist: | Clannad |
| Cover: | Clannad_Legend_album_cover.jpg |
| Caption: | Legend album cover, featuring actor Michael Praed as Robin of Sherwood. |
| Released: | [1] |
| Studio: |
|
| Genre: | Soundtrack |
| Length: | 32:33 |
| Label: | RCA |
| Producer: | Tony Clarke |
| Prev Title: | Magical Ring |
| Prev Year: | 1983 |
| Next Title: | Macalla |
| Next Year: | 1985 |
Legend is a 1984 soundtrack album for the ITV television series Robin of Sherwood, by the Irish band Clannad. It is their eighth album. In 1985, this album won the BAFTA award for Best Original Television Music, making Clannad the first Irish band to win the award.
"Robin (The Hooded Man)", the title theme from the series, was released on a 7-inch single in 1984, featuring actor Michael Praed as Robin of Sherwood on the sleeve.
"Now Is Here" and "Scarlet Inside" were released as follow-up singles.
A re-recorded version of "Robin (The Hooded Man)" was released in 1986 as "the Robin of Sherwood EP", featuring Jason Connery on the sleeve. For this re-release, the B-sides include "Now Is Here", "Herne" and "Caisleán Óir" (as it appears on the album Macalla).
In addition to the tracks on Legend, which were used extensively in the series, music composed for the show was occasionally released elsewhere in different versions.
"Caislean Oir", the introduction track to Clannad's album Macalla, appears in an alternative version as incidental music in the series.
In 2003, Clannad albums from the Sony/BMG label were remastered and released with new cover art, and remixes as bonus tracks. For the 2003 Deluxe Edition of Legend, the bonus track was "Together We – Cantoma Mix".
A 40th-anniversary version of the album was released in October 2024, featuring a six-panel digipak with 16-page booklet and 11 previously unreleased bonus tracks.[2]
On the 2005 release , there were live performances of unreleased music including "Dance & Teidhir Abhaile Riu" from Series 1 and "Action" and "Royal" from Series 3 as part of a "Robin of Sherwood Medley".
In a statement posted in November 2003 on their official web site, Clannad revealed that:
"there were several other pieces of music recorded for the 3rd series of Robin of Sherwood that were not included on the Legend album. Unfortunately no-one has been able to locate the master tapes of this music. The search is continuing and hopefully one day these recordings will be able to be released".[3]
Both sets 1 and 2 of the European and North American Blu-ray releases of Robin of Sherwood have a "music only" track for many of the episodes, including music that was not included on Legend and music recorded after the album was released.
During Clannad's 1984 tour, the setlist included full live versions of "Lady Marian", "Now Is Here", "Robin (The Hooded Man)", "Scarlet Inside", "Herne", "Ancient Forest" and "Battles".
Since then the band have regularly included a "Robin of Sherwood Medley" in their setlist, typically including the title song, and segments of "Lady Marian", "Herne" and "Ancient Forest", as well as the unreleased "Dance" from Series 1 and two songs from Series 3 entitled "Action" and "Royal" that have only been released on live albums including (released in 2005).