Music Reviews

Luke Cage – music by Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad

There’s the Marvel cinematic universe, the Marvel TV universe, and then there’s the unexpected delight that has been the Marvel Netflix universe. Okay, technically they’re all happening at the same time in the same universe, but Netflix’s Marvel shows have been a feast for those expecting their comic book heroes to be a little bit more grown up without being awash in the grimdark that drowns out most of DC’s live-action superhero films of late. Marvel’s willingness to foreground characters often thought of as second- or third-tier fare is also fun: while the Avengers are getting billion-dollar movies, these other tentacles of Marvel’s universe show us the street-level fight for justice.

And it doesn’t get much more street-level than Luke Cage. Netflix’s unexpectedly popular series was scored by Ali Shaheed Muhammad (of A Tribe Called Quest) and producer/composer Adrian Younge. The resulting combination of their score and a few contributions from other artists was quite possibly the most addictive, compulsive-repeat-listening soundtrack album of 2016. The combination of hip-hop groove, ’70s funk, and lush orchestration is infectious. Hitting “play all” again after the last track is pretty easy.

The songs peppering the soundtrack are perfect, from the quintet of tunes at the beginning of the album to “Bulletproof Love”, which drops a razor-sharp Method Man rap perfectly describing the show as a whole over that symphonic beat brew. Somewhat oddly, the show’s slinky main theme is buried halfway through the album, but it’s not out of place there – the composers had a vision for the sequencing of the album, and it works just fine.

Even if you didn’t watch the show (and why not?), give Luke Cage’s soundtrack album a spin. It’s a rewarding listen the first time and the fiftieth time.

1. Good Man – Raphael Saadiq (3:45)
2. Mesmerized – Faith Evans (4:07)
3. Ain’t It a Sin – Charles Bradley (3:50)
4. Stop And Look (And You Have Found Love)

– Adrian Younge and The Delfonics (2:46)

5. 100 Days, 100 Nights – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (3:43)
6. Diamondback Arrives (2:52)
7. Final Battle – Part 1 (1:44)
8. In the Wind (2:22)
9. Diamondback’s Trap (1:42)
10. Blue Fusion (2:41)
11. Final Battle – Part 2 (2:14)
12. I’m Luke Cage (1:17)
13. Street Cleaning (1:38)
14. The Ambush (2:05)
15. End Theme (1:41)
16. Coffee at Midnight (1:31)
17. Red-Handedly Blameless (2:57)
18. Always Forward Pops (1:19)
19. Unveil the Bride (1:46)
20. Shameek’s Death (2:19)
21. The Plan (1:48)
22. Requiem for Phife (3:43)
23. We Had Coffee (0:55)
24. Pops Is Gone (2:48)
25. Theme (1:09)
26. Greed Becomes Me (0:35)
27. Bulletproof Love featuring Method Man (2:12)
28. Microphone Check Five’O (0:56)
29. Luke’s Freedom (4:52)
30. Uptown Claire (0:43)
31. Shades Beware (0:44)
32. Misty Resolute (1:28)
33. Fresh Air (1:24)
34. Kinda Strong (0:37)
35. Big Man Little Jacket (1:06)
36. Scarfe’s Dying (2:17)
37. Claire’s Wisdom (1:13)
38. Gun Threat (2:40)
39. Bad Love (1:16)
40. Finding Chico (1:22)
41. I Am Carl Lucas (1:04)
42. Crispus Attucks (0:47)
43. Hideout (2:22)
44. Cuban Coffee (0:44)
45. Like a Brother (1:24)
46. Cottonmouth’s Clamp (1:38)
47. Survival (1:01)
48. Cottonmouth Theme (0:19)
49. Luke Cops (1:12)
50. Crushin’ On Reva (1:07)
51. Beloved Reva (1:24)

Released by: Hollywood Records
Release date: Octover 7, 2016
Total running time: 1:20:47

Doctor Who: Series 8 – music by Murray Gold

Though Matt Smith’s first season seemed to take a momentary sidestep into sounds inspired by Doctor Who’s radiophonic, synth-heavy past, the musical paradigm for the new Doctor Who series’ first decade has always been John Williams: big, unapologetically brassy action music, widescreen action cues, and heavy choral doom when the occasion demands.

Peter Capaldi’s first season, however, seems to mark a major turn left (sorry, had to) for new Doctor Who’s musical style: the paradigm has shifted from Williams to a Hans Zimmer-inspired sound, more reliant on synths and urgent low cello ostinatos. There are still brassy action scenes, but they’re brassy in a different way than before. Several cues seem to echo Doctor Who’s 1980s sound, including the new theme tune arrangement (included here in a full-length version).

A suite of themes and variations of the musical signature of the new Doctor proves to be more introspective than the popular, in-your-face bombast of “I Am The Doctor” (a running theme throughout Matt Smith’s tenure). Inexplicably missing is Foxes’ unexpectedly catchy big band cover of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” – a musical highlight of the season that could have served as a single to raise this collection’s visibility. (Only an instrumental version is available…and even then, only as a bonus track on the download version, not on CD.)

The first two CDs cover the entirety of Capaldi’s freshman year in the TARDIS, while the third presents virtually the complete score of his first Christmas special, Last Christmas.

Disc One
1. Doctor Who Theme (01:17)
2. A Good Man (Tweleve’s Theme) (07:34)
3. Something It Ate (02:40)
4. Concussed (03:28)
5. It’s Still Him (02:00)
6. Pudding Brains (05:27)
7. Breath (04:45)
8. Hello Hello (03:17)
9. Drink First (02:02)
10. Aristotle We Have Been Hit (01:00)
11. We’re Still Going To Kill You (03:56)
12. Tell Me, Am I A Good Man? (04:04)
13. Blue Rescue One (01:38)
14. What Difference A Good Dalek (03:32)
15. The Truth About The Daleks (02:08)
16. You Are A Good Dalek (01:49)
17. Old Fashioned Hero (02:16)
18. This Is My Spoon (02:07)
19. Robert, Earl of Loxley (02:00)
20. The Legend of Robin Hood (02:18)
21. Robin of Sherwood (03:15)
22. The Golden Arrow (01:37)
23. Listen (02:25)
24. Rupert Pink (03:57)
25. Fear (02:47)

Disc Two
1. The Architect (01:28)
2. Rob The Bank (00:59)
3. Account Closed (02:09)
4. Open Up (02:07)
5. The Caretaker (05:16)
6. Missy’s Theme (01:34)
7. Hello Earth, We Have A Terrible Decision To Make (00:54)
8. Are You Going To Shoot Me? (01:57)
9. When I Say Run (01:46)
10. They’ve Been Here The Whole Time (02:48)
11. That Is The Moon (02:02)
12. NASA Is That Way (01:00)
13. Start The Clock (01:33)
14. There’s That Smile (02:24)
15. The Sarcophagus Opens (03:59)
16. The Artefact (02:05)
17. Study Our Own Demise (02:13)
18. Not Knowing (03:01)
19. Siege Mode (01:27)
20. In The Woods (02:22)
21. We Weren’t Asleep That Long (01:03)
22. The Song of Danny and Clara (02:41)
23. Forgetting (01:46)
24. Throw Away The Key (04:15)
25. Browsing (02:23)
26. Missy Theme Extended (02:06)
27. Heaven (01:30)
28. They Walk Among Us (02:21)
29. There is No Clara Oswald (01:00)
30. Missy And Her Boys (01:18)
31. Freefall (01:41)
32. Need To Know (05:00)
33. Missy’s Gift (02:04)
34. (The Majestic Tale of) An Idiot With Box (02:22)

Disc Three: Last Christmas
1. Perfectly Ordinary Roof People (04:21)
2. Unsealing The Infirmary (02:47)
3. Ghosts (01:53)
4. What Seems To Be The Problem (01:08)
5. We Don’t Know What’s Real (02:34)
6. Thinking About It (01:16)
7. Clara’s Dream Christmas (03:57)
8. The Doctor’s Dream Christmas (05:33)
9. Dreams Within Dreams (04:51)
10. Believe In Santa (01:31)
11. Sleigh Ride (02:48)
12. Reunion (03:12)
13. Every Christmas Is Last Christmas (03:49)

Released by: Silva Screen Records
Release date: May 26, 2015
Disc one total running time: 1:12:54
Disc two total running time: 1:14:01
Disc three total running time: 39:27

Ladyhawke (newly expanded edition)

Either an awkward or awesome fit for its movie, depending upon whom one asks, 1984’s Ladyhawke veered away from the usual (indeed, almost stereotypical) Korngold-inspired heraldry expected of swords-and-sorcery films and, courtesy of composer Andrew Powell and his producer/collaborator Alan Parsons (of Alan Parsons Project fame), dared to score a period piece with synthesizers and rock music.

The result is practically a lost Project album in style and execution, and not a bad one at that. La-La Land Records expands the Ladyhawke score (last issued in the 1990s by GNP Crescendo) to two discs, including every note of the score, plus goodies such as demos, unused cues, and bite-sized edits of the movie’s music intended for radio advertising. If you already like the score, this release will delight you: there’s more where it came from, including fascinating alternate cues. If you didn’t like the score to begin with, steer clear: nothing here is likely to change your mind about it unless you’re prepared to go in with an open mind and open ears.

The packaging is a huge improvement on the almost-generic presentation of the 1990s release, with liner notes including interviews with Powell, Parsons, and director Richard Donner. This 2-CD set balances out the synth-heavy Crescendo single CD release by revealing that Powell prepared as much “traditional” material as he did anachronistic material; it’s still a fun listen.

Disc One
1. Main Title (03:02)
2. Phillipe’s Escape From Dungeon (01:51)
3. Phillipe’s Escape Through Sewer (01:43)
4. The Search For Philippe (03:27)
5. Navarre At Sunset (00:22)
6. Tavern Fight (Philippe)

(02:10)

7. Tavern Fight (Navarre)

(02:43)

8. Navarre’s Saddlebag (00:37)
9. Navarre Dreams Of Isabeau (00:56)
10. Pitou’s Woods (04:07)
11. Marquet’s Return To Aquila Part 1 (01:01)
12. Philippe Describes Isabeau (01:14)
13. Marquet’s Return To Aqula Part 2 (01:17)
14. Bishop’s Garden (00:45)
15. Navarre Has Returned (00:27)
16. Monk’s Chant In Bishop’s Garden (01:58)
17. Isabeau Chases A Rabbit (00:25)
18. Navarre’s Sunset / Philippe’s Capture (00:36)
19. Navarre Is Ambushed / Hawk Injured (04:55)
20. Philippe And Imperius Enter Abbey (01:18)
21. Philippe Discovers Isabeau’s Secret (01:28)
22. Imperius Removes Arrow From Isabeau (01:37)
23. The Bishop Interviews Cezar (01:33)
24. “You Must Save This Hawk” (01:07)
25. Chase Up The Turret / Isabeau’s Fall Part 2 (02:49)
26. Isabeau’s Transformation (00:39)
27. Isabeau Flies Free (01:14)
28. Navarre And Imperius (00:42)
29. Navarre And Philippe Leave The Abbey (01:45)
30. Wedding Party (01:45)
31. Navarre’s Transformation (00:44)
32. Wedding Dance (02:38)
33. Cezar’s Woods (05:32)
34. “She Was Sad At First” (02:09)
35. Navarre Rides To Aquila (01:40)
36. Philippe And Imperius (00:28)
37. Wolf Trapped In Ice Pool (02:38)
38. Navarre And Isabeau’s Dual Transformation (03:24)

Disc Two
1. Navarre Sees Phillipe’s Wounds (00:44)
2. Return to Aquila (02:44)
3. Phillipe’s Return Through Sewer (01:03)
4. Bishop’s Procession Chant 1 (01:32)
5. Bishop’s Procession Chant 2 (01:48)
6. The Service Begins (Part 1) (00:50)
7. Navarre’s Instruction to Kill Isabeau (00:50)
8. The Service Begins (Part 2) (00:40)
9. Navarre Enters the Cathedral (01:36)
10. Navarre and Marquet Cathedral Fight (04:27)
11. Marquet’s Death (02:02)
12. Isabeau Appears (00:50)
13. Bishop’s Death (02:30)
14. The Final Reunion / End Titles (06:07)
15. Chase Up the Turret / Isabeau’s Fall Part 1 (00:53)
16. Chase / Fall / Transformation (02:10)
17. Phillipe Discovers Isabeau’s Secret (01:44)
18. Imperius Removes Arrow From Isabeau (01:33)
19. Navarre and Phillipe Leave the Abbey (01:45)
20. Navarre’s Transformation (00:46)
21. Wolf Trapped in Ice Pool (02:36)
22. Phillipe’s Jewel (00:51)
23. Ent Titles (05:00)
24. Spot 01 Radio Bed A – 30′ (00:35)
25. Spot 02 Radio Bed A – 30′ (00:35)
26. Spot 03 Radio Bed B – 30′ (01:05)
27. Spot 04 Radio Bed C – 30′ (00:56)
28. Spot 05 Radio Bed A – 60′ (01:03)
29. Spot 06 Radio Bed B – 60′ (01:09)
30. Spot 07 Radio Bed C – 75′ (01:16)
31. Spot 08 Radio Bed A – 90′ (01:31)
32. Spot 10 Radio Bed B – 90′ (01:38)
33. Spot 09 Radio Bed A – Full (03:32)
34. Ladyhawke Theme (Single) (03:37)

Released by: La-La Land Records
Release date: February 10, 2015
Disc One total running time: 1:08:23
Disc One total running time: 1:01:38

Star Trek: Insurrection (Newly Expanded Edition)

GNP Crescendo’s final remastered score from one of the TNG-era Star Trek movies, Star Trek: Insurrection is a boisterous score to a movie that was trying so hard not to be a traditional action movie. Despite that (or perhaps because of it), Jerry Goldsmith was now the default option when it came to Star Trek movie music, having scored the previous feature film (1996’s Star Trek: Final Conflict to much acclaim. Goldsmith, this time operating on his own (First Contact had included significant input from his son, Joel Goldsmith), turned out a score with pastoral elements not unlike the main theme of First Contact, as well as the brand of pulsating action music which had been one of his hallmarks throughout his career.

The expanded release covers all the ground of Crescendo’s roughly-45-minute release from 1998, and fills in the blanks by completing the score and offering a few alternates and early takes on cues that were revised at the studio’s request. The difference between early drafts and final versions isn’t huge, as it turns out, but they offer some insight into the process of creating the movie’s music. Among the unreleased material, there’s quite a bit of repetition of the movie’s main action motif as well as its more serene themes for the peaceful Ba’ku, but at this point in the saga, the previously unreleased material isn’t as revelatory as it was with, say, Star Trek: The Motion Picture or Star Trek II. Goldsmith completists and Trek completists will be happy to have the unreleased segments of the score, but other than the upgrade in sound quality, there’s not much here to compel owners of the original 1998 release to upgrade.

One thing I noticed in listening to the full score: from an audio engineering standpoint, the entire score seems to be drenched with what can be most charitably described as an obnoxious amount of reverb. The orchestra is simply too echo-ey – it’s almost as if the microphones placed over specific instrument groups didn’t record a signal, leaving the recording engineers with nothing but the wide-area room mic. At about 20 minutes in, I was growing very tired of that element of this soundtrack. I don’t recall if Insurrection always sounded this way, or if the shorter length of the 1998 release didn’t give the effect time to sink in. Insurrection is music that any action film would be happy to have, but by the high standards set by his other work in the franchise, it’s probably the dimmest corner of Jerry Goldsmith’s Star Trek constellation.

1. Ba’ku Village (6:56)
2. Out of Orbit / Take Us In (1:45)
3. Come Out (2:36)
4. In Custody (1:16)
5. Warp Capability / The Planet / Children’s Story (2:27)
6. The Holodeck (4:36)
7. How Old Are You / New Sight (6:11)
8. Lost Ship / Prepare the Ship (2:40)
9. As Long As We Can (1:35)
10. Not Functioning / Send Your Ships (2:48)
11. Growing Up / Wild Flowers / Photon Torpedo (2:43)
12. The Drones Attack (4:12)
13. The Riker Maneuver (3:10)
14. Stay With Me (1:44)
15. The Same Race (2:52)
16. The Collector (1:10)
17. No Threat (4:11)
18. Tractor Beam (0:40)
19. The Healing Process (revised) (5:04)
20. The Healing Process (original version) (7:15)
21. End Credits (5:29)
22. Ba’ku Village (alternate ending) (3:52)
23. The Holodeck (alternate ending) (1:33)
24. Growing Up (alternate) (1:18)
25. Tractor Beam (alternate) (0:41)

Released by: GNP Crescendo Records
Release date: August 6, 2013
Total running time: 1:18:44

Doctor Who: Day Of The Doctor / Time Of The Doctor

So it turns out I owe Murray Gold an apology.

As I watched Day Of The Doctor for the first time, I was mildly annoyed that its score seemed to be a cut-and-paste of “greatest hits” of themes from the modern series dating back to 2005. Not new versions of those themes, mind you, but the same recordings we’d been hearing for years now. It seemed like an uninspired choice, but as it was already known that the BBC had asked for an episode 30 minutes longer than the usual 45-minute shows, in 3-D, with big-name guest stars, without increasing the budget much beyond that of the typical 45-minute episode, it seemed likely that the decision had been made to edit together a score from the music of past episodes. After all, what’s a decadal Doctor Who anniversary special if it’s not a kiss to the past?

As it turns out, the truth is even sadder than that: Day Of The Doctor did have a brand-new score custom-made for its requirements, and a dandy one at that. In various interviews, Gold has hinted that the heavily-promoted special had more cooks in the kitchen than usual, resulting in Hollywood-style second-guessing of creative decisions that rarely occurs with the series’ weekly episodes. Reading between the lines, the answer is simple: some BBC suits, freaked out by a fantastic original score which not only brought back numerous musical themes but paid homage to the show’s long history by incorporating various vintage synthesizer sounds into the orchestral mix, insisted that Day Of The Doctor should largely be “tracked” with existing music, not unlike the original Star Trek. The result is a soundtrack which was either buried in the sound mix or, in some instances, not used at all.

Some of the most eye-opening fun you can have with the Day Of The Doctor half of this 2-CD set is to cue up the DVD to key scenes, turn your TV down, and let the music be heard as originally intended. “He Was There”, which takes us from outside the National Gallery into the three-dimensional painting of the Time War, is a knockout cue that works outstandingly well; the rising howl as we zoom through the painting until we settle on the War Doctor is hair-raising stuff. On TV, this material was dropped in favor of the choral Dalek music from The Stolen Earth, but in the original unused cue, Gold holds off on quoting that theme until the Daleks show up in person. His opening volley, meant to accompany Clara’s motorcycle ride into the TARDIS control room, is an electro dance piece omitted in its entirety. A great many of his more interesting, “radiophonic” sounding pieces were either savagely dialed down in the sound mix or covered/replaced with “whooshy” sound effects to emphasize the show’s all-important (for one night only before the BBC abandoned the technology) 3-D. Even the final scene – all the Doctors dreaming of home – was scored differently, building up to a triumphant flourish that quotes the Doctor Who theme itself as a heroic fanfare: all left on the cutting room floor.

The second disc contains the music from The Time Of The Doctor, and in this case, at least, what you hear is what was heard in the show itself – unless it’s just not on the album, such as the criminal omission of the haunting choral piece heard as Clara bellies up to the crack-in-the-wall that has follow the eleventh Doctor through his entire tenure, appealing to the Time Lords to help the Doctor survive. How that didn’t make the album, I’ll never know.

Highlights of Smith’s final episode as the Doctor include “The Crack” and the bite-sized but propulsive “Rhapsody Of War”. Even some of the more obscure cues, like the John-Williams-esque morsel “Papal Mainframe”, are fun. But the show is stolen by the solid wall of music that takes up the last 25% of the show; “Never Tell Me The Rules” is the accompaniment of modern Doctor Who’s extension of the “explosive regeneration” to ridiculous extremes, while “Trenzalore / The Long Song / I Am Information” – its title giving away that it’s a mashup of themes already established in the previous season of the show – accompanies Smith’s record-settingly long send-off speech. “Hello Twelve”, naturally, rings in the Doctor’s new face in the form of Peter Capaldi.

So it turns out I owe Murray Gold an apology. Here I thought that, out of budgetary necessity, he’d had to phone in one of the most pivotal installments in the entire series, but whether it’s the seventh Doctor’s straw hat, the eleventh’s Fez, or the first Doctor’s shapeless lump of an astrakhan hat, I hereby eat that hat – Murray Gold did his best to honor the show’s sonic history, only to be let down by the marketing department. At least this 2-CD set lets us hear it all in its original intended glory.

Disc 1: The Day of the Doctor

1. I.M Foreman (1:10)
2. Will There Be Cocktails? (0:40)
3. It’s Him (The Majestic Tale) (2:04)
4. He Was There (4:22)
5. No More (1:05)
6. The War Room (1:42)
7. Footprints In The Sand (1:42)
8. Who Are You (4:37)
9. England 1562 (1:02)
10. Nice Horse (1:43)
11. The Fez And The Portal (2:44)
12. Two Doctors (1:01)
13. Three Doctors (1:56)
14. Somewhere To Hide (1:50)
15. Rescue The Doctor (1:08)
16. 2.47 Billion (4:28)
17. Zygon In The Painting (1:34)
18. Man And Wife (1:32)
19. We Don’t Need To Land (2:27)
20. We Are The Doctors (0:49)
21. The Moment Has Come (3:06)
22. This Time There’s Three Of Us (The Majestic Tale) (7:03)
23. Song For Four/Home (3:41)

Disc 2: Time Of The Doctor

1. The Message (1:15)
2. Handles (2:07)
3. The Dance Of The Naked Doctor (2:12)
4. You Saved It (0:56)
5. Papal Mainframe (0:44)
6. Tasha Lemm (1:06)
7. Bedroom Talk (1:48)
8. The Mission (0:54)
9. Christmas (2:26)
10. The Crack (5:24)
11. Rhapsody Of War (0:52)
12. Back To Christmas (3:09)
13. Snow Over Trenzalore (Song For Four) (2:45)
14. Beginning Of The End (2:46)
15. This Is How It Ends (3:06)
16. Never Tell Me The Rules (3:11)
17. Trenzalore/The Long Song/I Am Information (Reprise) (4:03)
18. Hello Twelve (0:39)

Released by: Silva Screen Records
Release date: November 24, 2014
Disc one total running time: 53:26
Disc two total running time: 39:23

Welcome Home, Hayabusa

Hayabusa was a Japanese space probe that landed on and sampled asteroid Itokawa in 2011. This would be a stunning space feat for any country’s space agency, but Japan happened to get there first, and the surge of national pride for this technological accomplishment has spawned no fewer than three movies, ranging from documentaries to – in the case of Okaeri Hayabusa (Welcome Home, Hayabusa) – a fictionalized family drama with the mission as backdrop and framing story.

And who better to score a movie whose drama takes place around the launch and flight of one of Japan’s crowning space achievements? None other than the late, great Japanese synth pioneer Isao Tomita. Whether you realize it or not, Tomita’s connection with space exploration is lengthy – and almost purely coincidental. Tomita’s late ’70s synth reworking of Debussy’s “Arabesque No. 1” was appropriated by the Miami Planetarium to top and tail each installment of the planetarium’s long-running PBS series Star Hustler (later Star Gazer, after the realities of the search engine age caught up with the show and began directing young viewers toward a certain adult periodical with “hustler” in the title). Tomita’s music was synonymous with astronomer Jack Horkheimer’s exuberant weekly lessons on amateur astronomy from then on.

Tomita is an absolutely brilliant choice to score this film. Not only is his synthesizer work as crisp and inventive as ever, but he gives brilliant musical accompaniment to visualizations of data being transmitted to Earth from deep space, and uses appropriately icy synths to illustrate the bleak emptiness of space traversed by Hayabusa. There have been many musical odes to major space missions, and by fairly high profile composers (Vangelis springs to mind), but Tomita’s translation of event to music makes this among the best. This soundtrack also steps outside the usual all-synth comfort zone with which Tomita is associated, allowing the composer to bring his classical training into play with real trumpet solos, woodwinds and strings augmenting his normally “icy” synthesizers with a warmer human touch.

The real tragedy is that Japan has launched Hayabusa 2 to dare even mightier things, and Tomita is no longer around to give that mission its own soundtrack.

1. Challenge To The Universe (5:03)
2. Engineer Crush (1:20)
3. Dreaming Of The Flyby (1:21)
4. Toward The Asteroid (3:30)
5. Touchdown On Itokawa! (2:43)
6. Recollection Of Naoko (1:34)
7. The Fight Against Sickness (3:23)
8. 1-Bit Communication / Connecting The Hope (3:19)
9. Mother’s Joy / Surgery Success (1:49)
10. Cross Operation? (1:52)
11. Finally To Return (1:36)
12. Tristan & Isolde / From Beyond The Galaxy (8:15)
13. Hayabusa / Tristan & Isolde To The Future (5:47)

Released by: Shochiku Records
Release date: 2-29-2012
Total running time: 41:32

Alan Parsons Project – The Turn Of A Friendly Card: 35th Anniversary Edition

Time, as the hit single from this album croons, keeps flowing like a river, but the sight of a new 2-CD remaster of the Alan Parsons Project’s The Turn Of A Friendly Card makes me feel like time is bearing down on me like an oncoming flood. It can’t really have been 35 years, can it?

Indeed it can, and in that time The Turn Of A Friendly Card has already been remastered once, and deservedly so: while I Robot and Pyramid and the other early Project albums were nothing to sneeze at, there was some kind of harmonic convergence going on here, putting the right vocalists on the right songs at the right time to get massive radio airplay. “Time”, sung by the late, great Eric Woolfson, and “Games People Play”, sung by Lenny Zakatek, are immortal 1980s radio staples, and they’ve never sounded better. The remainder of the first disc is filled by the bonus material from the earlier remastered release.

The second disc, however, is completely new to this release, containing recently unearthed home demos – billed here as a “songwriting diary” – from the archives of the late Mr. Woolfson, who wrote all of the Project’s songs (despite what any shared credit on the album sleeves might state). There are basically cleaned-up transfers of garden-variety cassette tapes that Eric Woolfson kept rolling as he sat down to discover and shape his songs at the piano, long before any of them went into a studio. For those interested in the process of songwriting, this is fascinating stuff, as we hear Woolfson travel down various unexplored avenues, occasionally landing on gold…and occasionally putting it in reverse and backing up to his original idea.

But the highlight of the second disc, and the real reason to buy this whole album one more time, is down to a single track: the unaccompanied orchestral backing track from “Time”, which also includes backing harmony vocal overdubs performed by the late Chris Rainbow. This is, quite simply, one of the best orchestral backing arrangements that has ever graced a pop song, giving what was already a gorgeous song incredible depth and power. I can listen to this one track over and over again (and I have done).

It’s rare that I recommend something on the basis of a single track of barely two minutes’ duration, but if you’re already a fan of the Alan Parsons Project and/or a student of how music is put together (by masters of the craft), that track, and indeed the whole second disc, is worth the upgrade.

Disc One
1. May Be A Price To Pay (5:01)
2. Games People Play (4:23)
3. Time (5:09)
4. I Don’t Wanna Go Home (4:59)
5. The Gold Bug (4:32)
6. The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part I) (2:43)
7. Snake Eyes (3:17)
8. The Ace Of Swords (2:58)
9. Nothing Left To Lose (4:07)
10. The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part II) (3:31)
11. May Be A Price To Pay (intro demo) (1:32)
12. Nothing Left To Lose (instrumental backing track) (4:37)
13. Nothing Left To Lose (Chris Rainbow vocal overdub compilation) (2:01)
14. Nothing Left To Lose (early studio version with Eric’s guide vocal) (3:11)
15. Time (early studio attempt – instrumental) (4:42)
16. Games People Play (rough mix) (4:32)
17. The Gold Bug (demo) (2:50)

Disc Two
1. May Be A Price to Pay (Eric’s Songwriting Diary) (3:26)
2. Games People Play (Eric’s Songwriting Diary) (3:06)
3. Time (Eric’s Songwriting Diary) (4:06)
4. I Don’t Wanna Go Home (Eric’s Songwriting Diary) (2:12)
5. The Turn of a Friendly Card (Eric’s Songwriting Diary) (3:19)
6. Snake Eyes (Eric’s Songwriting Diary) (3:13)
7. Nothing Left to Lose (Eric’s Songwriting Diary) (2:46)
8. Turn Of A Friendly Card / Snake Eyes / I Don’t Wanna Go Home (Eric’s Songwriting Diary) (4:32)
9. May Be A Price to Pay (Early Version – Eric Guide Vocal & Unused Guitar Solo) (5:03)
10. Games People Play (Early version – Eric Guide Vocal) (4:32)
11. Time (Orchestra & Chris Rainbow Backing Vocals) (4:19)
12. The Gold Bug (Early Reference Version) (5:08)
13. The Turn of a Friendly Card Part 1 (Early Backing Track) (2:18)
14. Snake Eyes (Early Version – Eric Guide Vocal) (3:20)
15. The Ace of Swords (Early Version with Synth “Orchestration”) (3:03)
16. The Ace Of Swords (Early Version with Piano on Melody) (2:40)
17. The Turn of a Friendly Card Part Two (Eric Guide Vocal and Extended Guitar Solo) (3:32)
18. Games People Play (single edit) (3:35)
19. The Turn of a Friendly Card (single edit) (3:44)
20. Snake Eyes (single edit) (2:26)

Released by: Sony / Legacy
Release date: November 13, 2015
Disc one total running time: 64:05
Disc two total running time: 70:20

The Final Countdown – music by John Scott

The Final Countdown may not have been the thrilling time-travel spectacle its producers hoped it would be when it was released in 1980, but it did boast a winning score that continues to be widely praised not only for its creativity but its ability to transform a flawed movie into something of an unlikely classic.

I admit to being a huge fan of this movie. It’s easy to appreciate it as something of an anomaly in 1980 when movie special effects had survived the growing pains of Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Alien – not to mention The Empire Strikes Back, to name just a few. Next to these Big Boys, The Final Countdown, with its embarrassing laser storm time portal and use of stock footage, comes across exactly as it was to make – cheap. However, that low-budget approach and earnest attention to story, underscored by a wonderfully propulsive score, is what gives the movie a lasting charm.

On the whole John Scott imbues the score with incredible optimism and purpose. At its core, The Final Countdown is a science fiction movie and Scott opens the movie in the main titles with Star Trek-ian fanfare. Like the Starship Enterprise, the U.S.S. Nimitz is treated like a character in the movie with its own theme (which takes a curiously menacing turn when the Nimitz first appears on screen and can be heard at the 2-minute mark in track 1). There’s little in the “Main Titles” to portend the forthcoming mystery and danger of the story. It’s a balls-out piece of heroic bombast that finds its fingerprints all over the rest of the score. Scott gives it a beautifully fatalistic feel in “Nimitz On Route” and a revisited heroic identity for “Splash the Zeros”. It’s hard to ignore the very obvious Tchaikovsky influences and one may take issue with its shameless patriotism, which makes the score feel like a marketing piece for the Navy (the movie was in fact used as a recruiting tool for the Navy). Despite this, the theme serves quite well what is, in essence, a very American movie.

Scott displays his true creativity with his “Mr. Tideman” theme, which may be, I would argue, one of the best themes ever created for a movie character. This track is certainly worth dissecting because it’s a work of undeniable genius. The nervous strings running throughout the track convey the appropriate anticipation and mystery surrounding the Tideman character and the horns echo the more stately and official elements of the Navy and Tideman’s relationship to it, but it’s that quick, playful little melody heard 45 seconds in that’s at the soul of the theme. It took me a few listens but I realized, whether intentional or not, that Scott was tipping his hat to “Tubular Bells”, which played a significant role in the score for The Exorcist.

Scott brings back the Tideman theme in romantic guise for the first real personal meeting between Commander Owen and Laurel. The theme, now stripped down and played with flute, not only underscores their budding romance but also foreshadows their relationship to the first appearance of Tideman earlier in the movie. The theme becomes more aggressive and fulfilled (not to mention creepier) at the end of the movie when it’s revealed Commander Owen is Mr. Tideman – or became Mr. Tideman, however you want to interpret it.

Sometimes the fanfare gets to be a little too much. “The Admirals Arrive” is a painful marching band composition and “Last Known Location,” with its overly dramatic tympanis and strings, feels entirely mired in dated ’70s and early ’80s adventure film scoring. I can’t say too much about Scott’s use of the Jaws theme to underscore the approaching time storm. After all, Jerry Goldsmith used it as well for The Omen in a key scene there. Here, Scott has time to truly play it out. It’s yet another nice nod to another influential film score from that era, even if it does seem like a lazy choice (even “An Hour Ago” sounds slightly derivative of Capt. Dallas’ air shaft crawl scene in Alien, with a few sneaky notes of the main Alien theme thrown in for good effect).

The Final Countdown is a relic of a time long since passed, when scores were treated with incredible care and attention, especially for sci-fi and adventure films. Call it the Star Wars Effect. Today, with emphasis and minimalism and irony in scoring, it’s easy to dismiss Scott’s score as dated or even jingoistic. As politically minded as we are today, a movie like this would be (if similarly made) filed on either side of the dividing line between red and blue ideologies. And that’s sad. It diverts attention from what is in essence a beautifully realized score that serves its movie well and makes it a memorable, if flawed, entry in sci-fi cinema.

1. The Final Countdown Main Titles (3:53)
2. Mr. Tideman (2:24)
3. The U.S.S. Nimitz On Route (3:28)
4. The Approaching Storm (4:22)
5. Pursued By The Storm (2:45)
6. Into The Time Warp (3:57)
7. Rig The Barricades (2:16)
8. Last Known Position (2:13)
9. An Hour Ago (1:00)
10. December 7, 1941 (0:46)
11. The Japanese Navy (0:35)
12. Shake Up The Zeros (2:13)
13. Splash Two (1:05)
14. Laurel and Owen (2:22)
15. Climb Mount Nitaka (2:10)
16. On The Beach (0:39)
17. General Quarters (1:48)
18. Operation Pearl Harbor (0:59)
19. The Storm Reappears (3:28)
20. Back Through The Time Warp (3:40)
21. The Planes Return (1:27)
22. The Admirals Arrive (1:30)
23. Mr. and Mrs. Tideman (4:19)

Released by: JOS Records
Release date: 2004
Total running time: 53:20

Star Trek: Music From The Video Games

BSX Records has made something of a niche for itself with its series of re-arrangements (or more sweeping reinterpretations) of soundtrack music, whether its albums fixate on specific franchises such as Battlestar Galactica or Twilight, or the works of specific composers. One of BSX’s primary collaborators on these “cover” albums, synth wizard Dominik Hauser, turns his attention to the playable side of the Star Trek franchise with Star Trek: Music From The Video Games.

A long overdue side-step into the non-televised Trek universe, this collection focuses primarily on the games’ theme music, with only one game (Star Trek: Borg, composed by Trek TV composer Dennis McCarthy) deemed worthy of wider exposure. This is a bit of a pity: the original recordings of Star Trek: Borg‘s entire score have already been released by McCarthy, while games with very nice scores (Elite Force springs instantly to mind, since its theme music is represented here) still have no official score release. Hauser’s modern takes on McCarthy’s Borg soundtrack are quite nice, since he’s working with better synths and samples than McCarthy had at his disposal in the 1990s, but some of the other games’ scores could’ve used some of the same TLC.

Another oddity I have to question is the Star Trek: Bridge Commander theme – it’s basically the end credit suite from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, with no original material specific to the game. Surely something that isn’t already in wide release could have filled that space.

BSX could mine this corner of the Star Trek universe again easily. Most of the Star Trek video and computer games have fine scores that have not been released in any way that the average Trek music fan can access, leaving a rich vein of material to choose from. Despite my reservations about this release, though it’s expertly arranged and performed, I hope it is but the first of a series whose future volumes may prove to be much more interesting.

1. Star Trek: Online Main Title (2:41)
2. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Main Title (4:08)
3. Star Trek: Starfleet Command Main Title (3:53)
4. Star Trek: Starfleet Command III Main Title (1:11)
5. Star Trek: Legacy Main Title (2:24)
6. Star Trek: Legacy – Kirk’s Theme (2:34)
7. Star Trek: Aramada II Main Title (2:03)
8. Star Trek The Next Generation: Birth of the Federation (1:19)
9. Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force Main Title (1:50)
10. Star Trek: Away Team – Introduction (1:47)
11. Star Trek: Klingon Honor Guard – Kelshar (2:44)
12. Star Trek: Klingon – Warrior’s Poem (2:19)
13. Star Trek: Bridge Commander Main Title (4:07)

    Complete score from Star Trek: Borg

14. Main Title (1:05)
15. Legend of the Borg (1:25)
16. Battle at Wolf 359 (2:57)
17. The Battle Rages (0:58)
18. Club Q (1:00)
19. I Am Berman of Borg (1:39)
20. Goldsmith Has Been Assimilated (1:38)
21. Welcome to the Collective, Cadet (2:25)
22. Searching the Borg Ship (2:23)
23. Time is Running Out (1:19)
24. Escape from the Borg Collective (1:45)
25. Borg Hell (2:02)
26. You Will be Assimilated. Have a Nice Day (2:24)
27. Resistance is Futile, My Ass! (2:57)
28. Finale (4:33)
29. End Title (1:04)

Released by: BSX Records / Buysoundtrax.com
Release date: 2013
Total running time: 64:34

Doctor Who: The Krotons

A curiosity in Silva Screen’s sparse handful of classic series single-CD music releases early in 2013, this CD – weighing in at barely half an hour – is easily the most obscure entry, and the one that met with the most hoots of derision from fandom. Why The Krotons? Why not a full score for The Five Doctors or Logopolis or something more… pivotal? Why not release the best of the BBC’s Doctor Who Proms concerts on CD?

The answer is actually just this side of the obvious: the existing musical material from the 1970s could fill a teacup (and, between a couple of past releases from the BBC’s now-extinct in-house music label, almost all of it is out there already). So, instead of individual CDs showcasing Doctor Who’s sound in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, we get an example of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s musical style (the Caves Of Androzani CD), an example of the freelance composers who supplanted the Radiophonic Workshop in the show’s waning years (the re-release of Ghost Light), and an example of the Radiophonic Workshop at the height of its tape-manipulating powers in the ’60s (this one).

The Krotons is also a canny choice because it’s a rare example of a ’60s Doctor Who serial whose musical material survives intact, and is the product of a single composer’s “voice”. Radiophonic Workshop co-founder Brian Hodgson had a new experimental analog synthesizer to play wiith for The Krotons, and play with it he did, creating the story’s sparse but utterly alien music and its unearthly sound effects with the new synth and the time-tested methods of the Workshop.

Even if you’re a fan of early electronic music – say, Raymond Scott or John Baker or White Noise – you haven’t heard anything quite like this. It has rhythm and a strange sort of not-of-this-world tonality, but human ears trained in western musical traditions may not really register it as “music”. The rhythm and structure are there, but rather than traditional melody or harmony, there are strange, stacatto dronings that are right “out there” with Velvet Underground’s Metal Machine Music – the otherworldly sounds of something so unmusical by any traditional standard that it’s a challenge to stay with it long enough to discern the structure behind it.

While fans expecting more traditional musical underscore may find little to like here, especially if they’ve only been weaned on the grandiose sound of Murray Gold, what can be found here is a cross-section of the glue that held early Doctor Who together: the BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s utterly strange and yet appropriate sounds, married to the sometimes less-than-special effects concocted by the BBC’s in-house effects artists (and occasional outside contractors who, nevertheless, had only a BBC budget within which to work). Back then, there was no surround sound or CGI to hold the show together – only offbeat scripts, usually better-than-decent performances, and unusual worlds which were just as often sold by sound as by sight. That tradition continued well into the 1970s, even after the BBC realized that its sci-fi output was now competing with the likes of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica (the original, mind you), and it’s a big part of the appeal to many an older fan. Whether it registers as “musical” or not, The Krotons soundtrack is a nice example of the artistry and technical wizardry behind that appeal.

1. Doctor Who (New Opening Theme, 1967) (0:55)
2. The Learning Hall (2:43)
3. Door Opens (0:39)
4. Entry Into the Machine (1:36)
5. TARDIS (New Landing) (0:21)
6. Wasteland Atmosphere (1:26)
7. Machine and City Theme (1:52)
8. Machine Exterior (1:46)
9. Panels Open (0:20)
10. Dispersal Unit (0:43)
11. Sting (0:22)
12. Selris’ House (0:44)
13. Machine Interior (1:19)
14. Snake Bleeps Low (1:04)
15. Silver Hose (The Snake) (0:48)
16. Snake Bleeps High (0:33)
17. Teaching Machine Hums (0:46)
18. Forcefield (0:50)
19. Burning Light (1:08)
20. Birth of a Kroton (1:14)
21. Kroton Theme (2:16)
22. Kroton Dies (0:37)
23. Link – Rising Hum (2:07)
24. Kroton Dies (Alternative) (0:19)

Released by: Silva Screen
Release date: 2013
Total running time: 26:28

Buck Rogers In The 25th Century: Season One

A while back, Intrada gave a remastered version of the original 1979 Buck Rogers soundtrack LP its first official compact disc release (following at least a decade of the same material – probably transferred from vinyl – being bootlegged relentlessly). Intrada also released several CDs’ worth of Buck Rogers composer Stu Phillips’ wealth of work on another Glen A. Larson-produced science fiction series from roughly the same period, Battlestar Galactica. The thought never occurred to me that anyone would go through the trouble of arranging a similar release from post-pilot Buck Rogers. And yet here it sits, three magical CDs of disco-era sci-fi soundtrack goodness, featuring music not just from Phillips, but from such composers as Les Baxter, Richard La Salle, and Johnny Harris.

The first thing that comes to mind in listening is that the “disco era” description is apt on multiple levels. Just as the series itself was an attempt to cash in on Star Wars mania, the music features both straightfoward symphonic power as well as disco-fied passages that seem to split the difference between John Williams and Meco. This is a common feature among all of the composers featured; in fact, for a show which featured the work of this many composers, the first season of Buck Rogers had a surprisingly cohesive musical sound, judging by the music presented here.

Not all of the first season is covered across the three CDs, with the emphasis on episodes early in the season and one late-season standout whose plot centered around a space rock group. Music is presented from the episodes Unchained Woman, Return Of The Fighting 69th, and the two-part The Plot To Kill A City, while a later first season episode, Space Rockers, features both score and source music. Various opening and closing title music, as well as the very brief rendition of the theme used as a commercial break bumper, is included, along with a few Stu Phillips source music cues used in Plot To Kill A City and the series premiere. Even the renditions of the closing titles with a vocal are included; needless to say, if you’re a fan of the theme music, this set has you covered.

The early runaway favorite – I’ll even fess up to jumping straight to disc three for this – is Space Rockers, an episode which revolved around Law & Order’s Jerry Orbach and Night Court’s Richard Moll hatching a scheme to play a subliminal mind control signal into live concerts by space rock group Andromeda. Andromeda’s concerts were represented by existing Johnny Harris disco tracks (namely the ridiculously catchy disco-with-synth-gasm that is “Odyssey”, here titled “Andromeda”), with slightly punched-up synth overdubs (because that sounds more spacey… am I right, ’70s?). Harris’ other scores have the same wobbly synth overlays in places, and it’s his tracks that I find myself gravitating toward when I go back to listen to the collection again.

Phillips’ score from the Plot To Kill A City two-parter and Les Baxter’s Vegas In Space are the middle ground between symphonic and rock/disco influences, while Richard La Salle’s Unchained Woman score comes down solidly on the “orchestral” side of the fence without even so much as a wink and a nudge toward the disco influences on the rest of the collection.

Ultimately, this is Johnny Harris’ gig. Not only did his sound pick up the ball from Phillips’ grandiose pilot score and run in a more fun direction with it, but Harris was also responsible for the various arrangements and bumper-length “cutdowns” of the Phillips/Larson main theme for the series. Much like Fred Steiner didn’t coin the Star Trek theme but ended up musically defining the series itself, Harris takes over here, and the show wound up being ridiculously fun for his efforts – even the music wasn’t taking the whole thing deadly seriously, and it was okay to have fun watching.

For those who demand more straightfoward orchestral grandeur, however, Intrada promises a similar collection of music from the truncated second season in 2014, which will be a true treat – much like Harris defined the first season, rising star Bruce Broughton owned the sound of the show’s troubled second year, with spectacular results. In the meantime, this set of season one scores is something I never thought would be available to us, and it puts a great big seven-year-old grin on my face to listen to it all again. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but for us teevee space travelers of a certain age, old enough to remember that Gary Coleman was the president of a whole planet, it’s a nostalgia trip into the “guilty pleasure” archives.

Disc One
1. Main Title [Version 2] (1:14)

Planet Of The Slave Girls – music by Johnny Harris

2. Mysterious Illness (5:42)
3. Love And Energy (2:57)
4. Uncivilized Nomads (6:35)
5. Food Conspiracy (2:47)
6. Power Leech (2:40)
7. Desert Trek (6:01)
8. Surprises (2:33)
9. Hot Escape (3:55)
10. Space Battle (4:34)

The Plot To Kill A City – music by Stu Phillips

11. Argus (1:21)
12. A Big One (2:05)
13. All Systems Engaged (1:24)
14. Direct Hit (2:57)
15. Mind Games (2:23)
16. Joella (1:35)
17. Wilma Chase (2:13)
18. Uncontrolled Reactions (1:19)
19. Reversal Of Fortune (1:02)
20. Last Time (3:06)
21. Interrogation (2:16)
22. A Touch Of Death (2:46)
23. Do Your Job (2:27)
24. Chain Reaction (1:57)
25. Attempted Escape (1:06)
26. End Credits [Long] (0:51)

Disc Two
1. Main Title [Version 1] (1:14)

Return Of The Fighting 69th – music by Johnny Harris

2. Escape From The Asteroids (2:02)
3. Alicia (2:32)
4. Ungrounded (6:03)
5. Memory Globe (1:58)
6. Watch For Falling Rocks (3:01)
7. Handy Work (1:27)
8. Play Acting (1:21)
9. I’m Sorry (2:30)
10. Bombing Run (1:57)
11. Ancient Signaling Device (0:50)
12. Bombs Away (0:50)
13. Silver Eagles (1:12)

Vegas In Space – music by Les Baxter

14. Falina’s Abduction (2:40)
15. Tangie’s World (2:16)
16. Welcome To Sinaloa (4:42)
17. Not Your Type (0:48)
18. Tangie And Buck (6:57)
19. One Or Two Ways (0:47)
20. Velosi’s Pad (2:10)
21. Kill Her (2:31)
22. Buck To The Rescue (1:43)
23. Goodbye Sinaloa (1:52)

Aradala Returns – music by Johnny Harris

24. Draconian Plot (4:06)
25. Reaction Times (4:38)
26. The Switch (3:25)
27. Ardala And The Boys (2:08)
28. Objective: New Phoenix (2:51)
29. Ping Pong (2:25)
30. End Credits [Long Vocal Version] (0:51)

Disc Three
1. Bumper (0:08)

Space Rockers – music by Johnny Harris

2. Andromeda (5:45)
3. It’s In The Music (4:08)
4. Let’s Do It (1:53)

Unchained Woman – music by Richard La Salle

5. Prison Approach (2:07)
6. Hit The Deck (4:31)
7. Escape Into The Desert (2:42)
8. Desert Pursuit (2:52)
9. Hungry Sand Squid (0:39)
10. Well-Fed Sand Squid (2:07)
11. Sand Swirl (2:20)
12. Snooping Around (3:31)
13. Buck To The Rescue… Again (5:18)
14. End Credits (0:31)

Source music by Stu Phillips

15. Jelly Belly (From “Awakening”) (1:28)
16. Source One (From “Plot To Kill A City”) (1:31)
17. Source Two (From “Plot To Kill A City”) (1:40)
18. End Credits [Vocal Version] (0:31)

Released by: Intrada
Release date: 2013
Disc one total running time: 69:45
Disc two total running time: 74:00
Disc three total running time: 43:55

Doctor Who: The 50th Anniversary Collection

25 years ago, if someone had been asking for a go-to album for casual fans of the Doctor Who theme tune and its accompanying incidental music, I would have somewhat reluctantly pointed them toward the Doctor Who 25th Anniversary Album on BBC Records; reluctantly on the grounds that while it did indeed include the major iterations of the theme tune, its incidental music was drawn entirely from Sylvester McCoy’s first two seasons, largely scored by Keff McCulloch with very ’80s hand clap samples for percussion backing his very ’80s synths. It was a nice enough sound for its time, but not one that has dated very well. In 1993, for the show’s 30th anniversary, the default selection became the BBC’s 30 Years At The Radiophonic Workshop, which I’d recommend with a different set of reservations: most of its tracks were pure sound effects. Very evocative ones, to be sure, the pride of the BBC’s sonic skunkworks at Maida Vale, but little of the 30th anniversary album was actually music.

We had to reach the show’s 50th anniversary to strike the right balance at last. The four-disc Doctor Who: The 50th Anniversary Collection is an unapologetic romp through the tunes accompanying the TARDIS’ travels from 1963 through 2013. If a single show’s sound has evolved more radically over time (without it being a variety show with an ever-changing selection of musical guests), I’d love to hear about it. In five decades, Doctor Who has gone from experimental-going-on-avant-garde analog electronic music, to small orchestral ensembles, to tuneful (and sometimes showy) ’80s synthesizers, and then to full-on orchestral grandeur. That journey is sampled at various points across four CDs here. (A limited edition of 1,000 copies of a more expansive – and, undoubtedly, expensive – 11-CD set will be available in early 2014; Silva has already fessed up that this 4-CD set is a sampling of that larger collection, without giving any indication as to whether the material will be available separately on individual CDs, iTunes, or what have you.)

For those who faithfully bought Silva Screen’s ’90s CD releases of Mark Ayres’ late ’80s scores and the label’s reissues of classic BBC albums, as well as the BBC’s own attempt to fill out the Doctor Who soundtrack library in the early 21st century, there will be a lot of familiar material here, sometimes only in briefly excerpted form. Ayres’ scores, and familiar material such as “March Of The Cybermen” and music from Tom Baker’s last season, can be found here as edited highlights, as can already-released ’60s and ’70s gems such as excerpts from the now-hard-to-find-on-CD-without-getting-a-second-mortgage CD featuring Tristram Cary’s music from the second-ever Doctor Who story, The Daleks. Ayres was the archivist responsible for picking out the best bits from the classic series, and his choices line up almost exactly what what I would have picked. (Note: almost. Leaving the music accompanying the Brigadier’s flashback out of a Mawdryn Undead suite is an unexpected choice, to say the least.)

But there are many surprises as well. The sheer amount of pristine, not-smothered-in-sound-effects Dudley Simpson music to be heard is impressive. For decades, short of Silva Screen’s singular experimental attempt in the 1990s to do a Simpson “cover album” with the best synthesizers and samples available at the time, almost none of Simpson’s music has been available, despite the fact that he remains the reigning champion among Doctor Who composers (having scored episodes from 1964 through 1979). Copies of Simpson’s music simply were not retained, for who knew that it would ever be in demand as a standalone product? But thanks to Simpson’s occasional collaborations with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – a group which did a better job of archiving, and occasionally had to add synthesizer overdubs to Simpson’s more otherworldly cues – some selections of Simpson’s unique small-ensemble sound now survive. A few other Simpson specimens are culled from scenes in which the music was virtually the only sound in the mix (such as the music from the Patrick Troughton story The Seeds Of Death). This brings us such wonderful lost treats as the suite from 1977’s The Invasion Of Time, a selection of music which reminds me of Blake’s 7 as much as it does Doctor Who, and concludes with a great “slimy” synth motif for the Sontarans, a piece of music that screams “short, squat and ugly”. Other unearthed Simpson gems include music from The Android Invasion, the aforementioned Seeds Of Death, and the Pertwee space opera Frontier In Space. There are surprises from the small stable of other composers who scored the Doctor’s travels in the ’70s, including Carey Blyton’s stuttering stacatto saxophones from Death To The Daleks and his more traditional “Simpsonesque” strains from Revenge Of The Cybermen.

Another surprise heard here is a handful of stock library music pieces used during the 1960s, from the first piece of music ever heard within an episode of Doctor Who (on Susan’s portable radio, no less) to the familiar and oft-reused action cues that accompanied Cybermen and Yeti in equal measure. Many of these pieces have surfaced over the years, in such forms as the fan-compiled Space Adventures CD and short-lived one-off CDs timed to coincide with the releases of such things as The Tenth Planet and Tomb Of The Cybermen. But this is the first time than an officially sanctioned BBC release has declared these to be the Doctor Who music that the fans have always known them to be. The inclusion of a piece by Les Structures Sonores (used in the Hartnell four-parter Galaxy Four) is historically significant: when trying to describe the sound she wanted for Doctor Who’s still-unwritten theme tune, producer Verity Lambert fell back on the work of Les Structures Sonores as a suggested listen. (What actually emerged was wonderfully different from that suggestion, but however your tastes run regarding the show’s stories main theme, every major iteration is included here for your listening pleasure.)

The ’80s, the final decade of original Doctor Who, present a different problem: nearly everything survives from that era, so it becames a question of judiciously picking what to leave out. The major pieces that everyone would wish for are present, however: Tom Baker’s swan song from Logopolis, the thematic bookend of Peter Davison’s first trip in the TARDIS in Castrovalva, Earthshock‘s “March Of The Cybermen”, The Five Doctors, the percussive Sontaran march and the flamenco-style acoustic guitar work of The Two Doctors, edited highlights from three of the four stories making up The Trial Of A Time Lord, and the final moments of music from the original series in 1989’s memorable (and perfectly scored) Survival, which demonstrated that the show’s decade of synths was on the cusp of giving way to a more interesting mix of synth, guitar and live violin if the story demanded it.

Things then transform dramatically. For the first time outside of a 1990s “composer promo” release of questionable legality, selections from the Hollywood-spawned score of 1996’s Paul McGann TV movie come in from the cold on an official Doctor Who soundtrack compilation. Not much more than a taster, to be sure, and yes, the entire score’s been available as the music-only audio track on the DVD of that movie for about a decade now, but it’s nice to see this release taking in the entirety of the franchise’s musical history (with one major omission – more on this in a moment). From here, we jump to an extended best-of from Murray Gold’s reign as the sole musical voice of modern Doctor Who, covering everything from Rose’s theme through The Rings Of Akhaten. As much as some fans have only ever grown up with Murray Gold’s bombastic orchestral music as the sound of Doctor Who, it’s impressive that Silva Screen managed to constrain the new series highlights to a single disc.

But considering that, before the track listing was announced, I fully expected much of this set to be tilted in favor of the new series, the 50th Anniversary Collection is a pleasant surprise from start to finish. Fans weaned on the David Tennant years may be shocked to discover how much the “house style” of Doctor Who has changed, but those of us who grew up with Tom Baker or his predecessors will find much to love here. Yes, the first disc has a lot of sound effects on it, but they’re almost music in their own unique way – the sound of the living, breathing alien worlds found in Lime Grove Studio “D” so many years ago. And I never thought we’d get, on CD, such music as Don Harper’s sinister spy-movie-inspired strains from The Invasion, or the Dudley Simpson tracks that we have here.

I’m a little surprised to see that the two 1960s movies starring the late Peter Cushing as quirky but perfectly human inventor Dr. Who are not represented here. Silva released all of the available score material from both of those movies in their entirety some time back, so they have access to (and rights to) the recordings. I suppose they get excluded for not being part
of the TV franchise, but if there was any concern that the ’60s-centric CD had too many sound effects, I wonder why these tracks weren’t considered for inclusion. With every passing year, Cushing’s brief tenure as the TARDIS traveler grows more obscure, so I suspect I’m alone in thinking there should have been some hint of the movies here.

The 50th Anniversary Collection is a dandy sampling of the Doctor’s ever-evolving musical accompaniment over the years.

Disc One

1. Doctor Who (Original Theme) (2:20)
2. An Unearthly Child: Three Guitars Mood 2 (2:03)
3. An Unearthly Child – TARDIS Takeoff (0:49)
4. The Daleks (The Dead Planet): Forest Atmosphere (1:07)
5. The Daleks (The Dead Planet): Forest With Creature (0:54)
6. The Daleks (The Dead Planet): City Music 1 and 2 (0:56)
7. The Daleks (The Dead Planet): The Daleks (0:32)
8. The Daleks (The Survivors) – Dalek Control Room (0:34)
9. The Daleks (The Ambush): The Ambush (2:00)
10. The Daleks – Capsule Oscillation (Dalek Destructor Fuse / Bomb Countdown) (0:19)
11. The Edge of Destruction – Explosion, TARDIS Stops (1:10)
12. The Keys of Marinus – Sleeping Machine (0:52)
13. The Chase – Dalek Spaceship Lands (0:17)
14. The Chase – TARDIS Lands (0:11)
15. Galaxy Four – Chumbley (Constant Run) (0:27)
16. Galaxy Four – Chumbley at Rest (0:28)
17. Galaxy Four: Marche (Les Structures Sonores) (2:40)
18. The Daleks’ Master Plan (The Nightmare Begins): A Strange Sickness (0:44)
19. The Daleks’ Master Plan (Destruction of Time): Growing Menace (2:08)
20. The Gunfighters: Excerpts from ‘The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon’ (3:51)
21. The Tenth Planet: Space Adventure Part 2 (1:21)
22. The Macra Terror – Heartbeat Chase (1:57)
23. The Macra Terror – Chromophone Band (1:56)
24. The Macra Terror – Propaganda Sleep Machine (1:08)
25. The Tomb of the Cybermen – Sideral Universe (2:26)
26. The Tomb of the Cybermen – Space Time Music Part 1 (1:21)
27. The Web of Fear – Space Time Music Part 2 (1:19)
28. Fury from the Deep – Mr. Oak and Mr. Quill (Incidental Music) (0:39)
29. The Wheel in Space – Cyberman Stab & Music (1:32)
30. The Wheel in Space – Birth of Cybermats (0:44)
31. The Wheel in Space – Interior Rocket (Suspense Music) (1:55)
32. The Dominators – Galaxy Atmosphere (1:04)
33. The Mind Robber – Zoe’s Theme (1:20)
34. The Invasion: The Dark Side of the Moon (0:31)
35. The Invasion: The Company (1:31)
36. The Krotons – Machine and City Theme (1:49)
37. The Krotons – Kroton Theme (2:14)
38. The Seeds of Death: Titles (0:35)
39. The Seeds of Death: Ice Warriors Music (0:26)
40. The War Games – Time Lord Court (1:32)
41. Doctor Who (New Opening, 1967 – full version) (2:20)
42. The Mind of Evil: The Master’s Theme (0:43)
43. The Mind of Evil: Hypnosis Music (0:36)
44. The Mind of Evil: Dover Castle (0:29)
45. The Mind of Evil – Keller Machine Appears and Vanishes (0:22)
46. The Mind of Evil: Keller Machine Theme (0:43)
47. The Claws of Axos – Copy machine tickover (0:16)
48. The Claws of Axos: The Axons Approach (1:45)
49. Music from ‘The Sea Devils’ (5:24)
50. Music from ‘The Mutants’ (7:12)
51. Music from ‘Frontier in Space’ Episode 1 (1:46)
52. Music from ‘Death to the Daleks’ (3:50)
53. Planet of the Spiders – Metebelis III Atmosphere (1:53)

Disc Two

1. Doctor Who Opening Title Theme (0:44)
2. The Ark In Space – Nerva Beacon Infrastructure and TMat Couch (1:42)
3. Music from “Revenge of the Cybermen” (5:28)
4. Terror of the Zygons: The Destruction of Charlie Rig (0:42)
5. Terror of the Zygons: A Landing in Scotland (1:22)
6. Terror of the Zygons: The Zygons Attack (0:51)
7. Music from “The Android Invasion” Episodes 3 and 4 (6:32)
8. The Brain of Morbius – The Planet Karn (1:50)
9. The Seeds of Doom: Antarctica – The First Pod (2:17)
10. The Seeds of Doom: Get Dunbar! / Krynoid On The Loose (2:55)
11. The Masque of Mandragora – The Mandragora Helix (1:26)
12. Music from “The Invasion of Time” Episodes 3 and 4 (5:36)
13. Doctor Who Closing Titles (40? Version) (1:15)
14. Doctor Who 1980 (Opening Titles) (0:38)
15. The Leisure Hive: Into Argolis (1:44)
16. Full Circle: K9 on a Mission (0:35)
17. The Keeper of Traken: Nyssa’s Theme (0:41)
18. Logopolis: It’s The End… (3:18)
19. Doctor Who 1980 (Closing Titles) (1:16)
20. Castrovalva (3:18)
21. Four to Doomsday: Exploring the Lab (1:46)
22. Earthshock – March Of The Cybermen (5:13)
23. Mawdryn Undead (4:19)
24. The Five Doctors (5:29)
25. Warriors of the Deep (3:53)
26. Resurrection of the Daleks (5:01)
27. The Caves of Androzani (Alternative Suite) (6:07)
28. Doctor Who Theme (1980 – Full Version) (2:42)

Disc Three

1. The Twin Dilemma (4:04)
2. The Mark of the Rani (3:45)
3. The Two Doctors (3:15)
4. Timelash (5:51)
5. Revelation of the Daleks (3:53)
6. Doctor Who 1986 (2:53)
7. The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet (3:21)
8. The Trial of a Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids (2:44)
9. The Trial of a Time Lord: The Ultimate Foe (3:16)
10. Doctor Who 1987 2:38()
11. Music from ‘Time and the Rani’ (1:38)
12. Delta and the Bannermen: “Here’s to the Future” (1:57)
13. Music from ‘Dragonfire’ (3:02)
14. Music from ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ (5:32)
15. Music from ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’ (3:23)
16. Music from ‘Battlefield’ (4:41)
17. Music from ‘The Curse of Fenric’ (6:35)
18. Music from ‘Survival’ (5:28)
19. “…and somewhere else, the tea’s getting cold” (from ”Survival”) (0:24)
20. Prologue: Skaro / “Doctor Who” Theme (1:34)
21. “Who Am I?” (1:55)
22. The Chase (Original Version) (2:20)
23. “Open the Eye” (2:25)
24. Farewell (1:35)
25. End Credits / “Doctor Who” Theme (0:49)

Disc Four

1. Doctor Who Theme – TV Version (0:42)
2. Doctor Who: Series 1 – Rose’s Theme (2:15)
3. Doctor Who: Series 2 – Doomsday (5:08)
4. Doctor Who: Series 3 – All The Strange Strange Creatures (The Trailer Music) (4:07)
5. Doctor Who: Series 3 – Martha’s Theme (3:42)
6. Doctor Who: Series 3 – Boe (3:44)
7. Doctor Who: Series 3 – The Doctor Forever (4:19)
8. Doctor Who: Series 3 – This Is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home (3:18)
9. Doctor Who: Series 3 – Donna’s Theme (3:16)
10. Doctor Who: Series 4 – Song Of Freedom (2:51)
11. Doctor Who: Series 4-The Specials – The Master Suite (4:33)
12. Doctor Who: Series 4-The Specials – Four Knocks (3:58)
13. Doctor Who: Series 4-The Specials – Vale Decem (3:20)
14. Doctor Who: Series 5 – I Am The Doctor (4:03)
15. Doctor Who: Series 5 – The Mad Man With A Box (2:09)
16. Doctor Who: Series 5 – Amy’s Theme (2:08)
17. Doctor Who: Series 6 – Melody Pond (4:43)
18. Doctor Who: Series 6 – The Wedding Of River Song (2:36)
19. Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol – Abigail’s Song (Silence Is All You Know) (5:33)
20. Doctor Who: Series 7 – Towards The Asylum (2:25)
21. Doctor Who: Series 7 – Together Or Not At All – The Song Of Amy And Rory (3:17)
22. Doctor Who: Series 7 – Up The Shard (3:02)
23. Doctor Who: Series 7 – The Long Song (3:39)

Released by: Silva Screen
Release date: 2013
Disc one total running time: 79:01
Disc two total running time: 78:40
Disc three total running time: 78:58
Disc four total running time: 78:48

Producers – Made In Basing Street

They may not be the Traveling Wilburys, but this group – consisting of veteran producers and session musicians developing a few jams into full-blown songs – may have turned out the best album of 2012 while no one was watching.

With Lol Creme (10cc) and Trevor Horn (Yes, Art of Noise, The Buggles) as full-time members, it’s a given that this group’s original numbers come from guys who know how to write a song or two. What’s surprising is just how cohesive the whole thing is – Made In Basing Street bolts from one strong, memorable number to another without pausing for breath, or, as the old saying goes, “all killer, no filler.” None of the songs sound like they were album tracks farted out to fill space.

And it’s hard to even pick a favorite. “You And I” recalls the early ’80s, when synths were a novel (and perhaps occasionally overused) new addition to the instrumental palette, while such songs as “Waiting For The Right Time”, “Watching You Out There” and “Every Single Night In Jamaica” recall all that was good about ’70s rock anthems. Stripped-down numbers like “Stay Elaine” and “Barking Up The Right Tree” are no less memorable. Needless to say, each song is impeccably arranged and crafted, since the group’s members have built their entire careers on pairing the right song with the right production.

With all of the members’ careers still chugging along nicely, I’m under no illusion that we’ll be getting a follow-up to Made In Basing Street anytime soon, and in any case, these classic rock Justice Leagues are often formed and dissolved at the whim of their members. But I sincerely hope there will be a follow-up at some point, simply because the debut album was so good. Half a year later, I’m still playing this one a lot.

Disc One
1. Freeway (5:14)
2. Waiting For The Right Time (4:15)
3. Your Life (6:26)
4. Man On The Moon (4:02)
5. Every Single Night In Jamaica (5:16)
6. Stay Elaine (3:44)
7. Barking Up The Right Tree (3:21)
8. Garden of Flowers (4:14)
9. Watching You Out There (5:35)
10. You & I (5:47)

Disc Two (Deluxe Edition only)
1. Your Life (extended) (7:40)
2. Garden Of Flowers (alternative) (5:53)
3. Seven (3:50)
4. There’s Only So Much You Can Do (3:29)
5. Freeway (extended) (12:06)

Released by: The LAST Label
Release date: June 25, 2012
Total running time: 48:32 (single disc) / 33:13 (deluxe edition bonus disc)

Battlestar Galactica: Volume 3 – music by Stu Phillips

The third volume of music from the 1970s iteration of Battlestar Galactica proves that, even well into its run, despite budget overruns, the series’ music was still a big priority, even if it occasionally took on forms that were stripped-down compared to the full-blooded orchestral score of the pilot miniseries.

This volume deals exclusively with one-off, self-contained episodes (with one great big surprise as the final selection). The Long Patrol, one of the earliest single-part stories in the series, starts out with what modern ears would probably hear as novelty synthesizer effects, but the bulk of this episode’s score is still orchestral, though leaning on a smaller ensemble than the pilot (heard in full in the first volume of the series) and the early two-part extravaganzas (covered in the second volume). The most distinctive feature of The Long Patrol is a recurring, insistent cello riff, heightening the jeopardy of the storyline.

The Lost Warrior was an episode that riffed on just about every western/cowboy movie trope in the space of a single hour; the soundtrack takes that to heart too, giving us a Battlestar Galactica episode scored with prominent guitar work. Even though it reuses some of the action music established as far back as the pilot, those themes are now played on guitar, and aside from the occasional orchestral flourishes (and some interesting experiments in blending woodwinds with similarly-timbred synths), it would almost fit an episode of Gunsmoke.

The Magnificent Warriors, loaded with low brass and busy, clockwork-like percussion, almost anticipates Michael Giacchino’s Lost soundtracks, and features the longest track of the entire two-disc set, “The Boray Camp / Into The Cave,” weighing in at over four minutes. The Young Lords is the most reminiscent of the music on the previous Galactica releases, again reusing themes from the pilot, but in a similar (if scaled back) orchestral vein. The first disc is rounded out with source music selections from The Lost Warrior (an amusingly corny synth version of Scott Joplin’s “The Easy Winners” that jars completely against the episode’s more authentic western guitars) and The Magnificent Warriors.

The second disc opens with Murder On The Rising Star, essentially a single-episode homage to The Fugitive with Starbuck as the wrongly-accused subject of a Kafka-esque manhunt. This might just be the most interesting score of the entire set, with a more subdued musical style than most Galactica episodes. It also has, in terms of sheer running time, more music than most episodes, so its themes get a chance to develop nicely. A single track from the hostage-drama episode Take The Celestra!, a march-like take on the Galactica theme, offers an interesting contrast to a similar treatment of Phillips’ theme music that appeared in the pilot miniseries of the revived Galactica in 2003.

The Hand Of God, the classic series’ first series finale, had a real sense of “building up to something” (clearly, the makers of Galactica weren’t expecting to be told to scale the series back to something that could be shot inexpensively at unaltered modern-day locations), and the music comes very close to upping its game almost to the level of the pilot. Like Murder On The Rising Star, The Hand Of God has a lot of music, giving themes time to develop. Many themes are reused from the pilot, but turn up in interesting variations. Phillips clearly doesn’t have the same size orchestra that he had for the pilot, but his arrangements make the best use of the players on hand; the most memorable cue is the mysterious ending scene in which a stray television signal from Earth plays out to an empty observation room, completely unknown to our heroes: a replay of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Naturally, despite the build-up to that fascinating conclusion, the show’s second season was lumbered with major creative interference from ABC, threatening not to renew unless its wishes to curb Galactica’s enormous budget were met. The result, retitled Galactica 1980, tends to be ignored by most of fandom, with the possible exception of its final episode, the Glen A. Larson-written farewell The Return Of Starbuck, which throws the ABC-mandated recasting of the show out the door by bringing Dirk Benedict back as Starbuck (and yet explaining it within the context of the show’s largely new cast). The score from that episode is heard here for the first time, a real surprise that almost sounds more like Phillips’ work for Glen Larson’s other TV sci-fi epic of the time, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. In retrospect, with its unusual use of female vocals, The Return Of Starbuck – by putting Starbuck in an Adam-and-Eve scenario with much hardship ahead of him – can also be seen as a precursor to the finale of the 21st century Galactica. Who knew?

Stu Phillips, whether he was conducting a full orchestra or having to make do with a smaller ensemble or just a synthesizer, provided much of Galactica’s epic heart and soul, even at points in the show’s brief life where it was struggling to not overspend anymore. Hopefully more of his music is forthcoming (two-parters The Living Legend and War Of The Gods, both already published with lower audio fidelity on the impossibly rare late ’90s Battlestar Galactica Anthology 4-CD set by the defunct Supertracks label, are conspicuous by their absence thus far). Each of the soundtrack releases from the classic series have proven to be surprisingly good music.

Disc One
1. Exploration / Main Title (1:45)
2. Episode Titles (0:45)

   The Long Patrol

3. Double Parked (2:03)
4. Stolen Viper (1:22)
5. Viper Stolen (1:51)
6. Starbuck In Prison (0:44)
7. Cassiopeia And Athena (1:05)
8. Deserted Town (0:52)
9. The Limping Man (1:21)
10. Grandpa Adama (1:39)
11. The Map (1:00)

    The Lost Warrior

12. Apollo “A” OK (0:55)
13. The Boxey Con (1:05)
14. Same Old Story (1:28)
15. The Hunt (1:23)
16. Time Running Out (2:16)
17. Bootes To Boot Hill (1:42)
18. Doubt (0:45)
19. Shoot Out (2:31)
20. No More Killing (1:16)

    The Magnificent Warriors

21. The Courting (1:35)
22. Here Come The Borays (2:13)
23. Trapped Again (0:59)
24. Time To Eat / Belloby Kidnapped (2:32)
25. The Boray Camp / Into The Cave (4:38)
26. Starbuck’s Plan (1:11)

    The Young Lords

27. Into The Swamp (2:43)
28. Attack By The Children (0:56)
29. Fanfare And Theme (0:49)
30. Launch The Raft (1:59)
31. The Attack Rhyme (2:01)
32. Starbuck And Miri / Well Done (2:13)
33. Warriors (0:45)
34. End Titles (0:30)

    Source Music

35. Source: Saloon (3:15)
36. Source: A Smoking Band (0:42)
37. Source: Three Sided Pyramid (1:25)
38. Source: Starbuck’s Luck (2:01)
39. Source: Hospitality Muzak (2:10)

Disc Two
1. Exploration / Main Title (1:49)
2. Episode Titles (0:46)

   Murder On The Rising Star

3. No Fighting (1:17)
4. Sudden Draw / The Victim / Cassiopeia Waits / Grim Starbuck (1:19)
5. Laser Test / A Match (1:55)
6. Starbuck Gets Help / Not Guilty (2:58)
7. Escape (0:45)
8. Starbuck’s Mistake / Change of Heart (0:49)
9. Questioning Baltar (0:59)
10. Night Of The Cylons / Cella Reacts (1:46)
11. Apollo’s Plan / Stowaway (1:56)
12. Baltar – The Skeptic (0:51)
13. Cassiopeia – The Witness / The Villain (1:18)
14. Karibdis Overcome (1:36)
15. Friends (0:34)

    Take the Celestra!

16. Ceremonial Fanfares (1:42)

    The Hand of God

17. The Dome (1:05)
18. Strange Signal (1:37)
19. Boomer Embarassed (0:28)
20. From The Past (0:44)
21. Cylon Base Ship Rising (1:29)
22. Tired of Running (1:43)
23. A Great Plan / An Agreement (1:29)
24. Some Deal / A Share of Loneliness / More Casi And Starbuck (2:40)
25. Good Luck (1:04)
26. They’re Gone (1:02)
27. Strays (0:39)
28. Man Your Vipers (1:11)
29. In The Lair Of The Cylons (2:45)
30. Here They Come (1:28)
31. There She Is (1:13)
32. We Did It! (0:53)
33. Waggle (1:21)
34. The Dome II / The Eagle Has Landed (1:29)

    The Return of Starbuck

35. Main Title – Galactica: 1980 (1:19)
36. I Had a Dream (1:13)
37. Starbuck And Boomer (1:19)
38. Starbuck Lives (0:46)
39. Trek / Perhaps To Sleep (2:53)
40. Shelter / I’m Sorry (1:12)
41. In Search Of Woman (1:37)
42. Taking Care Of Angela / Starbuck’s Planet (1:40)
43. Spiritual Son (1:02)
44. Ship Building (2:06)
45. Three Humans (1:46)
46. Cy Leaves (1:11)
47. Goodbye Angela (0:52)
48. Friend Cy (0:50)
49. Sermon on the Mount / Zee, Son of Angela (1:26)
50. End Titles (0:36)

Released by: Intrada
Release date: 2012
Disc one total running time: 62:47
Disc two total running time: 68:02

Saturn 3 – music by Elmer Bernstein

Ah, the ’80s. Hollywood – and indeed all points beyond – tried relentlessly to cash in on the post-Star Wars hunger for all things science fiction, and often failed. Case in point: Saturn 3, whose star power was invested primarily in the wildly unlikely combination of co-stars Kirk Douglas and Farrah Fawcett, both of whom stripped down for love scenes that were about as plausible as any of the movie’s sci-fi conceits. Left with the unenviable task of scoring Saturn 3 – which had already suffered a change of director mere weeks into production – was Elmer Bernstein, whose later forays in the genre (Heavy Metal, Ghostbusters, etc.) were usually accompanied by more palatable movies. With British financiers – recently stung by the sinking ticket sales of Raise The Titanic! – bankrolling the movie, by the time Saturn 3 came out, Bernstein’s score was just about guaranteed to be the best thing about it.

And yet, if you actually watched Saturn 3, you didn’t hear much of that music, since it was sliced, diced and edited to match the whims of the director. This 2006 CD release of the full, unedited score from Intrada contains much that didn’t make it into the movie itself. One of the first casualties was a surprising detour into disco (it was 1980…) in the whopping nine-minute opening theme; this concession to the popular musical flavors of tha time was left on the cutting room floor, echoed in only one other track (“Blue Dreamers”). Much of the score has a slow-boiling foreboding feel to it, punctuated by some boisterous action scenes; as the liner notes by Jeff Bond point out, a lot of the music wound up being used in parts of the movie other than the scenes for which it was composed.

Bond’s notes also seem to paint Saturn 3 as little more than a warm-up for Heavy Metal and Ghostbusters, but the only time I found myself instantly reminded of Bernstein’s later work was “The Run”, which does sound like a lost scene from Ghostbusters. This soundtrack employs some fairly unusual music by Bernstein standards – nothing really revolutionary, but not a sound we’re accustomed to from him.

In the end, Saturn 3 is up there with a contemporary, the Roger Corman wanna-be epic Battle Beyond The Stars: the score was far better than the movie, and you’re probably doing yourself a mercy (and getting a lot more enjoyment out of the deal) listening to the music alone. That Bernstein’s carefully constructed (if occasionally too prone to 1980 novelty) soundtrack was chopped up and treated like glorified library music was the final indignity that Saturn 3 had to suffer before bombing in theaters.

1. Space Murder (9:18)
2. The Lab (2:05)
3. Meet Hector (4:44)
4. The Brain (2:08)
5. Blue Dreamers (2:42)
6. Hector Mimics Benson (1:25)
7. Peeping Toms (7:15)
8. Adam’s Target (2:00)
9. Benson Is Off (2:16)
10. Training Hector (3:13)
11. Adam Rescues Alex (2:39)
12. Hector Loses It (6:52)
13. The Run (1:48)
14. A Head For Hector (3:31)
15. Alex Alone (2:06)
16. The Big Dive (4:37)
17. End Credits (3:22)

Released by: Intrada
Release date: 2006
Total running time: 62:48

Invasion – music by Jon Ehrlich & Jason Derlatka

Promoted heavily going into the fall 2005 television season, Invasion seemed like the perfect stablemate for ABC’s Lost. They both had running, peel-back-the-onion-layers mystery storylines, set in relatively affordable locations for production purposes. Invasion also had Shaun Cassidy on its side – the former pop star turned writer/producer had created cult hits before, including the creepy and much-loved American Gothic. Surely, sooner or later, Cassidy’s way with plot and characters would hit one out of the park, and maybe Invasion would be the ball that went sailing over the fence. Right?

Not so fast. Mere weeks before its premiere, Invasion’s premise – strange things going on in a Florida community ravaged by a gigantic hurricane – had its thunder stolen by the real-life Hurricane Katrina, which turned the vibrant city of New Orleans into something worse than any disaster movie had ever shown us. ABC yanked the show’s promotion immediately, stealing Invasion’s thunder; a series of frequent time slot changes seemed to indicate that the network was quietly hoping that Invasion and its potentially-insensitive hurricane plotline would vanish before it caused any controversy.

The series was rather gripping stuff, and it got a fascinating musical treatment from composers Jon Erlich and Jason Derlatka – a bit of a side gig for the duo that was also scoring every episode of another new series called House M.D. Erlich and Derlatka created a web of interlocking themes and compositions that fit the show’s characters like a glove, from the solo string lament of alien-possessed Dr. Mariel Underlay (Earth: Final Conflict’s Kari Matchett) to the menacing rumble of her husband, who was somehow behind the whole plan to give an alien presence a foothold on Earth, using the mayhem of the hurricane as a cover for their operation. The seamy underbelly of the south is always present, but so too is are blasts of orchestra – all the more surprising because the show wasn’t wall-to-wall orchestra – signifying the alien presence in motion. Two conjoined tracks in particular, “Hybrids And Labor” and “Hurricane Approaching”, are truly big-screen stuff.

Curiously missing is the ten-second burst of discord that stood in for opening titles (a case of ABC pushing too hard to mold Invasion into the perfect partner for Lost, which had a similar opening title treatment). Many of the tracks are exceedingly short by the standard of commercially-released soundtrack albums, but they also fade into the next track gracefully – unless you’re watching the numbers on your CD player, you’d probably think you’re listening to longer, continuous compositions.

Invasion amassed a cult following noisy enough to request/demand a soundtrack release, but not a very big one: Swedish soundtrack boutique label Moviescore Media released only 1,000 copies of Invasion worldwide, one of the only pieces of merchandise that Invasion ever spawned (and it wasn’t released until long after the series’ cancellation). The soundtrack covers most of the key moments of Invasion’s solitary season on television, and it holds up well even without the sweaty tropical visuals of the show.

1. The Lights (2:02)
2. Russ & Larkin (1:31)
3. Mariel Swims / They’ve Lost Their Mother (2:33)
4. Sirk’s Abduction (1:37)
5. Szura (1:20)
6. The Rose (2:28)
7. Angel Mariel / Island Of Hybrid Castaways (2:55)
8. The Locket (1:14)
9. M.R.I. (2:10)
10. Hybrids In Labor (0:35)
11. Hurricane Approaching (0:38)
12. Couldn’t Save Them (0:40)
13. Pria’s Story (0:48)
14. Finding Mariel (1:57)
15. Emily’s Theme (1:17)
16. There’s A Boat Coming (3:11)
17. Kira & Sirk (1:38)
18. Hybrid Experiments (1:19)
19. Larkin Crashes (0:47)
20. Species Transformation (2:49)
21. The Battle (1:43)
22. Help Arrives (1:38)
23. Blogspeak (1:49)
24. Baby Steps (1:32)
25. Leon (2:20)
26. Last Moments (1:18)
27. Stalker (1:06)
28. Scrub It (1:45)
29. Larkin’s Shower (1:29)
30. Evolution (3:25)
31. Human Genocide (0:57)
32. When They First Met (2:06)
33. Do You Care Now? (2:17)
34. Mob Rule / Moving Toward The Light (1:37)
35. Full Circle (2:58)

Released by: MovieScore Media
Release date: 2008
Total running time: 61:29