Tales From A Parallel Universe

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Order this CDIn a weird way, Lexx shares a kind of musical heritage with Classic Star Trek – a “library” approach to its original musical score which involved certain pieces cropping up again and again in certain situations. And much like the original Star Trek, I’d begrudge that re-use more if it weren’t for the fact that the original pieces in question are so strong.

Tales From A Parallel Universe (the title of the US release; elsewhere, as with the series that spawned it, the CD is simply titled Lexx) consists of the four made-for-TV movies that comprised Lexx’s first “season”, and the universe-building pilot movie, I Worship His Shadow, is the source of the best music that the series ever had to offer. Bucking a lot of cinematic scoring sensibilities, composer Marty Simon throws everything into the stew for I Worship His Shadow: hard rock guitar licks, dance club synths, operatic vocals, silky saxophone and brooding orchestral menace. Sure, it’s probably all sampled or synthesized, but it’s done so well that pieces like “Prisoner Transport” and “Welcome To The Dark Zone” withstand repeated listening (not to mention repeated play throughout the series; the latter track is used as the end credit music for every episode from season two onward; in fact, the basic melodies of every theme song Lexx ever had can be found on this disc if you listen carefully). The synth-orchestral-choral mix and echoing guitar riffs give the series’ sound an epic but yet playful kick.

Keeping in mind that this music is from a series of movies, there’s no one consistent theme running through everything, but there is a consistent style – and in some ways, that lack of a traditional TV soundtrack structure is used to tremendous effect here music is juxtaposed with the occasional soundbyte from the 4 out of 4movies (but nothing excessive, certainly nothing on the level of the between-every-song banter from the Apollo 13 soundtrack, for example).

It’s sad that this one has gone out of print and has become a creature of the used music market. It really is very good.

  1. Cluster Anthem (0:37)
  2. Prisoner Transport (2:06)
  3. Snake Chase (3:35)
  4. Welcome To The Dark Zone (0:56)
  5. Battle Of The Universe (1:07)
  6. Planet Cruise (2:46)
  7. Poet Man (3:52)
  8. Cryochamber (4:01)
  9. Love Muscle (1:50)
  10. Gigashadow March (2:57)
  11. Yo-A-O (Fight Song of the Brunnen-G) (0:50)
  12. The Lexx Escape (2:31)
  13. Zev’s Shower (3:15)
  14. Cleric Theme (2:31)
  15. Kai Collapse (5:16)
  16. Shadows And Prophets (8:57)
  17. Feppo’s Party (3:18)
  18. Milk Fed Boys (0:54)
  19. Brunnis (2:21)
  20. Fantasy Dance (2:17)
  21. Moth Ride (2:26)

Released by: Varese Sarabande
Release date: 1997
Total running time: 58:20

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