February 26, 2010

  • Review: Battlestar Galactica--The Plan & Razor (McCreary)

    Battlestar Galactica fans now have a great overview of music from this latest Sci-Fi Channel incarnation made complete with this release of nearly 70 minutes of music.  The new La-La Land disc features music from two feature-length “television events” that fans of Bear McCreary’s music hoped would be released.  That dream becomes reality here capping off one of the best television score series to appear in some time and completing the musical journey.   McCreary realized that even with the previous 2-disc set there was not enough room to do justice to these two scores and so they are combined here.  Essentially two-sides of the same story coin, listeners are given a chance to enjoy music that revolves around each of the main “races” in this universe.

    The music comes from two different “films” released two years apart.  The disc opens with “Apocalypse” the “theme” from The Plan which features beautifully haunting vocals by Raya Yarbrough that are soon joined by an almost heavy metal guitar sound in a forceful and very dramatic original song.  As a bonus, La-La Land includes a live recording of “Apocalypse” from a Comicon performance with the “Battlestar Galactica Orchestra” which nicely bookends the two scores presented here.

    Battlestar Galactica—Razor recalls what happened the day of the Cylon attack as understood through the eyes of the character Officer Kendra Shaw.  The film follows her story as she is shaped into a fine-honed “razor” under the forceful eye of Admiral Cain.  The story provides some chilling clues to the future in this back-story to the series.  The sound of this score recalls some of the ethnic musical sounds of the first two seasons.  Taiko drums and a variety of ethnic woodwinds create the primary fabric of the score.  A sad, almost Asian-like lyric theme follows Kendra Shaw in this score and appears first in “Arriving at Pegasus” with a more expanded character track occurring later in the disc.  This score recalls the use of both ambient design elements and electric guitar sounds that were part of the early seasons of Battlestar Galactica while adding to them the depth of orchestral support and lyric ethnic instrumentation.  The design effects tend to lend the music an extra level of creepiness alongside the more ethnic wind soli.   “Attack on the Scorpion Shipyards” starts relatively slowly, and is well-paced with incessant drumming patterns gaining in intensity as McCreary begins to layer thematic ideas and more sound from the ensemble.  Of special interest is the appearance of Stu Philips theme for the original Battlestar Galactica played in a minor key on a duduk (“Husker in Combat”).  The plaintive sound adds a fascinating interpretation to this memorable theme.  The Razor’s score feels often like it too is reminiscing, looking back through the fog of memory to discover the truth of what really happened through the eyes of one person.  It is a fascinating accomplishment.

    Battelstar Galactica—The Plan recently aired in January.   This time we get to see the evolution of the Cylon attack on humanity through two of the Cylon leaders working toward the extermination plan.  The heavy metal sound is more prominent in the music for this telefilm.  McCreary notes that here he was trying to provide a “season one score with a season four spin” and this allows a more musical arch to occur that helps connect the series’ music.  The centerpiece of this score is “Apocalypse” which appears in two segments making up some 8 minutes of music that expands upon the vocal version.  Rather than an action cue, the music here has more of an impending doom and sadness that casts a pall over the thematic ideas explored here making for fascinating listening. 

    Music from both episodes is presented in semi-alternation allowing the listener to hear musical connections to the two scores and providing a bit of variety to the disc.  The release is extra icing on the cake for fans of this series who can thank La-La Land for making these fine scores available.  McCreary’s music is truly some of the best science fiction scoring around.