Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome was a “special event” on the SyFy Channel and serves as a sort of prequel to the original series as it focuses on the first Cylon War.   Those familiar with Bear McCreary’s work in the series and its many specials and spin-offs will find that he continues to add new elements to the score for this latest release limited to 3000 units from La-La Land.

“Dear Dad” begins with a more Asian-feel in its use of pitched mallet percussion repeating a 7-8 note motif.  This soon gives way to a bit of action music with taiko drumming and a variety of design elements along with electric guitar sounds, and a later ethnic flute idea.  The “original” Stu Phillips theme Battlestar Galactica is given a bit of an “update’ when it appears against the taiko drums in “The Galactica” and with a vocalise over the final bars.  There is certainly a more martial feel to the music with more acoustic percussion (“The Mission Begins”), even when it features longer lyrical lines or reflective moments (“Becca’s Past”) this sound is never far off.  The interesting melodic ideas in the score are among the highlights, often providing more emotional depth to the surrounding percussive moments.     The disc essentially shifts between these two elements throughout with often a bit more emphasis on the rock-like guitar elements.  Though in “The Last Battle of  the Osiris” this simply goes on for too long.  One of the nicer, gentler moments comes in the piano solo “Coker’s Interlude”, a sort of improvisatory piece of lyrical beauty in the midst of all the action.  The final track is the song “Apocalypse.”

Fans of the previous Battlestar Galactica scores will certainly find more to enjoy here with the mix of thematic development, and a style that further explores the universe of this SyFy Channel reboot.  McCreary’s mix of ethnic instrumentation, with many of the same musicians he has worked with throughout the series, are on great display here coupled with a few new additions and interesting ambient and sound ideas.   At times though, it seems as if the music has to ratchet up sonically to compete with whatever is going on on-screen and that may put off some listeners, though those following the series will already be aware of this approach going in to the CD.

The advertising campaign that preceded the short-lived The Cape made the program at least somewhat intriguing.  A dark figure in an unusual angular background brought to mind a sort of hybrid between Batman and The Shadow.  The show mixed the epic superhero-like crusader , a wrongly-accused cop Vince Faraday, with a host of unusual characters and cast it all in a sort of noir-ish style.  It is the sort of show that networks always try and rarely support or give time to develop.  And so, the program made it to ten episodes as a mid-season replacement that fizzled managing an Emmy nomination for prosthetic makeup.  Composer Bear McCreary took an approach that musically at least would recall classic film and television epic superhero series.  Along with his superb music for Battlestar Galactica, The Cape will certainly be one of his fans favorite new scores.  La-La Land’s two-disc set, in a limited pressing of 2000 copies, comes in time to accompany the recent release of the series to DVD. 

The most important aspect of The Cape is its musical support and one needs a good main theme to kick that off.  McCreary accomplishes this in his “Main Title” for the show perfectly.  The music has the sort of dark undertones of Elfman’s The Flash or Shirley Walker’s classic music for that series and Batman: The Animated Adventures.  The latter was in McCreary’s mind as he shaped the music for the series and the release is even dedicated to Walker.  The choice to use a big orchestra mixed with a variety of unusual instruments for color (on some display in the amazing “The Greatest Circus Act that Ever Lived”) make this score a fabulous listen on its own.  A particular sound, similar to a bagpipe, creates an often Scotch/Irish feel to the music even with the rhythmic syncopation of its melodic line.  A fuller combination of this with Hurdy-gurdy occurs in “Waltz for Raia.”  Sometimes the unusual sounds have that odd Circus atmosphere, which appears wonderfully in “Scales in the Cage” recalling something out of a Jeunet film (like Delicatessen or The City of Lost Children).  The music here as elsewhere still explores McCreary’s thematic ideas, albeit at times in smaller phrases or motives creating further continuity to the score as a whole.  

 Throughout one recalls Elfman’s Batman and Darkman scores, with a sound often tending to be more like the latter.  The lower brass and string sounds lends a fascinating darkness that stands out against the way McCreary places his violins in that texture thus creating a crystal clear sound.  Sinuous chromatic lines and shifting harmonies are also part and parcel of the score.  The ethnic winds and Hurdy-gurdy also provide a rather unique sound to the score that can help identify it more specifically to the series.  Occasionally, electric guitars and drum set appear to add an urban/contemporary feel to the score (the first big appearance is in “Scales” and later in “Brazil Nuts” ).  The instruments here tend to feel more overlaid onto the orchestral backdrop, almost like another character in itself. 

Along with some great action music, there are the touching restrained backdrops that we hear first in “The Faraday Family.”  It is another reminder of McCreary’s ability to shift gears well and play up the emotional core in a scene without getting too melodramatic.  These tracks are placed so that they break up the big action moments and work as a listening aspect of the release.  As when they stop the action music of disc two for the quite beautiful and touching moments of “Faradays are Fighters.”  Of particular beauty is “Orwell’s Dream” which opens with magical light colors before descending into a rather nightmarish sound.  Somehow the music finds ways to recall the best of great action film music and the superhero genre with its various inclusions of rhythmic or orchestral stylistic ideas.  “Runaway Train” has a great rhythmic pattern that is a cross between something from a John Williams cue mixed with a little Elfman for example (think “The Asteroid Field” and Batman).  “Concerto for Tuba and Goggles” is a humorous track reminiscent of Jabba the Hut’s music from The Return of the Jedi, and one of disc two’s highlights.

The music for the various episodes of The Cape are spread out to make a better listening experience over the two discs with the “Pilot” being the focus of the opening seven tracks of disc one to set the tone and provide an introduction to thematic material and sounds.  The way the musical continuity is created can be overlooked in the process, but it is quite an accomplishment to create the sort of musical arch that is needed that can be sustained through a series of episodes.  McCreary has of course proven he can do that well in other series. 

Fans will appreciate the inclusion of Brendan McCreary’s song “Let’s Just Pretend” which opens disc two.  And there are a host of “bonus” cues rounding off disc two that include the “ARK Corporation Theme Song” and “Homeless Blues” if you needed any more encouragement.  Other than that it is not clear what really separates these from the rest of the presentation except that it is more of a good thing.  Once one listens through the order of the music here, it will be instructive to go back and listen to the music by episodes to get a sense of the way each episode ‘s supporting music was put together.

Even if you never saw The Cape, this collection of music stands right up there with La-La Land’s superb release of Walker’s The Flash scores.  Filled with great thematic writing, plenty of orchestral action cues, and just enough warmth and reflective cues, The Cape’s score may be the one thing remembered most of the entire endeavor and rightly so.  The accompanying booklet spends little time discussing music from individual tracks or episodes and the episode print is hard to read on the back of the case, but these are minor complaints for what is an otherwise fine release.