Category: 2002

Categories
2002 G Non-Soundtrack Music Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel – Up

Peter Gabriel - UpPeter Gabriel is such a busy performer, what with his occasional soundtrack songs (for such movies as Philadelphia and City Of Angels and his occasional soundtrack scoring (Long Walk Home, Birdy, Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ, etc.) and other projects which don’t quite qualify as solo albums (OVO). And it’s easy to forget, with all of that activity, that here we have a man who hasn’t really released a solo album in a decade. Let’s put that in perspective, shall we?

  • When Us was released, I was still working part-time in radio.
  • When Us was released, the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was still on the air, and it was still the only Star Trek series on TV. No one had ever heard of Babylon 5 or Xena.
  • When Us was released, the Persian Gulf War had been over for a year – or so many of us thought.
  • When Us was released, Britney Spears was still on the New Mickey Mouse Club, and Toad The Wet Sprocket was actually getting radio airplay.
  • When Us was released, I was in my 20s, not my 30s.

Now, bearing in mind that Up has been “just around the corner” since 1998 or so, there’s a certain anticipation factor at work here as well. Given that Pete’s soundtrack work in the past decade or so has been exceptional, most of his fans were eager to hear what it would be like when the man would actually open his mouth and sing again.

Up was either going to be nothing short of a spiritual revelation, or a total disappointment.

Actually, it’s neither – it’s a good album, certainly, but in some ways Gabriel has yet to match the diversity and virtuosity of 1986’s So, the album which put him on the charts with “Big Time” and “Sledgehammer”. There’s a certain introspective murkiness that has dominated Gabriel’s work, both solo and theatrical, since 1989’s Passion, which was the project where he fell in love with Mediterranean soundscapes and instruments. There’s nothing wong with that, but sometimes that atmosphere just doesn’t lend itself to a great pop song like “Big Time”.

Up opens with “Darkness”, which smacks mightily of the first song on his third self-titled album. Almighty searing blasts of distorted guitar belie the song’s true nature, which gets much quieter as it goes on despite a paranoid lyric that made sense with the blasting intro of the song. Things get a little more lively with the outstanding “Growing Up”, which is a complex, jumpy tune in which two or three simultaneous lyrics occasionally overlap, especially in the last verse of the song.

“Sky Blue” is a quiet, ambient number (featuring guitars by none other than Peter Green) which had already been heard to a certain extent – a few tracks on Gabriel’s soundtrack project Long Walk Home previewed the awesomely atmospheric backing vocals of the Blind Boys Of Alabama, though here the power of those vocals is somewhat diminished. I can’t really explain, but on Long Walk Home, the Blind Boys came out of nowhere and made a quiet little cue a show-stopper; here, they’re just echoing a melody that Gabriel’s been singing throughout the song.

“No Way Out” is another quiet song with an alarming and arresting lyric – the simplest interpretation of which is that someone standing next to the person singing the song has been shot – featuring former Crowded House producer Mitchell Froom on piano and Gabriel himself on guitar (I could be wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard of Pete playing guitar). Froom’s presence is no surprise, as the entire album is mixed by Tchad Blake, who also lent a lot of atmosphere to the latter Crowded House albums.

The next track, however, makes “Sky Blue”‘s recycling of vocals pale in comparison: “I Grieve”, though a nice song (which almost feels like two wildly different songs glued together), was heard two or three years ago on the City Of Angels soundtrack. If anything, this is my biggest beef with Up – I was hoping to hear completely new material. “Sky Blue” I can handle – it was previewed on a soundtrack mere months before Up‘s release – but “I Grieve” is a few years older than that.

“The Barry Williams Show”, a slightly dated pop number whose lyrics address Jerry Springer/Maury Povich-esque talk shows, has already been widely heard as the album’s lead single. It’s probably the most radio-ready song on the album, but its subject matter has passed its sell-by date, and one wonders how long ago it was written. Maybe around the same time as “I Grieve”.

The next four songs may be the most interesting stuff on the entire album: “My Head Sounds Like That” (guest starring the uniquely spare brass sound of the Black Dyke Band, which made OVO‘s “Father, Son” the sentimental tear-jerker that it is), more of the Blind Boys of Alabama on the upbeat “More Than This” (not a remake of the Bryan Ferry song of the same name), the epic orchestral grandeur of “Signal To Noise”, and the brief and surprisingly quiet closing number, “The Drop”. The last of these four is quite a shocker compared to the rest of the album, as it primarily features Gabriel’s untreated voice accompanied by an untreated solo piano (there are some other ambient-ish sounds in the mix too, but they’re way down in the mix).

“Signal To Noise” features the wailing vocals of guest Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the strings of the London Session Orchestra, and the thundering wall of sound of the Dhol Foundation Drummers, but while the guest performers and the arrangement are very impressive, the basic melody itself and the sparse lyrics are almost like something out of Gabriel’s second or third album; it’s a simple song, nicely dressed up. And speaking of guest performers, I couldn’t help but notice that Jon Brion got a credit in “More Than This” – seems that even though he can’t get a major label to release that underrated (and finished) album of his, Brion’s getting plenty of attention from other musicians. That may be a higher compliment than record sales anyway.

3 out of 4Overall, Up is yet another intense Peter Gabriel listening experience, but in some places it’s curiously lacking the heart of his earlier works. And I’ll admit, Gabriel’s increasing tendency to borrow from his own back catalogue is becoming worrisome – this coming from someone who’d prefer to hear new material when he plunks money down on the counter for a supposedly new CD. Still, I recommend it – perhaps Up will be an instance of an album that finds new fans for Gabriel rather than living up to the wishes of his established listeners.

Order this CD

  1. Darkness (6:51)
  2. Growing Up (7:33)
  3. Sky Blue (6:31)
  4. No Way Out (7:53)
  5. I Grieve (7:24)
  6. The Barry Williams Show (7:16)
  7. My Head Sounds Like That (6:29)
  8. More Than This (6:02)
  9. Signal To Noise (7:36)
  10. The Drop (2:59)

Released by: Geffen
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 66:43

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Categories
2002 J Jars of Clay Non-Soundtrack Music

Jars Of Clay – The Eleventh Hour

Jars Of Clay - The Eleventh HourStill my favorite Christian rock act, Jars Of Clay’s fourth album sees them returning not only to the studio, but to the producer’s chair. Though I liked the stylistic stretches that it represented, not everyone dug If I Left The Zoo, with its almost Jellyfish-like experimentation with everything from bluegrass banjos to hard rock. That spirit of not sticking to the program, fortunately, survives through The Eleventh Hour with the hard-rocking “Revolution” (a smart song whose message is that if you really want to be a rebel, try being a decent person instead of trying to be a badass), and flirting with a latter-day R.E.M.-ish sound on “Silence”. The more traditional Jars Of Clay sound is still present too, with “Fly” and an alternate rock hit waiting to be discovered, “I Need You”. The band still excels at love songs which are neither sappy nor overly concerned with physical relations; they could be sung to the object of your affections as easily as they could be sung to Jesus – and that’s the beauty of it, because the latter is who the songs are 4 out of 4directed toward, but these songs could hit mainstream secular radio without sounding like Christian music.

Though the entire album is excellent, the cluster of “Fly”, “I Need You” and “Silence” is one of the better three-song runs I’ve heard on anything I’ve listened to recently. But the entire CD is highly recommended.

Order this CD

  1. Disappear (3:56)
  2. Something Beautiful (3:46)
  3. Revolution (3:42)
  4. Fly (3:20)
  5. I Need You (3:40)
  6. Silence (5:17)
  7. Scarlet (3:32)
  8. Whatever She Wants (3:43)
  9. The Eleventh Hour (4:27)
  10. These Ordinary Days (3:04)
  11. The Edge Of Water (3:54)

Released by: Silvertone
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 42:21

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Categories
2002 Soundtracks T Video Game / Computer Game

Taito Game Music

Taito Game MusicWhen I first heard about this one, I was eager to get my hands on it, hoping it’d turn out to be something like the Namco Classic Collection remix album.

Nope. This is just the game sound. And nothing more.

While that works for some games – Elevator Action had a jaunty tune or two, to say nothing of Bubble Bobble – who wants to sit and listen to an audio track of someone playing Space Invaders? Because that’s what you’ll hear on this disc – the unaltered, un-remixed sounds of the games themselves. And nothing more.

I can see classifying this as more of a sound effects CD than anything; might come in handy if they ever get around to turning “Joystick Nation” into that PBS miniseries they’ve been promising forever, or it might come in handy for any movies where a scene takes place in an arcade. But as a pure listening experience, it’s 2 out of 4daunting to look at a list of 69 tracks, knowing that there’s many a bleep and a boop in each one, and in some cases precious little music.

Now, on the other hand, if a DJ wanted to take some of this stuff and sample it for their own remix…well, this CD would suddenly be beyond merely useful.

Order this CD

  1. The Legend Of Kage – BGM1 (2:20)
  2. The Legend Of Kage – BGM2 (0:49)
  3. The Legend Of Kage – Track 3 (0:58)
  4. Space Invaders – Playing Sound (0:17)
  5. Elevator Action – Track 1 (0:08)
  6. Elevator Action – Track 2 (1:28)
  7. Elevator Action – Track 3 (0:19)
  8. Super Dead Heat II – Track 1 (0:24)
  9. Super Dead Heat II – Track 2 (0:24)
  10. Super Dead Heat II – Track 3 (0:12)
  11. Super Dead Heat II – Level 1 (0:34)
  12. Super Dead Heat II – Level 2 (0:33)
  13. Super Dead Heat II – Level 3 (0:22)
  14. Super Dead Heat II – Level 4 (0:19)
  15. Super Dead Heat II – Level 5 (0:19)
  16. Super Dead Heat II – Level 6 (0:21)
  17. Super Dead Heat II – Level 7 (0:51)
  18. Super Dead Heat II – Level 8 (1:08)
  19. Super Dead Heat II – Track 12 (0:09)
  20. Super Dead Heat II – Track 13 (0:04)
  21. Super Dead Heat II – Track 14 (0:44)
  22. Wyvern F-0 – BGM: Codename Zero – Type I (1:11)
  23. Wyvern F-0 – BGM: Codename Zero – Type II (0:39)
  24. Wyvern F-0 – BGM: Count Zero (0:08)
  25. The Fairyland Story – Track 1 (0:04)
  26. The Fairyland Story – Track 2 (BGM) (1:26)
  27. The Fairyland Story – Track 3 (BGM) (0:32)
  28. The Fairyland Story – Track 4 (0:05)
  29. The Fairyland Story – Track 5 (0:05)
  30. The Fairyland Story – Track 6 (BGM) (0:40)
  31. The Fairyland Story – Track 7 (0:09)
  32. Gladiator – Playing Music (1:56)
  33. Kikikaikai – BGM1 (1:36)
  34. Kikikaikai – Boss (0:22)
  35. Kikikaikai – Track 3 (0:05)
  36. Kikikaikai – Track 4 (0:10)
  37. Kikikaikai – Track 5 (0:04)
  38. Kikikaikai – Track 6 (0:42)
  39. Kikikaikai – Track 7 (0:34)
  40. Scramble Formation – BGM1: Flying Alive (1:02)
  41. Scramble Formation – BGM2: Avoid Muzik (0:55)
  42. Scramble Formation – BGM: Dot Shooter (1:13)
  43. Scramble Formation – BGM3: Finale (0:32)
  44. Arkanoid – Track 1 (0:11)
  45. Arkanoid – Playing Sound (0:33)
  46. Arkanoid – Track 3 (0:14)
  47. Arkanoid – Track 4 (0:47)
  48. Chack’n Pop – Playing Sound (1:29)
  49. Chack’n Pop – Track 2 (0:30)
  50. Empire City 1931 – BGM1 (1:59)
  51. Empire City 1931 – BGM2 (1:06)
  52. Empire City 1931 – BGM3 (0:44)
  53. Empire City 1931 – BGM4 (0:51)
  54. Empire City 1931 – BGM5 (0:45)
  55. Empire City 1931 – BGM6 (0:08)
  56. Empire City 1931 – BGM7 (0:08)
  57. Empire City 1931 – BGM8 (0:35)
  58. Bubble Bobble – Track 1 (0:11)
  59. Bubble Bobble – Track 2 (0:49)
  60. Bubble Bobble – Track 3 (0:25)
  61. Bubble Bobble – Track 4 (0:29)
  62. Bubble Bobble – Track 5 (0:25)
  63. Bubble Bobble – Track 6 (0:04)
  64. Bubble Bobble – Track 7 (0:36)
  65. Halley’s Comet – Ed1986 (1:12)
  66. Halley’s Comet – Contact (0:32)
  67. Halley’s Comet – Mechanical Brains (1:13)
  68. Halley’s Comet – Track 4 (0:51)
  69. The Outer Zone – Outer Zone (2:33)

Released by: Sci-Tron Digital Content
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 46:46

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Categories
2002 E S Soundtracks Star Trek Television

Star Trek: Enterprise – music by Dennis McCarthy

5 min read

Order this CDMy sincere apologies to Dennis McCarthy. I initially shrugged off the music from Enterprise when I watched the pilot movie – I liked the theme song and opening credits (and, by the sound of things, I’m one of approximately five people who openly admit to liking the song, and one of the others is Rick Berman, if that tells you anything). Now I realize that my beef is with Berman, not McCarthy. The newly released soundtrack from the pilot movie is actually a fine addition to the musical canon of Star Trek.

Topped and tailed with two different versions of Russell Watson’s rendition of “Where My Heart Will Take Me” (originally written by Diane Warren), the Enterprise soundtrack CD features most of the hour-long score, excluding a few source music cues, recorded for the two-hour episode. One of the nicer things about the score from Broken Bow, the two-hour pilot movie, is the all-American-flavored theme used for both Captain Archer and the Enterprise herself (which you do actually get to hear in the show each week – as the end credit music, on the rare occasion that UPN doesn’t do the annoying but almost ubiquitous credit squeeze). Like the theme McCarthy coined for Captain Picard some 15 years ago, Archer’s theme fits perfectly and has its own grand sweep (though sadly, like Picard’s theme, it seems to have disappeared from regular use over the course of the show’s first season, probably due to Berman’s aversion to any of the composers creating specific themes associated with any character). Many of the tracks are infused with an edgy energy that may come from the musicians’ and conductor’s reactions to other events that occurred on the second day of the scoring sessions for the pilot: September 11th, 2001. (In his liner notes, McCarthy dedicates the music on this CD to victims of that tragedy.)

Some of the music will sound familiar – “Klingon Chase / Shotgunned” in particular, though it’s among my favorite tracks, sounds like it could easily be slotted into the soundtrack from Star Trek: Generations. (I do like that menacing downbeat chord combination, though.) McCarthy even steps right up to the edge of quoting his own theme music from Deep Space Nine in the next-to-last track, “New Horizons”. The music also gets slimy, low-key and discordant for scenes involving the shape-shifting Suliban, and downright weird (but in a good way) for the climactic, time-warped fight in the track “Temporal Battle”.

Some fans – those other four people out there who like the song (and I’m sure Berman’s already gotten his copy of the CD) – will also be pleased to hear both the long album version and the shortened TV version of “Where My Heart Will Take Me”. I still find it to be an inspiring little number, especially when combined with the show’s opening title montage. Quite why fandom has bared its teeth at this song and the opening credits, I just haven’t managed to comprehend yet. I actually thought it was a nice switch from the usual Goldsmithian-sounding opening credits that have become de rigeur for Star Trek spinoffs.

I was surprised to see this album appear on Decca, rather than GNP/Crescendo, which has done an excellent job of giving us one to two Star Trek (or related) CDs a year since 1991 or so. From what I understand, this is more to do with the behind-the-scenes negotiating needed to include Russell Watson’s theme song on the CD, not a reflection of any kind of dissatisfaction on Paramount’s part with Crescendo Records. GNP/Crescendo certainly could have done better with the packaging, which is kind of bland here – though there’s only so much you can do with those pre-launch publicity photos where the crew looks like they’re standing inside the round-patterned walls of Doctor Who’s TARDIS.

Hopefully more Enterprise music will be forthcoming, whether Decca or Crescendo issues it. Some of the first season’s episodes have had very interesting music, with the most notable being the surprisingly melodic Vox Sola, with its sly, sinewy theme for the parasitic life form. Crescendo has already turned out a “Best Of Season One” CD for Stargate SG-1, and hopefully they may follow suit with Enterprise – even if it means ditching “Where My Heart Will Take Me” from future releases; after all, we have it on this CD. (Sadly missing, however, is the 4 out of 4acoustic guitar rendition of that song which was heard only on the un-squished end credits of the pilot episode; the track “Archer’s Theme” is now used as the end credit music.)

Love it or hate it, Enterprise is worth a listen. Kudos to Dennis McCarthy for introducing some new energy and material into his Trek repertoire – don’t stop now, Dennis! The show desperately needs it.

  1. Where My Heart Will Take Me – Album Version (4:09)
  2. New Enterprise (1:40)
  3. Klingon Chase / Shotgunned (2:05)
  4. Enterprise First Flight (2:50)
  5. Klang-Napped (2:10)
  6. Morph-o-Mama / Suli-Nabbed (2:45)
  7. Phaser Fight (5:53)
  8. Breakthrough (2:01)
  9. Grappled (4:09)
  10. The Rescue (6:40)
  11. Temporal Battle (8:05)
  12. Blood Work (2:11)
  13. New Horizons (1:26)
  14. Archer’s Theme (1:24)
  15. Where My Heart Will Take Me – TV Version (1:28)

Released by: Decca / Universal
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 49:22

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Categories
2002 D Doctor Who Soundtracks Television

Doctor Who, Volume 4: Meglos / Full Circle

3 min read

Order this CDAs the BBC’s excellent range of remastered Doctor Who music CDs reaches into the early 80s era of the show, sonic gems are being unearthed for the first time in years. If any proof be needed, check out the music from Full Circle, a 1980 story infamous in some fans’ eyes for introducing awkward youth Adric to the TARDIS crew. Paddy Kingsland’s memorable melodic score for Full Circle features a number of themes that beg – no, demand – to be hummed long after you’ve hit the stop button. Kingsland went on to score many other Doctor Who episodes, including the pivotal regeneration story Logopolis, but even though he has an instantly recognizable style, he seldom repeats actual material from story to story. (Kingsland’s trademark style was also a big part of the musical sound of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.) Unusually, the other score featured on this disc was divided up between Kingsland and Peter Howell (who arranged the most enduring of the 1980s’ versions of the Doctor Who theme). Meglos was a bit of a muddled exercise as far as storytelling goes, but musically it takes an interesting approach, including the use of a vocoder to weave random syllables and occasionally even story-relevant “lyrics” into the music.

4 out of 4The disc’s material has been fully remastered and remixed into stereo by Mark Ayres, and the effort poured into archiving and preserving the music is outstanding. Simply to have the music from Full Circle on CD has been a dream of mine for years – almost since I first saw the show – and that alone makes this latest volume of the BBC’s Doctor Who music series a worthwhile purchase.

  1. Doctor Who: Opening Theme (0:38)
  2. Burnout On Walkway 9 (1:10)
  3. The Deons (1:29)
  4. K9 Repaired (0:16)
  5. The Screens Of Zolpha-Thura (3:09)
  6. The Last Zolpha-Thuran (3:31)
  7. Chronic Hysteresis (1:59)
  8. To Tigella (1:55)
  9. The Deon Oath (1:24)
  10. The Power Room (0:51)
  11. The Bell Plants (2:10)
  12. Meglos (1:31)
  13. “She’s Seen Too Much!” (1:40)
  14. The Dodecahedron (1:43)
  15. The Ultimate Impossibility (1:01)
  16. The Deons Take Command (2:31)
  17. Earthling (1:04)
  18. Sacrifice (4:09)
  19. Other Lives To Save (1:17)
  20. Countdown (4:14)
  21. Summons To Gallifrey (1:27)
  22. Alzarius / The Outlers (1:07)
  23. The System Files / Adric (1:15)
  24. Mistfall (4:15)
  25. The Starliner (0:47)
  26. Decider Deceased (0:35)
  27. Adric Finds The TARDIS (0:40)
  28. Starliner Sealed (0:54)
  29. The Giants Leave The Swamp (1:57)
  30. K9 On A Mission / Third Decider (1:23)
  31. TARDIS Taken (1:57)
  32. The Marsh Child / K9 Loses His Head (2:43)
  33. The Spiders I (1:26)
  34. The Spiders II (0:26)
  35. A Little Patience (1:14)
  36. Romana Comatose (0:49)
  37. The Bookroom (0:34)
  38. The Experiment (1:22)
  39. The Work Of Maintenance (0:50)
  40. Marshmen I (2:43)
  41. Blue Veins (2:01)
  42. Marshmen II (1:24)
  43. No Return (1:01)
  44. Oxygen (3:02)
  45. Full Circle / The Deciders Decide (2:29)
  46. Doctor Who: Closing Theme (1:18)

Released by: BBC Music
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 77:48

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1982 2002 Film Soundtracks T

Tron (2002 remaster) – music by Wendy Carlos

4 min read

I’ve waxed rhapsodic about this outstanding, pioneering score which combines synthesizers, orchestra and chorus; long a favorite, Wendy Carlos’ soundtrack from Tron has never been officially available on CD. Bootlegs have been circulating for years, as have MP3s, both of them usually sourced from the vinyl LP. In the intervening years, Carlos restored and remastered the original tapes on her own time, patiently waiting to release it on her own label, or perhaps on Disney’s label. Fans eagerly awaited a release date for years, but considering that Tron, like The Black Hole, seemed to be a film that Disney was all but ashamed of, it didn’t seem like a good idea to hold one’s breath.

Fast forward with us now to late 2001. Disney has an eagerly awaited new collector’s edition 2-DVD set of Tron on store shelves, featuring some new material but also a lot of repurposed material from the highly sought-after laserdisc version. Even the toys have been re-released, and most improbable of all, director Steven Lisberger has been approached to write and perhaps direct a sequel to the original Tron. In short Tron is suddenly a hot property once again to Disney, which is looking to exploit that property in any way possible.

Someone at Disney must’ve asked, “What about the soundtrack?” And, as with the DVD extras, the studio was keen on taking the fastest and cheapest way out of that question – they called composer Wendy Carlos and asked if she just happened to have CD-ready masters of the music on hand that could be used to press a re-release.

As it just so happens, Carlos spent the late 1990s restoring the original analog tapes of the scoring sessions for Tron, and it was no easy task. As has been chronicled on her website, Carlos found that much of her late ’70s/early ’80s work was all but lost due to a serious quality problem with her chosen brand of reel-to-reel audiotape. The tape had all but melted, and had to be “baked” in carefully controlled conditions for there to be any chance of retrieving the material ever again. In the case of Tron, it worked, and as early as 1999 Carlos had a shiny new digital master of the tape ready to go – but Disney had a stranglehold on the rights, preventing her from rereleasing it on her own label. In other words, Disney’s last minute marketing decision finally brought Tron‘s soundtrack to CD.

And I, for one, thank them. This new CD is everything the fans had hoped – and there are even previously unreleased tracks, such as the wonderful “The Break-In” (for strings, cello and celeste), which added so much of the playful-cum-menacing atmosphere to the scenes where Flynn, Alan and Lora break into the ENCOM labs. Also included is an early version of “TronAction”, loaded with enough wild dissonance to scare off some listeners (this version was also used in some pre-release showreels sent to theater owners and distributors), and a harpsichord sketch of the movie’s main theme, played with “no gimmicks and no overdubs” by Carlos herself.

Surprisingly absent from the disc is the unused music from the light cycle chase; the music can be heard as an alternate scene on the DVD, but isn’t included here. It would’ve been nice to add that to the package as well.

4 out of 4Even the two Journey songs – “Only Solutions” and the instrumental “1990s Theme” (ha!) – are intact, and the original LP tracks are featured in the original running order.

It’s so nice to finally have a Tron soundtrack CD that didn’t come out of someone’s CD burner. The music has more than earned a real release, and now – at last – it’s got one.

Order this CD

  1. Creation Of Tron (0:49)
  2. Only Solutions performed by Journey (3:42)
  3. We’ve Got Company (2:19)
  4. Wormhole (2:30)
  5. Ring Game And Escape (2:57)
  6. Water Music and TronAction (2:25)
  7. Tron Scherzo (1:47)
  8. Miracle And Magician (2:41)
  9. Magic Landings (3:44)
  10. Theme From Tron (1:37)
  11. 1980’s Theme performed by Journey (2:08)
  12. Love Theme (2:08)
  13. Tower Music – Let Us Pray (3:48)
  14. The Light Sailer (2:37)
  15. Sea Of Simulation (3:24)
  16. A New Tron And The MCP (5:11)
  17. Anthem (1:40)
  18. Ending Titles (5:17)
  19. TronAction (Original Version) (1:29)
  20. Break In (for Strings, Flutes and Celesta) (5:35)
  21. Anthem For Keyboard Solo (1:09)

Released by: Disney
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 58:59

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2002 D Doctor Who Soundtracks Television

Doctor Who, Volume 3: The Leisure Hive

3 min read

Order this CDIn 1979, John Nathan-Turner took over the producer’s seat of Doctor Who and set about making sweeping changes to the show’s visual look, storytelling style, and even the signature sound effects and music. Dudley Simpson had been composing almost all of the music for every episode since 1970, but Nathan-Turner was concerned that, as Simpson was also doing the music for the BBC’s other SF series, Blake’s 7, the two shows now sounded too similar. The producer approached the BBC’s own Radiophonic Workshop, which had provided the series’ sound effects and main theme since 1963, to provided incidental music as well – and the change in sound was drastic. Dudley Simpson’s simple but elegant acoustic ensemble gave way to the Radiophonic Workshop’s expansive, all-electronic synth-orchestra, and nowhere was this contrast as evident as with the first story of Nathan-Turner’s reign, The Leisure Hive. Peter Howell, who also arranged the new version of the show’s famous theme music, let loose with a barrage of music that fits the definition of a “wall of sound,” with thick, Vangelis-style texture drenching much of the action. In his small portion of the liner notes, Howell confesses that The Leisure Hive’s music was, perhaps, “too omnipresent” – and he does have a point, as Leisure Hive may have been the most music-heavy Doctor Who until The Curse Of Fenric or, perhaps, The Five Doctors. But it’s a ton of good, solid analog-synth fun, and in the context of what had come before it was certainly a great shock.

Also included, with a dedication to the late Delia Derbyshire, is a newly-reconstructed stereo mix of the original theme music assembled by Mark Ayres from tapes of the original elements Derbyshire used to build 4 out of 4the theme in 1963. Maybe I was expecting a little more wild, surround-sound-style stereo separation of those elements, but most of the stereo enhancement seems to be focused on the persistent “whooshing” sounds and not the music itself. There’s also a selection of sound effects from Leisure Hive, Meglos and Full Circle; music from the latter two stories is presented on Volume 4 of the Radiophonic Workshop collection.

  1. Doctor Who: Opening Theme (0:38)
  2. Brighton Beach / K9 Kaput (2:54)
  3. Into Argolis (2:36)
  4. The Generator / Intruders (3:20)
  5. “His Time Has Come” / Earth Shuttle Arrives (1:55)
  6. Tachyon Terror (0:56)
  7. Into The Generator (4:16)
  8. The Hive / Mena Fades (3:04)
  9. Looking For Mr. Brock (3:57)
  10. Testing Time (5:09)
  11. The Limitation Program (1:56)
  12. The West Lodge (2:03)
  13. The Child Of The Generator (1:39)
  14. The Foamasi (4:59)
  15. The Argolin Dawn (3:05)
  16. “We, Pangol” (3:55)
  17. Re-Creation (4:11)
  18. Rebirth (3:19)
  19. Back To Work (0:46)
  20. FX: Argolis Exterior Planet Atmosphere (2:05)
  21. FX: Earth Shuttle Arriving (1:04)
  22. FX: Generator Hall (1:30)
  23. FX: Boardroom (1:38)
  24. FX: Hologram (0:32)
  25. FX: Corridor Background (0:57)
  26. FX: Generator And Screen (0:31)
  27. FX: Tachyon Drive Engaged (0:30)
  28. FX: The Screens Of Zolpha-Thura (1:01)
  29. FX: Laboratory Ascends (1:11)
  30. FX: Dodecahedron Energy Beams (0:31)
  31. FX: Mistfall Mist (0:51)
  32. FX: Operating Room (1:02)
  33. FX: Starliner Instrument Panel (1:02)
  34. Doctor Who Theme: Original Version, 2002 Stereo Remix (2:21)

Released by: BBC Music
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 73:11

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Categories
2002 Film S Soundtracks Star Wars

Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones

Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The ClonesThis may be the daftest review ever to appear in the many pages of theLogBook.com’s music review section, but here goes. I’ve been carefully avoiding any story spoilers for Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones for something like three years now. I will check out Lucasfilm’s official web site for the movie, but I haven’t been looking for story summaries, spoilers, scripts, or any of that. I was actually honked off at the fairly major spoilers included on the action figure packaging for the new movie. And I debated whether or not to get the soundtrack in advance of the movie.

But if I hadn’t done that, we would’ve missed out on the chance to have this extremely strange chat.

The first track, opening with the traditional Star Wars theme, descends into a repetitive musical motif that spirals downward and then begins again. Remember, I have no idea what’s happening in this scene, so I have no idea how appropriate it is. Nice music, though.

“Love Theme From Attack Of The Clones” is the film’s big romantic statement, and judging by the rest of the disc, seems to serve not only as a theme for the burgeoning relationship between Anakin and Padmè that has been hinted at in the theatrical trailers, but also as a theme for Anakin himself.

“Zam The Assassin and The Chase Through Coruscant” is a lengthy track – over ten minutes’ worth – loaded with action and suspense music. Perhaps the biggest surprise here is the inclusion of wild distorted electric guitar riffs in a few places, which may have some fans up in arms, but not me. It actually sounds kinda cool – it’s not exactly a Force Commander-style remix or anything, but just another voice in the orchestra, and it integrates well. Again, no idea what’s going on in this scene, but a lot of the rumbling action cues remind me a great deal of Williams’ score from Nixon, and that’s not a bad thing. (It’s not as if he’s pulling a James Horner cut-and-paste scoring job on us, either. It’s very different music with a similar stacatto rhythm to it.) Maybe they’re chasing Zam through Coruscant. Guess I’ll find out soon enough, eh?

Other tracks of note include “The Tusken Camp and Homestead”, a track which surprised the heck out of me by jumping full-blast into “Duel Of The Fates” from the soundtrack of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. This is a rare case where I’m pretty sure I do have a good guess as to what happens in this scene, and why that particular motif comes up. And I’m not telling.

“Love Pledge and The Arena” includes some references to such Star Wars chestnuts as the Force theme and something presaging the AT-AT music from The Empire Strikes Back, but the biggest surprise in both this track and “Confrontation With Count Dooku and Finale” is the bold statement of “The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)”. I have absolutely no idea what’s happening here, and the fact that this particular theme appears in this movie makes me wonder just what is happening, and whether or not it would’ve been more appropriate to hold it until Episode III. But I can’t really say until I see the movie.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed the Episode II soundtrack as a listening experience alone. Some fans have railed against such things as the electric guitar and the seeming lack of strong thematic material in what’s on this album, but it’s important to remember that this is just the suite album, and a two-disc Ultimate Edition with the complete score is probably about 6-8 months away, as was the case with the Episode I Ultimate Edition set. Don’t fret over the guitars, either. Did you freak out when Williams used sax and steel drums in the original Star Wars? Of course not – not only did we have no precedent for Star Wars music then, but it was novel and appropriate and wouldn’t have been the same without it. And maybe that’s the case here too. On the virtue of the music alone, I like it.

4 out of 4You may think it’s a waste of your time to read an almost-spoiler-free music review of the soundtrack from someone without a clue as to its context in the film, but we’ll give the complete score release a more thorough review with that in mind when it hits the shelves. And I wanted to experiment with reviewing the music with no preconceived notions of whether or not it fits the scene – reviewing the music purely as a listening experience. And for the record, it’s a good experience.

Order this CD

  1. Star Wars Main Title and Ambush On Coruscant (3:46)
  2. Love Theme From Attack Of The Clones (5:33)
  3. Zam The Assassin and The Chase Through Coruscant (11:07)
  4. Yoda and The Younglings (3:55)
  5. Departing Coruscant (1:44)
  6. Anakin And Padmè (3:56)
  7. Jango’s Escape (3:48)
  8. The Meadow Picnic (4:14)
  9. Bounty Hunter’s Pursuit (3:23)
  10. Return To Tatooine (6:56)
  11. The Tusken Camp and Homestead (5:54)
  12. Love Pledge and The Arena (8:29)
  13. Confrontation With Count Dooku and Finale (10:46)

Released by: Sony Classical
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 73:31

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Categories
2002 A Soundtracks Television

Andromeda – music by Matthew McCauley

Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda soundtrackAlas, poor Andromeda. I really do feel bad about this show. I was among the first to pan it upon its premiere in 2000, but at the same time, I realize that it could’ve turned out better. Based on an unused outline by the late Gene Roddenberry, the show centers around Dylan Hunt (played by Kevin Sorbo, and inheritor of a character name that Roddenberry bestowed upon the lead characters of his Genesis II and Planet Earth pilots), the captain of the High Guard starship Andromeda Ascendant. The ship barely survives a huge uprising by a race which was thought to be among the High Guard’s allies, and flies too close to a black hole, changing the laws of time around the ship and leaving it in limbo for hundreds of years. A salvage ship’s crew retrieves the Andromeda Ascendant and awakens Captain Hunt in an age when the High Guard is no more and chaos reigns in the universe.

At least, that’s the idea. Despite the late Roddenberry’s sketchy outline being fleshed out by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s guiding lights, and the show being steered by producers and other personnel who had gained a lot of experience working on Earth: Final Conflict, things just never gelled for Andromeda. Perhaps it was the show’s retooling to serve as a vehicle for Kevin Sorbo, or perhaps it was the lack of Earth: Final Conflict’s detailed story arc notes that helped to guide that show’s first four seasons. In any event, Andromeda is now seriously off course – and plummeting downward through the syndicated ratings.

But when you peel all of that away, there is at least one good thing left: Matt McCauley’s subtle and sensitive music score, which has now been released by GNP Crescendo Records, the makers of virtually every Star Trek soundtrack for the past 15 years and the saviors of many a semi-obscure genre show’s soundtrack.

McCauley uses synths and samples to create what may be the best orchestra-free orchestral score I’ve yet heard, but what really makes the Andromeda soundtrack stand out from the crowd is its unconventional use of other samples to spice things up. The closest the show has to a signature sound texture is a frequently-used sample of electric guitar feedback (minus the original note that created the feedback in the first place). That unearthly wail laid over the orchestra creates a truly unique sound. Truly electronic sounds aren’t used all that much, though they become more noticeable in the tracks that feature cues from later episodes.

The CD itself is arranged into a series of short suites drawn from several episodes, selected by the composer to illustrate specific running themes, characters or concepts. Sometimes I don’t care for this method of dividing things up, but in this case it works.

Also featured is the season one theme by Rush’s Alex Lifeson (a manic, bombastic, drum-heavy number which seems to be trying to bend electric guitars into a bagpipe sound, a la Big Country’s “In A Big Country”), and 3 out of 4McCauley’s somewhat less interesting theme from season two. This is definitely a case where the actual incidental music outshines either of the show’s main themes. Lifeson’s is far more distinctive, but probably falls too far outside of either rock or traditional soundtrack parameters to catch on for most listeners as a piece of music sans visual accompaniment.

    Order this CD in the Store
  1. March Of The High Guard: Season 1 Main Title (0:59)
  2. The High Guard Theme: Season 2 Main Title (0:54)
  3. Andromeda Ascendant (1:36)
  4. Dylan Hunt (1:21)
  5. Cyber World (2:42)
  6. Earthly Emotions (4:36)
  7. Man And Machine (2:57)
  8. Beka Valentine (1:32)
  9. The Rev Bem Wayist Theme (3:03)
  10. Slipstream / Tyr Anasazi (2:39)
  11. Nietzschean Attack (2:38)
  12. Deepest Space (4:07)
  13. Dangerous Maneuvers (3:56)
  14. The Magog (1:45)
  15. Epitaph (2:19)
  16. Strange Beauty (2:21)
  17. Trance Gemini (2:39)
  18. Exotic Worlds (3:41)
  19. Sara (1:56)
  20. Mad Pursuit (3:02)
  21. Villains (2:33)
  22. Battle Stations (3:42)
  23. Rommie’s Love (1:56)
  24. Rhade’s Lament (4:48)
  25. Season 2 Main Title reprise (0:55)

Released by: GNP Crescendo
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 64:49

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Categories
2002 A B C ELO F H J Jason Falkner K L Non-Soundtrack Music P R S V

Lynne Me Your Ears: Tribute To The Music Of Jeff Lynne

Lynne Me Your EarsThe premise of this double-disc compilation is simple: various modern pop artists, most of them enjoying cult indie label status (and a few of them refugees from major labels too), revisit the songs of one of their musical heroes, ELO’s Jeff Lynne. Colorado’s own Not Lame Records has been teasing the heck out of this release for months, only to watch it be bogged down by politics (the father/son duo of Randy and Tal Bachman, each of whom were originally slated to contribute a song, pulled out) and delays (a printing error in the first run of liner notes booklets which caused the collection to slip well past its original pre-Christmas 2001 release date). And now that it’s here, was it worth the lengthy wait?

The answer is, in most cases, absolutely. The covers (which don’t limit themselves to ELO material but also cover Lynne’s contributions to the Traveling Wilburys, a 1960s U.K. group known as the Idle Race, and his solitary solo album) vary wildly, ranging from faithful homages to reinterpretations in a completely new style.

Some of the better “near-beer” covers include former R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter’s collaboration with Bobby Sutliff on the first ELO single, “10538 Overture”; Michael Carpenter’s near-carbon-copy of Lynne’s solo single “Every Little Thing”; Jason Falkner’s raw cover of “Do Ya”, a stripped-down, Buddy Holly-ized cover of “Rock ‘N’ Roll Is King” by Walter Clevenger and the Dairy Kings, and an accurate-down-to-the-overmodulation-distortion copy of the Idle Race’s “Morning Sunshine” by Jeremy.

The real triumphs of Lynne Me Your Ears, however, are those artists who took extensive liberties and created something completely new – Ross Rice’s hip-hop-ified cover of “Evil Woman” is both funky and up-to-date, and Tony Visconti (former Move and Moody Blues producer) turns in a tasty new take on “Mr. Blue Sky”, starting out as a rap and then tumbling through every style in the book by the end of the song’s lengthy instrumental coda. Prairie Sons and Daughters transform the eloquence of “One Summer Dream” into a spiky, guitar-drenched masterpiece that also takes a detour into “In Old England Town” from ELO’s second album. That multiple-song-tributes-in-a-single-track trick is repeated masterfully by Rick Altizer, who leaps from the soulful opening guitar solo of “Laredo Tornado” into a thundering modernized version of “Boy Blue”. Former Move vocalist Carl Wayne, ironically, takes the stage-musical feel of “Steppin’ Out” to its logical, grandiose conclusion (it was Wayne who stepped out of the Move in 1970, a departure that made way for Jeff Lynne to join the group). The Shazam squeezes the synths out of “Twilight” and turns it into a wonderful wash of electric guitar work (but keeps the harmonies intact), and “Turn To Stone” gets a similar treatment from Roger Klug. Sparkle*Jets UK turn the dreamy “Above The Clouds” into a cheerful, rockin’ power pop number.

Perhaps the most shocking transformation bestowed upon any of the songs here is “On The Run”, a rapid-fire techno-before-there-was-techno tune from 1979’s Discovery which is rendered here by Sixpence None The Richer as a relaxing acoustic piece with a slow, majestic gait and Leigh Nash’s always pleasant voice. It has to be heard to be believed – this may be the best example on Lynne Me Your Ears of a band taking one of the old ELO chestnuts and making it their own.

There are a small number of misses for all of those hits, however; Peter Holsapple’s cover of the Move’s “No Time” has yet to click with me – the harmonies seem to be a misfire in some places. The Heavy Blinkers’ cover of “You Took My Breath Away”, itself a Roy Orbison tribute penned by Lynne for the second Traveling Wilburys album, lacks the melancholy of the original and comes out sounding a little too sunny. And the “Sweet Is The Night” cover heard here seems to have lost a lot of what made the original so appealing.

4 out of 4Overall, however, a nice treat for ELO/Lynne fans, and hey, your mileage may even vary on which songs worked and which ones didn’t. Highly recommended – and, in the face of Sony’s recent reticence to continue the promised remastering of the entire ELO catalogue, it may be the last ELO related treat we fans get for quite a while. Soak it up slowly and enjoy.

Order this CD

    Disc one
  1. 10538 Overture – Bobby Sutliff & Mitch Easter (4:35)
  2. Ma Ma Ma Belle – Earl Slick (4:05)
  3. Telephone Line – Jeffrey Foskett (4:49)
  4. Do Ya – Jason Falkner (3:58)
  5. Sweet Is The Night – Ben Lee (3:28)
  6. Rockaria! – Pat Buchanan (3:49)
  7. Every Little Thing – Michael Carpenter (3:52)
  8. No Time – Peter Holsapple (3:59)
  9. Showdown – Richard Barone (4:26)
  10. Handle With Care – Jamie Hoover (3:25)
  11. Strange Magic – Mark Helm (3:54)
  12. Evil Woman – Ross Rice (4:51)
  13. Steppin’ Out – Carl Wayne (4:27)
  14. Don’t Bring Me Down – SWAG (3:13)
  15. One Summer Dream – Prairie Sons & Daughters (7:16)
  16. Can’t Get It Out Of My Head – Doug Powell (4:57)
    Disc two
  1. Twilight – The Shazam (3:11)
  2. Mr. Blue Sky – Tony Visconti (5:02)
  3. You Took My Breath Away – The Heavy Blinkers (3:07)
  4. Message From The Country – The Balls of France (4:28)
  5. The Minister – Ferenzik (4:43)
  6. Xanadu – Neilson Hubbard and Venus Hum (3:31)
  7. When Time Stood Still – Bill Lloyd (3:27)
  8. Above The Clouds – Sparkle*Jets UK (4:00)
  9. Rock And Roll Is King – Walter Clevenger and the Dairy Kings (3:14)
  10. Morning Sunshine – Jeremy (2:19)
  11. Boy Blue – Rick Altizer (3:45)
  12. Livin’ Thing – Pray For Rain (3:57)
  13. On The Run – Sixpence None The Richer (2:37)
  14. Bluebird Is Dead – Todd Rundgren (5:06)
  15. Turn To Stone – Ruger Klug (5:11)
  16. Eldorado – Fleming and John (6:41)

Released by: Not Lame Records
Release date: 2002
Disc one total running time: 69:04
Disc two total running time: 64:19

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