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2001 L Soundtracks Television

Lexx: The Series – music by Marty Simon

3 min read

Order this CDPicking up deftly where the first “season” left off (in more ways than one), Marty Simon’s selection of music from the second and third years of the series gives both something new, and more of the same.

On the “more of the same” front, there’s the fact that the various iterations of the theme music leaned entirely on elements from that first season. It’s interesting to hear two or three pieces of the first season’s music stuck into a blender, set on pureè, and compressed into a minute or so, but the elements are still distinctive and recognizable.

While there are comedy cues here (and, every soundtrack fan’s favorite thing in the world, dialogue from the show), this CD’s focus is on the more dramatic and introspective moments of the second and third seasons. This means some very distinctive and enjoyable material (“Prince To Lexx” and the eerie Lyekka theme, to name just two) as well as some music that, without its visual accompaniment, doesn’t make the most satisfying stand-alone listening experience. On the humorous side, we get “Wild Wild Lexx” and “All He Wants Is Sex”, though I was a bit less enamoured of Xev’s song from Lafftrak. Very, very conspicuous by its absence is anything from the musical episode Brigadoom, an omission that left me slack-jawed in surprise. One wonders if a whole CD devoted to that episode was perhaps planned and scrapped.

Also heard here are all of the opening title medleys from the second and third season (I say “all” because the title music changed in the second season after the change of lead actress).

It’ll all be a treat for devoted Lexx fans, though the stand-alone listening experience varies from track to track 3 out of 4(depending on how much you like songs with vocals in your soundtracks, or show dialogue dropped into the music, though it’s worth noting that the original Tales From A Parallel Universe soundtrack was also guilty of the latter). For those wanting to sample the music of Lexx without the dedicated fan’s knowledge of the show, however, I’d recommend that earlier release over this one.

  1. Opening Theme – Season 3 (1:02)
  2. 790 Quote (0:18)
  3. Prince To Lexx (2:20)
  4. All He Wants Is Sex (2:38)
  5. Angel Song (1:38)
  6. A Walk In The Desert (4:15)
  7. Seduction (0:58)
  8. Wild, Wild Lexx (3:42)
  9. Galley (2:41)
  10. Opening Theme – Season 2, Version 1 (1:03)
  11. Holograms (2:54)
  12. The Search (3:10)
  13. Xev’s Dream (4:13)
  14. Garden (6:33)
  15. Lexx Hungry (0:17)
  16. Into The Garden (1:36)
  17. Lyekka / Potato Hoe (4:58)
  18. Gondola Ride (4:47)
  19. Mantrid Medley (3:49)
  20. Prince Theme (2:01)
  21. Medieval Dance (1:38)
  22. Girl Awakes / Norb Launch (1:48)
  23. The Xev Show (0:32)
  24. Demented Chase (2:29)
  25. Yo-A-O / I’m Leaving (1:06)
  26. Zev Dies (2:23)
  27. Final Scene (1:42)
  28. Opening Theme – Season 2, Version 2 (1:27)

Released by: GNP Crescendo
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 77:58

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Categories
1976 2002 Film L Soundtracks

Logan’s Run – music by Jerry Goldsmith

4 min read

Jerry Goldsmith’s music for Logan’s Run may prove to be just about the only element of the movie that had stood the test of time while still winning almost unanimous praise. Granted, I’m quite the fan of the movie itself, but it’s hard to deny that Goldsmith may have done a better job of painting the film’s emotional curve than the director did.

There are essentially two components to the score: a three-note theme for the futuristic city dome, and a more expansive melody for Logan’s burgeoning romance with Jessica. While the love theme may be more pleasant on a pure listening level, I find that it’s that city theme which I focus on, on an intellectual and structural level. Goldsmith puts those three notes through so many different permutations that it’s fascinating – in rapid-fire succession, the three notes form the electronic sound that opens the movie, as well as the orchestral figure that eventually overshadows it. But it’s also at the heart of the Carousel music, the nursery music, everything. Both structurally and musically, it’s pure genius.

Once the movie reaches its halfway point, the electronics disappear as Logan and Jessica leave the city behind and venture into the outside world. The city theme still follows them, though, now accompanying pursuing Sandman (and Logan’s former friend) Francis in the form of a low menacing orchestral reading of the same theme. But I’m getting ahead of myself a bit – the characters’ first glimpse of the outside world is treated with one of the most beautiful pieces of music Jerry Goldsmith ever wrote. It’s that good.

The complete score is heard here, in chronological order, including cues that were shortened or left out altogether due to trims that had to be made to reduce the movie’s nudity to a level where it would get a PG rating and not an R. Also included is a pop instrumental version of the love theme, though I was around when this movie first came out, and I certainly don’t recall hearing that hitting the radio airwaves at the time.

That’s the CD – but the CD is only half the package. This is the first disc I’ve bought from Film Score Monthly Magazine’s ever-growing selection of limited-edition soundtrack CDs, and as impressed as I’ve always been with the magazine itself, the CDs may well be even better. The detailed liner notes that accompany the CD do a fantastic job of putting the film and its music in context, and then goes through the score track-by-track, cue-by-cue, offering detailed analysis of each piece of music and its place in the complete score. Thematic elements and development, rhythm and structure are all analyzed in depth, but not to a degree that the layman can’t follow along. I was almost hesitant to offer any analysis of the score in this review at all, for fear that I’d wind up parroting the liner notes, but if anything, those notes helped draw my attention to the nuances in Goldsmith’s work all the more. If this is indicative of Film Score Monthly’s other CD offerings (and, judging by the fact that releases of other soundtracks such as The Omega Man and The Towering Inferno have already sold out, I’d guess that it is), I’ll be visiting their store more often and I heartily encourage you to do 4 out of 4the same.

In short, the music from Logan’s Run is a treat, and the added bonus material is a nice, deep dish of tasty, tasty gravy that heightened my enjoyment of the music quite a bit. Highly recommended!

Order this CD

  1. The Dome / The City / Nursery (3:05)
  2. Flameout (3:23)
  3. Fatal Games (2:26)
  4. On The Circuit (3:49)
  5. The Assignment / Lost Years (5:59)
  6. She’ll Do It / Let Me Help (2:41)
  7. Crazy Ideas (2:38)
  8. A Little Muscle (2:22)
  9. Terminated In Cathedral (1:28)
  10. Intensive Care (3:00)
  11. Love Shop (3:43)
  12. They’re Watching / Doc Is Dead (2:45)
  13. The Key / Box (4:22)
  14. Ice Sculpture (3:35)
  15. The Sun (2:15)
  16. The Monument (8:12)
  17. The Truth (2:03)
  18. You’re Renewed (2:58)
  19. The Journey Back / The Beach (1:36)
  20. Return To The City / Apprehensions (2:30)
  21. The Interrogation (3:58)
  22. End Of The City (2:23)
  23. Love Theme from Logan’s Run (2:27)

Released by: Film Score Monthly
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 74:18

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Categories
1997 L Soundtracks Television

Tales From A Parallel Universe

3 min read

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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Categories
Film L Peter Gabriel R Soundtracks

Long Walk Home: music from The Rabbit-Proof Fence

3 min read

Peter Gabriel has always turned out fairly interesting soundtracks, whether they’re built on the same blocks as his solo non-film releases (Birdy) or completely original material (Passion: Music From The Last Temptation Of Christ, or, arguably also a soundtrack, OVO). Long Walk Home manages to fall under the latter category while also delivering a very tantalizing preview of Gabriel’s seventh solo album, Up.

The preview element comes from the fact that many of the musicians who lent their talents to this film score – perhaps most notably the legendary gospel group, the Blind Boys Of Alabama – are also playing a part on Gabriel’s next solo album. On its own, Long Walk Home is a hauntingly atmospheric accompaniment to an Australian film about three Aborigine children kidnapped and sold into servitude. They escape, using the rabbit-proof fence that divides the country to find their way back home. Given the movie’s subject matter, the emphasis on dijeridoo on the first half of the CD is appropriate, but it’s also beautiful. Gabriel has become so well known for using elements of Middle Eastern music in his own works that it’s easy to forget that there are a lot of other styles we haven’t heard him employ, and this redresses the balance nicely.

Toward of the score, the Blind Boys of Alabama take center stage, gradually beginning to add a soulful, wordless vocal to the music, and the effect is breathtaking. On the first listening, I was thinking to myself, “Well, that’s an interesting choice. Now it almost sounds more like music from a movie about the American civil rights movement.” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the parallel is utterly appropriate, and either way, the music is strikingly beautiful and haunting. It’s not background music. It still stops me dead in my tracks whenever the voices of Blind Boys of Alabama rise into the mix.

4 out of 4Now I’m starting to wish that The Rabbit-Proof Fence, the movie for which this music was composed, were available on this side of the equator. Ah well…I suppose that’s what multi-region DVD players are for. In any event, the soundtrack is a must-hear, even if you’re slightly disappointed that it’s not Gabriel’s new solo project. Once you hear Long Walk Home, I think you’ll get over any such disappointment.

Order this CD

  1. Jigalong (4:03)
  2. Stealing The Children (3:20)
  3. Unlocking The Door (1:58)
  4. The Tracker (2:47)
  5. Running To The Rain (3:19)
  6. On The Map (1:00)
  7. A Sense Of Home (1:59)
  8. Go Away Mr. Evans (5:15)
  9. Moodoo’s Secret (3:03)
  10. Gracie’s Recapture (4:40)
  11. Crossing The Salt Pan (5:08)
  12. The Return, Parts 1, 2 and 3 (10:26)
  13. Ngankarrparni (Sky Blue – reprise) (6:01)
  14. The Rabbit Proof Fence (1:07)
  15. Cloudless (4:50)

Released by: RealWorld
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 58:58

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Categories
2000 Film L Soundtracks

Left Behind – music by James Covell

Left Behind soundtrackLagging behind the release of the songtrack by several months, this is the orchestral soundtrack of the sleeper hit Christian film Left Behind. While many of the songs were entertaining, the score – performed by the London Symphony Orchestra – was exceptional. As pleased as I am to hear it released on CD, I’m also surprised. Left Behind wasn’t exactly a box office smash, and it was a movie aimed squarely at a specific niche audience which doesn’t normally demand the orchestral accompaniment to a movie. I was stunned to see this release at all.

Covell’s score is sensitively assembled and arranged, with some lovely choral work drifting in and out of the proceedings. It would’ve been easy to make the music overbearing, but instead Covell sticks to some time-honored film scoring traditions, doing some of the best work with a movie’s main theme motif this side of John Williams. For the movie’s more unnerving action segments, some very slick synth work comes to the fore, featuring a nifty bit of electronic percussion which is an excellent test of the bass speakers in your car (I discovered this by accident). The final of these unnerving sequences – the unveiling of the Antichrist – is some pretty effective and creepy stuff.

Three tracks – “Prologue”, “Rapture” and “Seven Years” – include some sound clips from the movie over the beginning of the music. Depending on my mood, I find this either annoying or terribly effective at setting the 4 out of 4tone of the music which follows. (It’s at least better than the treatment given the Apollo 13 soundtrack, which overlays big portions of the music with movie dialogue.)

Overall, I found the Left Behind score most enjoyable, memorable, and worthy of repeat listening – just as the movie stands up to more than one viewing.

Order this CD

  1. Prologue (0:27)
  2. Left Behind – Main Title (3:22)
  3. Surprise Attack (5:17)
  4. Rayford’s Conversion (1:55)
  5. Dirk’s In Trouble (2:06)
  6. Rebuild The Temple (2:13)
  7. Rapture (2:50)
  8. Rayford Comes Home (4:02)
  9. Loss Of A Friend (3:18)
  10. Buck’s Mission (2:46)
  11. Chloe’s Choice (2:58)
  12. One Left, The Other Taken (4:14)
  13. Goodbyes (3:03)
  14. I Don’t Want To Lose You (1:48)
  15. Prayers For Buck (2:00)
  16. Seven Years (4:27)
  17. The Final Chapter (2:52)

Released by: Reunion
Release date: 2000
Total running time: 49:38

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Categories
1985 1996 Alan Parsons Project Film L Soundtracks

Ladyhawke – music by Andrew Powell

2 min read

Order this CD in the StoreAn atypically anachronistic score for a medieval-fantasy movie, this album was composed by Andrew Powell, longtime orchestra arranger/conductor for Alan Parsons. Which brings us to why I even sought this album out, not having seen the movie – Parsons produced the soundtrack album, and the band which comprised the core of Parsons’ Project circa 1984 or so is prominently featured on many tracks. So it’s no exaggeration to say that this album sounds like a missing page from the Alan Parsons catalog, and in many cases the music was inspired by earlier Project instrumentals. Ladyhawke director Richard Donner listened to Alan Parsons Project albums all during the production of the movie, and had several specific requests and suggestions regarding the film’s music, based on existing Project pieces such as Powell’s long “Fall Of The House Of Usher” orchestral suite from Parsons’ first album, among others, so the resemblance is no mere coincidence. The Project rhythm section is, as always, incredibly precise and intricate, and the music would sound perfectly natural played next to 4 out of 4anything from Parsons’ Vulture Culture or Stereotomy. I like this album a lot, because it combines some nice – if occasionally predictable – orchestral passages with the signature Parsons sound, but I’d really only recommend it to diehard Parsons fans, or diehard fans of this movie in particular.

  1. Main Title (2:59)
  2. Philippe’s Escape (1:40)
  3. The Search for Philippe (3:25)
  4. Tavern Fight – Philippe (2:08)
  5. Tavern Fight – Navarre (2:38)
  6. Pitou’s Woods (4:04)
  7. Philippe Describes Isabeau (1:11)
  8. Bishop’s Procession (2:50)
  9. Wedding Music (1:41)
  10. Navarre’s Ambush (4:53)
  11. Imperius Removes Arrow (1:33)
  12. The Chase / The Fall / Transformation – album version (2:06)
  13. Cezar’s Wood (5:29)
  14. She Was Sad At First (2:06)
  15. Navarre Returns to Aquila (1:36)
  16. Turret Chase / The Fall – film version (2:46)
  17. Wolf Trapped in Ice (2:34)
  18. Navarre and Isabeau’s Dual Transformation (3:23)
  19. Navarre and Marquet Duel (4:22)
  20. Marquet’s Death (1:59)
  21. Bishop’s Death (2:26)
  22. Final Reunion / End Title (8:14)
  23. Ladyhawke Theme – single version (3:35)

Released by: GNP Crescendo
Release date: 1985 (issued on CD in 1996)
Total running time: 70:06

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Categories
1989 Film G L Peter Gabriel Soundtracks

Passion – music for The Last Temptation of Christ

soundtrackAn entirely instrumental, world music-flavored album of music assembled for the unfathomably controversial film, this is quite different from most of Peter Gabriel’s other fare, though the result is undeniably stamped with his sound. Many of the more rhythmic tracks are well worth a listen, though the best piece on the album is the ethereal “With This Love”. Apparently Peter thought so too, including it in two forms – a contemporary arrangement and an entirely choral rendition which is hauntingly inspirational. But every moment of pleasure on this album is purchased with a moment of chaotic confusion, 4 out of 4such as the seemingly random “Gethsemane” track. All in all, your tastes alone will determine whether or not you like this very eclectic soundtrack, though I’d recommend you have a healthy appreciation for instrumental music with an ethnic twist.

Order this CD

  1. The Feeling Begins (4:00)
  2. Gethsemane (1:23)
  3. Of These, Hope (4:05)
  4. Lazarus Raised (0:36)
  5. Of These, Hope – reprise (1:06)
  6. In Doubt (2:07)
  7. A Different Drum (6:05)
  8. Zaar (4:44)
  9. Troubled (2:46)
  10. Open (3:18)
  11. Before Night Falls (2:16)
  12. With This Love (3:36)
  13. Sandstorm (2:55)
  14. Stigmata (2:24)
  15. Passion (7:36)
  16. With This Love – choir (3:19)
  17. Wall of Breath (2:25)
  18. The Promise of Shadows (2:12)
  19. Disturbed (3:07)
  20. It Is Accomplished (3:30)
  21. Bread and Wine (2:23)

Released by: RealWorld
Release date: 1989
Total running time: 65:53

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