This 1995 solo project from Chris Franke, the composer of every episode of Babylon 5, will sound very familiar indeed to those who have heard his TV work. The music heard on this album was originally created for the 1994 KLEM electronic music festival, and one can hear several phrases and motifs also used in Franke’s Babylon 5 scores. About two minutes into the first track, in fact, listeners are treated to an extended rendition of the “party music” heard in the New Years’ Eve scene in Chrysalis.
Now, you’re probably expecting me to go off on my tirade about Franke being the James Horner of electronic music, but I actually like Klemania – I like it a lot. It gives us an idea of what Franke’s ideas would sound like when unfettered by spotting sessions, scene changes and commercial breaks. Though often repetitive and rambling – the first two tracks are each over a whopping twenty minutes in length! – there are some bright spots. My best description of Klemania 
would be that it’s an excellent disc of background music which occasionally claws its way into the foreground and then subsides again. It’s a nicely effective overview of Franke’s “house style” which would serve as a nice introduction to the uninitiated, or to those interested in his non-film/TV works.
- Scattered Thoughts Of A Canyon Flight (22:27)
- Inside The Morphing Space (21:01)
- Silent Waves (4:10)
Released by: Sonic Images
Release date: 1995
Total running time: 47:41
