It took me a long time to get used to the style of music Babylon 5 emlpoys, having been spoiled into expecting lush orchestral scores by years of Star Wars and Star Trek, but it finally grew on me around six or seven episodes into the series. This album’s vaguely titled suites of themes and episodic scores leap back and forth from episode to episode with no warning, and that too took some getting used to. Highlights include the themes from the first two seasons, snippets of the scores from the episodes Soul Hunter, And the Sky Full of Stars, Chrysalis, and a suite of music from the first half of the second season. If there’s one problem with the early Babylon 5 music, it is that it sometimes seems to be threatening to turn into dance music at any second with its vigorous, percussive rhythms. The music from the show’s later episodes interested me much more.
Chrysalis
- Soul Hunter intro, season 1 theme, Kosh speaks (3:56)
- Mind War (4:47)
- Mind War continued, Soul Hunter ship snare (5:49)
- Mind War: Talia and Jason (3:48)
Mind War- And The Sky Full of Stars: The Requiem for the Line (3:39)
- Survivors (2:37)
Parliament of Dreams- Survivors (6:14)
- The Quality of Mercy (6:04)
- Mind War, Survivors (5:45)
The Geometry of Shadows- Season 2 theme, Signs and Portents, GROPOS (7:46)
- A Distant Star, The Coming of Shadows, Soul Mates, Chrysalis (3:29)
- Chrysalis (4:05)
Released by: Sonic Images
Release date: 1995
Total running time: 58:03