Tag: Joel McNeely

Categories
2019 Music Reviews O Orville Soundtracks Soundtracks by Title Television Year

The Orville: Season 1 – music by Bruce Broughton, Joel McNeely, John Debney, and Andrew Cottee

8 min read

Order this CDIt seems like it was not too long ago that I was gushing about Bruce Broughton having a good handle on how to make a space adventure series sound really epic, and even though I was talking about the doomed second season of Buck Rogers from 1981, I feel like the fact that he went on to craft the main theme and the pilot episode score for The Orville makes my point for me. Spoiler: he’s still got a good handle on how to make a space adventure series sound really epic.

Of course, it helps to have the right series to score, and it’s probably the worst-kept secret in Hollywood that, on the surface, The Orville might just be the most spectacular Star Trek: The Next Generation fan film series ever produced. Though Fox was quick to play up Seth MacFarlane’s involvement and tried to pitch it as a comedy, MacFarlane quickly showed his hand just a few episodes in: he wanted his own Trek spinoff, in every way but name, complete with complex moral issues and serious storytelling and character development. And to help sell that, MacFarlane insisted on enough of a music budget to hire some of the biggest orchestral ensembles that Hollywood TV scoring had seen in years, along with a mix of composers from legendary projects and some rising talent.

While only soundtrack nerds like myself might remember Broughton in the same breath with Buck Rogers, it’s no secret that his score for the 1998 big-screen revival Lost In Space was one of that film’s most redeeming qualities. And it’s really that sound that Broughton brings to the pilot episode, Old Wounds – soaring space adventure music building on his noble, nautical theme tune as a motif. While “Krill Attack / Shuttle Escape” kicks the amount of butt that you’d expect a Broughton action cue to kick, “Emergency Docking” is the real thrill ride from the pilot.

Joel McNeely arrived in the second episode as one of the show’s regular composers; with such projects as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and the score-without-a-movie project Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire behind him, McNeely’s an ideal pick for this series. His score for If The Stars Should Appear is moody, mysterious, and a marvelous stylistic homage (if an obvious one) to Jerry Goldsmith’s “V’Ger music” from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. That mention is a good time to point out that what differentiates The Orville from its inspiration is that, as a musician himself, Seth MacFarlane knows the value of a strong, memorable score, and of occasionally letting the music carry the picture. Music this distinctive and bold would never have made it to the screen in the Rick Berman era of Star Trek, a period that saw perfectly capable and talented composers having to try to sneak anything thematically strong under the radar of a producer who essentially wanted sonic wallpaper. The Orville’s music isn’t wallpaper; it isn’t more concerned with the rumble of the ship’s engines than it is with music that conveys emotions, and MacFarlane gives his composers a free hand to express that. About A Girl gets a rollicking start (and a rollicking interlude in “Arriving On Moclus”), but is more contemplative overall, befitting the story where the show really made clear what mix of drama-with-occasional-comedy it would be embracing in the future. His Krill score is considerably more active, with a John Williams flavor in both action and suspense scenes, and a deliciously unsettling, musically-unresolved ending in the “New Enemies” cue closing the first disc. Into The Fold, the first McNeely score on disc two, starts with a killer shuttle-crash opening and builds menace from there with horror-movie-ready action cues and quiter, but still menacing, passages. McNeely rounds things out on the second disc with the quieter score for Mad Idolatry, an episode more concerned with landing its concept and its message than attempting to be the season’s action showcase. Debney’s score supports that sets the mood without getting in the way.

John Debney comes out swinging with his first score, Command Performance, which again has stylistic nods to Goldsmith (complete with the Blaster Beam!) as well as Horner and Williams, and fireworks aplenty. Pria also opens with a bang, and a Williams-esque one at that, with some ominous passages as the crew – well, everyone except Captain Mercer, who’s smitten with her – begins to suspect that enigmatic visitor Captain Pria Levesque (played by very promotable guest star Charlize Theron) is not telling them the whole story of where she comes from. Things get overly synthesized for the first time with Majority Rule, sounding almost like Alan Silvestri’s work from the MacFarlane-produced Cosmos series. Though it’s a surreal romantic comedy episode, Cupid’s Dagger still gets a deceptively straightforward dramatic treatment from Debney (though only two tracks and seven minutes’ worth). Debney pulls double duty, also scoring the following episode, Firestorm, which he helps turn into an action blockbuster (and quite possibly my favorite score from the first season). Firestorm comes out swinging from the first second and doesn’t let up. I’m not of the opinion that a film composer should be judged only by their action music – quite the contrary, actually – but Debney drenches it with diverse action and horror stylings aplenty, making it his showpiece for The Orville’s first year. (And note: more Blaster Beam.)

Andrew Cottee, an internationally-known arranger who had already done some work on MacFarlane’s 2019 album Once In A While, gets to sink his teeth into a full-length episode score with New Dimensions, a late-season episode that was already conceptually challenging. Dealing with the three-dimensional ship and crew being pulled into a two-dimensional realm of space in which they can only hope to survive for a short time before they have to exit again, New Dimensions is one of those “how do you even express that musically?” exercises. The score Cottee delivered for this episode does not sounds like someone’s first effort for hour-long dramatic TV – it sounds like he’s been doing this for years. There’s a sense of awe and wonder to the “two-dimensional” scenes, and a restrained sense of menace elsewhere that reminds me of the original Star Trek with its economical and yet forceful arrangements. Delivering more “oomph” with fewer players is a real gift in film scoring, and it’s all down to careful arrangement. Cottee has that gift; I look forward to hearing more from him.

4 out of 4As musically inclined and adept as Seth MacFarlane is, whether he would be a composer’s greatest collaborator or greatest liability rests on a delicate tipping point. He obviously had a clear vision for what he wanted The Orville to sound like, picked the composers who could make that happen, and both encouraged them and was able to give them a detailed idea of what he wanted. The fact that all of the show’s composers returned to contribute to its later seasons would seem to be an indication of a good working atmosphere; it certainly produced eminently listenable results.

    Disc 1
  1. The Orville Main Title (01:04)

       

    Old Wounds – music by Bruce Broughton

  2. Shuttle to the Ship (01:54)
  3. She Requested It / Departing for Landing (01:09)
  4. Krill Attack / Shuttle Escape (04:14)
  5. Emergency Docking (02:27)
  6. Kelly Has a Plan / Asking Kelly to Stay (03:51)

       

    If The Stars Should Appear – music by Joel McNeely

  7. The Bio-Ship / Exploring the Hull (02:22)
  8. Exploring the Bio-Ship (02:45)
  9. Finding Alara / Space Battle (02:53)
  10. Dorahl / The Roof Opens (04:05)

       

    Command Performance – music by John Debney

  11. Distress Signal Received / Alara Freaks Out / Explosion (05:54)
  12. Alara Gets the Cold Shoulder / Approaching Calivon (03:52)
  13. Extermination Process Continues / Bortus Hatches His Egg (02:39)

       

    About A Girl – music by Joel McNeely

  14. Western Simulation (01:01)
  15. Asteroid Destroyed / Relieved Of Duty (01:07)
  16. Arriving On Moclus (01:43)
  17. Trip To The Mountains (02:16)
  18. Tribunal Adjourned / Epilogue (03:27)

       

    Pria – music by John Debney

  19. Rescuing Pria (03:51)
  20. Searching Pria’s Room / Dark Matter Storm / Navigating The Storm (04:06)
  21. Approaching The Coordinates / Isaac Saves The Crew (03:20)
  22. Pria’s Theme (01:41)

       

    Krill – music by Joel McNeely

  23. Distress Call (01:29)
  24. Krill Attack The Orville (02:49)
  25. Bomb Found (04:54)
  26. Intruder Alert / Preparing The Weapon (02:59)
  27. Turning On The Lights / New Enemies (02:29)
    Disc 2
    Majority Rule – music by John Debney
  1. Lysella Wakes Up / Looks Like Earth / Rescue Mission (01:39)
  2. John Gets Arrested / Alara Seems Suspicious (02:05)
  3. Ed Has A Plan (01:33)
  4. Bringing Lysella Aboard / Casting The Votes / Their World Can Do Better (06:06)

       

    Into The Fold – music by Joel McNeely

  5. Sucked In (02:44)
  6. Claire Breaks Out (01:26)
  7. The Fight (01:21)
  8. Claire Returns To The Wreck (02:11)
  9. The Attack (01:55)
  10. Claire Thanks Isaac (01:21)

       

    Cupid’s Dagger – music by John Debney

  11. Archaeologist Arrives / Claire Visits Yaphit / Claire Kisses Yaphit (03:12)
  12. Fleets Approach / War Before Peace / Cleared For Duty / Darulio Departs (04:38)

       

    Firestorm – music by John Debney

  13. Plasma Storm / It Was Late Evening (03:08)
  14. Alara Blows Off Steam / There Was A Clown (03:04)
  15. Alara Hallucinates / Deserted Ship (06:55)
  16. Cannot End Simulation / Back To Normal (04:03)

       

    New Dimensions – music by Andrew Cottee

  17. Damage Report / What Happened To The Plants? (02:00)
  18. Krill Ships Approaching (02:30)
  19. Within The Anomaly / Time To Reflect / Quantum Bubble Is Deteriorating (02:25)
  20. Engaging Tractor Beam (02:17)
  21. Mission Complete / Commander Lamarr (02:48)

       

    Mad Idolatry – music by Joel McNeely

  22. Investigating An Anomaly (01:09)
  23. Emergency Landing (03:41)
  24. Searching The Planet (02:38)
  25. Walking Through Town (02:21)
  26. Spread The Word (01:17)
  27. Isaac Steps Up / Civilization Restored (03:14)
  28. The Orville End Titles (00:35)

Released by: La-La Land Records
Release date: February 6, 2019
Disc one running time: 76:07
Disc two running time: 74:02
Total running time: 2:30:09

… Read more
Categories
1996 Literary S Soundtracks Star Wars

Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire

4 min read

Order this CDWhen I saw this one on the store shelf, it sure surprised me. Here’s a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist! In case you haven’t been keeping up, “Shadows Of The Empire” is Lucasfilm Ltd.’s desperate attempt to make sure no one can forget the Star Wars franchise between now and whenever George Lucas finally gets around to doing a new Star Wars film, which is itself an uncertainty. In the interim, starting in 1990, Lucasfilm began authorizing other parties to play with his characters and settings in the forms of books and comics whose continuity with the original films was closely monitored and engineered by Lucasfilm. After the first four of those books, I lost interest in the Star Wars universe as seen by authors other than Lucas, and so it remained until I spotted this album. To say that a new dose of Star Wars music piqued my interest would be an understatement. I’ve always considered John Williams’ body of work from 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back to be the best film score ever conceived, and much of the its predecessor’s music comes in not far behind.

One of my first hesitations about this CD was that the music is by Joel McNeely, not John Williams. McNeely is a George Lucas discovery who has scored episodes and TV movies of Young Indiana Jones, as well as Lucas’ film Radioland Murders and the recent rehashing of Flipper. Shadows Of The Empire opens with the immortal main Star Wars theme by Williams, indeed treating the album as if it’s a movie in its own right. Other material originated by Williams is incorporated in the album, though only sparingly – it keeps the royalty expenditures to a minimum, I imagine! McNeely seems to be trying to compose music in the Williams/Star Wars vein, but rather like the soundtrack album from Battlestar Galactica, it reaches my ears as John Williams pastiche. There are a few passages that show promise, but too much of this music seems to be trying to emulate Williams’ bombast instead of trying to find its own identity.

One good step in the right direction is the utilization of a large orchestra and a choral component that made some of Return of the Jedi’s more climactic moments all the more weighty. Specifically, McNeely conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus, a combined ensemble with a complement that rivals the size of Williams’ favored London Symphony. The choir is used to wonderful effect, at times reciting a poem by Ben Burtt (who created all the strangely effective alien languages for the Star Wars movies) which gives the whole thing a surprisingly epic, quasi-religious ambience.

The most effective piece on the entire disc is the final track, a space battle scene lasting nearly eleven minutes which has its own flaws – in places, it’s just too loud, too jarring, too apocalyptic…in short, too much! Other selections are guilty of sounding too bouncy and lighthearted (which is very much a John Williams artifact, a sometimes out-of-place Korngold-esque celebratory sound).

I really cannot recommend that anyone approach or avoid Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire; it’s growing on me slowly, but will take time to really sink in. It is not authentic John Williams, and isn’t even particularly good Williams Lite. It’s fine music in its own way, but no one ever should have tried to pass it off as a new entry in the Star Wars musical lexicon. Even Williams’ own music for Oliver Stone’s recent film Nixon – most assuredly not a science fiction movie, depending on how stalwart your political affiliations were in 1972 – smack much more of Star Wars than this album. I must also confess I haven’t read the “Shadows Of The Empire” books and really don’t intend to partake of them, so maybe knowing the story would help to grasp 3 out of 4this work better. Again, no recommendations or caveats – approach this item at your own speed. It’d be a great body of work if it were possible to go into it with no preconceptions, but who can live up to the standard set by John Williams in 1977 and 1980? The prejudice can’t be avoided with the words “Star Wars” on the front cover of the disc.

  1. Main Theme from Star Wars and Leia’s Nightmare (3:41)
  2. The Battle of Gall (7:59)
  3. Imperial City (8:02)
  4. Beggar’s Canyon Chase (2:56)
  5. The Southern Underground (1:48)
  6. Xizor’s Theme (4:35)
  7. The Seduction of Princess Leia (3:38)
  8. Night Skies (4:17)
  9. Into the Sewers (2:55)
  10. The Destruction of Xizor’s Palace (10:44)

Released by: Varese Sarabande
Release date: 1996
Total running time: 66:16

… Read more