Tag: Marty Simon

Picking 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 (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

In 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 movies (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