As any self-respecting fiction fan will tell you, the music is
\nincredibly important to create the proper mood for any TV show or
\nmovie or play. Imagine
\nStar Wars<\/i> without John Williams’ stirring music behind it. A
\nlot of the impact and power that the movies had is lost without the
\nmusic present. That’s true for not just science fiction, but for
\nevery kind of work. Think of
\nSchindler’s List<\/i>,
\nRocky<\/i>,
\nThe Godfather<\/i>… the list is nearly endless. We might not
\nremember every line of every movie, but we sure as heck remember
\nthe music that surrounded every action. It’s to the point that
\nseveral composers are immediately thought of when the names of
\ntheir best known projects are called – Williams and
\nStar Wars<\/i>, Morricone and
\nThe Good, The Bad & The Ugly<\/i> or Barry and the Bond
\nfilms.<\/p>\n
Along those lines, we have Christopher Franke, former member of
\nTangerine Dream, and his work on the hit TV show,
\nBabylon 5<\/i>. Having recorded every piece of music the show
\never did – except for the pilot and the last tele-movie, “A Call To
\nArms” – it’s his music that has stamped the show and given its
\naura. Fans of
\nBabylon 5<\/i> clamored for his music that their record label,
\nSonic Images, now releases his music to various episodes – not just
\ncompilations. Nevertheless, if you were to ask me what album to get
\nfirst, it’s this one.<\/p>\n
Compiled at the beginning of the fourth TV season, Franke
\nbrought the music of the TV show onto one disc. One part of the
\nalbum is the opening themes that started the show. A thing to
\nnotice how the music changes as the show progresses. The first
\nseason theme – expanded here – is wide open and adventurous, the
\nmusic for a show about exploring and discovering. The second season
\ntheme is less open, but still there is a sense of wonder to it.
\nHowever, season’s three theme – probably the best, in my opinion –
\nis more militaristic in nature. Gone is the hope of seasons one and
\ntwo. Along those lines, season four’s theme is very
\naction-oriented. No time for dreams, there’s a war going on.<\/p>\n
The other part of the disc is made up of these long music
\nsuites. Rather than taking the small cues from each episode and
\njust pasting them here by themselves, Franke unites them into four
\nlarge, ten minute, pieces. This makes for an interesting listen.
\nThe first suite, the title track, is very action-packed, but ends
\nwith this heroic piece at the end. “Z’ha’dum,” the second suite, is
\nfilled with more desperation and determination – as it should, for
\nthis piece deals with the main enemies of the show, the Shadows.
\nThe third suite, “Severed Dreams,” is the longest one. Also packed
\nwith action-pieces, there’s no sense of wonder here. Cool thing is
\nthis suite ends with a small strings playing into a sense of
\ndespair. Nothing is clear-cut or simple on this show and the music
\non this suite exemplifies it.<\/p>\n
The final suite is a piece of original music. Titled “Voices Of
\nAuthority,” you may recognize the main cue as the first half of the
\nseason five theme. Here you get not only the sense of wonder back,
\nbut it’s also mixed in with a sense of heroism. Though the piece
\nflutters and moves, it always returns to this main theme. Only
\ngripe with it is that I don’t like the little flutter piece that
\nends it. I would have just let the main cue fade out. But that’s
\njust me.<\/p>\n
I have two small complaints. While using the suites as showcases
\nhelps create a new mood and allows you to see the music in new
\nways, it can get a bit daunting to sit there and listen to ten
\nminute pieces. At the same time, there’s no way for you to listen
\nto your favorite slices of each suite without working your way
\nthrough them again and again. For example, in the first suite, the
\nheroic and dramatic piece at around the eight-minute mark is one of
\nmy favorite cues. There’s no way for me to just listen to it
\nwhenever I want on a CD. I have to work through the whole piece to
\nget to it. That can get a bit annoying.<\/p>\n
The second complaint is that there’s just 58 minutes of music
\nhere. C’mon. Give us more. There was so much good music throughout
\nthe whole show that to just give these four pieces and the four
\nthemes may seem not enough.<\/p>\n
Overall, this is the kind of music that is created to give off
\nthe proper mood. If you are into great sci-fi music or even if you
\njust want to listen to new things, give Franke’s music a try. While
\nit may not be as operatic and thematic like most of today’s scores,
\nyou could find yourself enjoying it for giving the right vibes to
\nthe right moments. In the end, that’s what great score music is
\nmeant to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":25299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5729],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-36505","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-soundtrack","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36505"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}