BATTLESTAR GALACTICA—SEASON ONE (2004)

Music composed by Bear McCreary.
Additional music by Richard Gibbs.

30 Tracks (Playing Time = 78:33)

Album produced by Bear McCreary, Steve Kaplan, and Ford A. Thaxton. Score engineered and mixed by Steve Kaplan. Digitally mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland. Art direction by Mark Banning.

La-La Land Records LLLCD 1032

Rating: ***

After releasing the score for the television return of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA featuring a new score by RICHARD GIBBS, the series continued with the story of this fan favorite from this late 1970s Glen Larson production. Eschewing Stu Phillips style, Gibbs score took a different approach than the original series, though some might say it followed the Sci-Fi Channel movie-of-of-the-week sound. Gibbs’ score made for a fascinating listen. For the invention of the new series, Bear McCreary was asked to provide a new title theme for the US version of the broadcast incorporating some of Gibbs’ music. McCreary is a relatively new name in television scoring. He has provided music for a large variety of short films. Last year he received additional music credits for a couple of higher profile projects, JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION and MY BABY’S DADDY.

The hardest thing in many contemporary television score releases to accomplish is any kind of continuity. There is not a lot of time or room for a composer to develop musical ideas over extended sequences. This release features the best of the over five hours of music McCreary wrote for the series and provides a fine overview of the various styles and needs that episodic television writing provides composers. McCreary has chosen selections illustrating both brief musical statements as well as more elongated underscoring making for a great demonstration disc of his talent. The sound ideas from Gibbs telefilm score complete with chanting, taiko drumming, and orchestral ambient writing are captured and taken in new directions. A few interesting surprises like the Irish-flavored "A Good Lighter" from the episode "Hand of God" appear along the way. The score is an amalgam of ethnic writing one hears in scores from Media Ventures but is along a much higher musical trajectory. It falls into a pattern that Brian Tyler found for his CHILDREN OF DUNE score but McCreary’s contributions seem to fall closer to a kind of ambient sound that mixes a little of Horner’s sound along with the requisite electronic techno patterns and ethnic vocals. This is at times along the lines of the THE MISSING (2003) but more in the way a composer comes from a particular style of writing rather than sounding derivative of that style. A track dedicated to the memory of Elmer Bernstein appears, though McCreary’s style is not like that master’s, perhaps referencing the score to HEAVY METAL (1981), or giving thanks for possible encouragement along the way. This BATTLESTAR is decidedly more contemporary eschewing the more classic orchestral sound of its 1970s predecessor. When the score moves into that territory it tends to lift and shine and is a definite reminder of how much live acoustic instruments provide to scores. "Passacaglia" is one cue that illustrates that best written for string orchestra and running about five minutes in length, it is a cross between a Carter Burwell adagio and James Newton Howard. Still, even on the musical budget set aside here, McCreary is able to perform minor miracles with a heavy reliance on percussion versus synth sounds, and well-placed ethnic wind solos.

Included are a number of vocal selections all of which have their texts and translations included in the well-designed booklet. La-La Land also includes the UK version of the main title with Gibbs’ music as well adding to this already ample timing. Tracks are often paired together by episode, but there is no intended continuity along those lines. Instead, the disc is designed more to provide variety of style or sound. This works somewhat though the disc kind of bogs down around the middle. The more orchestral tracks tend to fall towards the final third of the disc. As with the release of Gibbs’ score for the film, the only fault here may simply be too much of a good thing.

--Steven A. Kennedy, 6 June 2005