Battlestar Galactica: Season 3
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Free Music Notes for Battlestar Galactica: Season 3
Free Music Review: Simply One of the Absolute Best
Hit: 5 Stars
What can I say? Not only does Battlestar Galactica have the best music currently on television, it has some of the best instrumental music that I've ever heard anywhere. And the Season Three soundtrack is, on the whole, the best of all three seasons yet released (although I can't wait for Number Four). Galactica truly has a very distinctive feel with its music by forgoing a constant orchestra and going for a smaller and more concentrated sound.
I'll start at the beginning. Raya Yarborough's vocals in "A Distant Sadness" are beautifully haunting, and it perfectly emulates the emotions from the episode. "Precipice" from the same episode is a great fast-paced piece that works as a prelude or preview to some of the bigger action pieces of the disc. "Admiral and Commander" is a good rendition of the Adama family theme, but it can't quite measure up to "Wander My Friends" from the first season.
"Storming New Caprica" is one of the best pieces of the soundtrack. It is in the vein of "Prelude to War" from Season Two, but New Caprica is far more complex with changing rhythms and more varied instrumentation. There's an inevitable comparison between the two pieces, and I prefer Prelude for its simplicity and power. But "Storming New Caprica" is stunning. This is followed by "Refugees Return", a surprisingly melancholy piece for the occassion is celebrates. It is a beautiful piece that creates a sort of sad victory. Next up is "Wayward Soldier", which introduces a cool new strings theme. However, it's not one I listen to very often simply because I like other pieces better.
We then have "Violence and Variations", the second long cue of the soundtrack. Each season has a long strings cue, and Violence is the best of any of them. Clocking in at nearly eight minutes, it encompasses many old themes from the show while also creating some new ones. It is extraordinary. Next is "The Dance", a piece I rarely listen to. It creates a nice world feel for Galactica, but it does feel a little out of place. Then we have "Adama Falls", an inferior rendition of the "Roslin and Adama" theme. Stick with Season Two on this one. After that is "Under the Wing", a short version of Starbuck's theme. It sounds fine and it's nice, but it's only 75 seconds, so not much happens with it.
Next up is the masterpiece of the disc, "Battlestar Sonatica". This piano solo is absolutely stunning. Words fail to describe how good this piece is. It is one of the most relaxing and calming pieces of music that I have ever heard. Then it's time for "Fight Night", a percussion-driven piece that gets a little lost in the rest of the disc. It's a good cue, but it's not memorable. With a disc like this, it has to be memorable. "Kat's Sacrifice" is next, and this is one of my favorites. It's the second time that brass has been used in the series, which really makes it a special occassion. The music itself is very powerful and creates this sense of both the loss and gain created by Kat's sacrifice. "Someone to Trust" is after that, a string piece that creates a relaxing feel at the start, but becomes very eerie and creepy at the end.
After that, we have two pieces that I've actually not listened to. I've never listened to "The Temple of Five" or "Dirty Hands". They didn't catch my attention when I started them, so I skipped them. We then have the tragic "Gentle Execution", a wonderfully crafted rendition of "Worthy of Survival" that truly evokes the sadness of Ellen Tigh's execution. Then it's "Mandala in the Clouds", an oustanding fast-paced piece that is driven by drum rhythms. It's too bad that this piece is barely audible in the episode, because it's awesome. "Deathbed and Maelstrom" is a beautiful rendition of the Starbuck theme, probably the best one yet released. It truly binds the scene together, creating a very powerful emotional response.
And we come to "Heeding the Call" and "All Along the Watchtower", two nearly inseparable pieces. Heeding serves as a prelude to Watchtower, and it's awesome. It's pulled straight from the season finale, and it sounds amazing. As for "All Along the Watchtower" itself, hasn't everything already been said? Most people (myself included) would have paid the price of the album just for that song. Now what does that tell you?
Battlestar Galactica: Season Three truly showcases the best of the best. There are so many great pieces that it's difficult to pick specific recommendations. But here are my specific song recommendations:
1. Storming New Caprica
2. Violence and Variations
3. Battlestar Sonatica
4. Mandala in the Clouds
5. All Along the Watchtower
But heck, just buy the whole disc. Trust me, it's worth it.
Free Music Review: The Best BSG Sound Track yet.
Hit: 5 Stars
With each successive release, Bear McCreary manages to produce more and more complete soundtracks that not only tell the story of the series but can literally put you "In the moment."
The Season 3 disk is the best yet. There is almost NOTHING to skip here. Everything weaves together to tell the complete story of Season 3 and really places you back into the series with a vengeance. Bear has really come a long way with the soundtracks he is producing for the television series. Almost every track has a distinct feeling and ambience that calls into memory the exact moments in the series that they accompanied.
The whole experience kicks off with a bang as "A Distant Sadness" begins with the faint hints of what awaits us at the end of the series and the ushers in the desperation that filled the first two episodes of the third season and builds into "Precipice."
"Admiral and Commander" ushers in the first really familiar theme in this soundtrack, bringing back what has become Adama's theme from Seasons 1 and 2, and acts as a calm before the storm that is to come in "Storming New Caprica."
I defy ANYONE who has seen Exodus Part 2 to listen to this track without being immediately transported back the the phenomenal Episode and the single best Sci-If battle sequence every televised. This almost 8 minute long track that accompanied the battle sequence was/is simply perfect. Listening to it on this CD really does tell the story almost as well as the visuals did on the show. The soundtrack is worth it for this track alone.
Of course, season three takes a bit of a nose dive after Exodus, but the soundtrack really doesn't as it really just kind of skips things until the episodes "Hero" and "Unfinished Business." This is where things get interesting. "The Dance" is an odd track for this series as it's actually fun and upbeat.
The other highlights of this soundtrack also seem to mirror the highlights of the series as well, with notable stand out tracks being the returns of the Adama/Roslyn theme in "Adama Falls," the eerie "Battlestar Sonatica," the tragic "Kat's Sacrifice," the touching "Someone to Trust" and the mystery of Kara's fate in "Mandala in the Clouds" and "Deathbed and Maelstrom."
But the real jewels here are the final two tracks, "Heeding the Call" and "All Along the Watchtower," which usher in the final act of the series yet to come in season 4. "Heeding the Call" was a great touch in "Crossroads part 2" and builds slowly as four of the five final Cylons are revealed to the viewer and is a wonderful lead-in to the controversial inclusion of the Battlestar version of "All Along the Watchtower."
"All Along the Watchtower" is really a very beautiful bridge between our world and that of the series as it takes something very familiar to us and transforms it seamlessly into something that we can really feel would be very familiar to the characters of the series. It's not really a cover as much as it is a re-imagining of the song in much the same way that the modern series is a re-imagining of the original. And let's face it, this track is probably the reason you're looking at this product anyway. Rest assured that this disk is so much more than just "All Along the Watchtower."
I cannot recommend it enough...
Free Music Review: Season 3 vs. Season 2? Just Buy Them Both & Explore "Humanity" via Music
Hit: 5 Stars
About the Composer:
Bear McCreary has been responsible for scoring all of the new Battlestar Galactica series, with the exception of the Battlestar Galactica miniseries soundtrack. Fitting to a television show interested in exploring the range of human feelings, McCreary's scores are influenced by many genres including: industrial-rock, piano solos, American folk / bluegrass, middle-eastern dances, etc. A large part of the success of the series continues to lie with McCreary's scores.
About the Soundtrack:
Like the BSG Season 1 and Season 2 soundtracks, the Season 3 soundtrack contains a sample of the major songs used throughout the season. Though most of the tracks are short (only a few minutes in length), several of the tracks from more epic moments in season three last over seven minutes. Furthermore, the soundtrack is dark, capturing the general desperation and conflict that best characterize season 3.
Obviously some themes from the previous seasons are intermixed with this season's new score, and a few tracks (such as "Admiral and Commander" which is based on Season One's "A Good Lighter" to represent the relationship between Bill and Lee Adama) are essentially retreads of themes on the previous CDs.
By in large, most of this CD's tracks are new, and certainly all of them really define key moments with this season. Some of my favorites include the martial memorial "Kat's Sacrifice" which fan's of the Babylon 5 Sci-Fi series might hear the similarity to that season's "Voices of Authority" track that was used as the fifth season opening credits, the bluegrass influenced "Dirty Hands" (what can I say, this is simply down and dirty chain gang music at its best), and the spiritual "The Temple of Five". Like many others, I think McCreary's industrial-rock cover of "All Along the Watchtower" was brilliant, and I especially liked how the song was subtly worked into other tracks throughout the season to become the season's theme.
Recommended Tracks:
* Dirty Hands
* The Temple of Five
* Kat's Sacrifice
* Mandala in the Clouds
* Violence and Variations
It is difficult for me to say if I enjoy this season's soundtrack more than the Battlestar Galactica: Season Two soundtrack. Buy them both, as they have very little overlap and with luck, you'll love them both as well.
Free Music Review: Extraordinary
Hit: 5 Stars
Every once in a while, a soundtrack comes along that restores my faith in the whole "soundtrack" concept. Not just a cash-in for superfans of a series, not just more product to churn out, it actually stands up on its own as an artistic work. This is one of them.
I like the other soundtrack albums to Battlestar Galactica - beginning with a minimalist approach, using pounding drums, Bear McCreary was able to create a very evocative and distinctive sound. As the seasons progressed, McCreary's budget grew and he was able to broaden his scope to include more instruments and vocalists. Still, those soundtracks tend to be a little choppy: short musical segments, generally culminating in a rapid fire drum rhythm. Perfect for the show, and the albums sound pretty cool.
For season three, everything came together to transcend any limitations there were previously. The songs are more fully developed, the moods more varied, and they make much more of an impression not only as individual pieces, but as a whole as well. Listening to this album, I feel like I'm reliving all of the emotions from the show - but not the specific emotions of particular characters. Independent of the series, these are some of the most powerful pieces of music I've heard in years. The pounding drums are still there, but also gorgeous piano, swelling strings, wind instruments, ethereal vocals ... and it all builds to the extraordinary closing song, a daring remake of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower, which, quite frankly, needs to be heard to be believed. It's like Hendrix's version crossed with U2's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me," crossed with the motifs McCreary's been developing over the three seasons of BSG, crossed with I-don't-know-what.
Not only is it a fantastic cd, but just consider what it took to make this. He has one of the coolest, and hardest, jobs in show business. McCreary is not given the luxury of following his muse wherever it may take him. He is writing for the program and must, in a limited period of time, create pieces that fit the assigned framework of the scene. Under such constraints, it's amazing he can come up with something adequate, let alone brilliant. But this is brilliant. Just as BSG has taken science fiction to a new level, so McCreary is doing to the "soundtrack" genre with this cd. It's that good.
Free Music Review: Frakking amazing soundtrack that covers a wide range of moods, musical genres
Hit: 5 Stars
I bought this soundtrack from Amazon upon its release, since none of Bear McCreary's "Galactica" scores are available on iTunes (as of this writing). So yes, it was a bit more expensive. But it was worth every penny, and a magnificent continuation and development of many of the themes McCreary established in his scores for the first two seasons of "BSG."
Each "Galactica" soundtrack has an epic seven- to nine-minute battle theme in which the orchestra pulls out all the stops and just goes for it (e.g., Season 1's "Battle on the Asteroid" and Season 2's "Prelude to War"). For the Season 3 soundtrack, the piece de resistance is "Storming New Caprica," complete with thundering taiko drums and bagpipe clarion calls, and it's a beaut. McCreary keeps up the great action-theme work on tracks like "Precipice," "Wayward Soldier," "Fight Night," "Kat's Sacrifice," "Dirty Hands" and "Mandala in the Clouds." The soundtrack (and the Season 3 finale) closes with a fiery rendition of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," and yes, it's as good as you've heard.
But McCreary also has a gift for slowing things down and conjuring more thoughtful moods while avoiding sentimental clichés, and he does so here on such tracks as "Admiral and Commander" (the best rendering of the "Adama family" theme yet), "Adama Falls" (which continues the lovely "Roslin and Adama" theme from Season 2 on a slightly darker note), "Under the Wing," "Battlestar Sonatica," "Someone to Trust" and "Deathbed and Maelstrom."
Poor Bear McCreary. I'm not sure how he'll top the work he's done here on the Season 4 soundtrack ... but talented composer that he is, I have no doubt he'll find a way to dazzle us "BSG" fans (and fans of great music) once again. So say we all.