BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON TWO SOUNDTRACK TO BE RELEASED BY LA-LA LAND RECORDS ON JUNE 20

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA TOUTED AS ONE OF THE TOP 10 SHOWS CURRENTLY ON TV BY TIME MAGAZINE AND TV GUIDE

(June 1, 2006- New York, NY) – Considered one of the top 10 shows currently on TV by Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and TV Guide, Battlestar Galactica is the #1 show on the Sci Fi Channel. On June 20, La-La Land Records will release the Battlestar Galactica: Season Two soundtrack, featuring more than 78 minutes of the best musical moments from the 2nd season of the Sci-Fi Channel's critically acclaimed, top-rated television series starring Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, James Callis, Tricia Helfer and Katee Sackhoff.

Composer Bear McCreary builds on his impressive Season One accomplishments and once again delivers a sensational, emotionally rich score that ingeniously melds orchestra, vocals, percussion and synthesizer. The Season Two CD contains few tracks which are longer in length. Says McCreary, “The first one was a soundtrack. The second one is an album.”

The Battlestar Galactica: Season Two soundtrack features performances by Supernova String Quartet (on “A Promise to Return” from The Farm), vocals by Raya Yarbrough (on “Lords of Kobol” from Pegasus), and vocals by Bt4 (on “The Cylon Prisoner” from Pegasus). Former Oingo-Boingo members Steve Bartek, John Avila and Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez play on the track from “Black Market”. And the main title theme from Battlestar Galactica, composed by Richard Gibbs, is also on the soundtrack.

Fans of the original series will be excited to see that the theme from the original Battlestar Galactica series, composed by Stu Phillips, has been adapted and arranged by McCreary. The homage to the television show that inspired this new incarnation leads off the soundtrack.

Composer Bear McCreary is a classically trained composer with a degree in Composition and Recording Arts from the prestigious USC Thornton School of Music. He has composed score for over thirty independent films, including director Jon Chu’s musical short When the Kids Are Away and the Discovery Channel miniseries The 5 Coolest Things. McCreary was among a handful of select protégés of late film music legend Elmer Bernstein (THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN).

The third season of Battlestar Galactica will begin airing in October on the Sci Fi Channel. The Battlestar Galactica: Season Two soundtrack will be available in stores or from www.lalalandrecords.com on June 20, 2006. The soundtrack from the Battlestar Galactica mini-series and the Season One soundtrack are both available from La-La Land Records.

There's been a few critical remarks on this board against McCreary's music for the show, but those remarks haven't held any water and totally fall apart with close inspection. And then there's the complainers who want all-orchestra-all-the-time (because, apparently, you can only score a drama in space with an orchestra [sounds like fuzzy math to me], as no other instruments could possibly suffice), even though it'd be inappropriate as hell for the show. Used sparingly, the orchestral flares on the show are quite striking (as in "Prelude To War" and the opening theme to Home, Part 2, "Allegro").

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stargate:
I just can't get over "Prelude to War".

---

Great track indeed. The orchestrations remind me of Goldenthal.

quote:

---

Originally posted by sean:
(Clearly the best action sequence of the year.)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by sean:
There's been a few critical remarks on this board against McCreary's music for the show, but those remarks haven't held any water and totally fall apart with close inspection.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by franz_conrad:
The only one I can think of does... 'Prelude to War' owes more than a passing intellectual debt to 'November 25: Morning' from Philip Glass's score for MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS. (One of Glass's most unique film scores and cues.)

---

Yes, there are similarities between the two, but McCreary's is a much more impressive piece than Glass's; it's heavier and develops the string theme fantastically.

quote:

---

Originally posted by sean:
Yes, there are similarities between the two...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by franz_conrad:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=1 face=arial>quote:</font><HR size=1>Originally posted by sean:
[b] Yes, there are similarities between the two...<HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

To say the least! Temp track?[/B]

---

Obviously, but it makes no difference... McCreary's is still superior.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Quill:
This is one of the more enjoyable start to finish scores I have purchased in recent days. With the exception of a couple tracks it is a solid listening experience, and more diversified that the Season 1 release.

Both the show and the music are the best on television.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by sean:
Obviously, but it makes no difference... McCreary's is still superior.

---

That's the spirit!

It's a really good cue - I have to get this score one of these days. (I heard the cue on Erik Woods's Cinematic Sound radio show.)

I read a critical remark that called the overwhelming majority of Mccreary's action music to be boring percussion thumping. That one holds water. Glad to see you're keeping track though!

>>The music for season 3, so far, has been very good. Friday's episode, Torn, showcased some excellent piano writing throughout almost the entire show... much like something Philip Glass would do (jokingly called "Battlestar Sonatica"). Exodus, Part 2 had some of McCreary's best action music to date, especially during the "The Big Jump" sequence where Galactica does the retna-detaching in-atmosphere jump to New Caprica, FRAK!!! (Clearly the best action sequence of the year.)<<

Clearly! Sounds like someone's been masturbating a little too much to Bear's Battlestar Blog. So say we all, squirt squirt.

quote:

---

Originally posted by budharney:

I read a critical remark that called the overwhelming majority of Mccreary's action music to be boring percussion thumping. That one holds water. Glad to see you're keeping track though!

Clearly! Sounds like someone's been masturbating a little too much to Bear's Battlestar Blog. So say we all, squirt squirt.

---

Hmm, interesting analogies. Have you even heard the music or are you like a typical Golden Age "guru" that doesn't even give Modern music a second glance? McCreary's music might not be for everyone. Compositionally speaking, a majority of it is very complex; the same came be said orchestrally. And while much of the action music involves taiko drums and the like, there are other instruments orchestrated in it that sort of adds to the, you know, overall tension and drama of the piece. Strangely enough, most of this thread is nothing but unanimous praise for Bear McCreary's score for the television series, yet you specifically pick out Sean's harmless remarks. A closer look at the Zimmer interview thread reveals that you might be developing quite a grudge against "the grudged one". Although I don't know Sean personally, throughout our many discussions and team work (a still-gestating screenplay) I've come to understand what he sees in film music. He'll get very defensive about things he thinks are worth defending; the same is said about any one of us. It's good to have arguements on this board; because - like the old saying goes - what good is a discussion if everyone has the same opinion? But you're resorting to one-sided arguements and masturbation jokes, and they're just not that humorous.

NP> Patrick Doyle's Needful Things (*****/*****)

I'm sorry if that's the impression you get but I love modern music. John Adams, Elliot Goldenthal, Corigliano. Love them. I have heard more of Mccreary's BSg than I care to (or can) remember. Most of it is quite interchangeable.

>>McCreary's music might not be for everyone. Compositionally speaking, a majority of it is very complex.<<

NO IT ISN'T. If there's a polar opposite of "compositionally complex," the action writing in BSg is it. "Drammatically Complex," maybe, although I don't find it to be. It's monotonous and numbingly repetitive (and easy to write). I applaud the producers for wanting something new for the music in their show, but this "NYPD Blue in space" approach has already been tapped for everything it's worth and it's only season 3.

>>Although I don't know Sean personally, throughout our many discussions and team work (a still-gestating screenplay) I've come to understand what he sees in film music.<<

I don't know Sean personally either, although I feel like I do. He paints a potent and ugly picture of himself with his writing. If I seem to be gunning for him it's because he is quite simply the most obnoxious human being I've encountered on this message board or any other.

Adams would not be impressed by the piece. The use of minimalism does not automatically ensure a quality piece of music. If you listen to an Adams piece of course there is repetition but you'll notice (or maybe you won't notice) subtle change and development occurring very gradually so that by the time the piece is over, you've been taken somewhere else. This is not the case with Bear's music, which is repetition for the sake of repetition.

>>You want to consider avant garde? What other composers would approach BSG as McCreary has?<<

Hmm... I suspect that any composer the producers hired would approach it this way since a) it's not Mccreary's approach, it's the producers' and b) it's an easy approach.

>>McCreary comes from an accomplished classical (studied under Elmer Bernstein) <<

Yes, clearly that influence can be felt here. I'm sure that most fans who hear Bear's BSg for the first time think to them selves "This guy must be classically trained and studied with Elmer Bernstein."

Also, it would be a worthy idea to listen to "The Shape of Things to Come" after "Passacaglia" for how well the polyphonic melodies compliment each other.

NP> McCreary's BSG Season 1 (*****/*****)

So what you are saying is "The melodies come together melodically"? Thanks for clearing that up!

>>I never claimed that minimalism automatically ensures great music; but in this case, McCreary uses the techniques to achieve that dramatic power required for a dramatic moment of film.<<

It doesn't work. It's too consistent and my ears eventually tune it out during the dogfights. It's noise, and if it's groundbreaking it's because it's being applied to science fiction and not the latest cop thriller on ABC.

>>I'm sure Bernstein would be tremendously proud of what Bear McCreary has accomplished.<<

There's nothing in BSg that would lead me to believe that Bear has any kind of extensive classical background to speak of, nor anything that bears the tutelage of a giant like Elmer Bernstein. Elmer was a huge proponent of melody, and while there are certainly recurring themes in BSg, they are slight and unmemorable.

quote:

---

Originally posted by budharney:

So what you are saying is "The melodies come together melodically"? Thanks for clearing that up!

---

You caught me on a musical slip-up; that should read: The music is repetitious only in chord progression, and it comes together melodically.

quote:

---

There's nothing in BSg that would lead me to believe that Bear has any kind of extensive classical background to speak of, nor anything that bears the tutelage of a giant like Elmer Bernstein. Elmer was a huge proponent of melody, and while there are certainly recurring themes in BSg, they are slight and unmemorable.

---

I admire your passion but I do not agree with you. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. At the same time, I will not have an inflammatory nerd-beast like Sean come on here and decree that all arguments against the show's music don't hold water.

quote:

---

Originally posted by budharney:

I admire your passion but I do not agree with you. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. At the same time, I will not have an inflammatory nerd-beast like Sean come on here and decree that all arguments against the show's music don't hold water.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by nuts_score:

Lost Season 2 has this same experience with me (along with the second season score of BSG, which I finally got Sean). The music in both of these outstanding shows is easily the best heard on television and judging by the maturing growth of the composers and their material, I'm sure the next seasons will rock even harder.

---

But Giacchino certainly wasn't born to score a Star Trek film. Joel Goldsmith, however . . .

quote:

---

Originally posted by sean:
Joel Goldsmith has a special destiny with Star Trek, no doubt about it.

---

I would have also liked to have seen Shirley Walker compose a Trek, but unfortunately that can't happen.