Galactica Season Two Soundtrack Reviewed
Source SciFi Pulse
26 June 2006
I have to say while starting this review that am not a very big fan of Ron D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica and never have been. So I’m coming into this review as more a casual viewer who will be able to give an unbiased opinion of this audio CD.
In my mind Bear McCreary’s musical talent and his versatility is one of the few things that the new Battlestar Galactica series has in its favour and I really like the way in which the composer chooses to utilise Celtic themes in his score to attempt to convey the spiritual aspects which the shows writing never quite succeeds in doing.
The CD starts off with a nice rendition of the original Stu Phillips sound track from the original series, and I have to say it is a vast improvement over the composition that was used in the pilot episode during the decommissioning ceremony of Galactica.
The theme which was used in ‘The Final Cut’ was one of the better homage’s to the original series and one cannot help but sense that Stu Phillips had a hand in it somewhere.
Many of the musical tracks selected here are amongst the best pieces of music used throughout the second season of the series. The soundtrack from the Controversial 2 part episode Pegasus that never really worked that well during the episode does however stand up well on its own as a separate piece of music.
If I have one criticism about Bears music it is his over indulgence with drums which was more prevalent throughout the first season than it was the second, but other than that much of the music and incidental music which comprises this CD is pretty solid and works well as a music CD to just chill out too.
By far my favourite piece of music on this selection of tracks in the theme from the episode Black Market that is entirely done on guitar and played by Steve Bartek. I feel this piece of music was totally wasted on the episode Black Market that was perhaps the weakest episode of Galactica’s second season by far. But the music from the episode is a triumph in its own right and probably the best piece of music for the second season by far.
The music CD features a nicely written introduction by Ron D. Moore where he talks about the amount of stress that many TV productions put on their composers and the praise he piles upon McCreary for his work on the show is much deserved.
I feel that this CD would work well as a chill out album in anyone’s music collection regardless of whether they are a fan of Ron Moores Battlestar Galactica or not. It really doesn’t matter because the music stand up well on it’s own.
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