Album Review: Battlestar Galactica, Season 3 (Original Television Soundtrack)

Battlestar Galactica has since come and gone from the airwaves, with the occasional exception of the TV movies that they're planning - the upcoming one is entitled The Plan, due out sometime this year - but the ending season's soundtrack has just been released, ending what is a fine tradition of outstanding scoring for the series.

Battlestar Galactica has always had a soundtrack that's stood out, and each of the five soundtracks released for the Miniseries and resulting four seasons have been outstanding, different and beautiful. Composer Bear McCreary has utilized a number of different instruments and influences, from classical to Indian throughout the series, and this season is no exception, and is possibly the best score of the entire series.

Gatea's song from early on in the season is the opening track, and is a beautiful and haunting song, and helps to set the tone for the rest of the score. The sound for the entire season is one that is largely based off of the previous themes, matured and evolved from their starting points. This doesn't mean that the entire soundtrack is a rehash of what we've already heard. There's a greater urgency with some of these songs as the action in the series ramps up, especially evident with the track The Signal, and Roslin Escapes, while new themes, such as from the excellent Resurrection Hub, which is easily one of the best tracks on the score.

Season 4 was one of the seasons where the show began to end the story, wrapping up storylines and building to the conclusion. As a result, much of these two discs feel far less like a television soundtrack and far more like a movie soundtrack. The themes are greater, more sweeping and make their presence felt, which is highly appropriate for the last moments. Case in point would be Farewell Apollo early on in the list, but this really kicks in for the finale moments of the show.

This starts with Diaspora Oratorio, the track that came over when the fleet came across the First Earth for the mid-season finale, which would have worked easily as an end for the show. By far, this is my absolute favorite track for the entire series. It is epic, beautiful and sweeping, and far out of character for the show, which helps to set it apart. From there, the last eigh tracks cover the final moments of the show, and put together a somber, epic and wonderful sendoff to the show. Earth, Goodbye Sam, Heart of the Sun, Starbuck Disappears, So Much Life, An Easterly View and The Passage of Time all allow for a proper sendoff to all the characters, with hints of some of the original themes throughout, but often with a far more etherial sound to them that transends much of what we've heard before.

This soundtrack stands far apart from most other ones that I've heard. It's beautiful, simply elegant, and a proper sendoff to the series. I'll be very sad that this is the last soundtrack, and undoubtably, it will be known as McCreary's finest works. There was a lot of original, creative energy here over the course of the series, and I have no idea when we'll see something like this again.

Resurrection Hub - Bear McCreary

Diaspora Oratorio - Bear McCreary

Starbuck Disappears - Bear McCreary

So Much Life - Bear McCreary

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So Say We All

Tonight, the final episode of one of the best Science Fiction television shows, Battlestar Galactica, to have ever graced out TV screens will be ending after a stunning five year run. This has been a fantastic show, and while I'm upset to see it go, I'm happy at the way it's going out. I can't wait to see it tonight.

So say we all.

All Along the Watchtower - Bear McCreary

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The Beginning of the End - Battlestar Galactica

My favorite TV show, Battlestar Galactica, returns with the beginning of the last 10 episode run tonight at 10 pm on the SciFi channel.

It's been a helluva run, from 2003 when the first miniseries was released through the past four years with each season that continued a fantastic story. There were some small bumps along the way, but the end half of the series has proven to be one of the best hours on television, and not just in the science fiction genre.

Catch up with the entire show here.

All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - Bear McCreary

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Frak Off

Guess what? Battlestar Galactica's starting up this weekend, finally. Season 4, the last season of the amazing SciFi show starts tonight.

Can't fraking wait.

All Along the Watchtower - Bear McCreary

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Cover & Original - All Along The Watchtower

All Along The Watchtower is one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs, and it's one of those songs that's covered a lot. Off all the covers that I have, it's got the most versions, good and bad.
There's quite a bit of variety here. The definitive version, by Jimi Hendrix, seems to be the one that's the most copied, although there are some other groups, such as the Dave Matthews Band (who features it regularly in their concerts), who'll do their own take. My favorite version is probably Bear McCreary and BT4's version, which was featured in the show Battlestar Galactica, which was really cool.
Some of the versions that I'm not a huge fan of is the Alexi Murdoch and Blues Traveler set and the one by the Grateful Dead. Just didn't work for me really.

It's an interesting song, with a number of different meanings through the lyrics. Dylan started writing the song after a motorcycle accident and when he began reading the bible, and there's several biblical and end-of-the-world references in the lyrics.

All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - Bear McCreary
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - The Fratellis
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - Dave Matthew's Band
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - The Grateful Dead
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - Bryan Ferry
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - Alexi Murdoch and Blues Traveler
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - Eddie Vedder and the Million Dollar Bashers
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - Jimi Hendrix
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) / Best of You (Foo Fighters) - Prince
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - U2
All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan

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The Best of October

It's that time of the month again, a couple of days late... Here's a selection of the best songs that I've come across in October. Unlike the list in September, it's been a pretty slow month, with fewer new releases and thus, fewer really good songs. However, what we've gotten has been very good. Interestingly, most of these songs come from soundtracks, either the Battlestar Galactica, The War, In the Shadow of the Moon, with a couple others thrown in for good measure. Here we go:

All Along the Watchtower - Bear McCreary / BT4, Battlestar Galactica Soundtrack

This is a fantastic rendition of the Bob Dylan song, used in the finale of Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. Apparently, this was something that the production crew had wanted to use in the show for a while now. This version is really cool.

American Anthem - Norah Jones, The War Original Soundtrack

One of the main songs from the soundtrack from the series, The War, which is a nice rendition from Norah Jones. This song really fits with the series, and is typically played at the end of each episode. The lyrics are perfect for the subject matter, and this is probably one of Norah Jones' finest songs.

For Science Fiction - Maritime, Heresy and the Hotel Choir

This song has the lyrics: Thank God for Science Fiction. I like it.

In The Shadow of the Moon Soundtrack, Philip Shepherd
- The Eagle Has Landed
- End Titles

The entire soundtrack is a fantastic score from the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon. It's absolutely fantastic to listen to.

Man on the Moon - Ferraby Lionheart, Sterogum Presents... Drive XV

Sterogum has done a really good album of covers of REM's Automatic for the People, and this is the best song on there.

'Til the Morning Comes - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, This Is Somewhere

The bonus track from Grace Potter's This is Somewhere album, the B&N version. A fantastic track that should have made it onto the main album.

That's it for last month!

Cover & Original - Soundtrack Edition

I'm doing a bonus Cover and Original this week, because two cover versions of Bob Dylan's song All Along The Watchtower are being released in soundtracks, and both are somewhat different takes from the original version.

The first is Bear McCreary's version, performed by BT4, on the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack, which is in stores today. This is a very different take on the song, with a science fiction/Galactica feel to it, which was really cool to here, and the screenwriters took the time to really incorperate the song into the finale of last season.

Two Riders Approaching

The second versions is from the soundtrack from the upcoming Dylan film, I'm Not There, performed by Eddie Vedder and The Million Dollar Bashers. This is a fun take on the song, although I really like the Galactica version better.

And of course, there's the fantastic original version.

All Along The Watchtower - Bear McCreary

All Along The Watchtower - Eddie Vedder and the Million Dollar Bashers

All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan

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Review: Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 Official Soundtrack

I just got a copy of the soundtrack for the third season of Battlestar Galactica. This is a bit different than what I usually write about, but these soundtracks are certainly worth pointing out. There's one for each season of the show, as well as the miniseries that was released in 2003. Battlestar Galactica, for those of you who aren't science fiction fans, is a show currently on the SciFi channel, and is a remake of a 1978 show by the same title. Rather than a continuation of the original, this is a re-imagining, starting the show over with a fresh look and feel, as well as more modern. Where some science fiction is enough to make your eyes roll, this one's down to earth, realistic and dark. It's easily one of the best shows on television today.

When the show's creators went forwards with this, they changed a lot of the conventional aspects of sci-fi TV - They rooted it in more realism, from set design, uniforms, situations and dialog, making it a very accurate show, at least militarily. One of the big things that was also a big change was the music.
A number of science fiction television shows and films have a very bombastic type of score - lots of brass, loud, dramatic and exciting. Just listen to the opening credits of Star Wars or the original Battlestar theme (which they actually brought back in Season 2 for one episode).
These soundtracks, like the rest of the show, is a bit of a reinvention. Like the show, the score here is darker and moodier. Furthermore, they branch out with their sound, utilizing a number of world influences from India to Ireland, giving this show a very unique sound.
The third season soundtrack is possibly the best of the three soundtracks. It compounds on a number of themes that have been introduced already in the series, and adds in some new ones. The album opens with a bang, with the first couple of songs. The music here is more dramatic, darker and richer in sound. The opening song, A Distant Sadness opens the season up with some wonderful vocals, and moves on to several other songs that are filled with an incredible energy that works perfectly with the opening of the season. Like the season, the best stuff was in the beginning, but there are some other fantastic cuts here along the way, such as The Dance, Under The Wing, Temple of Five and Heading the Call. The album ends with the fantastic cover of Bob Dylan's song, All Along the Watchtower, vocals by the band BT4. It's a fantastic blend of the soundtrack's usual sound and rock and is a purely Battlestar Galactica feeling song.

A Distant Sadness (From 'Occupation') - Bear McCreary
Storming New Caprica (From 'Exodus, Part 2') - Bear McCreary
The Dance (From 'Unfinished Business') - Bear McCreary

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