B5 Music

[Republibot 3.0]

So what's your favorite piece of music from B5/Crusade/Rangers/Lost Tales?

What's your least favorite?

Why to both?

 

[ranger phil]

anything from sleeping in light is good. also Babylon 5 volume 2 messages from earth is a great listen.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

anything from sleeping in light is good. also Babylon 5 volume 2 messages from earth is a great listen.

The season 5 opening theme is awesome. I'm also quite fond of the piece that plays when the Narn and Gropos are fighting it out in Severed Dreams.

I know everyone hates it, but I liked Stewart Copeland's music for the pilot, too.

Least favorite? Ehm....probably that song Franklin's girlfriend sings. Beyond that...uhm...

Hey, I have a question: Allegedly Christopher Franke was using an orchestra (By phone) to score the show. Exactly how long did that continue for? Because the score seems awfully electronic to me from start to finish, and while I can hear the occasional hit or beat or measure here that seems deeper than most, I don't hear much of that.

Did he continue to do that through the whole run of the show, or did they drop it after the first season?

 

[Jan]

There's an extra in (probably) the fourth season DVDs where he talks about the orchestra. You're talking small here.

Favorites....sort of in order:

Season 4 DVD Suite. Because you can almost see the series as the music plays.
In The Beginning Track 6 - for the melancholy war dirge
Entire 'Sleeping in Light' CD - but especially 'Dying Station'.
Season 5 opening theme. I just like it.

Honorable mention-The entire 'A Late Delivery from Avalon'.

Jan

 

[Republibot 3.0]

You're talking small here.

I don't know what that means.

Anyone got any least-favorite tracks? Something where they just didn't feel the music fit the scene or the mood or whatever?

For instance, for me the lowest ebb would be in the big battle scene at the end of "A Call To Arms" where it was impossible to distinguish between the music and the sound effects. Which may or may not have been intentional.

(I didn't actually hate the Evan Chen music, and I thought it was a gutsy move or JMS to go in a different direction. I liked the dissonance between it and the action, for the most part. That piece, though....yuck. Also curiously the music doesn't work on its own at all. It NEEDS the visual)

 

[RW7427]

anything from sleeping in light is good. also Babylon 5 volume 2 messages from earth is a great listen.

I agree with Ranger Phil!

 

[Republibot 3.0]

Anyone on here like Tangerine Dream, or any of Franke's other stuff?

 

[Springer]

I could spend all day listing pieces of Franke's music that I like. Just to pick a few: Sheridan jumping into the pit in Z'Ha'Dum, the battle to take back Earth in Endgame (which if memory serves was actually also used during Marcus and Neroon's fight in Grey 17), the 'stardust' music from A Distant Star and some of the romance music between Sheridan and Delenn, particularly from Whatever Happened... I also think War Without End has a very strong score, No Surrender No Retreat has quite a different sound to previous episodes up to then which I love and I think the score for Chrysalis is very effective. I wished Franke had done more music in the season one style (or at least released more of it), it was more electronic but it has a different feel to the strings that he used more in later seasons. And of course the suites on the first two albums are magisterial and Sleeping in light's music is achingly sad and beautiful and evocative.

I like the way the music helped set the tone for each season. Each year was slightly different and there was a clear evolution. Probably his best body of work was season 3, although that impression may be because I've been exposed to that music most through the soundtrack CDs. I keep wishing someone (maybe La La Land records now they've got a deal with Warners) would release all the music from the full five seasons in big box sets.

But I've never been able to get into Tangerine Dream. Maybe it is a bit too experimental for me (and I like electronic music). Franke's soundtrack to Universal Solider though shares many similarities with his early B5 stuff.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

But I've never been able to get into Tangerine Dream. Maybe it is a bit too experimental for me (and I like electronic music). Franke's soundtrack to Universal Solider though shares many similarities with his early B5 stuff.

I never cared for TD much. (Well, I've got the one with a guest vocalist singing "Tiger Tiger" and a few other tracks, which is ok). As with most everyone else, I was introduced to them through "Risky Business," and while they were good at setting a somewhat disaffected mood, I didn't care for the actual music itself much. I keep giving them a chance every 10 years or so, and they keep boring me.

I don't think they're all that experimental, either. Art of Noise - now THEY'RE experimental! (And goofball). A lot of Vangelis was pretty experimental. Mike Oldfield's soundtrack to "The Killing Fields" (Uncommonly electronic for him) was pretty experimental. Tangeine Dream? Not so much.

 

[Springer]

Maybe experimental was the wrong word (although they were certainly among the pioneers of electronic music), I guess in that sense their music isn't abstract – what I have heard of it has melodies and such. I just often find it coarse and lacking warmth, unlike something by JMJ or even Vangelis. There's nothing of Franke's sound from B5 in their music that I can find as a way into liking their stuff.

Their theme for Streethawk is aces though.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

Maybe experimental was the wrong word (although they were certainly among the pioneers of electronic music), I guess in that sense their music isn't abstract – what I have heard of it has melodies and such. I just often find it coarse and lacking warmth, unlike something by JMJ or even Vangelis. There's nothing of Franke's sound from B5 in their music that I can find as a way into liking their stuff.

Their theme for Streethawk is aces though.

That's cool. I don't like 'em either. I'm just always curious as to why other people don't like the stuff I don't like.

Tangent: I thought the late Joel Goldsmith's attempts to channel Blade Runner-era Vangelis for two years on "Stargate Universe" were interesting, and I really wish someone would put out a soundtrack CD.

Getting back to B5: is there anyone who DOESN'T like the B5 soundtrack as a whole?

 

[ranger phil]

I must admit to loving the rock track that plays when sheridan is captured on mars. Thats sweeeet.

The electronica feel to the first season is nice. It gets kinda lost when season two starts, but the music is just so epic you dont notice. For me where it really excels is in 'The Long Twilight Struggle' - the scene where the narns bite off a lot more than they can chew. Also Confessions and Lamentations where Sheridan finally cracks and reveals his feelings to delenn.. delenn stating that life is a dream. the piece of music that accompanies that moment is epic on so many levels. it compliments the looks they give each other at the moment they realise they might never see each other again.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

How do you folks feel the B5 music compares with the soundtracks of other SF series from the same period?

Let's see, there was TNG, DS9, Voyager (I think)
There was Andromeda, Sliders, SeaQuest, Earth II, and Space Above and Beyond
I think those are the big ones, though there were several smaller shows like "Space Precinct" and that cowboy show on Mars, or whatever it was.

 

[Springer]

I thought B5 was the best sounding show on television at the time. Admittedly I cannot remember the music to many other shows bar the Star Trek series and their music was on the whole awfully bland, an edict brought down by Rick Berman. Ron Jones' stuff was good for TNG, and his Best of Both Worlds score is probably the best Star Trek TV score produced IMO, but from what I understand he left in season four because of creative differences (the producers thought he was making the music stand out too much). Star Trek movies scores were a different beast, however. All excellent.

I'd like to listen to Shirley Walker's score for S:AAB again though, as that gets good word of mouth. And of course Mark Snow's X-Files was okay.

It's a shame Franke never went on to do any more television work (at least not that I'm aware of). Today television scores are often excellent, the work of people like Sean Callery and Bear McCreary has caught up with the musical richness that Franke brought to B5.

Just going back to B5, one little disappointment with the music was that In The Beginning and The Gathering Special Edition never went back to Franke's first season style. Don't get me wrong, I like In The Beginning's score but I think it tries a little bit too hard, and it could have meshed the electronica style with the style developed for later in the series as a way of connecting the beginning of B5's story with its end. I can't remember any of the music for The Gathering redux, to the point that I prefer Stewart Copeland's music for it (would love to get that on CD) because Franke's music for it does not mesh with his season one music.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

I thought B5 was the best sounding show on television at the time. Admittedly I cannot remember the music to many other shows bar the Star Trek series and their music was on the whole awfully bland, an edict brought down by Rick Berman. Ron Jones' stuff was good for TNG, and his Best of Both Worlds score is probably the best Star Trek TV score produced IMO, but from what I understand he left in season four because of creative differences (the producers thought he was making the music stand out too much). Star Trek movies scores were a different beast, however. All excellent.

God, TNG was awful. I remember watching it in college and getting all excited when some background music showed up in a sequence because they literally hadn't done any in 4 or 5 episodes. Why did they want the to be so bland? Actually, for that matter, why did they want TNG as a whole to be so bland?

It's a shame Franke never went on to do any more television work (at least not that I'm aware of). Today television scores are often excellent, the work of people like Sean Callery and Bear McCreary has caught up with the musical richness that Franke brought to B5.

Agreed.

Just going back to B5, one little disappointment with the music was that In The Beginning and The Gathering Special Edition never went back to Franke's first season style. Don't get me wrong, I like In The Beginning's score but I think it tries a little bit too hard, and it could have meshed the electronica style with the style developed for later in the series as a way of connecting the beginning of B5's story with its end. I can't remember any of the music for The Gathering redux, to the point that I prefer Stewart Copeland's music for it (would love to get that on CD) because Franke's music for it does not mesh with his season one music.

It was a terrible show, but SeaQuest had a pretty great opening theme, and the individual scores for most of the first year were pretty good. After that they relied heavily on canned music and keyboard synth.

Speaking of Shirley Walker, if we include cartoons, her stuff for Batman:TAS and Superman TAS and Batman Beyond were all pretty awesome.

 

[JoeD80]

It's a shame Franke never went on to do any more television work (at least not that I'm aware of).

He does the music on the reality game show, "The Amazing Race."

 

[butlerd]

I enjoyed Franke's score for the entire series and own a few of the episodic CDs- "Interludes & Examinations", "Z'ha'Dum", "Falling Towards Apotheosis", and "No Surrender, No Retreat". I also downloaded one of the intros from "Lost Tales" (theme from "Sleeping in Light"). So far, "Interludes & Examinations" is my favorite set of music, especially Adira's theme. I also really like "Into the Abyss" from "Z'ha'Dum". It is too bad that not every episode had and episodic CD released. I would have loved to have the music from "Movements of Fire & Shadow" and "Fall of Centauri Prime". There was some vocal background music from the Talia/Ivanova bar scene in "Midnight on the Firing Line" that I would love to own as well but I could never figure out the song and whether it was written for the show or something that Franke got from somewhere else. The score for the entire series added depth and dimension to it compared with the seemingly generic music from the latter part of Star Trek: TNG and the rest of the spinoff series.

 

[Springer]

Hi butlerd, I believe Movements of Fire and Shadow and Fall of Centuari Prime (or at least one of them) were going to be next in line for episodic soundtracks before the CD series was cancelled for whatever reason. A huge shame! I am still holding out hope that one of the soundtrack labels, maybe LaLaLand Records as they have a deal with Warners, will release a B5 box set with lots of the music that was never released. That's probably just a pipe dream of mine, but I can dream!

I'd love a CD for Midnight on the Firing Line! The music really helped set the scene in that episode. I suspect the song played in the bar at the end is something written by Franke, as other background music in the series was also written by him and appeared on the CDs – there is a similar track in Chrysalis.

 

[butlerd]

Hi butlerd, I believe Movements of Fire and Shadow and Fall of Centuari Prime (or at least one of them) were going to be next in line for episodic soundtracks before the CD series was cancelled for whatever reason. A huge shame! I am still holding out hope that one of the soundtrack labels, maybe LaLaLand Records as they have a deal with Warners, will release a B5 box set with lots of the music that was never released. That's probably just a pipe dream of mine, but I can dream!

I'd love a CD for Midnight on the Firing Line! The music really helped set the scene in that episode. I suspect the song played in the bar at the end is something written by Franke, as other background music in the series was also written by him and appeared on the CDs – there is a similar track in Chrysalis.

I didn't know that the episodic CDs series was cancelled though I did notice that you couldn't purchase them any more from Sonic Records. Bummer Maybe LaLaLand Records will take up the mantle at some point. I believe that they recently did a DS9 collection, so................?

So, there WAS a MOTFL release? How did you get it? Was it available through Sonic Records at one point? Was there a rock/pop song on the soundtrack and if so, what was it called? Inquiring minds would love to know. Thanks! ;-)

 

[Springer]

Hi butlerd, sorry I gave you the wrong impression, there was unfortunately no CD for Midnight on the Firing Line. But there was an episodic CD for Chrysalis, which featured a similar background song from the casino scene in that episode where Garibaldi takes Devereaux in for questioning. There are no other credits on the CD so I assume it is a song that Christopher Franke put together and likewise for the song in Midnight on the Firing Line and indeed the song in Face of the Enemy when Sheridan is taken down.

I don't know why the CDs were cancelled - they just stopped. Franke did score the music to the aborted B5 computer game too and he made it available online, although I can't find the link right now. He re-used some of that music in Legend of the Rangers. Maybe someone can help?