Published on Jan 16, 2001
It seems that recently I’ve found myself listening to a lot of
music related to science-fiction television shows or movies. (Memo
to Beth: yes, I know the reason why this is so… and I am
thankful.) While I never was the biggest sci-fi fan in the world
(c’mon, I
slept through
Star Wars when I first saw it… but, hey, I was six years
old!), I have admired some of the efforts I’ve listened to for
trying to present the future in the music of today. Other efforts,
well, haven’t been quite as impressive.
Then, we check out
Farscape, a collection of songs from the first two seasons
of this show. (Eye-opener time, since I never have seen the show.)
On first listen, I had to wonder how they got Peter Gabriel to do
some of the music.
Of course, Gabriel is nowhere to be found on this set, but this
disc is like having two soundtracks in one. One part almost merges
world-beat music with traditional sci-fi; the other half is the
more down-to-earth science fiction music fans are used to. Question
is, which effort is better?
To my ears, that distinction is won by SubVision – Chris, Tony
and Braedy Neal – who manage to wake people up from the traditional
stereotype of sci-fi music they might have been used to and dare to
throw in tribal beats, vocal chanting (as heard in the “Theme From
Farscape”) and even a smidgen of Celtic influences. Tracks like
“Time Trouble,” “Wormholes!,” “Fields Of Joy” and “Namtar’s Magic”
prove one thing beyond a doubt: this musical marriage
works, and it works well. (I kidded with the woman working
publicity for this disc that this half of the disc sounded like
what they were trying to do with
Highlander: Endgame.)
So why in the second season were SubVision dropped and Guy Gross
brought in to handle the music? I don’t want to belittle Gross’s
contributions to the
Farscape series, but the change in musical approach is
almost like doing 120 in a Ferrari and slamming on the brakes to
avoid hitting a turtle in the road. It’s just something you’re not
ready for, especially when you found yourself getting caught up in
the different styles of the music previously.
Needless to say, Gross returns to a more traditional sci-fi
backing track – as he describes it, his music is written to work
with the character’s dialog. Okay, maybe these tracks work in that
regard – but on their own, tracks like “Crichton’s Daughter,”
“Peace Keeping” and “Goodbye Caveman” don’t work as well. And just
when Gross seems like he’s getting the hang of things (as on
“Crichton’s Wedding”), the disc comes to an end.
There’s still a lot to
Farscape that makes me recommend this disc to people,
especially for those who say that all music from this genre sounds
the same. Listen to the first half of this disc, and discover that
this just isn’t the case.