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Dennis McCarthy saved the day by rescoring V: The Final Battle for Warner Bros. and NBC, so when the time came to bleed the well of ideas dry for a short-lived weekly series, Dennis was called to compose music for invading lizards once more.

In retrospect, I think his music may be one of the classiest things that V: The Series had in its favor.

Opening up with a much more quickly-paced version of the V: The Final Battle theme as the series main title, the album proceeds quickly into the first episode, where McCarthy pumps things up in an energetic chase sequence which refers to the main title frequently. After the second track, the music slows down and McCarthy begins to display some of the scoring style that has become a mainstay on the various Star Trek spinoffs.

Some of the standouts include the minute-long “Star Child” track, which introduces a choral motif for the now-grown-up Elizabeth, and the following track, “Lift Off Into Space”, jumps back and forth between this choral theme and some nice action segments.

If there’s any one thing which turns me off about McCarthy’s scores for the weekly series, it’s something over which he may not have had any control. The studio handed the man a decent-sized, well-trained orchestra to use…and then he winds up with a lot of suspiciously synthesized-sounding drums? Give me a break!

Like the V: The Final Battle CD, this composer promo may be worth the search for any big V fans, or fans of Dennis McCarthy’s musical style.

1. V: The Series main title (4:18)

   Liberation Day

2. Space Chase (1:06)
3. Martin’s Death (4:55)

   Dreadnaught

4. Elizabeth’s Rebirth (1:50)
5. Enter Diana / Elizabeth Grows Up (1:55)
6. The Star Child (4:00)
7. Lift Off Into Space (0:59)
8. Farewell / Dreadnaught (2:23)

   The Sanction

9. Elizabeth’s Theme (5:30)
10. A Sunny Day (2:39)
11. Kyle and Elizabeth (2:13)

    Visitor’s Choice

12. Lounge Lizards (1:20)

    The Deception

13. Seductive Dream (3:08)

    Reflection In Terror

14. Doppelganger’s Demise (1:57)

    The Conversion

15. Rats R Us (2:52)

    The Betrayal

16. Nathan’s End (1:04)
17. Lizard Courtship (4:35)

    The Rescue

18. Wedding Fanfare / Banquet Music (4:13)
19. Reception Music (3:26)
20. Adios, Charles (4:09)

    The Betrayal

21. Finale (2:57)
22. V: The Series end credits (1:57)

Released by: SuperTracks
Release date: 1998
Total running time: 59:13

Almost certainly the quintessential Duran Duran album - well, hey, it sure wasn’t Seven And The Ragged Tiger - and, oddly enough, it’s also my favorite of their output. It’s not often that my favorite album by any given group is also the one most people consider their best work. For example, ELO’s Out Of The Blue seems to be held up most often as the quintessential ELO album, the cream of that band’s crop. But I point to earlier albums Eldorado and A New World Record as better examples of what made ELO unique. The point of that example is that surely everyone remembers Rio, and I’d wager a good lump of money on Rio being the one Duran Duran album most people are likely to own.

They couldn’t pick a better one. Rio is a near-perfect distillation of all of the elements that made Duran Duran listenable…even if some of those things were dated even by the album’s 1981 release date. Prominent on Rio is a lot of very good slap-bass work, a bit of a holdover from the disco era in the early days of new age, but something which always gave Duran Duran a very distinctive sound. Lead singer Simon Le Bon never sounded better than he did here, and even though the songs are occasionally a little thin arrangement-wise, they’re among the best the band ever had to offer. My personal favorite is the ethereal “The Chauffeur”, which drops most of Duran Duran’s dance-beat signature for a nicely-paced, pure new-wave tune with loads of atmosphere. At one point I was crazy about “Save A Prayer”, a lengthy ballad, but today I have to admit it gets on my nerves ever-so-slightly. “Hold Back The Rain” and “Lonely In Your Nightmare” are great hit singles that never were, but should have been. Hit singles from this album include the overplayed “Hungry Like The Wolf” and the title track.

If you’re truly looking for the best of Duran Duran, I’d advise skipping the usual best-of compilations and picking up Rio.

1. Rio (5:39)
2. My Own Way (4:51)
3. Lonely In Your Nightmare (3:50)
4. Hungry Like The Wolf (3:41)
5. Hold Back The Rain (3:50)
6. New Religion (5:33)
7. Last Chance On The Stairway (4:21)
8. Save A Prayer (5:25)
9. The Chauffeur (5:13)

Released by: Capitol
Release date: 1982
Total running time: 42:25

This 1995 solo project from Chris Franke, the composer of every episode of Babylon 5, will sound very familiar indeed to those who have heard his TV work. The music heard on this album was originally created for the 1994 KLEM electronic music festival, and one can hear several phrases and motifs also used in Franke’s Babylon 5 scores. About two minutes into the first track, in fact, listeners are treated to an extended rendition of the “party music” heard in the New Years’ Eve scene in Chrysalis.

Now, you’re probably expecting me to go off on my tirade about Franke being the James Horner of electronic music, but I actually like Klemania - I like it a lot. It gives us an idea of what Franke’s ideas would sound like when unfettered by spotting sessions, scene changes and commercial breaks. Though often repetitive and rambling - the first two tracks are each over a whopping twenty minutes in length! - there are some bright spots. My best description of Klemania would be that it’s an excellent disc of background music which occasionally claws its way into the foreground and then subsides again. It’s a nicely effective overview of Franke’s “house style” which would serve as a nice introduction to the uninitiated, or to those interested in his non-film/TV works.

1. Scattered Thoughts Of A Canyon Flight (22:27)
2. Inside The Morphing Space (21:01)
3. Silent Waves (4:10)

Released by: Sonic Images
Release date: 1995
Total running time: 47:41

So impressed was I with Tim “Tuvok” Russ’s self-published EP a couple of years ago that I happily picked up his new solo effort, backed up by Neil Norman and the Cosmic Orchestra (a band which is fast gaining a reputation as the de facto musical ensemble at science fiction conventions) and released on Norman’s GNP Crescendo Records label. And Russ still has it - the guy can sing. And covers such as “Crossroads” and “Money Talks” demonstrate that Russ may be missing his greatest calling: the man is a fantastic blues vocalist. He has all the pre-requisite growliness necessary to pass muster with the blues, which you might not guess from hearing him emotionlessly intone technobabble every week on Voyager.

Some other surprising covers also emerge: Cat Stevens’ “Where Do The Children Play?”, Randy Newman’s Louisiana (the only holdover from Tim’s Only A Dream In Rio EP), Bruce Hornsby’s “Great Divide”, and Stephen Stills’ sixties anthem, Love The One You’re With. There are also three originals: “I Can’t Imagine”, “Crazy”, and “Strangers”, the latter two of which especially hint at some hidden songwriting talent. “Crazy” makes a couple of humorous references to Tim’s sudden rise to fame - and that’s as close as this album comes to having any connection to Star Trek.

For Tim’s fan following, those curious to hear a Star Trek alumnus who doesn’t belong on a Golden Throats collection, and those who’d like to hear some better-than-decent music by someone that not a lot of people associate with music, I recommend this one.

1. I Can’t Imagine (3:20)
2. Can’t Do It Like That (3:03)
3. I Would Stop The World (5:10)
4. Crossroads (2:45)
5. Money Talks (4:06)
6. Where Do The Children Play (3:18)
7. Crazy (3:48)
8. Louisiana (3:03)
9. Strangers (3:54)
10. Great Divide (4:06)
11. Love The One You’re With (3:12)

Released by: GNP/Crescendo Records
Release date: 2000
Total running time: 39:49