Following the success of its double disc compilation of music from the first four audio adventures featuring Paul McGann, Big Finish Productions decided that grouping its music compilations by Doctor and not by composer was the way to go. Hence, this collection of the original scores from three 2002 audio plays starring Colin Baker – two of which, musically speaking, were among 2002’s best.

Or maybe that’s three. I wasn’t that thrilled with Bloodtide as a story, but listening to the music by itself, I can see that I hadn’t given Alistair Lock enough credit for finding really obscure motifs to build the music around. In this case, he musically references the fluting three-note sounds emitted by the Silurian technology in 1970’s Doctor Who And The Silurians, as the bipedal reptiles are once again on the move in this story. Lock’s flair for making synth-orchestral textures sound realistic is evident here – it’s a very good listen.

Project Twilight’s techno influence works well for that sinister modern-day story. As stand-alone music…well, if you haven’t already heard it and been enthralled by it in the context of the story itself, Jim Mortimore and Jane Elphinstone’s disturbing, heartbeat-and-piano-driven music may not do much for you. Even though I loved the music within the play, it could just be that all of the Twilight cues are too similar to one another to be heard all in one sitting. It’s good stuff though.

The One Doctor may just be Alistair Lock’s finest contribution yet to Doctor Who in its audio form. Cinematic and quirky, seldom have the music and the actors’ performances sold each other so well. One cue in particular, “The Cylinder”, strikes a dramatic chord powerful enough for any big-screen blockbuster, while others (such as the groan-inducing “Lonely Jelloid”) are hysterically funny, even when heard with no dialogue or sound effects. If you think that the idea of listening to music from an audio-only drama production is silly, give The One Doctor a listen before swearing it off completely.

All in all, this just might be the best Big Finish music compilation yet. Highly recommended, along with Project Twilight and The One Doctor themselves.

1. trailer: Bloodtide (1:04)
2. Tried (2:57)
3. Convicted (2:26)
4. Into The Cell (2:31)
5. Lost Brother (1:28)
6. The Jailhouse (1:19)
7. The Cave (1:20)
8. Empty Cells (1:00)
9. The Adult Myrka (1:16)
10. Regressing Lawson (1:19)
11. Deep Freeze (1:53)
12. Goodbyes (0:49)
13. trailer: Project Twilight (0:52)
14. Bite Me (5:04)
15. Corpuscle Free (4:39)
16. Arrow To My Heart (3:52)
17. Flow (8:41)
18. trailer: The One Doctor (2:04)
19. The Signal (1:12)
20. Unheralded Arrival (0:40)
21. Sokkery Celebrates (2:53)
22. Doctor In The News (1:18)
23. Banto’s Scam (1:23)
24. The Two Many Doctors (1:03)
25. The Cylinder (1:43)
26. Finding ZX419 (2:15)
27. Mel’s Christmas Story (1:31)
28. The Assemblers (1:14)
29. Challenge Mentos (2:17)
30. The Lonely Jelloid (2:54)
31. The Treasures (1:31)
32. One Doctor Identified (1:09)
33. Sally Meets The Fans (1:28)
34. The One Doctor (1:11)

Released by: Big Finish Productions
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 71:36

A curious two-disc offering, the soundtrack from The Matrix Reloaded combines the usual from-or-inspired-by-the-movie cocktail of songs on disc one, and instrumental score tracks on disc two (though there are some instrumentals on the first disc that accompanied some of the movie’s more atmospheric moments, namely Rob Dougan’s “Furious Angel” and Fluke’s “Zion”. I hope no one will be really upset if I only touch on the former and spend more time with the latter. I don’t have a problem with the techno and hardcore death metal pieces on the first disc, but it’s just not the kind of stuff that keeps me coming back.

Disc two is the real meat, however, for those of us looking for the score – and the original score album must not have sold all that well, because it looks like this is as close as we’re getting to a score album this time. The traditional Matrix opening – virtually identical to the opening of original movie – is followed by “Trinity Dream”, an action scene whose music screams “something’s going wrong here” as Neo gets his first premonition of Trinity’s fate.

Techno group Juno Reactor – with whom I’m most impressed and may indeed check out their own non-movie works – joins forces with Gocoo for “Teahouse”, the busy eastern-flavored percussion-fest that we hear as Neo fends off the Oracle’s protector blow-for-blow. Not just one of my favorite scenes, but also one of the better selections from the soundtrack. If this doesn’t make you want to get up and do something – run a few blocks, do some kung fu, or what have you – you’ve obviously misfired your CD changer and were listening to Wayne Newton instead. This track will make you want to get up and do something, trust me.

My favorite track on either disc, however, is “Burly Brawl” – a track I grew to love about a month before seeing the movie or knowing where it fell in the story. Big action, big beats, big fun, and those usual choral-and-orchestral interludes that go with Neo flagrantly disobeying all known laws of physics. The track gets positively frenzied toward the end, almost comically so, but it’s all good – and wouldn’t you know it, the Neo/Smith fight wound up being my favorite action setpiece in the whole film, perhaps in part because this music was there.

The second disc ends on a lengthy suite of more subtle instrumental cues, all very nice and intriguing, but…it’s 20 minutes long! The remainder of the disc is taken up by video previews of the Enter The Matrix video game.

A nice package, though I might have been just as happy buying a single CD of the score and leaving the songtrack half of this collection to those who were more inclined toward that style of music – though it’s hard to complain at the single-CD price, and it has convinced me to check out Rob Dougan’s Furious Angels album. Ahhh…the power of cross-marketing.

Disc one
1. Linkin Park – Session (2:25)
2. Marilyn Manson – This Is The New Shit (4:21)
3. Rob Zombie – Reload (4:27)
4. Rob Dougan – Furious Angels (5:32)
5. Deftones – Lucky You (4:10)
6. Team Sleep – The Passportal (2:57)
7. P.O.D. – Sleeping Awake (3:28)
8. Unloco – Bruises (2:38)
9. Rage Against The Machine – Calm Like A Bomb (5:00)
10. Oakenfold – Dread Rock (4:42)
11. Fluke – Zion (4:35)
12. Dave Matthews Band – When The World Ends (Oakenfold Remix) (5:26)

Disc two
1. Don Davis – Main Title (1:32)
2. Don Davis – Trinity Dream (1:58)
3. Juno Reactor featuring Gocoo – Teahouse (1:06)
4. Rob Dougan – Chateau (3:25)
5. Juno Reactor & Don Davis – Mona Lisa Overdrive (10:11)
6. Juno Reactor vs. Don Davis – Burly Brawl (5:54)
7. Don Davis – Matrix Reloaded Suite (17:35)

Released by: Warner Bros.
Release date: 2003
Disc one total running time: 49:49
Disc two total running time: 41:41

If George Harrison is my favorite Beatle, who’s number two? If I’m to be honest, I can’t choose between Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Each has his own strenghts: McCartney is unequaled when it comes to ballads and beguiling melodies, but if I want something more akin to straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll, I’ve got to go with John. Sometime back, I traded in my copy of Double Fantasy and got Lennon Legend instead, and it was definitely a trade up, eliminating the need to skip every other track. I’m not one of these Beatles fanboys who rants endlessly about Yoko Ono breaking up the band, I just don’t like her voice or her music on their own merits. Lennon Legend alleviates the elaborate CD player programming required to skip Yoko’s stuff, since it’s all of John’s best. Still my all-time favorite Lennon tune is one of my personal theme songs from the soundtrack of my life, “Watching The Wheels”, though “Nobody Told Me” runs a close second in favorites from John’s post-Beatles repertoire. He occasionally gets a little bit out there (“#9 Dream”, anyone?), but he’s still got his rock ‘n’ roll chops with “(Just Like) Starting Over” and even gives McCartney a run for his balladeer money with “Woman”. And overplayed as it is, and as frequently misread from a lyrical standpoint as it is, I still have to admit that it’s hard to beat “Imagine” or “Jealous Guy” (I’ve always been a huge fan of the latter especially).

So is there any Lennon that I don’t like? Believe it or not, I skip “Give Peace A Chance” almost every time I put this disc in the player. Nor am I partial to “Whatever Gets You Through The Night”, but I can still listen to it; to this day I’m convinced that “Peace” is forever included in Lennon’s best-of collections more for its historical curiosity value, and its association with the man and his views, than for its musical worth. Great sentiment, perhaps a decent song…not the best performance, though.

Still, a solid collection on which you’re almost certain to find something that you liked back in the days when it was getting steady radio airplay (perhaps even before Lennon’s death, if you’re as old as I am or older), and maybe something new to like as well.

As critical as I am of Double Fantasy, by the way, it does have its value musically. Once, a couple of jobs ago, I was trying to bring something to my boss’ attention but he was busy schmoozing on a seemingly endless network conference call. So, before leaving the second floor to go about my business, I calmly reversed my CD track programming to play only the Yoko Ono tracks on Double Fantasy, cranked the office stereo, and quietly walked downstairs. I can still hear the anguished shouts and screams from the second floor to this day.

1. Imagine (3:04)
2. Instant Karma! (3:21)
3. Mother (3:56)
4. Jealous Guy (4:16)
5. Power To The People (3:20)
6. Cold Turkey (5:01)
7. Love (3:24)
8. Mind Games (4:14)
9. Whatever Gets You Through The Night (3:21)
10. #9 Dream (4:48)
11. Stand By Me (3:29)
12. (Just Like) Starting Over (3:56)
13. Woman (3:28)
14. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) (4:02)
15. Watching The Wheels (3:33)
16. Nobody Told Me (3:35)
17. Borrowed Time (4:31)
18. Working Class Hero (3:52)
19. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (3:35)
20. Give Peace A Chance (4:52)

Released by: EMI/Parlophone
Release date: 1997
Total running time: 77:38