Huxley is, like many modern power pop practitioners, an admirer of Jeff Lynne’s songwriting and production acumen, and so perhaps it was wise for him to do something really unexpected with Homemade Spaceship: in many cases, he almost rewrites the music. Same words, but completely different takes on some of the familiar melodies. There are plenty of hints of the familiar melody of “Mr. Blue Sky”, for instance, but the timing has changed, and Huxley completely changes the trajectory of the main vocal melody. The lush harmonies are gone for the most part too, further confusing the ear that’s accustomed to Lynne’s wall of sound.

Some songs stick very close to their source material: “10538 Overture” is a folkier take on the very first ELO song, and has the added benefit of making the lyrics easier to understand than the original does. The closest any of the tracks here comes to their inspiration is “The Diary Of Horace Wimp”, which is presented in a laid-back way but, unlike many of the songs covered on Homemade Spaceship, preserves much of the harmonies in the chorus. “Showdown” stays close to the original, but trades in the original recording’s layers of foreboding strings for a pared-down, folky western dirge.

Some of the songs that do stray further from the source material are real treats: Huxley makes “Evil Woman” his own via some melodic twists and turns that differ significantly from the original, but it still has a driving beat and a bluesy feel at its heart. “Ma-Ma-Ma Belle” is a much softer song than the hard-rocking original, but the changes give the same set of lyrics a compeltely different emotional angle.

My one complaint about Homemade Spaceship is that, like L.E.O., Huxley chooses to parody “Don’t Bring Me Down” instead of doing a more straightforward cover of it. With a faux British accent, he turns it into a song that’s spoken instead of sung, and occasionally reduces it to a Pythonesque farce. After the rest of the album’s thoughtful deconstructions of numerous ELO favorites, this approach struck me as cheap and cheesy, but your mileage may vary. Overall, a very interesting collection – ELO ultra-purists need not apply.

1. 10538 Overture (3:09)
2. Mr. Blue Sky (4:08)
3. Showdown (4:03)
4. Can’t Get It Out Of My Head (4:22)
5. Telephone Line (6:26)
6. Sweet Talkin’ Woman (5:05)
7. Evil Woman (4:54)
8. Ma-Ma-Ma Belle (3:43)
9. Strange Magic (3:41)
10. The Diary Of Horace Wimp (5:13)
11. Do Ya (4:08)
12. Don’t Bring Me Down (3:34)

Released by: Reverberations
Release date: 2005
Total running time: 52:26

The second in a series of releases of “recovered” movie scores from Wendy/Walter Carlos’ library, this disc focuses on collaborations (and sometimes, collisions) between synthesizer and orchestra. Carlos provides her own liner notes both on the music itself and on the painstaking process of recovering it from the damaged master tapes upon which it had originally been recorded, which involved literally baking each reel of tape (quite literally in an oven) at a precise temperature for a precise amount of time; it wasn’t a process where you could put something back in the oven, either – there was one shot at getitng it right and preserving the original material. That same procedure allowed the composer to recover her original master tapes in time for the 20th anniversary release of the Tron score, and so it’s somehow appropriate that more music from Tron – both previously released and previously unreleased – can be heard here, along with music from equally iconic films.

Feel free to call me predictable, but of course what drew me to this volume (not having bought the first CD) was, naturally, the promise of new music from Tron. Fair warning: if that’s the only reason you’re thinking about getting this disc, maybe you should think twice. There isn’t a huge amount of new material presented here for the Tron fanatic, and a goodly chunk of it has been heard before: “Lightcycle Battle” was made available on the 20th anniversary edition DVD, and “Trinitron” – a.k.a. that part of the end credits that was covered up by Journey’s “Only Solutions” – has always been available as part of the end credit suite on the soundtrack releases, going all the way back to the 1982 LP release. (In the liner notes, Carlos makes it sound like this is the first time anyone’s ever heard it. Nope. It’s been my favorite piece of Tron music for 28 years running now!) The various other short tracks, which didn’t even make it into the movie, are interesting to hear…but they’re so short. It’s nice to have track-by-track liner notes for them though.

The material from The Shining, I barely remember, having seen that movie very few times (as opposed to having seen Tron about a zillion times); what I can tell you is that it sounds as sharp as the remastered Tron material, apparently baked to perfection. There’s also a healthy sampling of material from Carlos’ soundtrack to a movie I’ve never heard of, called Woundings.

Included as a couple of bonus tracks are two test tracks Carlos assembled for Dolby Laboratories, and they’re vintage Carlos material – making use of very Bach-like counterpoint in the synth realm, and throwing in just one or two small musical in-jokes (i.e. “That’s all folks!”).

The second volume of Rediscovering Lost Scores is a nice cross-section of Carlos’ movie material, but it’s really not an entry-level album – this one is definitely for listeners who are either already fans of Carlos’ work, or of the movies whose music is included.

The Shining
1. Shining Title Music (3:54)
2. Paraphrase For ‘Cello (3:26)
3. Where’s Jack? (5:24)
4. The Overlook (3:57)
5. Psychic Scream (1:29)
6. Day Of Wrath (1:07)
7. Paraphrase For Brass (1:37)
8. Title Music ‘Dies’ (3:46)
9. Clockworks ‘Dies’ (2:23)

Tron

10. Creation Of Tron Vol. I (0:36)
11. Creation Of Tron Vol. II (0:36)
12. Lightcycle Games (2:06)
13. Anthem (Studio Version) (1:24)
14. Little Interludes (0:56)
15. Trinitron (2:19)

Split Second

16. Visit To A Morgue (1:24)
17. Return To The Morgue (2:50)

Woundings

18. Woundings Title Music (3:12)
19. Angela’s Walk (1:05)
20. Jimmy (1:38)
21. Louise (0:56)
22. Doug Does Angela (1:37)
23. Scattering Ashes (1:33)
24. Angela’s Aftermath (3:47)
25. Jimmy Kills Louise (2:33)
26. In A Cemetery (0:57)
27. Fly Away And End (1:40)

Two Dolby Demos

28. Jiffy Test: Bee Dee Bei Mir (1:25)
29. Listen: Tannhauser (2:18)

Released by: East Side Digital
Release date: 2005
Total running time: 61:55

Is it worth going back to the well for every single note from the movie? Put simply and unequivocally: yes. Some of the best moments of the music from Star Trek were omitted from the single-CD soundtrack album that Varese issued at the time of the movie’s theatrical release. Those moments are restored in more or less chronological order here. I thought that both of the shuttlecraft rides to the Narada (Captain Robau’s and, later, Captain Pike’s) were awesomely menacing stuff, with enough harp to give the average John Williams score a run for its money, and those sequences can be found here. The thrilling orbital skydive to Nero’s drilling platform – a major action setpiece that was curiously left off of the original soundtrack album – is a piece of music likely to keep the fans happy.

Some of the best tracks, however, are those which musically signify Spock’s Vulcan heritage, frequently taking the form of a wistful solo ehru. These cues were mixed down in the movie, and left off of the original soundtrack altogether, and yet they’re some of the film’s best music, as well as one of the most interesting and memorable themes Giacchino has composed to date (and I’m counting his work on Alias, Lost, The Incredibles, Fringe and Ratatouille there too).

I’m going to go on the record as saying that I love Giacchino’s self-penned, punishingly punny track/cue titles, but they require a little bit of lateral thinking and a sense of humor: “Dad’s Route To School” (i.e. the “evicted” Kirk trudging through snow, uphill, both ways) and “Galaxy’s Worst Sushi Bar” (Captain Pike having a poor man’s Ceti eel shoved down his throat) are a couple of my favorite titles. The packaging, while it is indeed awkward to slot into a CD shelf, is gorgeous; the discs themselves are top-down renderings of the saucer sections of the Enterprise (disc one) and the ill-fated U.S.S. Kelvin (disc two). My one complaint is that Varese’s sales pitch made a big deal out of new liner notes by founding Starlog editor Kerry O’ Quinn, a man whose columns and writings in the heyday of (tragically now-defunct) Starlog Magazine are largely responsible for inspiring me to be here writing this now; it’s actually more like one page.

The Star Trek soundtrack is a much more cohesive listen in this form than it was as the first release’s “edited highlights,” in some places making it very clear that Giacchino’s music wasn’t as uninteresting as some listeners found it from the single CD release. It’s just a pity that it wasn’t released in this form from the beginning – the real good stuff is, once again, relegated to the collectors’ market. Well worth seeking out, though at the time of this writing, the 3,000-copy print run of this edition was very close to being sold out.

Disc One
1. Star Trek (2:28)
2. Narada Boom (2:48)
3. Hack To The Future (1:25)
4. Nailin’ The Kelvin (2:09)
5. Labor Of Love (2:44)
6. Main Title (0:46)
7. Head To Heart Conversation (1:10)
8. One Proud Mother (1:37)
9. Hella Bar Talk (1:56)
10. The Flask At Hand (0:28)
11. Welcome Back, Spock (1:09)
12. Vulcan Gets A Good Drilling (1:30)
13. Hangar Management (2:47)
14. Enterprising Young Men (3:05)
15. Flying Into A Trphlthdl (3:23)
16. Nero Sighted (3:23)
17. Matter? I Barely Know Her! (2:07)
18. Jehosafats (3:02)
19. Chutes And Matter (3:29)
20. A Whole In My Hearth (0:56)
21. I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Beam Up! (1:51)
22. Spock Goes Spelunking (1:30)
23. An Endangered Species (3:09)
24. Galaxy’s Worst Sushi Bar (2:16)
25. Mandatory Leave Of Absence (1:18)
26. Dad’s Route To School (0:35)
27. Frozen Dinner (1:30)
28. You Snowin’ Me? (0:49)

Disc Two
1. Nice To Meld You (3:13)
2. Hail To The Chief (0:51)
3. I Gotta Beam Me (2:02)
4. Scotty’s Tanked (1:39)
5. What’s With You? (2:12)
6. Either Way, Someone’s Going Down (2:43)
7. Trekking Down The Narada (2:32)
8. Run And Shoot Offense (2:02)
9. Does It Still McFly? (2:02)
10. Nero Death Experience (5:38)
11. Nero Fiddles, Narada Burns (2:29)
12. Black Holes Have A Lot Of Pull (0:56)
13. Back From Black (0:58)
14. That New Car Smell (4:45)
15. To Boldly Go (0:26)
16. End Credits (9:11)

Released by: Varese Sarabande
Release date: 2010
Disc one total running time: 55:20
Disc two total running time: 43:39

That’s not to say that it’s a bad album, not by a long stretch. And that’s also not to say that the Crowdies’ sound has ever been frozen in amber: the densely atmospheric Together Alone was a culture shock after the first three Mitchell Froom-produced albums. Intriguer is produced by Finn with Wilco producer Jim Scott, and the result winds up being neither as timeless as the Froom years, nor quite as adventurous as Together Alone. As with 2007′s Time On Earth and its lead single, this album is led by a rather unadventurous single, “Saturday Sun” – not a bad song, but not really attention-grabbing musically or stylistically.

Things get much more interesting with the third track, “Amsterdam”, which laments the city’s infamous reputation as a place where morality gets put on hold, in the form of a pleasant if downbeat ballad. The following track, “Either Side Of The World”, is very off-the-beaten-path for Crowded House, resembling – more than anything – “Paradise (Wherever You Are)” from the first Finn Brothers album. It’s got a jaunty tropical beat in which Sherrod really comes into his own at the drums – it’s a song that I can’t imagine Paul Hester playing, at least not this way. It’s odd that my favorite Crowded House songs these days sound nothing like what most people envision (i.e. Froom’s Hammond organ breaks) when they think of Crowded House. “Either Side” is an anthem to monogamy which goes more than skin-deep on the subject – not exactly a frequent topic of modern song lyrics.

“Isolation” seems to have been inspired by the pacing and arrangements of classic 1950s rock ballads, and is the second song to feature vocal contributions from Finn’s wife Sharon. Straight-ahead rocker “Twice If You’re Lucky” is probably the closest Intriguer comes to the early Crowded House sound, and it burrows its way into your subconscious quickly, along with the bittersweet “Even If”. But the experimentation is by no means a bad thing: the glue that holds every song together is Neil Finn’s rock-solid songwriting. (As legend would have it, when asked during an interview what it’s like to be the greatest songwriter alive, Paul McCartney declined to answer on the grounds that Finn should hold that title. While I haven’t been able to source this oft-quoted interview, I’ll just settle for saying: ’nuff said.) No matter how “exotic” the style becomes, the songs at least have that going for them. “Even If” and “Elephants” deliver a double dose of wistful poignancy to slowly wind things to a close – which just means it’s time to start from the beginning again. Intriguer may take a little time to grow on you, but rest assured, it will.

1. Saturday Sun (3:26)
2. Archer’s Arrows (4:04)
3. Amsterdam (3:34)
4. Either Side Of The World (4:35)
5. Falling Dove (4:35)
6. Isolation (4:37)
7. Twice If You’re Lucky (3:33)
8. Inside Out (3:19)
9. Even If (4:02)
10. Elephants (4:30)

Released by: Fantasy
Release date: 2010
Total running time: 40:15

Something For Everyone brings the original lineup back together, and most of the material here, while brand new, sits comfortably alongside their classic output. One song toward the end of the album, “No Place Like Home”, is about the only song that shows any signs that anyone had even the slightest inclination to modernize the signature Devo sound. Everything else is instant classic Devo.

Highlights include “Mind Games” (which explores another vintage ’80s sound with some quasi-chiptune elements), “Sumthing” (which tackles some clearly modern topics with its lyrics), and a new Devo anthem, “Later Is Now”. These songs – well, just about all of the songs on Something For Everyone – are as catchy as Devo’s ’80s favorites, without being slavish imitations of the material that the group has already done. It’s just about what they used to call “an album full of singles”. If there’s a low point, it’s the goofy spy spoof tune “Cameo”… and even then, it’s not that bad, just not up to the standard of the rest of the material.

If you’ve ever listened to a band get back together and then wondered “What happened to the sound I loved?”, Something For
Everyone is proof that not every reunion is doomed to play out like that. Fortunately for Devo fans of old (or anyone who likes a catchy tune, for that matter), the New Traditionalists are back on the case. Given that it sometimes seems like the band’s old mantra of “devolution” seems to have come to pass in many parts of society, one wonders how we ever got by without them.

1. Fresh (2:59)
2. What We Do (3:17)
3. Please Baby Please (2:41)
4. Don’t Shoot (I’m A Man) (3:26)
5. Mind Games (2:30)
6. Human Rocket (3:22)
7. Sumthin’ (2:46)
8. Step Up (3:00)
9. Cameo (2:49)
10. Later Is Now (3:52)
11. No Place Like Home (3:18)
12. March On (3:50)

Released by: Warner Bros.
Release date: 2010
Total running time: 37:50

If ID4 was the audition for a stellar career, Arnold passed with flying colors. The music from ID4 is epic, with a capital EPIC: nothing is downplayed, and to be honest, very little is played with subtlety. But even the interviews with the filmmakers in the booklet confirm what I’ve always felt about ID4: it’s a big and largely un-intellectual popcorn movie which delights in blowing stuff up real big and dishing out crowd-pleasing one-liners, both visual and verbal. (C’mon, there is something humorously satisfying about Will Smith beating the crap out of a crashed alien pilot in hand-to-tentacle combat.) ID4 isn’t a movie that demanded subtlety from its musical score. Arnold knew exactly what kind of movie he was working on, and delivered music worthy of a blockbuster, loaded down with instantly identifiable leitmotives and themes.

The new album spreads the complete original score, note for note as heard in the movie, across the first CD and about a quarter of the second CD. The rest of the second CD includes unused alternate versions of many scenes, as well as stripped-down versions of cues that originally featured choir. These tracks are fully orchestral, but let you focus only on what the orchestra’s doing. It’s a neat trick, and an economical one since musicians’ union rules charge even more for a recording featuring a choir than an orchestral recording alone can charge. The original single-CD release from 1996 was no slouch and featured a generous amount of music from major scenes, at a time when many soundtrack CDs were starting to clock in at about 40-45 minutes due to the costs of paying every orchestral musician and every singer for every minute of their music being published. La-La Land took a real risk on reissuing the complete soundtrack: it was a far more expensive proposition (for the label), and it’s not exactly a new movie. (It’s not an obscure movie either, though, which is probably the saving grace of the new ID4 soundtrack.)

It almost goes without saying that the highlights on either disc are the major action setpieces. Few of the quieter moments are nearly as memorable: in going back to listen to “The President’s Speech”, the music wasn’t quite as inspirational as I seemed to remember. The alternate takes are interesting stuff, though: if you own the DVD of ID4, you know that a very different ending was originally planned before the producers decided to go for a more credibility-stretching (but, again, crowd-pleasing) conclusion, and the music for that rejected sequence can be found here. The other alternate takes range from minor differences in musical emphasis and arrangement, to more major changes that are likely the symptoms of constant changes to the movie in the editing room.

It’s good foreground listening material, and well worth the purchase price. ID4‘s soundtrack isn’t subtle, but neither was the movie. Sometimes you just need good accompaniment for big explosions. That would be this soundtrack.

Disc One
1. 1969: We Came In Peace (2:01)
2. S.E.T.I. – Radio Signal (1:53)
3. Mysto Bridge /Satellite Collision / Destroyers Disengage / Russell Casse, Pilot (2:17)
4. First Sighting /AWAC Attack (2:18)
5. The Darkest Day (4:14)
6. Moving Day / Countdown (2:12)
7. Cancelled Leave (1:46)
8. Commence Lift-off / Parabolic Indenwhat? (1:17)
9. Evacuation (5:48)
10. Firestorm (1:24)
11. Aftermath (3:36)
12. Base Attack (6:11)
13. Marilyn Found (1:29)
14. Area 51 / The Big Tamale / Formaldehyde Freak Show (4:12)
15. El Toro Destroyed (1:31)
16. Slimey Wakes Up (5:24)
17. Target Remains / Rescue (5:56)
18. The Death of Marilyn / Dad’s A Genius (3:34)
19. Alien Ship Powers Up (1:46)
20. International Code (1:32)
21. Wedding (1:50)
22. The President’s Speech (3:11)

Disc Two
1. Just In Case /Attacker Fires Up (3:10)
2. The Launch Tunnel /Mutha Ship / Virus Uploaded (8:27)
3. Hide! / Russell’s Packin’ (The Day We Fight Back) (4:44)
4. He Did It (1:33)
5. Jolly Roger (3:17)
6. Victory (3:40)
7. End Credits (9:07)
8. 1969: We Came In Peace (Alternate Take) (2:11)
9. Destroyers Disengage (No Choir) (0:34)
10. Cancelled Leave (Alternate Take) (1:43)
11. Commence Lift-off (Alternate Take) (0:55)
12. Base Attack (Segment – Film Version) (2:27)
13. Marilyn Found (No Choir) (1:28)
14. Target Remains/Rescue (Alternate Take) (2:40)
15. Dad’s A Genius (Alternate Take) (0:45)
16. Attacker Fires Up (Original Version – No Choir) (2:01)
17. Virus Uploaded (Alternate Take) (2:35)
18. The Day We Fight Back (Original Version) (5:48)
19. Jolly Roger (Alternate Take) (3:22)
20. End Credits (Segment, No Choir) (2:47)

Released by: La-La Land Records
Release date: 2010
Disc one total running time: 65:31
Disc two total running time: 63:34

Parsons hasn’t been sitting idle, however; he’s spent the past few years shooting and editing an instructional DVD set, The Art & Science Of Sound Recording, covering the entire process of creating, recording and releasing music, and it’s from that other Alan Parsons project (sorry, couldn’t resist) that this single springs. The A-side, “All Our Yesterdays”, is followed throughout the DVDs as an example, from its inception through the final recording. The instrumental track “Alpha Centauri” is the theme music from the DVDs. In essence, these two songs make up the soundtrack of The Art & Science Of Sound Recording – and they’re a nice little spin-off on their own.

Anyone expecting more of the same from A Valid Path may think this is a step back, however. “All Our Yesterdays” isn’t quite low-tech, but it’s a more traditional rock number than A Valid Path‘s electronica-infused songs. (It fits nicely alongside material from Parsons’ On Air album in “feel”.) “Alpha Centauri” is an epic instrumental in classic Parsons style: hypnotically repeating echoplexed guitar riffs? Check. Orchestral backing that gradually builds in intensity? Check. Basically, “Alpha Centauri” follows in the mold of great Parsons instrumentals like “Mammagamma”.

Parsons has said that he’s considering commencing work on a new studio album in 2010, but with a new tour (with a new touring band) announced for this summer as well, smart money is on a 2011 or later release. In the meantime, “All Our Yesterdays” and “Alpha Centauri” make for a nice bite-sized preview: hopefully Parsons isn’t done honing his own art (and/or science) of sound recording under his own name.

1. All Our Yesterdays (4:31)
2. Alpha Centauri (3:19)

Released by: Authentik
Release date: 2010
Total running time: 7:50

The answer is a roughly equal mix of yes and no. As with Trek II, the original release of Trek III‘s soundtrack bizarrely omitted some of the movie’s most iconic moments. The destruction of the Enterprise (“A Fighting Chance To Live”) is a rather major event in Trek history, but the music accompanying that scene didn’t rate inclusion on the old soundtrack release. It’s a beautiful piece, Horner at his best, and at nearly five minutes, it’s not a piece that’s so short that you could blink and miss it (a frequent excuse for not including a prominent cue on a soundtracka album). Another scene that always struck me musically – accompanied by the track “Sunset On Genesis” – is also a long-lost treasure. It’s nice to have the film version (rather than an “album edit”) of “Stealing The Enterprise”, though the difference isn’t enormous.

Unlike some critics, I’ve always thought Horner’s unique take on a musical signature for the Klingons was appropriate, fitting nicely alongside the “Klingon Battle” piece from The Motion Picture, but even wilder. (In any case, Goldsmith’s Klingon music from the first movie was almost more of a theme for V’Ger, and didn’t gain its signature bombast – a la Horner – until 1989′s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.) It’s nice to hear Horner’s Klingon motif put through its paces (as in the track “Grissom Destroyed”).

Where things fall down is when the music slips into a single-high-note drone, mainly covering what could be called “Vulcan mysticism scenes”. They may have been appropriate for the film, but they’re extremely tedious as stand-alone listening. I would just skip these tracks and count off a few points, except that by the last third of the soundtrack, these tracks are so prevalent. Basically, after the Genesis planet is destroyed and Kirk & co. make off with their newly-acquired Klingon Bird of Pray, I tend to skip straight to the end. The first CD is rounded out by a selection of “source” music heard in the bar scenes as the Spock-possessed McCoy tries to wheel and deal for passage to the Genesis planet.

Due to contractual constraints involving the label that originally released the Trek III soundtrack LP, a second disc tags along with the first, replicating that LP in its entirety (although it’s been remastered, so it’s not a total loss). The second disc is essentially the same disc as what was released by GNP Crescendo in the early 1990s, and is the same as the original EMI LP released in 1984. The version of “Stealing The Enterprise” heard here differs slightly from the film version, but the real saving grace of the LP is the very dated, Meco-esque “Group 87″ synth-disco cover of the theme music. Over-serious, dyed-in-the-wool soundtrack afficionados may hate it, but I’m glad to see it preserved here, even though it means a second CD that increased the price of the set.

Overall, the new Trek III soundtrack is a worthy upgrade, but that worthiness is sometimes a little harder to find than it was with the much more listenable complete score from Trek II. There are persistent rumors – which, interestingly, haven’t been denied outright – that Film Score Monthly isn’t done mining Paramount’s music vaults for Star Trek material this year, so hopefully more musical delights await us from the final frontier.

Disc One
1. Prologue and Main Title (6:32)
2. Klingons (5:59)
3. Spock’s Cabin (1:41)
4. The Klingon’s Plan (1:03)
5. The Mind-Meld (2:32)
6. Stealing The Enterprise (8:41)
7. Grissom Destroyed (1:04)
8. Sunset On Genesis (2:18)
9. Spock Endures Pon Farr (3:04)
10. Bird Of Prey Decloaks (3:48)
11. A Fighting Chance To Live (3:54)
12. Genesis Destroyed (2:43)
13. Returning To Vulcan (4:58)
14. The Katra Ritual (4:31)
15. End Titles (6:19)
16. That Old Black Magic / Tangerine / I Remember You (10:32)

Disc Two
1. Prologue and Main Title (6:30)
2. Klingons (5:58)
3. Stealing The Enterprise (8:35)
4. The Mind-Meld (2:32)
5. Bird Of Prey Decloaks (3:48)
6. Returning To Vulcan (4:56)
7. The Katra Ritual (4:31)
8. End Titles (6:20)
9. The Search For Spock performed by Group 87 (3:43)

Released by: Film Score Monthly / Retrograde Records
Release date: 2010
Disc one total running time: 79:39
Disc two total running time: 46:53

Is this true? Well, yes and no. Goldsmith does an admirable job of conjuring up that same sense of wonder that he employed in Trek, though of course the arrangement is different, and the one thing that would’ve made a strong connection between the two films’ music – the blaster beam instrument – is a no-show for Innerspace. But seeing that Goldsmith was writing and arranging music for Innerspace and not another Star Trek flick, that’s completely understandable: the literature trying to convince us that Trek fans will eat this up is, perhaps, overstating the case.

Taking up much more of the proceedings are a wistful Americana-flavored theme for Quaid’s washed-up (and washed-out) astronaut, and a comically threatening, twangy motif for the bizarre enemy agent played (complete with evil foreign accent) by Robert Picardo. Action cues begin commanding some of the action about 1/3 of the way though, and while they’re perfectly decent action music, they’re nothing groundbreaking by Goldsmith’s standards (but that still means it’s better than most movie action music).

Innerspace is a more than competent movie score – Jerry Goldsmith never quite seemed to reach the stage where he was phoning it in, which is why fans go nuts when a score like Innerspace is released. If there’s a disservice here, it may well be the marketing hoopla comparing it to some of the composer’s even better works.

1. Main Title (2:16)
2. Take Him Home / Broken Toe (1:48)
3. Tell Me About It (2:17)
4. State of the Art / The Charge (6:55)
5. Gas Attack (4:53)
6. The Injection (2:12)
7. The Hand / Fat Cells (1:01)
8. Woman In Red (2:36)
9. What Is It? (1:08)
10. Optic Nerves (3:59)
11. Take It Easy / It’s True (2:18)
12. No Messenger (2:42)
13. No Pain (1:57)
14. User Friendly (1:39)
15. A Close Look (1:34)
16. The Cowboy (0:59)
17. Hold It (3:41)
18. For the Money / A New Man (3:40)
19. How Do I Look? / Save It (1:45)
20. Transformed (3:01)
21. Retransformed (2:52)
22. Where Am I? (2:12)
23. The Womb (4:38)
24. Fair Exchange (2:05)
25. Stop The Car (5:59)
26. Out Of The Pod (3:55)
27. Disengage (3:00)
28. No Red Lights (1:18)

Released by: La-La Land Records
Release date: 2009
Total running time: 78:20

Where the previous album was skewed heavily toward gentler, less action-oriented music, Makara swings the pendulum hard in the other direction. Highlights include “Kalki”, “Ushas”, “Arise” and “Krosah”, but generally speaking, the action trailer music on Makara isn’t up to the level of similar material on Unearthed; it’s hard to put a finger on, but just as the gentle-and-sentimental material on Cartographer varied between listenable and just plain maudlin, Makara veers between enjoyably bombastic and “just too much” with a handful of quieter tracks (including a strangely flat-but-trying-so-hard-to-be-epic take on “Moonlight Sonata”).

Still, if you’re a fan of trailer music, you know what you’re getting into, and if what you want to get into sounds like the musical accompaniment to a preview that’s thick with gunfire and explosions, Makara won’t let you down.

1. Kalki (3:05)
2. Varuna (4:17)
3. Unstoppable (3:04)
4. Durga (3:41)
5. Manju (4:18)
6. Kuvera (4:05)
7. Ushas (3:55)
8. Lavanya (3:57)
9. Vishnu (3:38)
10. Indra (4:18)
11. Arise (4:12)
12. Saint Matthew Passion (3:38)
13. Krosah (4:50)
14. Anumati (3:19)
15. Moonlight Sonata (5:30)

Released by: Wigshop Records
Release date: 2010
Total running time: 59:47