Categories
Deaths Matters of Life & Death Music

Paul Hester, Crowded House drummer, dies

Paul HesterPaul Hester, former drummer for Split Enz and Crowded House, is found dead at the age of 46 in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Though police say the death is not “suspicious,” they rule it a suicide. Hester was a mainstay of the Melbourne music scene in the 80s when he auditioned to fill the vacant drum seat in Australian/New Zealand supergroup Split Enz. He joined the group for its 1984 tour, and only recorded one album, 1985’s See Ya Round, in the studio with Split Enz before the band broke up. He joined Neil Finn in a quest to launch a new band which, with the addition of bassist Nick Seymour, was eventually christened Crowded House and scored a #2 on the Billboard charts in early 1987 with “Don’t Dream It’s Over”. He recorded and toured with Crowded House until 1994, when the rigors of touring – and impending fatherhood – convinced him to return to Melbourne with his family.

Categories
Music

Battlestar Galactica Season 1 soundtrack

La-La Land Records releases Bear McCreary’s soundtrack from the first season of Sci-Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica reboot. Released by popular demand from the show’s fan base, the soundtrack displays the series’ rapidly evolving, complex musical direction, including the unusual dual main theme tunes (one used for broadcast in the UK, one used in the US).

More about Battlestar Galactica soundtracks in Music Reviews
Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast

Categories
Deaths Matters of Life & Death Music

Joe Harnell, composer, dies

V soundtrackProlific film and TV composer Joe Harnell, whose memorable themes introduced audiences to such shows as The Incredible Hulk, the original V miniseries and The Bionic Woman, dies of heart failure at the age of 80. Before breaking into film music, he toured America and Europe with the Glenn Miller Air Force Band, and then landed numerous gigs as a musical director for such legendary talents as Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Beverly Sills, Judy Garland, and Lena Horne. He also released over a dozen albums of his own piano compositions. A three-time Emmy nominee for Best Dramatic Score, his atypical choice of a somber solo piano for the main titles of The Incredible Hulk was the beginning of a long partnership with writer/producer Kenneth Johnson, who also utilized his talents in V and Alien Nation, among other shows. He was also a film scoring lecturer and teacher in residence at the University of Southern California.

Categories
Music

Battlestar Galactica Season 2 soundtrack

La-La Land Records releases Bear McCreary’s soundtrack from the second season of Sci-Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica reboot. The second season soundtrack CD continues to show off the series’ impressive musical palette – ranging from Middle Eastern influences to hard rock – as well as new interpretations of the main theme from the 1970s iteration of Galactica.

More about Battlestar Galactica soundtracks in Music Reviews

Categories
Music

Saturn 3 soundtrack

Soundtrack specialty label Intrada releases Elmer Bernstein’s soundtrack from the oddball 1980 Kirk Douglas sci-fi vehicle Saturn 3. This is the first release of the movie’s soundtrack, with the master tapes having spent most of the intervening years being unaccounted for.

More about Soundtracks in Music Reviews