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Saturday 23 May 2009

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Soundtrack)


This is the eighth soundtrack release to come from Bear McCreary and he just keeps getting better and better. Okay so it's not quite his best, but it definitely is one of them.

The opening track "Samson And Delilah" performed by Shirley Manson, I didn't really like at first. However, it has really grown on me and I particularly love the ending of it.

Next up is the "Opening Title" where Bear McCreary incorporates Brad Fiedel's iconic Terminator drums into a great little cue containing strings and electronics that build up to Brad's theme.

But Bear doesn't just manage to give the opening titles a traditional Terminator feel, he some how does it with the whole score. It stays true to the sound of Terminator and Brad Fiedel's original scores for The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and yet he uses all new themes.

There are plenty of stand out cues on this soundtrack which make it a great listen. Unfortunately for me though there are a couple of tracks which I'm not so keen on as well. The first one is "Ain't It Famous" written and performed by Brendan McCreary. I've not seen season 2 yet, so I'm unsure how it fits into the show, but for me it doesn't really belong on the soundtrack, as when I sit down to listen to the whole thing it takes me as far away from Terminator as you can get.

Likewise with the cue "Atomic Al's Merry Melody". This cue was composed for a cartoon that appeared on the television in the background of a scene. It fits right in with the old cartoon stile of music, so congratulations to Bear for that. However, for me, it disrupted my listening experience.

I liked "Ain't It Famous" and "Atomic Al's Merry Melody" at first. However, I quickly grew tired of these tracks, unlike the rest of the soundtrack. I think I would have preferred if these tracks were tagged onto the end of the soundtrack instead of placed a third and two thirds of the way through.

Nevertheless, this has got to be my favourite Terminator soundtrack to date. Although from the sneak peak I've heard of Danny Elfman's score to Terminator Salvation it might not be for long. If your a fan of any Terminator music then this is a must buy, as it is for any fan of Bear McCreary.

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