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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Lexx: (Marty Simon) The most successful Sci-Fi Channel show currently running is the explicitly sexual Lexx, a series dominated by everything and anything perverse. To understand the series, you really must watch an episode or two. The level of sexuality is so flagrant that the show has been referred to as softcore porn rather than a sci-fi affair. To an extent, such comments are correct; one could easily get the impression that the sci-fi venue for Lexx is only a casual backdrop for the constant orgasmic content of the story. The show was extended to its fourth season this next year, with no small debt of gratitude extended to the consistently pornographic elements of its premise. Its open sexuality is responsible, in whole, for the success of the show, and ultimately, its music as well. For a series that includes characters blatantly pulling at each other's loins, debating the intricacies of supreme sexual satisfaction, and arguing about the same old "who gets to mount whom," a new breed of score is required. Composer Marty Simon is a veteran of songwriting and arranging, and is the long-standing musical artist for the show. His music for the series, in coordination with the often bizarre and totally unexplainable happenings on screen, jumps around through several kinds of aural genres. One aspect of the scores for Lexx that set them apart from their counterparts on other sci-fi shows is their sensuality. Because of the pornographic edge to the show, Simon has responded with electronic music that is more lyrical than others. He is a one-man crew for most of it, but a greater number of harmonic rhythms --including a range of pop beats-- keep the music on a more consistently listenable level. There isn't the typical action music that you would hear in other shows; even though the giant insect ship Lexx (which is itself shaped in a dubious, curvaceous mold) blows up planets so that it can eat them, the music is more inclined to accompany the plentiful scenes of lust. The third season title theme, leading off the album, begins with the choral Vaiyo A-O fight song and the best version of the theme. The better score cues included on the album are lumped in its first half, with quite listenable and lengthy cues of romance leading well into each other. The middle portion of the album features the bulk of unlistenable rock rhythms and samples of synthesized harshness. The final few selections dive into a euphoric feeling before yielding to a wretched performance of the second season theme. The music is so diverse within itself that it is difficult to grasp any one part of it before it is over, so in essence, the strength of the music from the show is also the weakness of the album. The changes of feeling within the convoluted scenes cause the music to whip itself into a frenzy. For the same reason that many Star Trek lovers don't understand or appreciate the Lexx series, traditional film music collectors won't understand or appreciate the music for Lexx. Therefore, I wouldn't recommend this album to the mass of mainstream film score collectors. I don't normally recommend any such albums to those score collectors, simply because their electronically low-budget atmosphere tends to irritate too many of them (with Christopher Franke remaining one of the only exceptions). The lyrical and harmonic aspects of this music, while placing it above many others, still doesn't establish much of a base motif or theme to work by... other than the occasional references to the Vaiyo A-O song heard at the outset. The marketing intent of the album was surely to appeal to the encapsulated fans of the orgasmic show. The female vocals within the show are audible enough to make this album a delightful treat for those devoted fans. The album itself is presented in a fashion that would irritate a traditional score collector. The cues from singular are not placed together in sequence, and are interrupted by quotes from all the major characters in show (including the typical "who gets to screw poor Zev" debate). This is the kind of thing that will cause fans of the show to go orgasmic themselves, while leaving others scratching their heads. Lexx has a fanbase all unto itself, and this album is the prize bounty for that crowd. I doubt that anyone else would find it comprehensible or interesting. ***
The insert notes include extensive notes about the series and its music. The first sound you hear in the first movie of Lexx features a very alive Kai singing the Brunnen G Fight song. Kai was leading a squadron of warriors who were defending their planet. This song was sung during all the great battles of the courageous and glorious Brunnen G. Lyrics are as follows: Vaiyo A-O (Fighters fight the fight), A Home Va Ya Ray (For their home and their heart), Vaiyo A-Rah (We fighters will win or die), Jerhume Brunnen G (Forever we are Brunnen G). The album includes quotes from actors Brian Downey, Xenia Seeberg, Eva Haberman, Michael McManus, Jeffery Hirshfield, and Tom Gallant. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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