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Lost
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Season Six:
Last Episodes
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Composed, Co-Orchestrated, and Produced by:
Conducted by:
Tim Simonec
Co-Orchestrated by:
Chad Seiter
Andrea Datzman
Performed by:
The Hollywood Studio Symphony
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LABELS & RELEASE DATES
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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The first six albums, each representing a single season, are regular U.S.
releases kept in print by the label during the run of the show and some time thereafter.
The October, 2010 2-CD set was limited to 5,000 copies and at $20 in value was not any
more expensive than the other 2-CD sets for Season Three or Season Six.
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AWARDS
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Winner of an Emmy Award in 2005 and nominated for Emmy Awards
in 2008 and 2010.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... on any and (more likely) all of the albums representing
Michael Giacchino's immensely complex and impressive music for the
concept if, as a fan of the show, you are able to understand and
appreciate the development of his detailed associations contained
within.
Avoid it... on all the albums except those representing Season Four
and Season Six if you are only casually interested in beginning an
exploration of the best music from "Lost."
BUY IT
 | | Giacchino |
Lost: (Michael Giacchino) The only thing the
producers of the television series "Lost" could have done to make its
concept more laughable was to interrupt the climactic events upon the
tropical island in the final episode with a shot of Tom Hanks, bearded
and emaciated, sitting on a rock, trying to carve out a coconut with ice
skates, wondering why his supposedly deserted habitat is suddenly
shaking so much. For those not really in tune with the wild imaginations
of series creators J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, and Damon Lindelof,
"Lost" is nothing more than an obnoxious merging of religious and other
supernatural concepts of prior origin into a convoluted mess of a
narrative. What the series did prove is that the fantasy genre was not
one to avoid on primetime television; ABC enjoyed overwhelming critical
and popular success with "Lost," though its ratings and award wins
dwindled as its plot became more bizarre during its run from 2004 to
2010. What started as a blend of Cast Away and "Survivor"
eventually devolved into a dizzying whirlwind of temporal paradoxes and
alternate realities, including a concept of purgatory that wasn't
revealed in its purpose until the series finale. The survivors of a
plane crash on a South Pacific island (introduced through extensive
flashback sequences) first learn to survive but then are used as pawns
in successive seasons during an elaborate struggle over a source of
supernatural energy that exists on the island. If you can't handle
complicated explorations of the concepts of fate and destiny, or if your
logical mind has no time to bother with ridiculous fantasies used as a
tool for character drama, then "Lost" is indeed laughable. Despite its
questionable hook, the series was an immensely expensive and complex
endeavor given the depth of its "concept bible" and its large cast, and
these considerations made for a tough but rewarding career entry for
composer Michael Giacchino. During the run of "Lost," Giacchino went
from an emerging newcomer in animated film music to one of the only
composers to sweep all the major awards for a single feature score. As a
result of his time commitment to "Lost," his quantity of feature
assignments likely suffered, but also as a result of "Lost" was a
meteoric rise in popularity that undoubtedly helped his name recognition
come time for his widespread recognition for Up. Regardless of
that big screen success, "Lost" remains as the composer's most
impressive cumulative achievement as of the time of its conclusion,
winning an Emmy award in 2005 and nominated in 2008 and 2010.
Just as the plotline and other production elements of
"Lost" had their own "bible," so too did Giacchino's music. The identity
of the overall body of work that the composer provided to "Lost" is
extremely cohesive from start to finish, both in terms of
instrumentation and motifs. The same influences that you hear in
Giacchino's music for the first season are still prevalent in the last
one as well, and many in the mainstream claim to be able to recognize
the music from the show even without hearing a major thematic passage.
These soundtracks have enjoyed the appreciation of both the show's
fanatic following and collectors of Giacchino's film music, yielding at
least seven albums from the Varèse Sarabande label. They are
their own phenomenon outside of their association with the show, mostly
due to the arguably unrivalled coordination of ideas that Giacchino
assembled and remained loyal to. Only Bear McCreary's concurrent efforts
in the "Battlestar Galactica" resurrection could compete on the same
level, and together these composers proved that the era of generic
background music for fantasy and science fiction shows on television
(long an annoyance in the many "Star Trek" series) was over. These shows
each featured dozens of dedicated themes for specific characters,
events, and locations, allowing them to mature and intermingle as the
series progressed. As such, they are not much unlike a really long
single film score, a major appeal alone but one also built upon by a
dynamic instrumental palette in both cases. For Giacchino and "Lost,"
the performing ensemble never wavered. It always consisted of strings,
trombones, and percussion players of the Hollywood Studio Symphony,
conducted by Tim Simonec. An emphasis on harp and solos for strings and
piano are constants, with the only deviations coming in the form of
stereotypical tropical elements (including acoustic guitar) in early
seasons. Giacchino's usual instrumental creativity is limited to the
percussion section, which included the banging of airplane wreckage for
some recorded samples. That said, the use of a bloated trombone section
to represent the only brass in the series is creative in and of itself;
the composer utilizes all the capabilities of that instrument through
the show, including the trademark glissandos that slur their way to
suspense more often than not. Whereas the strings, harps, and piano
often handle the duty of carrying character sensitivity, the trombones
are a tool of brutality for the action scenes and muscle for occasional
majesty, joining with electronic accents and percussion to lend a unique
sound to the concept's darker leanings.
Interestingly, however, the same consistency in
instrumentation that is such a tremendous asset to "Lost" in context
presents some challenges on its soundtrack albums, where the lack of
diversity does cause some of the multitude of themes to lose
distinctiveness in later seasons. The amount of fully developed themes
and lesser motifs in "Lost" is breathtaking, numbering over 40 in the
first category and over 150 in the latter. These range from flowing
dramatic themes with long lines to unique little stingers and other
short phrases that are faithfully applied in carefully placed
synchronization points in the show. True fans of "Lost" have tracked
these applications and published them in incredible detail online. This
review isn't meant to verify or challenge such representations, because
the purpose here is to recommend the albums rather than identify every
wink and nod to a idea with which Giacchino saturates his music. These
same fans have also noticed the inevitable disparity between what you
hear on the seven albums and the final mix in the show, and while there
were plenty of instances in which the mixing crew dialed out Giacchino's
score for a portion of a scene, the composer's music is generally well
treated in "Lost." As with the albums for "Battlestar Galactica" or even
their peer (in terms of complexity of constructs) in the feature film
world, Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the "Lost"
albums also have two potential audiences. Those who love and embrace the
"Lost" concept and lived and died with the series should have no qualms
about picking up each successive album of Giacchino's music for the
series. This review is aimed more at those who have either only a casual
interest in the series or no knowledge of it whatsoever, because such
consumers can't be expected to purchase seven albums of music and sift
through all of that material for the highlights. Like any series, you
can take an hour or so of fantastic album highlights from these "Lost"
CDs and form a superior compilation. The most surprising thing about
"Lost," however, is that Giacchino's achievement really doesn't
translate well onto album in many cases. There is no doubt that his
attention to detail in the actual compositions is worthy of the highest
rating available in this review, but it's important to note that there
really is no five-star album among those released. Thus, to find the
best material from "Lost" to place on your own five-star compilation,
continue reading. Also contained hereafter will be notation about
important observations about each album, including some of the
inevitable low points that exist in any show's music.
Before diving into Giacchino's music on the
season-specific albums, it should be mentioned that Abrams wrote the
short title theme for "Lost." Unfortunately, it's just as electronically
ambient and forgettable as what he wrote for the title of "Alias" and it
appears on the first three albums of "Lost" music. Giacchino's
application of his suspense and mystery material for the "End Title" is
heard on the second and third seasons' albums, and while it's at least
connected to the fabric of the rest of the scores, it's not worth the
trouble either. Several general observations about Giacchino's handling
of the whole concept can be made from the Season One album, despite the
fact that it starts extremely slowly, with much texture and electronic
thumping early. The first note to make is the fact that Giacchino often
betrays his inspirations in this music, often making references to the
styles of John Williams, John Barry, and Bernard Herrmann throughout the
run of the series (though lessening to an extent in the later seasons).
Another point of interest comes in the composer's usual construction of
themes using repeating phrases of an identical number of notes, whether
it's two notes for the "Life and Death" theme, three for the main theme,
four for the "Man in Black" theme, or five for the freighter theme,
among others. He also has a habit of starting and stopping his softer
dramatic development, unafraid of utilizing near silence or actual
pauses during such sequences. As such, this music appropriately looks
backward to Alan Silvestri's Cast Away and foreshadows
Giacchino's own Up. The composer also commonly uses rising bass
string figures as counterpoint to his themes, a technique that would
grace his Star Trek score, from which the Vulcan material would
be hinted at in several places in the "Lost" score's character themes.
For the suspense and action of "Lost," Giacchino utilizes single or
double synthetic and percussive pulses, aided by a common trombone
glissando that often symbolizes the mind-numbing twists of reality in
the plot. Aside from these general techniques, Giacchino not
surprisingly introduces most of the series' major recurring themes in
Season One, and almost all of these receive some air time on the
corresponding CD release. The primary theme of the show consists of a
hopeful three note phrase repeated several times on different keys,
presented clearly in "Credit Where Credit is Due." Equally important to
the series is the "Life and Death" theme, which is almost always
conveyed by piano or cello solos and is one of the major sources of
comparison to the later Vulcan music. Its usage in Season One is best
heard in the respites from the action in "Win One for the Reaper," "Life
and Death," and "Oceanic 815."
Amongst the establishment of the two most significant
themes in the first season of "Lost" (the main theme and "Life and
Death"), Giacchino introduces some worthy supporting ideas. The foremost
of these is the Traveling theme, a jaunty tribute to vintage John
Williams on aggressive strings that almost resembles the seldom
referenced Nazi motif from Raiders of the Lost Ark; it is
summarized on the first album in the latter half of "Hollywood and
Vines." The Rescue theme that brings the season to a close is a
heartfelt, yearning, and dramatic string idea in "Parting Words" that
would eventually be referenced in an unusual way later in the series;
it's possible that this one cue led to the fantastic awards and popular
reception that this season's music received. Important to the album's
presentation is the Revelation motif, a stinger consisting of a trombone
glissando that closes out "Locke'd Out Again" and "Life and Death"
consecutively, as well as "Oceanic 815" at the end of the product. It's
a basically effective but truly obnoxious tool of suspense that frankly
ruins some of the album's best dramatic music. The series kicks off its
multitude of individual character themes almost immediately, and in
Season One, two of them for vital characters stand out. First is Locke's
theme, a rising figure dominated by low strings that also foreshadows
Giacchino's later Vulcan theme. More shameful is the extreme Bernard
Herrmann/ Psycho rip-off for "Kate's Motel." Obviously, by the
composer's usual playful track title, he acknowledges the inspiration,
though it seems a bit out of place for the Kate character in relation to
the other, less awkwardly different thematic representations in the
series. That said, Giacchino executes the Herrmann technique quite well.
Fortunately, the Season One album proved to be much more coherent than
the Season Two follow-up, arguably the weakest entry in the entire
series. Although Giacchino continues to use his previously established
themes from the first season in his second year of writing for the
concept, not much satisfying development of the primary ideas is
exhibited on the Season Two album. One major exception is a reprise of
the Rescue theme heard in full in "The Gathering." Otherwise, plenty of
unremarkable cues plague this product, including the (literally) minutes
of subtle harp plucking in "The Hunt" and, as mentioned before, the
percussive suspense rhythm in "End Title." Among the notable character
themes introduced in Season Two are Hurley's array of affable ideas (led
by the 2-note phrases of innocence in "Hurley's Handouts"), Eko's theme
of pleasant, extremely slow piano and strings in "All's Forgiven...
Except Charlie," and Rose and Bernard's similar theme of arguably
redundant style in "Rose and Bernard."
Rising above the rest of the character-specific ideas for
Season Two is Desmond's theme, a strikingly dramatic string melody that
is a highlight of the year. Unfortunately, its limiting to a fragment in
"Bon Voyage, Traitor" (compared to capitulations in later years) is a
major detriment to this product. Due to the length of the third season,
Varèse Sarabande offered a 2-CD set of music from that year, and
it fares a bit better than the previous entry despite a number of
considerable flaws. First, Season Three opens with a couple of truly
terrible tracks, and subsequent cues like "Storming Monster," with its
choppy strings, stingers, and dissonant undertones, are impossible to
enjoy. Additionally, the second CD simply cannot maintain interest due
to too much lengthy absence of volume, including a substantial amount of
filler music in the eight tracks from the episode "Greatest Hits." Only
three new themes are heard in this year, all of them for central
characters. The highlight among them belongs to Juliet, with a statement
at the end of "Ocean's Apart" not to be missed. Less interesting are the
new identities for Jack and Ben, the latter containing ominous chord
progressions masked in a pretty piano package and taken through several
emotional variants in "Dharmacide." Joining these ideas on the superior
first CD of the Season Three set are reprises of Eko's theme ("Church of
Eko's" and "Leggo My Eko"), Kate's theme (the Herrmann sensibilities
return in "Under the Knife"), Desmond's theme (finally expressed fully
in "Distraught Desmond"), and Hurley's various lighter identities, heard
in "The Lone Hugo" in the same piano form and receiving much album time
thereafter. More interesting is a continuation of the Life and Death
theme at the end of "Here Today, Gone to Maui," development of a theme
for the island (a slow five note rhythmic figure under a broad four note
brass motif that seems inspired by James Horner), and a sort of action
theme for the Others that is a forcefully ominous, nasty chopping and
brass series of bursts in the remarkable "Rushin' the Russian." The
second, weaker CD of music in the Season Three set distracts with
familiar suspense and action motifs in the "Paddle Jumper" tracks. The
only true highlights of this CD are the Life and Death theme's statement
in "Ta-Ta Charlie," a Hurley theme in "Hurley's Helping Hand," and some
substantial usage of the Traveling theme in "The Good Shepherd," "An
Other Dark Agenda," "The Only Pebble in the Jungle," and "Jack FM."
Thankfully, the absence of a significant number of highlights from
either the Season Two or Season Three products is compensated for by a
much more engaging Season Four album.
Despite its return to a single CD form (in conjunction
with a much shorter season for the show), the Season Four album was
easily the best product of the first four to be released. It has
fantastic individual highlights such as the "C4-Titude" cue (a
powerhouse with the main theme joined with the new Freighter theme) and
a sense of cohesive flow in the action cue of "There's No Place Like
Home," a trait not really exhibited thus far by the more rowdy
selections. Of the four new themes introduced in this year, two of them
make a significant impact. The most lasting impression is made by the
Oceanic Six theme, which accompanies a return to civilization with an
easily digestible identity that would be reprised commonly by Giacchino
in the later seasons. It's a rather obvious reference to John Barry's
broad strokes of dramatic strings and lots of flowing counterpoint with
the trombones (finally!) in a supporting role. Not surprisingly, it's
often paired with the Life and Death theme, and from its tortured,
agonizing development in "Of Mice and Ben," it steals the show in its
major performance in "Landing Party." The other dominant new identity in
Season Four belongs to the Freighter theme. Figuring heavily in the
"There's No Place Like Home" episodes and in the cues "Time and Time
Again" and (at the end of) "Locke-About," this large-scale new idea
features five muscular notes from ominous brass in fanfare mode. It's a
shame that the musical idea was as short-lived as the role of the
freighter itself. Also beginning in this season is the rollout of the
alternate character themes, including a "flashforward" identity for
Hurley that is expressed with slow, somber strings in "Giving Up the
Ghost" (a cue unfortunately interrupted by dissonant crescendo of
suspense). Returning themes of notable impact in Season Four include the
Life and Death theme reprised nicely in "Locke'ing Horns" and "Ji Yeon,"
Desmond's theme finally fleshed out in full in "The Constant" and "Lying
for the Island," the Traveling theme churning full blooded action
propulsion in "Timecrunch," and the dreaded continuation of the
Revelation motif to end the album in "Hoffs-Drawlar." The scores for the
Fifth Season of "Lost" are good, and they well represent part of a
general maturation of Giacchino's ideas as a whole, but they're not as
strong as those for Season Four or Season Six. The opening tracks on the
corresponding single-CD album highlight bass string variations on
existing themes ("Making Up For Lost Time," "The Swinging Bendulum," and
"Locke's Excellent Adventure"), and the material for Locke understandably
receives significantly weightier exploration in subsequent cues. A fresh
love theme in "La Fleur" and "Sawyer Jones and the Temple of Boom"
returns to softer romantic elements from earlier in the series.
The Fifth Season cue "Follow the Leader" is a point of
interest as it expertly juggles more than half a dozen themes; such
quick maneuvers would become more common in Season Six. The action core
of the latter half of the season conveys more impressive muscularity,
eventually merged very effectively with the Juliet and Life and Death
themes in "The Incident." Of the four new themes in Season Five, only
one is truly important to the rest of the series. This identity for the
protector of the island, Jacob, is a heavily downbeat, extremely slow
waltz-like theme for strings that initially lacks much gravity. Fuller
renditions in "Blessings and Bombs" yield to diluted performances in
"Jacobs Stabber." A Destiny theme is also new, employed as a harmonic
momentum builder in "Sawyer Jones and the Temple of Boom." The Oceanic
Six theme and main theme are the notable veterans on the album, the
former given full treatment at the end of "Together or Not Together" and
the latter really worked well into the action and suspense material in
"Crash and Yearn" before its three-note phrases are twisted around in
"Jacks Swan Song" and "Dharma vs. Lostaways." The Sixth Season is where
Giacchino really starts intertwining the themes with expert detail, with
several tracks parading out ideas (or merging them) at will. The overall
package of many of the cues became more listenable on album in this
final year as well, leading to the understandable emphasis by
Varèse Sarabande on expanding upon their offering of "Lost"
albums to take advantage of not only this increase of superior music but
also the height of interest still lingering from the show's finale in
2010. A double CD set of music from Season Six originally perturbed fans
by excluding music from the final handful of episodes, though it was
widely guessed that the label made this move with the understanding that
a selection of music from the last four episodes would occupy its own
set to be released later the same year. That second product for Season
Six, titled "The Last Episodes," was released as part of Varèse's
series of limited pressings of current releases, though thankfully at a
quantity of 5,000 albums instead of the customary 1,000. The first,
unlimited set of music representing Season Six stands well even without
the emotional tour-de-force that closes out "The Last Episodes." While
intriguing to devoted "Lost" followers, the influx of alternate
character themes do begin to muddy the waters, despite the fact that the
concentration on narrowing down the original character themes (as heard
in "Temple and Spring") appropriately mirrors the narrowing of
candidates to replace the protector of the island in the plot. One
fleeting hint of the lighter percussive tone of early seasons closes out
such material in "Door Jammer."
Giacchino didn't stop producing new themes in the Sixth
Season, in fact introducing eight new ideas, some of which spectacular.
The villainous Man in Black theme is about as treacherous as these
scores get, reportedly derived from the Sarasangi scale of South Indian
classical music and consisting of eight notes from deep in the piano's
lowest registers. It clearly steps forth at the start of "Jacob's
Ladders" and "The Substitute," takes command late in "Catch a Falling
Star," and is reprised on the second CD with bass strings in "Dead Man
Talking." Also to be reckoned with is the new theme for the Temple, its
prickly, plucked minor third rhythm introduced in "Coffin Calamity" and
"Lie Thou There" before the full melody explodes in "Death Springs
Eternal" and "The Rockets' Red Glare." This theme is also reminiscent of
Raiders of the Lost Ark (mainly the Ark material) and is joined
with the Life and Death theme in "Death Springs Eternal" and mingles
with Jacob's established theme in "Sundown." A purgatory theme to
summarize the sideways movements in the plot is developed beautifully on
piano/violins throughout the "LA X" episodes. An alternate theme for
Locke and his physical redemption features great cello solos in "Helen
of Joy." On the second CD of the initial Season Six set is another
intoxicating new theme that reminds of Giacchino's Vulcan theme,
representing Richard, introduced in "None the Richard" and used
frequently to great effect in the "Ab Aeterno" episode. Among the
returning identities in Season Six, none is as important as Jacob's
theme. Hints of it appear at start of "Doing Jacob's Work" and a fuller,
even slower version in "Trouble is My First Name" eventually builds to a
grandiose performance in the very engaging "The Lighthouse." The main
theme is given a twist of Jerry Goldsmith's The Twilight Zone
style in "A Sunken Feeling" and finally espouses cautious but flighty
optimism in "Sunny Outlook." The Oceanic Six theme returns longingly in
latter half of "Karma Has No Price." Juliet's lovely theme has a faint
reprise in first half of "Smokey and the Bandits." Desmond's theme,
along with his alternate motif, grace "None the Nurse" and "Happily Ever
After." Hurley's various initial identities receive a rare reprise among
alternate material in "Hugo Reyes of Light" and "A Memorable Kiss." A
recurring element not heard often on the albums is Giacchino's
adaptation of the 1957 song "Catch a Falling Star," though this
recurring theme for Claire experiences an eerie vocal version here. In
general, the second CD in this set opens with two cues from the episode
"Recon" that skirt unsatisfactorily between lesser motifs, but the cues
"And Death Shall Have No Dominion" and especially "Jacob's Advocate"
alternate well between the scores' better themes (Jacob, Richard, Man in
Black, etc).
The final two tracks on the second CD representing the
first half of Season Six are bonus previews of material from "The End,"
all of which redundant if you own the seventh and final album offering.
On that product, a significant amount of music from that finale occupies
the second CD alone while the three previous episodes each receive
lengthy treatment on the first CD. The action music in the episode "The
Candidate" is generally too skittish and switches too fast between
themes and motifs to function well on album, whereas "Across the Sea"
presents the most compelling new theme of these last episodes. The
episode "What They Died For" is more cohesive in its rotation between
major themes in light drama mode. The first CD ends well, with "Get Out
of Jail Free Card" a very engaging, aggressively rhythmic combination of
the Desmond and Hurley themes (though a percussive shaker mixed too much
in the forefront at the climax is distracting). The application of the
trombones to the three-note monster motif on this CD is especially
intense, too. Highlighting the thematic usage from these three episodes
is the aforementioned addition of a new identity for the Mother and,
alternatively, the Light. This elusive, uneasy, slightly sinister but
enticing string theme is introduced in "Across the Sea" but flourishes
in its full ensemble performance in "Don't Look at the Light." Used
throughout the rest of the "Across the Sea" episode, it often mingles
with the Jacob and Man in Black themes as expected. Jacob's returning
theme is subjected to rather a drab sense of resignation in "Walk and
Talk and Aah!" before achieving some hope through its new meaning in
"Jack's Cup Runneth Over." Also challenged at this point is the main
theme, which likewise suffers from some exhaustion. Among the many
alternate character themes in the Sixth Season, the one for Locke
continues to stand out, delicately plucked in "Flew the Coup" before
returning to its prior beauty on cello solo. The music from "The End" on
the second CD in the final set is dominated early by pleasant alternate
reality themes, meant by Giacchino as sentimental closure for the
majority of the characters. Individual character themes often overlap to
reach their final forms, both in drama and action environments, and some
of these interactions become outwardly melodramatic in their harmonic
expressions. There is no doubt that Giacchino was going for the tear
jerking effect in these cues, and he is mostly successful. The
"Parallelocam" montage consists of a bittersweet but undeniably
attractive variation on Life and Death theme. The cue "The Long Kiss
Goodbye" is alone a spectacle of rotating ideas, followed by "The Hole
Shabang" in Giacchino's best adventure mode of the entire series (it's a
fantastic action finale and resolution cue, presented in full here as
opposed to a slightly abridged version on the previous Season Six
set).
As one could predict, Giacchino sends off the audience
with one last reminder of potentially lingering dark forces at the end
of "Aloha." Some might consider this something of a cliche, but it's one
of those irresistible moves by any screenwriter and composer. The trio
of cues from "Closure" to "Moving On" was meant to be the emotional core
of the show's final twenty minutes, though while the cues are basically
effective, he really tones back the depth of his contribution in these
important moments. Compared to cues earlier in this episode, "Closure"
underdelivers in its somber character interactions. Likewise, "Moving
On," which appropriately reverts to the Life and Death and main themes,
clearly tries to capture the same heart in its piano solos as the famous
score for Up, but the same level of touching sadness is not
achieved because of the extremely slow tempi and a return to the use of
frequent pauses to try to denote finality. The listening experience is a
bit jolted at the very end by the bonus inclusion of the rock and piano
rendition of the Rescue theme from the First Season that was earlier
performed as source material on screen. To his credit, Giacchino never
stopped creating new themes all the way up to the final episodes, and
his last new identity was provided in the form of the Heart theme.
Introduced in "The Well of Holes" and integrated often thereafter, it's
even more tragic than usual for the dramatic themes from "Lost."
Receiving more development is the Mother/Light theme, heard over
percussive rhythms in "The Well of Holes" and "Pulling Out All the
Stops." Notable final tributes to existing themes exist for the
assertive Traveling theme (with sudden reminders of its Williams
mannerisms at the ends of "The Stick With Me Speech" and "Fly by Dire"),
Juliet's great theme (with full expression of the pain of remembrance in
"We Can Go Dutch"), the Oceanic Six theme (tenderly accompanying the
memories in "Jumping Jack's Flash"), and the main theme, which receives
a great harmonious statement of redemption in "Aloha" before finally
resolving lingering issues in subsequent tracks. For enthusiasts of the
show, the second CD in this final set will be a heartbreaking highlight
of the entire series, allowing Giacchino to finally convey his themes in
the flowing context of longer cues (which translate into the longest
tracks of any of the album releases as well). In the end, there are two
general ways of looking at Giacchino's music for "Lost" from the point
of view of a consumer exploring all the album releases. First, you have
the devoted fans of the show versus those who appreciate the composer's
film music but have no interest in "Lost." For the former group of
"Losties," there is no doubt an advantage to knowing the action on
screen so that you can fully grasp where and how Giacchino is applying
his thematic identities.
Conversely, for a non-fan of the "Lost" concept,
Giacchino's themes will tend to bleed together after a while, a
circumstance exacerbated by the limited instrumentation employed. The
albums are well arranged to address the major needs for enthusiasts of
the show, especially in Season Six. Don't be surprised, however, if the
other crowd finds the majority of the music on these albums to be less
than stellar. There is indeed quite a bit of obnoxious suspense material
to be heard, especially in earlier seasons, and the lack of any true
dominance of the main theme or Life and Death theme (not to mention
Abrams' terrible main title and a boring end title from Giacchino) with
which to identify the whole series under one easily recognizable (or
catchy) idea is a major detriment. Also a lingering problem for casual
listeners will be Giacchino's continued reliance on emulating other
composers. Granted, the John Williams references aren't as blatant here
as they are in the original "Medal of Honor" video game score (sidenote: Giacchino
does pull his submarine theme from that concept for a few cameos in "Lost"), but
they, along with the Herrmann and Barry influences, will distract some film
score collectors. The second way of looking at the album situation for
"Lost" is to simply compare each product as a standalone listening
experience, regardless of your interest in the show. Not until Season
Six do you hear any hint of the source songs employed throughout the
series, so they're not really a factor. Giacchino never shook his
addiction to ridiculous cue titles throughout the years, either,
endearing at the start but irritatingly silly by the end (seriously, as
mentioned in other reviews, the composer needs to spend more time
worrying about the music and less time being linguistically clever). In
terms of quality album presentations, disregard Season Two immediately.
Start your "Lost" album collection with the two Season Six sets and
especially the more cost effective Season Four album. Season One is a
generally safe bet, followed by Season Three and then Season Five. In
comparison to Bear McCreary's similar coordination efforts for
"Battlestar Galactica," Giacchino's music is more technically adept and
arguably superior in its highlights. But if you were to make a
compilation of the best listening experiences from both series, don't be
surprised if "Battlestar Galactica" makes for a more consistent and
palatable presentation. That said, Giacchino's achievement for "Lost" is
more impressive from a neutral standpoint because he restricted himself
to a very confined set of instruments with which to operate. Ultimately,
these products are all squarely aimed at concept fans, and the wealth of
albums available for both series just begs for "best of" compilations to
someday be pressed, much like the highlights from Christopher Franke's
"Babylon 5" once served a much wider audience than its episodic CDs. In
the case of "Lost," let the Season Four album serve as your first taste
of one of the most outstanding overall achievements in the history of
television music.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Written for the Series: *****
- Music as Heard on the Seasons Four and Six Albums: ****
- Music as Heard on the Seasons One, Three, and Five Albums: ***
- Music as Heard on the Season Two Album: **
- Overall: ****
| Bias Check: |
For Michael Giacchino reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.46
(in 43 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.21
(in 22,581 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
Thank you, CC!
Rick - March 21, 2012, at 10:46 a.m. |
1 comment (1570 views) |
Well done review
MethodicJon - November 18, 2010, at 10:57 a.m. |
1 comment (1702 views) |
The Submarine Theme Expand >>
Super WWII Guy - November 13, 2010, at 12:34 p.m. |
3 comments (2711 views)
Newest: November 14, 2010, at 3:03 p.m. by
Super WWII Guy |
Audio Samples
▼
• Season One Album:
• Season Four Album:
• Last Episodes Album:
| | |
|
| Season One Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 64:50 |
• 1. Main Title* (0:16)
• 2. The Eyeland (1:58)
• 3. World's Worst Beach Party (2:44)
• 4. Credit Where Credit Is Due (2:23)
• 5. Run Like, Um... Hell? (2:21)
• 6. Hollywood and Vines (1:52)
• 7. Just Die Already (1:51)
• 8. Me and My Big Mouth (1:06)
• 9. Crocodile Locke (1:49)
• 10. Win One for the Reaper (2:38)
• 11. Departing Sun (2:42)
• 12. Charlie Hangs Around (3:17)
• 13. Navel Gazing (3:24)
• 14. Proper Motivation (2:00)
|
• 15. Run Away! Run Away! (0:30)
• 16. We're Friends (1:32)
• 17. Getting Ethan (1:35)
• 18. Thinking Clairely (1:04)
• 19. Locke'd Out Again (3:30)
• 20. Life and Death (3:39)
• 21. Booneral (1:38)
• 22. Shannonigans (2:25)
• 23. Kate's Motel (2:07)
• 24. I've Got a Plane to Catch (2:37)
• 25. Monsters Are Such Innnteresting People (1:29)
• 26. Parting Words (5:30)
• 27. Oceanic 815 (6:11)
|
* composed by J.J. Abrams |
| Season Two Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 64:47 |
• 1. Main Title* (0:17)
• 2. Peace Through Superior Firepower (1:26)
• 3. The Final Countdown (5:48)
• 4. World's Worst Landscaping (1:17)
• 5. Mess It All Up (1:27)
• 6. Hurley's Handouts (4:42)
• 7. Just Another Day on the Beach (2:47)
• 8. Ana Cries (1:48)
• 9. The Tribes Merge (2:03)
• 10. The Gathering (4:19)
• 11. Shannon's Funeral (2:12)
• 12. All's Forgiven... Except Charlie (5:19)
• 13. Charlie's Dream (1:50)
|
• 14. Charlie's Temptation (0:51)
• 15. A New Trade (2:39)
• 16. Mapquest (0:39)
• 17. Claire's Escape (3:44)
• 18. The Last to Know (2:21)
• 19. Rose and Bernard (2:39)
• 20. Toxic Avenger (0:40)
• 21. I Crashed Your Plane, Brotha (1:45)
• 22. Eko Blaster (1:44)
• 23. The Hunt (3:57)
• 24. McGale's Navy (2:22)
• 25. Bon Voyage, Traitor (5:30)
• 26. End Title (0:32)
|
* composed by J.J. Abrams |
| Season Three Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 154:09 |
CD1: (78:04)
• 1. In With a KABOOM! (1:56)
• 2. Main Title* (0:16)
• 3. Awed and Shocked (1:34)
• 4. Fool Me Twice (3:18)
• 5. Pagoda of Shame (2:02)
• 6. The Island (2:57)
• 7. Eko of the Past (2:45)
• 8. Church of Eko's (0:58)
• 9. Leggo My Eko (3:12)
• 10. Romancing the Cage (1:48)
• 11. Under the Knife (4:18)
• 12. Teaser Time (2:52)
• 13. Here Today, Gone to Maui (4:53)
• 14. Distraught Desmond (3:36)
• 15. Achara, Glad to See Me? (2:25)
• 16. Ocean's Apart (3:02)
• 17. The Lone Hugo (3:34)
• 18. Fetch Your Arm (2:24)
• 19. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Nothin' (2:05)
• 20. Shambala** (2:04)
• 21. Claire-a Culpa (5:21)
• 22. A Touching Moment (2:34)
• 23. Sweet Expose (4:36)
• 24. Storming Monster (1:31)
• 25. Heart of Thawyer (1:51)
• 26. Juliette is Lost (1:28)
• 27. Beach Blanket Bonding (1:54)
• 28. Rushin' the Russian (1:06)
• 29. Deadly Fertility (2:05)
• 30. Dharmacide (3:56)
|
CD2: (76:05)
• 1. Paddle Jumper (1:16)
• 2. She's Dynamite (1:16)
• 3. The Good, the Bad and the Ominous (1:07)
• 4. Charlie's Fate (2:58)
• 5. Paddle Jumper Reprise (2:12)
• 6. Ta-Ta Charlie (1:28)
• 7. Heirloom Holiday (1:21)
• 8. Greatest Hits (6:03)
• 9. Flying High (6:30)
• 10. The Good Shepherd (0:58)
• 11. Manifesting Destiny (0:40)
• 12. The Looking Glass Ceiling (3:30)
• 13. Ex Marks the Jack (2:10)
• 14. Jintimidating Bernard (2:42)
• 15. Benomination of the Temple (0:39)
• 16. An Other Dark Agenda (0:36)
• 17. Kate Makes a Splash (0:32)
• 18. Diving Desmond (0:47)
• 19. Weapon of Mass Distraction (0:50)
• 20. The Fallen Hero (0:26)
• 21. Sticking to Their Guns (0:58)
• 22. Torture Me Not (2:44)
• 23. Through the Locke-ing Glass (2:13)
• 24. The Only Pebble in the Jungle (1:31)
• 25. Early Mourning Mystery (1:54)
• 26. Patchy at Best (2:04)
• 27. All Jack'ed Up (0:12)
• 28. Hold the Phone (3:49)
• 29. Code of Conduct (1:42)
• 30. Act Now, Regret Later (5:11)
• 31. Just What the Doctor Ordered (1:24)
• 32. Hurley's Helping Hand (1:06)
• 33. Looking Glass Half Full (4:16)
• 34. JACK FM (0:30)
• 35. Naomi Phone Home (4:01)
• 36. Flash Forward Flashback (4:16)
• 37. End Title (0:32)
|
* composed by J.J. Abrams
** composed by Daniel Joseph Moore |
| Season Four Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 64:47 |
• 1. Giving Up the Ghost (2:40)
• 2. Locke'ing Horns (1:52)
• 3. Lost Away - Or Is It? (1:41)
• 4. Backgammon Gambit (1:19)
• 5. Time and Time Again (2:42)
• 6. The Constant (3:52)
• 7. Maternity Hell (2:31)
• 8. Karma Jin-itiative (1:24)
• 9. Ji Yeon (3:09)
• 10. Michael's Right to Remain Wrong (1:54)
• 11. Bodies and Bungalows (1:23)
• 12. Benundrum (3:24)
• 13. Hostile Negotiations (2:21)
|
• 14. Locke-about (6:05)
• 15. There's No Place Like Home (2:35)
• 16. Nadia on Your Life (1:42)
• 17. C4-titude (2:00)
• 18. Of Mice and Ben (2:19)
• 19. Keamy Away From Him (4:58)
• 20. Timecrunch (2:06)
• 21. Can't Kill Keamy (1:48)
• 22. Bobbing for Freighters (5:20)
• 23. Locke of the Island (7:07)
• 24. Lying for the Island (4:53)
• 25. Landing Party (3:23)
• 26. Hoffs-Drawler (3:50)
|
|
| Season Five Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 78:47 |
• 1. Making Up For Lost Time (3:23)
• 2. The Swinging Bendulum (5:43)
• 3. Locke's Excellent Adventure (4:01)
• 4. The Science of Faith (2:19)
• 5. More Locke Than Locke (3:13)
• 6. Together or Not Together (4:02)
• 7. Through the Window (2:07)
• 8. Dharma Delinquent (1:51)
• 9. La Fleur (2:36)
• 10. Crash and Yearn (2:28)
• 11. Your Kharma Hit My Dharma (2:05)
• 12. Alex in Chains (1:35)
|
• 13. I Hear Dead People (1:52)
• 14. For Love of the Dame (3:17)
• 15. Follow the Leader (7:50)
• 16. Sawyer Jones and the Temple of Boom (5:14)
• 17. The Tangled Web (1:41)
• 18. Dharma Disaster (5:17)
• 19. Blessings And Bombs (1:30)
• 20. Jack's Swan Song (1:15)
• 21. Dharma vs. Lostaways (4:23)
• 22. The Incident (3:07)
• 23. Jacob's Stabber (7:32)
|
|
| Season Six Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 149:19 |
CD1: (75:08)
• 1. A Sunken Feeling (1:34)
• 2. Heavy Metal Crew (1:01)
• 3. Doing Jacob's Work (1:58)
• 4. Smokey and the Bandits (4:55)
• 5. LAX (4:08)
• 6. Temple and Spring (1:53)
• 7. Locke at It This Way (1:37)
• 8. Richard the Floored (1:55)
• 9. Coffin Calamity (3:46)
• 10. Lie Thou There (2:30)
• 11. Trouble is My First Name (1:51)
• 12. Death Springs Eternal (6:23)
• 13. The Rockets' Red Glare (3:34)
• 14. Temple and Taxi (3:37)
• 15. My Orca (0:40)
• 16. Helen of Joy (2:00)
• 17. Jacob's Ladders (3:26)
• 18. The Substitute (4:45)
• 19. Peculiar Parenting (2:54)
• 20. Door Jammer (0:42)
• 21. The Lighthouse (3:33)
• 22. Sundown (7:37)
• 23. Catch a Falling Star (1:46)
• 24. Linus and Alpertinent (2:27)
• 25. Karma Has No Price (4:11)
|
CD2: (74:11)
• 1. Recon (3:23)
• 2. Crazy Town (2:01)
• 3. None the Richard (1:20)
• 4. Love in a Time of Pneumonia (1:35)
• 5. The Fall of Man (2:58)
• 6. Dead Man Talking (1:18)
• 7. Jacob's Advocate (5:50)
• 8. Standing Offer (1:20)
• 9. And Death Shall Have No Dominion (3:54)
• 10. Sayid After Dentist (1:49)
• 11. Shepharding Sun (2:16)
• 12. Tesla Tester (2:33)
• 13. George of the Concrete Jungle (1:09)
• 14. World's Worst Car Wash (2:00)
• 15. None the Nurse (3:48)
• 16. Happily Ever After (1:57)
• 17. Hugo Reyes of Light (1:41)
• 18. Passing the Torch (3:40)
• 19. A Memorable Kiss (1:23)
• 20. The Last Recruit (4:07)
• 21. Kool-Aid Claire (1:19)
• 22. The Sub Group (3:50)
• 23. Sunny Outlook (0:40)
• 24. Reunion and Reneging (2:58)
Bonus Tracks:
• 25. The Hole Shabang (7:02)
• 26. Moving On (7:54)
|
|
| The Last Episodes Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 142:55 |
CD1: (63:56)
• 1. Cage Crashers (0:45)
• 2. Shephard's Why (1:08)
• 3. Sub-Primed (6:33)
• 4. SS Lost-tanic (6:56)
• 5. Flew the Coop (2:06)
• 6. Across the Sea (1:54)
• 7. Don't Look at the Light (3:31)
• 8. A Brother's Quarrel (2:58)
• 9. Make Like a Tree (6:10)
• 10. Mother of a Plan (5:14)
• 11. Mother of Sorrows (3:56)
• 12. Love is Stronger Than Death (2:51)
• 13. Cereal Experience (2:25)
• 14. The Four Amigos (1:13)
• 15. Walk and Talk and Aah! (2:31)
• 16. Hide and Snitch (3:00)
• 17. A Better Ben (1:56)
• 18. What They Died For (3:30)
• 19. Jack's Cup Runneth Over (1:41)
• 20. Get Out Of Jail Free Card (3:10)
|
CD2: (78:59)
• 1. Parallelocam (3:23)
• 2. Leaver-age (1:10)
• 3. The Stick With Me Speech (3:05)
• 4. Ultrasonic Flash (2:52)
• 5. Fly By Dire (0:52)
• 6. Down the Hobbit Hole (4:34)
• 7. Dysfunctional Setup (2:15)
• 8. The Well of Holes (3:21)
• 9. Pulling Out All the Stops (2:28)
• 10. Blood From a Locke (0:33)
• 11. Our Lady of Perpetual Labor (4:35)
• 12. If a Tree Falls (2:56)
• 13. Locke v. Jack (2:21)
• 14. Can't Keep Locke Down (2:51)
• 15. The Long Kiss Goodbye (5:29)
• 16. We Can Go Dutch (2:28)
• 17. Kate Flashes Jack (1:13)
• 18. Hurley's Coronation (2:47)
• 19. The Hole Shabang (7:29)
• 20. Aloha (1:12)
• 21. Closure (8:08)
• 22. Jumping Jack's Flash (0:56)
• 23. Moving On (7:53)
• 24. Parting Words (Drive Shaft) (3:32)
|
|
The inserts of all seven albums include a list of performers, a list of
episodes with corresponding track numbers, and extensive pictures from the show.
The Season One and Season Six albums include a note from only the producers of
the show. The Season Two and Season Five albums include only notes from the
composer, the latter short in length. The Season Three and Last Episode albums
include notes from both the producers and composer. The Season Four album
includes only a note from Varèse Sarabande's Robert Townson.
|
