Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #749
Written 12/13/96, Revised 8/15/08
Invert Colors
Buy it... if you are considering your first purchase of any of the music
from the first four television shows in the "Star Trek" franchise.
Avoid it... if you are more specifically interested in the music from
"Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager," in which case the same label's follow-up
album released in 2000 is a better selection of music.
 |
| Goldsmith |
 |
| McCarthy |
The Best of Star Trek: 30th Anniversary: (Compilation) One
of the few enduring television concepts of our time, "Star Trek" consistently
featured orchestral music above and beyond the call of duty. There are few
modern television franchises that ever are afforded the kind of budget to secure
orchestral scores anymore, and the continuing standard of significant organic
music for all of the "Star Trek" shows has remained a treat for all of its fans
(especially during the 1990's). On album, several of the scores for "The
Original Series" and "The Next Generation" have been released on their own by
the GNP Crescendo label over the years, leaving open the possibility of
expanding into the later two series as they matured and ended. The best of the
music from "The Original Series" and "The Next Generation" was released
within ten years of the end of the latter show, feeding the shows' fans with a
considerable amount of music from the most important episodes. Fans of "Deep
Space Nine" and "Voyager" have always been disappointed, however, with the
lack of continuing albums featuring music from the best of those shows (after 2001,
GNP would largely cease their television music production, leaving subsequent
releases in the franchises to several different labels). In 1996, however, to
coincide with the much hyped album release of Jerry Goldsmith's score for
Star Trek: First Contact, GNP Crescendo offered select music from all
four television series on one album. It was the first time that all four titles
themes from the existing franchise shows could be purchased on one product, and
it included suites from episodic scores from all four shows as a bonus. Four
years later, GNP would respond to pressure from fans and release a second
compilation of a similar construction (and the second volume is an arguably
better album, with more interesting music from the latter two series
represented). Titled "The Best of Star Trek: 30th Anniversary," this first
volume of "Star Trek" music offered the initial music available from the
actual underscores of "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager." It was also a
relatively early venture into the realm of enhanced CDs, with much of the same
material as contained on the concurrent Star Trek: First Contact
album.
Music from "The Original Series" goes largely ignored by most
Digital Age film music fans simply because of its comparatively poor sound
quality. Here, Jerry Fielding provides an inspired suite from the famous episode
"The Trouble with Tribbles," which varies from his trademark Western styles
for the bar fight scene to a wobbling brass effect for the sci-fi elements of the
show. The two following suites from "The Next Generation" are the best on the
album, with Ron Jones' introduction of Klingon music in the series taking
snippets from both Goldsmith's theme and Horner's percussion in the feature
films. The lengthy suite features slightly muddled sound quality, but it still
presents an outstanding look into Jones' interpretation of the Klingons given
limited instrumentation. A suite of specially prepared material from Jay
Chattaway's score for "The Inner Light" provides the delicate flute
performances so well remembered from the episode in which Captain Picard lives another
lifetime through the probe of a dead alien species. The recording quality of
this suite, thankfully, is superb. After an unfortunate "popified" version of
the title theme from "Deep Space Nine" (are such mutilations really necessary
to sell copies of these products?), Dennis McCarthy continues his presence with a
suite from the award winning episode "The Visitor," an episode in which
Captain Sisko is trapped in a temporal anomaly in the
Defiant and an elderly Jake
Sisko recounts his efforts to save his father. The more typical McCarthy
approach to the modern series' scores can be heard here, with conservative,
bland themes and short cue lengths. The title theme for "Voyager" follows, and
it has disappointingly been artificially extended into its concert format. An
exaggerated cut in the middle of the piece is painfully obvious, and fans may
wish to seek the CD single of the theme (previously available) if only
interested in this Emmy winning Jerry Goldsmith theme. The suite of music by
McCarthy from "Voyager" is perhaps the most exciting of the composer's work,
and both it and the suite from "Deep Space Nine" expose a side of McCarthy's
writing that is equal to, if not more impressive than, his
Star Trek: Generations
film score. Overall, fans of "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager" will be left
still wanting more, and to that end, the second volume of "Star Trek" music remains
a better purchase. Regardless of this fact, this compilation is an interesting and
enjoyable album for franchise followers.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check:
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.23
(in 139 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.25
(in 154,744 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
