Space 3: Beyond The Final Frontier
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Orchestra (Conductors): The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Paul Bateman & Nic Raine)
Lable (Release Year): Silva Screen Records (2000) Availability: **** Rating: ***** |
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When the first installment of Space and Beyond first released years ago, I never thought it would make to a 3rd volume. Of course, now I won't be surprised if there will be a fourth or fifth volume. The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra just plays with more energy in each of their new compilation albums. If their recording technology level can match Telarc's (for Cincinnati Pops), their compilation series could be as famed as The Cincinnati Pops series soon. Selection-wise, Space 3 truly deserves an A+. One reason why the Cincinnati Pops series is losing their magic is that the materials are too main stream. Before, their albums would contain music from classic or lesser know movies or can't easily be found on CDs. Nowadays, they just put music from a bunch of recent blockbuster movies together and don't seem to really care if they work together or not. In other words, not well produced IMHO. On the other hand, Space 3 is well produced. It is well balanced. It has music from recent blockbusters (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Armageddon, The Matrix), earlier blockbusters (Aliens, Robocop, Back to the Future, etc), classic sci-fi movies (It came from Outer Space, Strange Invaders, Time Machine, etc ), and never commercially released scores (The Cape, Galaxy Guest, Meteor, etc ). The release should satisfy either a casual or serious film music fan. Also, some of the Suites presented are newly arranged and orchestrated by Nic Raine for this release, notably Robocop, Armagedon, and Journey to the Far Site of the Sun. They are all quite excellent. Also Ron Jones personally re-orchestrated the Opening of the video game Star Fleet Academy. The release of his score was canceled at the last minute which disappointed some fans. In terms of performance, I am truly impressed. The selections from Aliens, Robocop, Back To The Future, The Last Star Fighter, Galaxy Quest, Lost In Space and the "Flag Parade" are played with a lot of energy and have great sound. I appreciate both the originals and their new renditions. There are only a few I like the originals a lot more: Judge Dredd, The Matrix (despite Don Davis said their rendition "was really excellent"), and "Duel of the Fates". Especially for "Duel of the Fates", it just sounds like something is not right. Moreover, it is always great to hear old scores like It Came From Outer Space and The Time Machine got re-recorded in the digital era. By the way, I didn't know the famed humorous composer Dr. Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q Back) composed a few film scores. They are serious ones too! Anyway, Space 3: Beyond The Final Frontier is a compilation album at its best. I sincerely recommend it to you. Also, if you don't have volume 2, go get it also! | |
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