CD REVIEW - BABYLON 5: THE LOST TALES


Babylon 5: The Lost Tales
Music by Christopher Franke
Varese Sarabande VSD 6829 (EU)
28 Tracks 39:39 mins

I very much enjoyed the several seasons of the sci-fi TV series Babylon 5 which was a mix of action-adventure and political intrigue. Since the series ended there have been a number of feature-length spin-offs, the latest of which is The Lost Tales and, from the cover, it appears that at least Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Scoggins remain from the series cast.
As with the series, the music is courtesy of Christopher Franke and is, as always, credited to "The Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra" (actually Franke and his synths). It seems to me however that this approach does sound rather dated these days and the bulk of this album, fairly brief though it is and populated with equally brief tracks, just drones on pretty uninterestingly. It promises much, opening with the noble then poignant "Intro 1" and the strident "Main Title," but seldom holds the interest for long thereafter. The few highlights include the building menace of "Energy," the dramatic "Send Back," with its sampled voices, poignant keyboard and stridency; the heroic mover "Starfury;" the purposeful "Landing;" the bombastic "Party;" "Epilogue 2," with its variations on the intro music; and the "End Credits," which I believe features one of Franke's series main themes (of which there were several), though I haven't had time to research this. Whatever, it brings the album to a satisfying close at least.