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Stargate SG-1
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Original Themes by:
Episodics Composed and Produced by:
Joel Goldsmith Kevin Kiner Richard Band Dennis McCarthy
1997 Album Produced by:
David Franco
2001 Album Produced by:
Mark Banning Chris Neel Ford A. Thaxton
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LABELS & RELEASE DATES
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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Both albums are regular U.S. releases.
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AWARDS
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None.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... on the 2001 GNP Crescendo album if you desire a comprehensive
selection of original music from the first season of the show.
Avoid it... on the 1997 Milan album if you're expecting to hear much more
than a repetitive rearrangement of material from David Arnold's original film score.
BUY IT
 | Arnold |
Stargate SG-1: (Joel Goldsmith, David Arnold, Kevin Kiner,
Richard Band, and Dennis McCarthy) While visually entertaining, the 1994 science
fiction film Stargate by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin had its fair
share of negative attributes. The fact that two successful television spin-offs
have resulted from it is, frankly, somewhat curious (but understandable from the
standpoint of scripting ease). One of the film's redeeming elements, though, has
been its score by newcomer David Arnold, who seized upon the opportunity to
develop a mainstream career. It's easy to be skeptical whenever a television
series follows a popular film, and especially when that film has a score that
has risen to the status of "cult classic" in the years since its composer has
become famous. Typical television scores, due to budgetary restrictions, usually
offer a much poorer quality of performance when compared to the original. Such
scores also, in many cases, fail to use the popular themes from the original
film; nor do they often establish strong themes of their own. When the first
album of music from "Stargate SG-1" debuted, it was a surprise to many people
who had enjoyed the film score but were not familiar with the television show.
The episodic scores for "Stargate SG-1" not only made use of Arnold's themes
for the film, but heavily so, and the integration of the original music by Joel
Goldsmith (son of the legendary Jerry Goldsmith) and that of Arnold was
overwhelming. With the popularity of the show persisting through the years, a
second album of "Stargate SG-1" music was released three years after the first,
providing a comprehensive blanket of music from the show's musically successful
first season. The original album from Milan Entertainment was a curiosity. Some
fans of the concept loved it, while others loathed it. Of the 50 minutes of
music on that album, as many as twenty minutes of Arnold's original cues for the
feature film were directly inserted into the episode's mix. What Goldsmith had
done at that early time in the show's history was take the most memorable 20
minutes or so from the film (at least… This is just on the album, and more may
have been used in the show) and place them in and around his own material.
So prolific was the incorporation of Arnold's music into the
show that Goldsmith became a sort of negotiator and arranger of that transferred
music, writing just enough material in between edits of Arnold's work to make
the whole item sound consistent. Sometimes, the transfers from Goldsmith's music
to Arnold's is plainly evident for those of with tested ears (especially when it
comes to Arnold collectors), with some awkwardly abrupt moments throughout the
album where Goldsmith's interludes could not smooth out the switch. Other
transitions are very good, and in the heated action sequences, the mass of
everyday fans are certainly not going to notice many of the edits. Working in
Goldsmith's favor is the fact that Arnold's orchestra and his own were
comparably mixed so that the sound quality did not vastly change during these
transitions. Notable tracks from the original 1994 album for Arnold's
Stargate that are mixed into the 1997 "Stargate SG-1" soundtrack include
tracks "Stargate Overture," "Giza, 1928," "The Stargate Opens," "Entering
the Stargate," and "The Other Side." The only exceedingly poor transition comes
at 2:15 into the "Apophis" on the 1997 album. Goldsmith's music in between these
Arnold cues is very loyal in theme and style, and he thankfully makes them
difficult to tell them apart. The opening titles are a great compilation of the
original Stargate themes; though hasty, he managed to fit all three of
Stargate's primary ideas into a single one-minute cue. Most of the choral
cues on the 1997 album belong to Arnold's original recording, but Goldsmith adds
some very stirring action sequences dominated by grandiose brass performances.
His softer themes are also effective. For what is essentially an imitation job
by Goldsmith, he adds many new percussion styles to the equation. Goldsmith's
material works so well that it could serve as a Stargate sequel CD, and
fans of both Arnold and the show were impressed enough by Goldsmith's music to
make the 1997 product a strong seller. The problem with that album now, however,
is still that it is not only a fragmented piece, but it fails to exhibit the
mass of good music for the show that exists outside of the edits with Arnold's
material. Obviously, with several dozen minutes of music required for each and
every episode, there was a lot of great material absent from that original
album.
Some fans of the show went so far as to make a mockery of the
1997 album, and its over-reliance on Arnold's inserted material. Generally, the
average fan of the show didn't care about the choppy edits on the album. But
fans of the original film and collectors of film music noticed the heavy edits
immediately, and reacted with both disgust and ambivalence to that product. In
the end, though, it's hard to argue with its strong sales figures, and it was
only a matter of time before another "Stargate SG-1" album would hit the
shelves. The 2001 follow-up from GNP Crescendo corrects all of the errors from
the 1997 Milan album, and presents the music from "Stargate SG-1" as it was
meant to be heard. Along with the occasional references to Arnold's themes (with
no direct lifting of material from the film this time), the 2001 album contains
lengthy suites of music from episodes scored by Goldsmith, Kevin Kiner, Richard
Band, and Dennis McCarthy. All of these men were accomplished in the television
scoring genre, and Kiner worked with the interpolation of Arnold's themes for
the trashy sci-fi film Wing Commander a few years earlier. The most
interesting aspect of the 2001 album is the revelation that Goldsmith actually
isn't responsible for the best episodic music for the show. The material by
Kiner, Band, and McCarthy is by far the most diverse, encompassing both the more
exciting and sensitive emotions on the whole spectrum. Goldsmith's material is
extremely functional, and it is still impressive outside the context of Arnold's
mixes. But the highlights of the album are the first two suites, "The Enemy
Within" and "Cold Lazarus," with Kiner's two other suites not far behind. The
former, McCarthy/Kiner suite features superior sound quality to all of the other
suites, and Band's latter, delicate piece provides a interesting variations on
Arnold's themes. The opening and closing credits performed by the Seattle Studio
Symphony Orchestra are adequate once again, but one could wonder why Goldsmith's
original theme for the show's end credits isn't used more often in the episodic
scores. Overall, the suites on the 2001 album are very impressive (as are the
extensive notes on the attractive packaging for the product), and offer an even
better companion piece to Arnold's original film score. If you already own the
film score and wish to purchase an album of the television show's music, then
the 1997 product has been made completely obsolete by the lengthier, more
creative 2001 alternative. @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- 1997 Milan Album: ***
- 2001 GNP Crescendo Album: ****
- Overall: ****
Bias Check: |
For David Arnold reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33
(in 15 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.28
(in 43,266 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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1997 Milan Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 50:13 |
1. Main Title (1:01)
2. Return to Active Duty/General Hammond (2:50)
3. The Bomb/Jack's Protest (3:07)
4. Jack's Story/Memory of a Son (1:38)
5. Egyptology/Sha're'/Aliens (8:10)
6. Apophis/The Ceremony/Escape (6:39)
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7. Entering the Stargate (3:12)
8. Chosen for Life or Death (4:16)
9. Final Battle/Ultimate Victory (8:47)
10. Choosing a Queen/the Test (3:26)
11. End Title (0:58)
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2001 GNP Crescendo Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 68:52 |
1. Stargate SG-1: Main Title (Arnold/Goldsmith) (1:03)
2. Suite From The Enemy Within (McCarthy/Kiner) (6:46)
3. Suite From Cold Lazarus (Band) (6:10)
4. Suite From Emancipation (Kiner) (3:36)
5. Suite From Torment of Tantalus (Kiner) (10:14)
6. Suite From Thor's Hammer (Goldsmith) (7:33)
7. Suite From The Nox (Goldsmith) (10:02)
8. Suite From Hathor (Goldsmith) (6:45)
9. Suite From Tin Man (Goldsmith) (6:57)
10. Suite From Within the Serpent's Grasp (Goldsmith) (8:43)
11. Stargate SG-1: End Credits (Goldsmith) (0:58)
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The insert notes of the 1997 album include no extra information about the score or show. By
contrast, the 2001 album contains information about each suite and the episodes for which they were
written.
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