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