The album certainly starts with
the best and rather declines as it goes through. By this I don't
actually mean Jerry Goldsmith's classic Star Trek
theme which is rather spoiled by its performance by such a small
ensemble and by lacking the Enterprise sound effects to cover up
this deficiency. What I do actually mean is the suite from Tin
Man. It doesn't start promisingly, but it quickly picks up with a
few percussive action sequences and some passable atmospheric
music. A quick hint of pan pipes (or synth equivalent, I'm not
sure) gives it a hippy/ethnic edge and at least lifts it away
slightly from the typical Star Trek sound once
in a while. The Inner Light has often been
cited as a favourite episode and also for best use of music. As
Captain Picard actually plays the tune onscreen, it becomes an
integral part of the story. From this, Chattaway has extracted a
concert version which is actually featured on the Star
Trek 30th Anniversary CD. A shorter and simpler
arrangement of his delightful theme is featured here. Sub Rosa is
about as near to creepy as TNG ever gets, but it
doesn't exactly wring huge amounts of tension from the situation.
Chattaway comes over all Morricone with his Man with the
Harmonica style riffs along with guitar and assorted typical wild
west score type ideas. Of course it never gets too interesting,
but it makes for a nice change in style as it flits between
harmonica phrases and the usual Star Trek phrasings. Dark Page is a more cerebral
version of the Sub Rosa cue, less creepy and a little more
thoughtful. Nice, but sadly forgettable overall. Descent was a
the first big Borg episode since The Best of Both Worlds and was
pretty good up to the cliff hanger ending. Sadly the second half
was a bit of a mess (although to be fair, the way that The Best
of Both Worlds was wrapped up wasn't all that inspiring) and it
didn't really become the great two parter that it should. The
music seemed pretty good in the show, but the selections here
aren't terribly exciting. There are some short and percussive
action segments, but I'm sure they are not a brilliant
representation of the whole score. Birthright Part 1 features
music that isn't really to do with the major story. This subplot
had Data having dreams and so the music here is mysterious synths
to accompany these trippy sequences and that brings Chattaway's
music to a not terribly exciting close. The shorter credits
version of the theme ends the album. I think even fans of the series
would be hard pushed to find this album all that
exciting. To be absolutely fair, Chattaway and his colleagues
were writing to extremely strict guidelines. In fact, Chattaway
became a regular composer after Ron Jones' departure, due to
"creative differences." As Star Trek
is a pretty good gig to have, Chattaway obviously didn't want to
give it up. He and Dennis McCarthy are now the main composers for
both the current running Star Trek series, which
have at least given more scope for a little more dynamism. While
there are a couple of good moments, this album is not likely to
have you desperate to hear more. I only hope that they release
some music from the later Voyager scores as they
have occasionally been extremely good and would almost certainly
give Chattaway and his colleagues a greater chance to shine. Rating ~ Total Time ~ 57:38 *Narration by Patrick StewartIf one aspect of Star
Trek: The Next Generation was maligned more than
anything else, it was the music and more importantly producer
Rick Berman's assertion that the music should just hum along in
the background to virtually no effect. He didn't take over full
running of the show until halfway through its run and it was
after the music had reached a real peak with Ron Jones' Best
of Both Worlds score did it then decline sharply and
really just become padding music. Most of the music on this album
is from this latter period and so is often hemmed in by the
constraints of mediocrity that Rick Berman imposed on the
composers for the series.
Suite from Tin Man
The Inner Light
Sub Rosa
A Fistful of Datas
Dark Page
Suite from Descent Parts 1 & 2
Birthright Part 1