Caprica (Music From The Complete Series)

I guess the important question is: was this CD worth $49.99? The short answer is YES.Although I agree with the two insightful reviews written prior to my own, I must add that I have played both these CD's rather extensively over the past few months. They are a reminder of what an amazing show Caprica was and that a great deal of artistry was left unfinished.

Love the "working pieces" that are incomplete to compare the thought process. What makes Caprica really different from BSG is that with Caprica, one main theme pretty much dominates.Still, GOOD STUFF.

More outstanding work by Bear McCreary. Many haunting and distinctive tracks. The back cover artwork is misprinted, it labels the last 14 tracks at 52 seconds each. Upon listening they are generally 2-4 minutes as you would expect. Maybe this will be worth MILLIONS.. or you know.... not.

I own this and all of the the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica season soundtracks and they're are the pride of my collection.Bear McCreary writes awesome music. Too bad the show stopped and it was probably because of real world events being too close to the story of the show.

This release has been coming for a long time. However, when I listened to the album, the music honestly wasn't as enjoyable as I remember it being in the TV series.Many tracks are geeky fanservice but not terribly enjoyable (we get a vocal and instrumental version of the Caprican national anthem, for instance). Of course, the music is reflective of the show, and the show wasn't nearly as good as its predecessor, so the music isn't either. Perfect example: "Capricoperatica", while perhaps close to the aesthetic equal of "Diaspora Oratorio" from the BSG season 4 soundtrack, isn't nearly as affecting, because the latter is associated with a climactic swell of emotion that got tons of media attention as one of the year's best moments in TV, and the former with a confused jumble of scenes that don't add up to much. Other downsides include several "expanded" tracks from the (respectably good) pilot score, and a few genuine clunkers like the insipid "Was Love".However, there is an interesting soundscape and an characteristically wide-reaching variety of music. Brendan McCreary's source music comprises a quiet, dark, grunge piece, a soaring doo-wop ballad, and a gangsta rap in ancient Greek. I prefer the middle track of those three, but they're all impressive achievements. The elegant classical themes for the Graystones, the powerful Eastern European folk music for the Adamas, and the pulsing electronic beat of the fantasy world all add new elements to the BSG universe; this soundtrack is by no means redundant to any of the other BSG music.In the end, it felt to me like there wasn't enough good music to justify a two-CD set and there's some filler here. I'd have to go back and watch the show to see if there are any really good tracks that got left out (not in any great hurry to do so). It does have a beautiful and extensive set of liner notes and pictures. To me, it's an album for fans only. I enjoyed  Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (Music from the SyFy Special Event)  more.

Caprica was intended as a prequel to the modern version of Battlestar Galactica on the SyFy Channel, which McCreary also scored. Caprica's soundscape shares some similarities with Battlestar Galactica, but most of those similarities are just in Bear McCreary's amazing style. The score offers plenty of moments, interesting textures and awesome percussion that has become a signature in McCreary's work.The thing that makes Caprica such a fantastic listen is that the score really crafts a unique soundscape for this universe. The sounds are rich and feel as if the music has a cultural and historical background. Kind of riding that timeless line of not being able to place where the music should be, but knowing it has a developed history. At times the score can be exotic, hard rock, delicate piano, quietly character driven and more. Yet it all stays remarkably focused as one creative stroke. Caprica is not as emotionally satisfying and engaging as Battlestar Galactica was, but it's still a wonderful sounding universe to get lost in.Caprica has a lot of textures, passages and moments that are indeed memorable. Bear McCreary does a superb job at building another unique soundscape for the characters and stories to play out in. I found Battlestar Galactica to be a much more emotionally involving score, but that also was a soundscape crafted over many seasons. Still, one cannot deny how great of a listen this score is, and any fan of McCreary will enjoy the ton of music in this La-La Land Records release.

Huge McCreary fan here because his music is so amazing. If you love the Battlestar music, you'll probably like this too. While it's not as magnificent as the BSG soundtrack, which comprises 4 albums instead of one, you'll need to still give this a listen and remember that this series was cancelled after only 1 season and so Bear never really got to build it like he did with the BSG soundtrack. That said, it's still wonderful to listen to and has that same haunting, sometimes majestic sound sprinkled with ethnic world undertones that we've come to love from the BSG music.