The Bear McCreary Fan Thread (1 Viewer)

[Neil Middlemiss]

Bear McCreary - the astonishingly talented composer from Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Human Target and most recently, The Walking Dead, has created some of the very best music for television. I wanted to start this thread to share news of his current and upcoming projects, discuss some of his greatest accomplishments, and other assorted news. I hope I am not the only Bear fan on HTF. To kick things off, I found this great peice on YouTube where Bear talks about creating the main theme for The Walking Dead. Enjoy.

 

[Citizen87645]

I'm a fan too, but I am only slowly collecting his work (case in point: I don't own any of the BSG soundtracks, but have Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles). I really like the Walking Dead music too.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Originally Posted by Cameron Yee
I'm a fan too, but I am only slowly collecting his work (case in point: I don't own any of the BSG soundtracks, but have Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles).
I really like the Walking Dead music too.

Oh - the BSG scores are among the highlights of my soundtrack collection and certainly some of the finest music ever recorded for a television series (heck, better than a great deal of film scores in my opinion). When you get around to picking them up, you are in for a treat.
To add to that, LaLaLand Records has a deal on the BSG scores to help celebrate the impending release of music from the BSG: Blood & Chrome web series (also by Bear). Now would be an economical time to pick up those scores!

 

[Citizen87645]

If you had to pick one BSG soundtrack release, what would it be?

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Here's the blurb from LLL from their website (with links)
BSG SPECIAL! To celebrate the forthcoming release of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME soundtrack, La-La Land Records is having an out-of-this world sale on all of its BATTLESTAR GALACTICA titles. BSG MINI-SERIES, BSG SEASON 1, BSG SEASON 2, BSG SEASON 3, BSG SEASON 4 (2-CD SET), BSG: THE PLAN/RAZOR and CAPRICA are all only $9.98 EACH. For a limited time.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Bear McCreary performaing 'Prelude to War', from Battlestar Galactica, on the piano.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Originally Posted by Cameron Yee
If you had to pick one BSG soundtrack release, what would it be?

Great question. I would say Season 4. It's a two-disc set (season 4 on disc one and then music from the final episode, Daybreak, on Disc two) and contains some extraordinary peices, including Gaeta's Lament and Assault on the Colony - a wonderful 15 minute track that takes your breath away!

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Here's a track from Caprica which will one-day get a LaLaLand release. Caprica's music was always the moodier, string-heavier cousin to BSG - and excellent.

 

[Citizen87645]

Isn't Caprica available now from LaLaLand? Or is there another release pending?

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

One last clip for today - this is one of my all-time favourite Bear peices.

 

[Sam Posten]

That's fantastic!!!!! I had heard he had some good Taiko drum tracks but was having a hard time nailing down which BSG tracks featured the drums. This is a good one! Others you can recommend? Bear or otherwise?

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Originally Posted by Cameron Yee
Isn't Caprica available now from LaLaLand? Or is there another release pending?

The release available now is from the pilot and a likely 2-disc release from the full season is due in the near-ish future!
And I keep missing your notes so I am sorry it's taking days to respond!

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Originally Posted by Sam Posten
That's fantastic!!!!!
I had heard he had some good Taiko drum tracks but was having a hard time nailing down which BSG tracks featured the drums. This is a good one! Others you can recommend? Bear or otherwise?

Let me find some of my other fave tracks featuring the Taiko drum and post them here (Bear or otherwise).

 

[Sam Posten]

Thanks Neil. I have that one above on repeat play in the meantime!

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

A loop of the intro blips: Random track of unaccompanied Taiko drums: Awesom track (Rosalyn Escapes): Sound quality isn't the best, but this is from the Sci-Fi museum BSG exhibition: Subtle use of the Taiko drum (from season one) Non-Bear - Track from Hero by Tan Dun:

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I thought this was an interesting, fan-made use of Taiko drums - recutting a scene from 300

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

This is pretty darn great, too:

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Back to Bear - this is a wonderful peice from Caprica (I hope this makes it onto the CD that LLL release)

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

From The Plan, this is Apocalypse played live - another wonderful peice of music for BSG by Bear.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Ok, last one - another track from season one of BSG.