As I am a fan of J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5 science-fiction television series and its sequel, CRUSADE, as well as the two composers of the series, Christopher Franke and Evan H. Chen, I found myself hearing rumors that there was a Crusade Suite Album in the making. For those of you who don't know, Chris Franke (former member of Tangerine Dream and ace composer for Babylon 5) is the founder of Sonic Images Records and has been releasing two albums containing suites from the sf series, all the movies' scores, and a lot of the complete music from selected episodes of B5.

Recently, he was amazed at the potential of new-comer Evan Chen, who scored the ill-fated first season of CRUSADE, and he decided to release on his label the score to A CALL TO ARMS, the "pilot" movie for CRUSADE, and a suite album containing the best of Chen's CRUSADE music.

Hence, yesterday, I found myself emailing mister Franke to suggest him a few cues which I would love to see on this album and he replied to me pretty fast with some good news. Here they are:

1) There is a CRUSADE Suite Album in the making, to be released by Sonic Images.

2) It'll be released on October 19th, 1999.

3) It'll contain both the Main Titles and the End Credits.

So there you have it. If you are a fan of the series and have been awaiting some sort of score from Chen, here is your opportunity to listen to it. If you like eerie and Asian-influenced science-fiction music, I suggest you give it a try when it comes out But, whatever cues are selected for this album, it'll definitely be "special"....

For regular updates and selected tracks from the album, keep watching www.sonicimages.com . They should have a page up for it soon.

~Jeron

Michel

I am, also, very excited about the Babylon 5: Volume III CD coming out later this year!! In a previous email from mister Franke, he told me that it was going to be, mainly, a suite from Season 4 episodes. At the time, it was unknown if there would be music from any Season 5 episodes. I don't know what's the current status of the album. But, if nothing's changed, it will primarily be of Season 4 episodes. And, by the way, I'm not a close friend of mister Franke , so it's not like I'm plugged to the newsfeed. I ask him occasional questions, and he's always kind enough to answer me. What a great guy

Now, Jeron, Star Trek music?? I mean, I am a fan of ST:TNG (DS9 has copied way too much on B5, and Voyager... oh please...), and the shows' themes are really great. However, virtually all the music in every episode is filler music, with no theme, no emotion. Just a violin, a French horn, timpani, and the occasional trumpet. Oh yeah, and flute in Voyager... for those tender family moments

It's boring to listen on its own, at least, that's my opinion. Two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager had thematic material, and that was "Scorpion, Part I" and "Part II". They should be released on CD, cause the music was astounding. The Species 8472 theme, the Borg theme, the music at the beginning of "Part II", when Chakotay is forced to accept Janeway's decision, this is good music. Star Trek should have more like this.

But B5 has themes, patterns, an entire orchestra combined to electronics. And the space battles are just so reinforced by the music, I find myself entranced by them every time. The camera shakes when there's an impact, you have inertia and forces acting there, something Star Trek never has. And the music contributes to reinforce this.

Any suggestions of good B5 CDs? Well, I have about 14 of them, so here are my star rating (on 5) for each of them:

Babylon 5: Volume I (Suites): **
Babylon 5: Volume II (Suites): *****
In the Beginning: **** (The Battle of the Line is incredible)
Thirdspace: ***1/2
The Fall of Night: **
And the Rock Cried Out...: *
Z'Ha'Dum: **1/2
Into the Fire: **
No Surrender, No Retreat: *****
Endgame: *****
The Ragged Edge: ****
Objects at Rest: ****1/2
Sleeping in Light: ********** (you get the point)
Best of Babylon 5: ****

So there you go. I highly recommend "Sleeping in Light" (25 minutes long), "Endgame" (35 minutes long), "Babylon 5: Volume II -- Messages from Earth" (59 minutes long), and "In the Beginning" (60 minutes long). You'll have the whole spectrum of what Franke can do, and the best of it too, according to me anyway.

By the way, latest bit of news: two new episodics are on the way, that's according to "B5 Canada's Information Page" (http://www.interlog.com/~schrist/b5/cfcf.html):

- The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari
- The Fall of Centauri Prime

Now, if they could only release "Movements of Fire and Shadow"... That music ranked among the best of the whole series, as good as "Endgame".

So, there you go Hope this makes you happy Whenever I get small portions of news, I'll post them here, among other places.

Catch me on ICQ, Michel.

Jeron

Jeron: Saw DARK FRONTIER... as with any Star Trek two-parter, the first one was great, the second part was a total let-down (that's my opinion, any way :-). I didn't really listen to the score in the "movie", however... but Scorpion definitely has some good music. Maybe a 2-CD release... like "THE BORG INVASION COLLECTION" or something...

URL? http://www.sonicimages.com/b5/ They're all there :-) You can even order directly from their websites. I have done so twice already and have been 100% satisfied with their service, speed, and efficiency. They deliver the product well-sealed, the transaction is safe, and all. They're a great place to order

See you around

I have "Star Trek: The Next Generation Volume 2 -- The Best of Both Worlds". I like it a lot. True, I prefer B5 music, but I liked this particular ST soundtrack a lot. It was dark and it had its moments. My favorite track is Borg Engaged. This is a creepy one :-) and it carries a lot of foreshadowing.

--Crono/Kyp
Writer/Director/Producer