The bar was set high when ‘Revolution’ premiered in the fall
of 2012 on NBC. Expectations ran white hot—not only for the show itself, but
for the original music of the series. Bad Robot—under the leadership of
creator-extraordinaire J.J. Abrams—had established itself asa film oriented production company via “Alias”,
“Lost” and “Fringe” as well as the Abrams directed features “M III” (2006),
“Star Trek” (2009) and “Super 8” (2011).
The producers of “Revolution” turned to the fertile composer
recruiting ground from where Michael Giachinno
had launched his stellar career—the world of gaming. Christopher Lennertz was the composer chosen
and the approach taken would be old school orchestral muscle.
Just like the series itself, Christopher Lennert’z music
took a while to find its groove and initially suffered from a poor mix that
dialed down the score to nearly inaudible levels. But by the end of the first
season, both the show and the music were hitting stride and the “Revolution”
year one soundtrack is now commercially available from WaterTowerMusic.
As was the case with “Fringe”, J.J. Abrams himself turns
composer for the “Revolution Opening Theme”, a brief but effective musical
statement that sets the tone for the show. Christopher Lennertz follows in
track two with what has become one of the thematic pillars of the series music,
“Charlie’s Theme”, a straightforward, rich melody introduced with a flute solo
before morphing into a flurry of Zimmer-style Americana flavored percussion.
“Ben’s Death” is one of the standout tracks on the album, a
4:02 cue where Lennertz gets a chance to show his talent. The music effectively
builds into a wickedly suspenseful cue featuring “Lost” style stabbing strings
and trombone blasts before exploding into a pulse-pounding orchestral orgy of
exciting action music. Finally the cue wraps up with a moving statement of “Charlie’s
Theme”. Overall, an outstanding track—one of the best cues from a television
soundtrack in recent years.
“Life After iPhones” is another well executed and varied cue
featuring a stylistic color and instrumentation choices reminiscent of some of
the great work done by Maribeth Solomon and Micky Erbe for “Earth: The Final
Conflict”.
“The Plane Gang” is light cue representing the open road
aspect of the show meshed with a sense of wonder. “Road to Wrigley” begins a
series of tracks where the drama and suspense begin to build. This is a beautifully
sequenced album that musically—and emotionally—does a great job telling the
story of “Revolution” year one.
“Showdown” sounds like it could have been from a Marvel
feature film, in particular it has the flair of Patrick Doyle’s outstanding score
for “Thor” (2011). “Reflection – Randall’s Visit” is a crisp, moving, dramatic
statement of Charlie’s Theme than ends in a quick action flurry.
Some of the other album highlights include the explosive “Rachel
Kills Strausser”, the propulsive action cue “The Lighthouse”, the delicate “Maggie
Dies”, another brief variation of “Charlie’s Theme” in “Family Reunited”, and
more “Lost” style suspense in “Helicopter”.
The final third of the album is filled with great stuff. The full-bodied “Charlie Thanks Miles”, high
drama and the wonder of it all in “Revelation”, the outstanding emotional
suspense cue “Fly Away”, and the exciting action-packed finale “Genesis of
Power”.
It is impossible not to bring up “Lost”—and to a certain
extant “Fringe” when discussing the music of “Revolution”. The now firmly established
tradition of great television scoring in Bad Robot productions is well
represented by “Revolution” and Christopher Lennertz is a talent on the rise. The
music of “Revolution” does not have the depth of thematic material Michael Giacchino
brought to the “Lost” nor the unique flavor and deep emotional timber of Chris
Tilton’s music for “Fringe”.
Bottom Line : Although it may not (as of yet anyway)
resonate up there with the soundtracks of past Abrams classics—make no
mistake—the music of “Revolution” is top-notch television scoring, makes for an
entertaining and exciting stand-alone listen, and is a must own for fans of the
show and soundtrack collectors who like an old school orchestral vibe to their
music.
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