A Call to Arms Music

[JackBauer]

By far and away the worst music ever in babylon 5.

[Dr Maturin]

Re: A Call to Arms Music

Originally posted by JackBauer
By far and away the worst music ever in babylon 5.

Allllllllll right. And what is this?

It's a model of a hydrogen atom.

And this would not be to scale, right?

[DGTWoodward]

Re: A Call to Arms Music

Originally posted by JackBauer
By far and away the worst music ever in babylon 5.

It is very strange but it does kind of grow on you after a bit.

[Capt.Montoya]

Re: A Call to Arms Music

Originally posted by JackBauer
By far and away the worst music ever in babylon 5.

Mmhh... not the worse.

"... and we will come together in a better place.... "

'nuff said.

[Starkiller]

well it was something new and different, a good try on thier part but i prefered the old b5 music

[Michael Malloy]

I completely disagree!

This thread is a vicious attack on Evan Chen. You may say you don't like the music, but saying the music is the worst is not the sort of thing an amateur ought to do.

If you want to be a music critic, go earn a degree in music. Otherwise stick to things you understand.

[Jan]

Whoa, Michael!

Nobody attacked Evan Chen, all they said is that they didn't like the music for ACtA. One doesn't need a degree in music to have likes and dislikes and since there's a choice of only two B5 music composers.... Well, three, I guess but Stuart Copeland's score for 'The Gathering' was pretty forgetable IMO.

I came to like the Chen music and, like the Crusade series, I'd've liked to see how it would have developed. As it is, I *love* the opening sequence for Crusade.

Jan

[Dr Maturin]

Originally posted by Michael Malloy
I completely disagree!

This thread is a vicious attack on Evan Chen. You may say you don't like the music, but saying the music is the worst is not the sort of thing an amateur ought to do.

If you want to be a music critic, go earn a degree in music. Otherwise stick to things you understand.

Incredulous.

[grumbler]

Re: Re: A Call to Arms Music

Originally posted by LightStorm
It is very strange but it does kind of grow on you after a bit.

Yep. I hated it when it came out, because it wasn't what I expected. Now, I consider it one of the best things about ACtA/Crusade. It did exactly what it was supposed to do: set a completely different atmosphere. With CF music, ACtA/Crusade would have seemed "B5 done wrong." With EC music, it is clearly "something different in the B5 universe."

[AmyG]

This thread is a vicious attack on Evan Chen. You may say you don't like the music, but saying the music is the worst is not the sort of thing an amateur ought to do.

Speaking as someone who's been a professional on both the performing and administrative ends of the music business, I can tell you that plenty of people who shouldn't be commenting on - and making decisions about - music...do just that. That's life in a commercial market, and there ain't nothing you can do about it but get used to it.

I didn't much care for Chen's music myself, but I don't loathe it the way some here do (although it took numerous listenings for me to feel that way about it).

Amy (the artist formerly known as Aisling)

[Michael Malloy]

We all have our passions. Mine is music.

At one time I considered being a composer, so when I read un-learned criticism of the work of one who has worked very hard to get where he is I am very sensitive about it.

I was a lead trumpet player in U.S. Navy Bands from 1967 to 1970 - that following the intensive and excellent Navy School of Music. After that I earned a bachelors degree in music history, the first step toward becoming a musicologist. I got off that bus when I saw my elder peers getting jobs selling insurance after earning their music PhD's.

My argument is that music is a difficult discipline, just as any art. It takes years of hard work just to qualify for try-outs. You could say a degree from a good school or conservatory is a hunting license.

How many people reading and contributing to this list have achieved a level of skill equal to Evan Chen?

The music for A Call to Arms, and the music for Crusade as JMS has said were noticeably different from what preceded them with a purpose in mind.

I agree, the music is quirky. But that is the charm of it! For me, this music is exciting and fresh.

Just as I quickly found out I wasn't ready to listen to an uninterrupted CD of Christopher Franke's music, the same goes for the CD of music from Crusade. BUT, the music <SUPPORTS> the action of the drama very well, which is the purpose of this sort of music.

After viewing A Call to Arms a couple of times recently I deeply regret that a CD of the music from that TV movie was not released. I think that particular music is superior to the whole of the music of Crusade, even though I adore the opening credits to Crusade.

A final thought - Please consider what you write as if the person you are writing about were reading over your shoulder. If you must criticise something, back up your criticism with tangible facts.

[AmyG]

At one time I considered being a composer, so when I read un-learned criticism of the work of one who has worked very hard to get where he is I am very sensitive about it.

Then you'd better hope your music never gets performed publicly!

I work with Pulitzer Prize-winning composers, people who have been asked into the Academy of Arts and Letters, people who are commissioned by every major orchestra and/or opera company on the planet, and they still get plenty of bad reviews. And sometimes the reviews are written by people who probably don't have an informed enough opinion to be criticizing, but that's the nature of the beast. If you do something and put it out there publicly, you have to assume that someone(s) isn't going to like it, and is going to be very _loud_ about that fact.

My argument is that music is a difficult discipline, just as any art. It takes years of hard work just to qualify for try-outs.

Yeah yeah, been there, done that. I'm a great singer, not entirely owing to my high-priced serious music education - and I have enough self-awareness to know that I'm good, and to not be self-conscious about saying it - but even I've been known to get a negative comment here and there. Usually unfounded, or by someone whose ear is so mainly comprised of tin that they ought to set off the alarms in every airport they visit. But the simple fact is that you can't please everyone all of the time. And Chen's music is simply not in the ordinary, pleasant tonality that most westerners are used to hearing in their film or tv scores. You can't tell me that it surprises you that people respond strongly negatively to Chen's music?!

Most people want something more Mahleresque in their scores. Something that is easily ignorable. Chen's music is distinguished by being so bloody noticeable. And that's for good or for ill.

A final thought - Please consider what you write as if the person you are writing about were reading over your shoulder. If you must criticise something, back up your criticism with tangible facts.

The thing is, Chen's a professional, so he's probably a bit less dainty about receiving negative criticism than you think he is. I mean, sure, it probably irks him or bums him out - who really likes to be told "You stink!" But any performing professional working in their chosen field knows that it's an unavoidable hazard.

I have no problem with someone expressing their opinion here, no matter how negative or unfounded. There's little chance that anyone would have mistaken that initial comment for peer-level critique, worthy of basing a buying (or signing) judgement on.

Amy (the artist formerly known as Aisling)

[CRONAN]

A degree in music is necessary to feel strongly about it one way or the other? Such crap.

Taste is *not* a fact issue; its an opinion.

Really, attempting to censor other peoples' opinions, no matter how amateurish or underdeveloped you think they are, is arrogance and snobbishness at its absolute worst : P

[iamsheridan]

Originally posted by Michael Malloy
If you want to be a music critic, go earn a degree in music. Otherwise stick to things you understand.

And if you don't have a degree in literature, you can't have an opinion about books, and if you don't have a degree in moviemakeing, you can't say anything about movies, and if you're not a race car driver, you can't say anything about cars, etc...

And could you please tell us what level of education we need to have the right of an opinion. Is university a must, or is college enough?

I used to love B5, but now I understand it's just an ill informed opinion. I'll stick to soaps from now on.


FWIW, I really enjoyed Chen's music for B5. Not having any musical education whatsoever, I still think it enhanced the series.
It's not the same as Franckes music, but I like it!

/IamS

[Jan]

Originally posted by Michael Malloy
Just as I quickly found out I wasn't ready to listen to an uninterrupted CD of Christopher Franke's music, the same goes for the CD of music from Crusade. BUT, the music <SUPPORTS> the action of the drama very well, which is the purpose of this sort of music.

This caught my eye because I listen to the Chris Franke soundtracks pretty constantly in the car. I love Sleeping in Light, A Late Delivery from Avalon and the In the Beginning CDs best though I listen to several regularly. For me, the music evokes the emotion of the episodes/scenes they played in. I really like the new music that CF wrote for the DVDs.

So why is it you weren't ready to listen to an entire CF CD?

Jan