Sean Callery’s percussion heavy music from 24 has been released on two separate commercial CDs, plus the superb orchestral versions in the 24 videogame, but this CD marks the first time music from a complete episode (Redemption is really a two-hour episode at best) has appeared on disc.

Fox was never so generous with Mark Snow’s X-Files music (that atrocious storybook album doesn’t count as a proper soundtrack album) or pretty much any of their TV series, so Callery should consider himself extremely lucky to have so much 24 music out there in the commercial market – something fans genuinely appreciate.

The first 24 album was a tight selection of pumped-up suite and themes that had its own uniform narrative, whereas the second album gathered meatier themes and motifs from Seasons 3 and 4 – great music from the series’ worst years. Redemption offers the bulk of the movie’s score, and yet it feels oddly weaker.

Whereas the prior CDs emphasized action music – most cues were designed to begin with a bang or slow build to a crescendo of percussion or emotional torment – here they feel rather tame, but that initial reaction does change after a few more spins.

Callery knows his themes inside/out, and it’s to his credit that he can still craft effective variations, and make them dramatically punchy after so many years. Probably the toughest challenge for a composer – just like a show’s scriptwriters – is how to keep things fresh, and Callery seems to understand that the key is in finding the truth of a scene.

That’s often JACK IS IN DANGER, but there are aspects in a scene that can influence a theme’s design, and Callery has always shown an adeptness in emphasizing specific synth colours and percussion when Jack Bauer’s going through a different level of torment, or the urgency factor is more desperate than in a prior scene.

It’s also comforting for fans to hear familiar material, and Redemption has its share of highlights. “Across the Plains” is brief, but it’s the familiar prelude to Bauer’s heroic theme, and while “Willie” is lightly coloured with woodwinds and wooden-styled synth percussion, it’s still Bauer’s theme, but expressed to emphasized Bauer’s bond with the kids he looks after in the troubled African country he’s called home for a while.

“Dubaku on the Hunt” has Callery playing with African rhythms, but he sticks to the show’s signature sound that’s a careful region of metallic and organic emulations; it’s a cold sound that suits Bauer’s persona, and Callery breaks that hard shell by frequently focusing on solitary instruments – solo piano or keyboards, female vocals – or bring back deeply sad versions of Bauer’s theme.

The musical interplay between repression and regret grounds the show, because it humanizes the characters when the writing and action creates a bit of a sterile disconnect with viewers; you can pile on as many kinetic action scenes and have Bauer bouncing all over the place, but viewers need to hear not only Bauer’s theme, but the softer cues, too, because the show’s success was built on a clever balancing act between action, suspense, and many small scenes where tough characters crack a bit, and express their fears to each other before another bout of impossible feats.

Like prior 24 albums, the mastering is crisp, and the percussion booms very nicely, with plenty of warm bass tones. For fans, the CD’s a mandatory acquisition, and perhaps more than the action-heavy compilation albums, Redemption is the first solid album where Callery can show how well he maps out and develops an episode’s musical narrative.

It takes a few listens, but Redemption’s a solid work.

© 2009 Mark R. Hasan