{"id":1864,"date":"2010-12-20T11:54:38","date_gmt":"2010-12-20T16:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1864"},"modified":"2010-12-20T11:54:38","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T16:54:38","slug":"cd-human-target-2010-3-disc-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1864","title":{"rendered":"CD: Human Target (2010) – 3-disc set"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>H<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label: La-La Land Records \/ Released: October 22, 2010<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: CD1: 21 tracks \/ (78:17) +\u00a0CD2: 22 tracks \/ (79:25) +\u00a0CD3: 20 tracks \/ (47:11)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: 20-page colour booklet with liner notes by composer Bear McCreary, showrunner Jonathan Steinberg, and star Mark Valley \/ 3-disc set limited to 2000 copies.<\/p>\n

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Composer: \u00a0Bear McCreary<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Although Bear McCreary\u2019s involvement with\u00a0Human Target<\/strong> ended after the first season – Tim Jones (Chuck<\/strong>) took over the scoring duties for Season 2 – it\u2019s a testament to the quality of his writing as well as his clout that La-La Land saw a need to release a 2-disc set (also available online as a download) and limited 3-disc set for fans wanting the show\u2019s Big Orchestral Sound \u2013 common with McCreary, but less so for TV whose budgets aren\u2019t always big enough to accommodate a big screen sound for each episode.<\/p>\n

As a series,\u00a0Human Target<\/strong> was designed as a nostalgic riff on humorous action films of the eighties, with wild stunts, undercover operations, death-defying feats, and smart-assed humour that makes them very distinct from the action films of prior or subsequent decades.<\/p>\n

The genre was immensely boosted by robust orchestral scores, and even with a little bit of electronic goosing \u2013 synths, sequencers, samples, etc. \u2013 they will eventually age into some of the finest examples of orchestral scoring. Names like Alan Silvestri, Basil Poledouris, Jerry Goldsmith, Michael Kamen, John Williams, John Barry (via the Bond films), and James Horner were synonymous with action films.<\/p>\n

One can also include Hans Zimmer, but McCreary doesn\u2019t draw from Zimmer\u2019s canon whatsoever, which makes his approach more distinct since Zimmer\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9s absorbed identifiable stylistic habits that often trace their roots back to the Media Ventures sound.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s any ghost that dominates McCreary\u2019s music, it\u2019s the\u00a0Battlestar Galactica<\/strong> percussion, but heavy thumping organic drums have been part of his action arsenal for years \u2013 they just suited the tension and conflicts within\u00a0Galactica<\/strong> and\u00a0Caprica<\/strong> so well.<\/p>\n

Human Target<\/strong>\u2019s main theme is central to the series\u2019 episodic scores, and its construction \u2013 elegant militaristic intro\/heroic imagery\/sense of personal honor code + agitated percussive midsection + full orchestral conclusion that hints at a deadly conflict on the horizon \u2013 is a perfect statement of lead character Christopher Chance (a mysterious man whose new goal is to help people in situations as desperate as the ones which previously dominated his past \u2013 as well as the adventures that take him on globe-trotting missions where he has to outsmart and out-fist nefarios.<\/p>\n

The 3-disc set is comprised of two CDs filmed with the show\u2019s meaty action and main thematic renditions, and a third CD with additional cues + plus early theme sketches. Most of the cues have been arranged for a dramatic narrative flow, and don\u2019t follow the show\u2019s chronological broadcast order, which is fine, since the main theme\u2019s dominance has to be balanced out by dramatic peaks and valleys, as well as secondary themes to break up long stretches of action material.<\/p>\n

For genre fans, it\u2019s a treat to hear little gestures and sometimes unsubtle riffs on the stylistic action writing of genre masters. \u201cMilitary Camp Rescue\u201d is filled with the slippery orchestrations of John Williams\u2019 Indiana Jones films, where strings are perpetually agitated, brass twitter and tremble, and musical themes swoop in grand, fast-moving gestures \u2013 lending Chance\u2019s exploits an airy quality as he glides in and out of dangerous situations.<\/p>\n

The specter of Goldsmith is very dominant in \u201cMotorcycle Escape,\u201d where three components sort of swirl around each other: a theme statement stretched or compacted depending on the level of character duress; and two groups of rhythmic patterns (an ostinato, agitated strings) that either overlap a separate pattern with percussion and brass. The Goldsmithian process involves one rhythm setting off the rival, and both occasionally overlapping or pushing the other into a tenser guise, which McCreary nails and augments with his own fat drums.<\/p>\n

Goldsmith also shows up in \u201cFlipping the Plane,\u201d with agitated strings evoking\u00a0Star Trek: The Motion Picture<\/strong>. McCreary adopts the string motif early into his cue, and makes it the dominant rhythmic ingredient, augmented with thunderous percussion, and broken up with a fuller recap of the series theme.<\/p>\n

Silvestri\u2019s knack for broad comedic strokes shows up in \u201cTango Fight,\u201d insofar as McCreary evokes the composer\u2019s perfect marriage of humour and action with amusing melodic bits tucked between thick rhythmic clusters. The action-comedy sensibility bleeds into the next cue, \u201cMaria and Chance,\u201d where McCreary captures the wilds of a jungle trek with ethnic flute and percussion, and little gestures (howling woodwinds) for comedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cKatherine\u2019s Theme\u201d is the series\u2019 secondary theme for Chance\u2019s lost love, and it\u2019s a rare moment of tenderness and vulnerability in an otherwise fast-paced score. McCreary\u2019s theme also shares similar harmonics with Chance\u2019s\u00a0Human Target<\/strong> theme, tying the two characters with harmonics and orchestrations \u2013 which reflects Chance\u2019s ongoing inner torment from losing his rare love, and the revenge that\u2019s seething within him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn Old Life\u201d is even more unique for its exclusion of punchy low brass and percussion after the intro: McCreary focuses on lush, Herrmannesque strings with solo trumpet, and glides into the Katherine theme with oboe and gushing strings \u2013 an unsubtle tribute to William\u2019 Raiders \/ Marion theme, which McCreary amusingly caps with a quick harmonic quote of the Raiders\u2019 march in \u201cThe New Christopher Chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCreary also pays a slight homage to John Barry in \u201cScar Stories,\u201d using strings and gentle flute for another rare tender moment in the series score, and there\u2019s a tongue-in-cheek quality to the liturgical \u201cMonastery in the Mountains\u201d where lyrics (from Psalm 34) are worked into a slightly different\u00a0Human Target<\/strong> theme \u2013 once that harmonically echoes the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cYou Can\u2019t Always Get What You Want.\u201d (Seriously.)<\/p>\n

The score material on CD3 differs from the rest with a more overt use of electronics, such as the warping metallic tones and thunderous percussion in \u201cGuerrero and Sergei,\u201d and funky bass groove and Galactian wooden claps in \u201cThe Black Room\u201d that accentuates the caper-like tone of Chance and a computer nerd sneaking through ducts and entering a secret lab.<\/p>\n

Disc 3 also contains one of the show\u2019s best action cuts, \u201cBertram,\u201d from the same episode as \u201cTango Fight\u201d and \u201cMaria and Chance.\u201d Written in a hybrid of South American woodwinds, John Williams mysticism, and McCreary percussion, it\u2019s one big crescendo meant to underscore a lengthy chase sequence, and each round of ethnic drums yields a thicker emphasis of rhythmic density (not to mention what sounds like a slight quotation of the \u2018ethereal ghost\u2019 theme from Goldsmith\u2019s\u00a0Poltergeist<\/strong> before a drum cluster closes the cue).<\/p>\n

CD3 closes with two sketch versions of Chance\u2019s Theme (the\u00a0Human Target<\/strong> theme), each a bit reminiscent of\u00a0Caprica<\/strong> \u2013 which is why McCreary kept refining the theme, and a lovely solo piano version of the Katherine theme.<\/p>\n

With more than 3 hours of music drawn from the first season\u2019s 12 episodes, it\u2019s a wealth of music to absorb, but it\u2019s never tiring; the album in fact grows on the listener quite fast, and it\u2019s weirdly tough just playing one disc without delving into the others. The flow from between different levels of intense action is balanced by short harmonic and reflective thematic cues, and the music is beautifully orchestrated and engineered.<\/p>\n

Pity most series don\u2019t\u2019 get this lavish soundtrack treatment, but this limited multi-disc set is a new benchmark in television soundtrack production.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2010 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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Related links:BR \/ Film:\u00a0Human Target, Season 1<\/a> <\/strong>(2010)<\/p>\n

Interview: composer\u00a0Bear McCreary<\/a><\/strong> (2010)<\/p>\n

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Related external links (MAIN SITE):<\/p>\n

CD: \u00a0Caprica<\/a> <\/strong><\/strong>(2009)<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Buy from:<\/em><\/p>\n

La-La Land Records<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0H<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although Bear McCreary\u2019s involvement with Human Target ended after the first season – Tim Jones (Chuck) took over the scoring duties for Season 2 – it\u2019s a testament to the quality of his writing as well as his clout…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[41,217],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-u4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1864"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1876,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864\/revisions\/1876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}