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Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997)
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Reviews
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  And the slayage extends to the music...
by Victor Field (December 28, 2003)
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is regarded by many, including me, as one of the finest TV series in quite a while - but it hasn't been so well treated when it comes to the scoring, at least in terms of album releases. Since the show has a hefty teenage following, two of the three albums ("Radio Sunnydale" was issued not long after the series ended in 2003) have been wall-to-wall songs with only a token score track or two. Admittedly the songs are heard in the show (often performed onscreen) but this is frustrating those of us eager to hear more of Christophe Beck's work (though other composers have worked on the series - Walter Murphy scored the first season, and when Beck left the show he was replaced by Thomas Wanker for the fifth and sixth seasons and Rob Duncan for the final one - Beck was the show's most consistent musical voice).
With Beck's promo not easy to find down at your local HMV, the CD for the acclaimed "Once More, With Feeling" is the best source to hear some of his work - as well as featuring all the songs from The Musical Episode (though "Xena: Warrior Princess" sustained the conceit more effectively with "The Bitter Suite," Buffy wins because a) they all did their own singing [Renee O'Connor and Hudson Leick, that means you] and b) her show wisely didn't try another one) on top of some snatches of the instrumental music, this also features 15 minutes of Beck's music from other episodes; two exciting suites from "Restless" and "Hush" (one of the creepiest episodes of the run), and the highpoint of his music on this disc, the heartbreaking final cue from Season 5's equally stunning finale "The Gift." (Oddly enough, none of his score from Season 2's "Becoming, Part 1" - accounting for one of only two Emmys the show won - is included.)
"Radio Sunnydale" was released in different UK and US versions - the UK version has two score cuts (a Beck cue from "The Zeppo" and a track from Rob Duncan's score for the final episode "Chosen"), but "Once More With Feeling" is the one to lay down your money for. We're not in "Star Trek" territory here, but at least we're not mired in the musical Sargasso Sea that is the "CSI" franchise either.
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