Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (soundtrack)

Last updated
Terminator:
The Sarah Connor Chronicles
(Original Television Soundtrack)
Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles (soundtrack).jpg
Soundtrack album by
ReleasedDecember 23, 2008
Recorded2007-2008, Los Angeles
Genre
Length1:03:54
Label La-La Land Records
Producer
  • Bear McCreary
  • Steve Kaplan
Terminator soundtrack chronology
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
(2003)
Terminator:
The Sarah Connor Chronicles
(Original Television Soundtrack)

(2008)
Terminator Salvation
(2009)
Bear McCreary chronology
Eureka
(2008)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
(2008)
Caprica
(2009)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Original Television Soundtrack) is the first soundtrack album release from the science fiction television series of the same name based on the Terminator franchise. The score is licensed for release by Warner Bros. Entertainment to La-La Land Records who issued the soundtrack album on December 23, 2008.

Contents

Composed by Bear McCreary, it features the series opening title and closing themes as well as stand-out themes and musical cues from various episodes of the show's first season and from the first two episodes of the second season. The soundtrack also includes a cover of the Rev. Gary Davis gospel song "Samson and Delilah", arranged by McCreary and performed by Shirley Manson, who joined the series cast at the start of the second season.

Series producer Josh Friedman, actors Thomas Dekker and Shirley Manson, as well as McCreary each contribute personal notes within the release sleeve-notes.

Track listing

No.TitlePerformed byLength
1."Samson and Delilah" (from "Samson and Delilah") Shirley Manson 4:56
2."Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Opening Title" (Includes "The Terminator Theme" by Brad Fiedel) 0:43
3."Sarah Connor's Theme" (from "Pilot") 3:15
4."Cromartie in the Hospital" (from "The Turk") 1:08
5."Andy Goode's Turk" (from "Queen's Gambit") 3:09
6."Central America" (from "Queen's Gambit") 1:32
7."John and Riley" (from "Automatic for the People") 2:25
8."Derek Reese" (from "Queen's Gambit" and "The Demon Hand") 2:51
9."Ain't We Famous" (from "Automatic for the People" [written by Brendan McCreary])BrEndAn's Band3:34
10."Motorcycle Robot Chase" (from "Gnothi Seauton") Captain Ahab 2:48
11."The Hand of God" (from "The Demon Hand") 3:08
12."Prisoners of War" (from "Dungeons & Dragons") 6:23
13."Miles Dyson's Grave" (from "The Turk") 2:41
14."Atomic Al's Merry Melody" (from "Automatic for the People") 1:21
15."The Reese Boys" (from "What He Beheld") 1:39
16."Removing Cameron's Chip" (from "Vick's Chip") 3:13
17."Ellison Spared" (from "What He Beheld") 2:21
18."I Love You" (from "Samson and Delilah") 2:28
19."Catherine Weaver" (from "Samson and Delilah") 2:03
20."Derek's Mission" (from "Dungeons & Dragons") 1:45
21."There's a Storm Coming" (from "Dungeons & Dragons") 3:00
22."Highway Battle" (from "Queen's Gambit") 3:56
23."Perfect Creatures" (from "The Demon Hand") 2:13
24."Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles End Credits" 0:35

Compiling the album

The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles soundtrack collects several character themes (Sarah Connor, Derek Reese and Catherine Weaver's themes feature, as do variations on James Ellison and Andy Goode's themes) and also collects some other stand out pieces featured across the series first eleven episodes. Although Terminator Cameron is a central character in the show, no theme was written for her. [1]

"Samson and Delilah"

In April 2008, before production on the second season of Terminator... was announced, Josh Friedman wanted the season to begin with a companion piece to the final episode of the first, in which antagonist Terminator Cromartie massacres an HRT led by series regular James Ellison to the musical accompaniment of Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around". [2] Friedman became aware of a video of gospel song "Samson and Delilah" performed live by Bruce Springsteen, which had been uploaded to YouTube. The audio from the video would be unusable for a television broadcast, and as Springsteen never recorded a studio version of the song, Friedman asked McCreary if he could arrange a version of it to open the second season of the show. [3]

After spending some time concentrating on other projects, McCreary decided the track would work best with a gospel arrangement incorporated with elements from the Terminator... score. While discussing the concept with Friedman, McCreary discovered that Garbage vocalist Shirley Manson had been recently cast as a recurring T-1001 Terminator for the series' second season. [3] McCreary asked for Manson to be the vocalist on "Samson and Delilah", leaving it up to Friedman to ask Manson to do it. [2] After Manson agreed, McCreary presented a rough demo of the track to both Friedman and Manson. Friedman gave creative control over the track to McCreary and Manson, who wanted the track to "have a somewhat authentic quality to it, rather than be traditionally orchestrated like most cinematic scores". [3]

McCreary recorded the rhythm sections of the song with Ira Ingber and Steve Bartek on guitars, John Avila on bass and Nate Wood on drums, while Steve Kaplan co-produced and engineered the music. After McCreary recorded the orchestration and rock instrument elements to the track, Manson recorded the vocals with her engineer Billy Bush. [3]

"Ain't We Famous"

For the second episode of season two, McCreary was required to choose music to play on a jukebox during a bar scene involving Cameron playing pool undercover. Rather than write a brand new composition, McCreary chose a song titled "Ain't We Famous", written by his brother, giving his band the chance to record a studio version of the track. [4]

"Atomic Al's Merry Melody"

During the same episode, both Sarah Connor and Cameron view a safety training video featuring an animated character named "Atomic Al". McCreary composed an orchestral animation score for the 45-second expository sequence, inspired by composers Carl Stalling's Looney Tunes themes, Scott Bradley's Tom and Jerry themes and Bruce Broughton's Tiny Toon Adventures theme. [5]

"Atomic Al's Merry Melody" is also used in the background of the second episode of Caprica , when Lacy has lunch at the home of Sister Clarice Willow.

Credits & personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Manson</span> Scottish musician

Shirley Ann Manson is a Scottish musician and actress. She is the lead singer of the American alternative rock band Garbage, and host of The Jump with Shirley Manson (2019–2021). Manson gained media attention for her forthright style, rebellious attitude, and distinctive deep voice. For the majority of her career, Manson commuted between her home city of Edinburgh and the U.S. to record with Garbage, which originally formed in Madison, Wisconsin; she now lives and works primarily in Los Angeles, while maintaining a second home in Edinburgh.

Samson and Delilah are Biblical figures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear McCreary</span> American composer and musician (born 1979)

Bear McCreary is an American musician and composer of film, television, and video game scores based in Los Angeles, California. His work includes the scores of the television series Battlestar Galactica (2004), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Outlander, The Walking Dead, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Serpent Queen, the video games Call of Duty: Vanguard, God of War and God of War Ragnarök, and the films Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

The use of music was a key component in the fictional Buffyverse established by the TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Many actors of both series are professional singers/musicians, including Anthony Head, James Marsters, Amber Benson, Andy Hallett and Christian Kane.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is an American science fiction drama television series. It aired on Fox from January 13, 2008 to April 10, 2009, spanning 31 episodes across two seasons. It is a spin-off from the Terminator film series, disregarding the events of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and picking up shortly after Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The series revolves around the lives of Sarah Connor and her son John, who work to prevent the creation of Skynet, an artificially intelligent computer system that will eventually launch a nuclear war on humans.

"Samson and Delilah" is a traditional song based on the Biblical tale of Samson and his betrayal by Delilah. Its best known performer is perhaps the Grateful Dead, who first performed the song live in 1976, with guitarist Bob Weir singing lead vocals. It was frequently played live by the Dead, frequently on Sundays due to the biblical reference. The 1977 album Terrapin Station featured a studio recording of the song.

The music of the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica is a body of work largely credited to the composers Bear McCreary and Richard Gibbs. The music of Battlestar Galactica displays a variety of ethnic influences and generally does not conform to the "orchestral" style of many science fiction scores.

Cameron (<i>Terminator</i>) Fictional character in the Terminator franchise

Cameron is a fictional character on the Fox television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which is a spin-off of the Terminator film franchise. Cameron is an unknown model of Terminator—a fictional type of android envisioned as a soldier and assassin, with living tissue over a metal endoskeleton. Cameron first appeared in the series' pilot episode. She is portrayed by actress Summer Glau who, in 2008, won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television for her performance.

Samson was a character in the Biblical Book of Judges. He is said to have been raised up by God to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines. In the story, God grants him unusual strength, which is facilitated by a Nazirite vow prohibiting him from cutting his hair. His strength and violent temper are illustrated in several colorful stories portraying him as dominant over man and nature. He also succeeds in his charge to battle the Philistines, more through acts of personal vengeance than by any formal military strategy. Eventually the Philistines defeat him by bribing his new love interest, Delilah, into extracting from him the secret to his strength. Once learned, the Philistines cut his hair while he sleeps, at which point he is easily defeated. 

"Heavy Metal" is the fourth episode of the American television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Written by John Enbom, the episode aired on February 4, 2008, and features the discovery and stymieing of another Terminator and its preparatory mission to artificially bolster Skynet's future war resources, as well as Cromartie's realization of his new human disguise.

Born to Run (<i>Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles</i>) 22nd episode of the 2nd season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

"Born to Run" is the twenty-second episode of the second season of the American television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and the thirty-first episode of the series. It was written by executive producer Josh Friedman and directed by Jeffrey Hunt. The episode was first broadcast on April 10, 2009 on Fox in the United States. It is the last episode of the program's second season and it also served as the series finale. "Born to Run", like the previous episode, "Adam Raised a Cain", is named after a Bruce Springsteen song

The music of Caprica is a body of work credited to composer Bear McCreary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Manson discography</span>

This is a discography of Scottish recording artist Shirley Manson, who has performed as the lead singer of American rock band Garbage since 1994. Before then, she was a backing vocalist and keyboard player for Goodbye Mr Mackenzie from 1981 to 1992. The band had one UK Top 40 single, "The Rattler". Manson was then signed as a solo artist, performing under the name Angelfish with some members of Goodbye Mr Mackenzie, releasing Angelfish in the early 1990s.

<i>The Walking Dead: Original Soundtrack – Vol. 1</i> 2013 soundtrack album by Various Artists

The Walking Dead: Original Soundtrack – Vol. 1 is a soundtrack album featuring tracks from and inspired by AMC's television series The Walking Dead released March 17, 2013, by Universal Republic Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of the Marvel Cinematic Universe</span> Film and television scores of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise

The music of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) covers the soundtracks of the American media franchise and shared universe, which is centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The soundtracks include the original scores composed by various composers for the films and television series of the franchise, as well as the songs that are heard in each film.

<i>Godzilla: King of the Monsters</i> (soundtrack) 2019 soundtrack album by Bear McCreary

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the soundtrack to the 2019 American monster film Godzilla: King of the Monsters. A sequel to Godzilla (2014), it is the 35th film in the Godzilla franchise, the third film in Legendary's MonsterVerse, and the third Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio. Directed and co-written by Michael Dougherty, the film's musical score is composed by Bear McCreary, the third film composer to work on the MonsterVerse franchise. His involvement in the film was confirmed in July 2018, and recording of the musical score began later that year in Hong Kong. Several themes from Akira Ifukube's musical score for Godzilla (1954), were incorporated and sampled in the score. The album and score influenced a mix of electronic, trance and orchestral music with Japanese music for few of the themes. The soundtrack was released by WaterTower Music on May 24, 2019, a week before the film's theatrical release date. A limited edition triple LP soundtrack was released by Waxwork Records on July 5.

<i>Godzilla</i> (2014 soundtrack) 2014 film score by Alexandre Desplat

Godzilla: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 2014 American monster film Godzilla, which is a reboot of Toho's Godzilla franchise and also being the 30th film in that franchise. It is also the first film in Legendary's MonsterVerse and the second Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio. The musical score is composed and conducted by Alexandre Desplat, being the first film composer to work on the MonsterVerse franchise. The film score was released digitally by WaterTower Music on May 13, 2014, and a separate vinyl album was launched on June 17.

The music of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is composed by Bear McCreary, with additional music by Howard Shore and other artists. The Amazon Prime Video series is based on the novel The Lord of the Rings and its appendices by J. R. R. Tolkien, and is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It follows a large cast of characters and covers all the major events of the Second Age.

References

  1. ""Themes of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles""". Bear McCreary.com. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
  2. 1 2 "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles soundtrack to be released by La-La Land Records". La-La Land Records Press Release (reproduced by SarahConnorSociety.net). Archived from the original on 2009-07-30. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
  3. 1 2 3 4 ""Terminator:SCC - "Samson and Delilah""". Bear McCreary.com. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
  4. ""Terminator:SCC - "Ain't We Famous""". Bear McCreary.com. 16 September 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
  5. "Bruce Broughton Interview: Scoring for Animation". Bear McCreary.com. 29 September 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-03.