Soundtrack: Battlestar Galactica: The Plan / Razor
Composer: Bear McCreary
Label: La-La Land Records
Release Date: February 23, 2010

Although you may not realize it, most likely you’ve been exposed to Bear McCreary’s work at one time or another. McCreary’s past work includes compositions for television shows and movies ranging back as far as the early 1990s. He has contributed to the soundtracks for myriad films and shows from the 2006 thriller Rest Stop and its 2008 sequel, Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Wrong Turn 2, Eureka, Human Target, Battlestar Galactica, and Caprica.

McCreary’s latest soundtrack release, Battlestar Galactica: The Plan / Razor, hit shelves on February 23rd and quickly became a fan favorite among the composer’s cult following. McCreary set the bar very high for himself with his previous Battlestar Galactica soundtrack releases, which include Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries (as assistant composer) as well as the soundtrack for each of the show’s following four seasons. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan / Razor is an unusual soundtrack; McCreary’s compositions on the album were recorded for the made for television movies titled Battlestar Galactica: Razor (2007) and Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (2009), making the collection slightly shorter than those that span an entire television season.

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Fans of McCreary’s previous soundtracks will notice that the composer’s work for The Plan / Razor will meet, and in some cases even exceed, the high expectations that his other collections have established. This collection, like his other Battlestar Galactica soundtracks, is characterized by grand and emotionally driven arcs that expertly exemplify contemporary composition rather than the type of traditional orchestral pieces often used in modern horror/suspense thrillers.

Recently, McCreary discussed his work on the Battlestar Galactica series over the years, including the The Plan / Razor album, and he was quoted as saying that he’s “…proud of the collections that La La Land Records and NBC Universal have been able to bring to you, and thrilled that this final ‘Galactica’ album is at last available, for it represents the conclusion of a significant chapter of my life.” As McCreary asserts, the The Plan / Razor album is not a lightweight collection of music designed to ride on the coattails of its predecessors; in fact, the album is composed of 19 tracks that span a little less than 70 minutes.

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The format of the Battlestar Galactica: The Plan / Razor album is also interesting: rather than separating the tracks by movie — including all of the Razor tracks together and separate from those composed for The Plan — McCreary chose to mesh the music from the two films together, citing the fact that they take place during the same time period as his reasoning for the decision. Once again, Bear McCreary has succeeded in creating an immense musical collection that not only complements the subject matter of the Battlestar Galactica specials it accompanies, but also is capable of creating standalone listening pleasure. Fans of the composer’s work definitely should pick up a copy of this wonderful score, and I highly recommend it for newcomers to McCreary’s compositions as well.