My first attempt at a post, so sorry if I messed something up. =oP

Couldn't believe this news wasn't already on Whedonesque - the Variety post is a few weeks old - but did all kinds of searches and looked through the archive for the past months without finding any mention of score, Christophe Beck, soundtrack or anything else. :o)

It's not listed in upcoming releases on the Rounder Records site (they only list two weeks or so in advance), but "The Set List" tends to be reliable.

Figured it would probably be the tracks Beck himself released as mp3 a long time ago, combined with the suites found on the OMWF soundtrack.

But while the season 2 and 3 tracks are the best parts from the mp3 release (though I guess he might have "remixed" them also), a lot of the season 4 stuff is new. And also great to finally get some season 2 and 3 music in full CD quality, of course. Can't wait =o)

[ edited by Serge on 2008-08-11 01:25 ]

Kaneda | August 11, 01:15 CET

Some S5 stuff is on there, too. I was gonna be puzzled if they left "Sacrifice" off a Beck compilation, since it's my very favorite. Rarely can a bit of score make me cry, but that one can.

swanjun | August 11, 01:26 CET

Damn, you're right - edited the post to reflect that. Always forget about Beck returning for "The Gift", even if I won't forget the theme. "Sacrifice" being listed as "alternate version" - interesting (and nice, since the version they used is on the OMWF soundtrack)

Kaneda | August 11, 01:29 CET

This is Very Shiny news.

zillah | August 11, 01:30 CET

I want this, very much.

Dana5140 | August 11, 01:31 CET

Shiny! I love score albums and I always thought it was a bummer that only so few tracks of Christophe Beck's great work were officially released.

Salocin | August 11, 01:56 CET

Cover art is up at amazon.

[ edited by herb on 2008-08-11 02:25 ]

vr5cran | August 11, 02:02 CET

Can't wait for this! The cover looks awesome too!

montresor | August 11, 02:05 CET

Now that's pretty cool news. I'm going to buy this. Somehow, I don't think I'll be listening much to it on my iPod (I'm not a big 'score' listener), but it'd be great to have nonetheless. Plus, Beck's scores are pretty :)

GVH | August 11, 02:07 CET

About time this was released. Robert Kral's Angel score was released a few years ago - and I listen to it all the time. Becks scores were amazing

Be cool if we could get another Angel album of score music now too lol:)

angeliclestat | August 11, 02:17 CET

Woohoo!

... UK release?

Craig Oxbrow | August 11, 02:20 CET

This is great news.I've been dying for a full score release.

Buffyfantic | August 11, 02:23 CET

Wow!

Anonymous1 | August 11, 02:26 CET

Fantastic News! I love Nerf Herder's opening theme of course, but there's so much more music to enjoy.

Tonya J | August 11, 02:35 CET

Although I wish they would have included even more previously-unreleased tracks from his work during the first four seasons, this is frick-frickin' awesome!


Here's mega-hoping that a season five/six/seven compilation is not too out of the question!

J Linc | August 11, 02:57 CET

Although I've come around some on Wanker's scoring for S5 and S6, I think if Beck had been around, he would have raised some people's opinions of the seasons, especially S6. He was that good.

shambleau | August 11, 03:12 CET

This is great news.

UnpluggedCrazy | August 11, 04:04 CET

Ha! Last year while planning for my cancelled-before-it-was-even-announced convention, I started downloading Beck's stuff from LimeWire and Blunt Instrument. Titlted "Instrumental Buffy" and featuring things such as "Goodbye" from "Faith, Hope & Trick," "Dawn's Ballet" and "Broom Dance/Grr Argh" from OMWF, it's over 2 hours long. I also have music from Season Seven, including the extended version of "Final Fight" from "Chosen." (It's called "Slayer Victory & Buffy & Spike Love & Schoolbus & Faith & Wood & Finale.")

I had wanted to have the music playing in the background during the Q&A, but now it's great to listen to while I'm writing fan fic or working on some of my other projects. I also have the little girl's rhyme from "Hush" and two versions of the suite (The episode version, w/the chains rattling & Olivia gasping & the OMWF version) separated by "La Danse Macabre," which is what Giles was playing during his "lecture." I'm still debating adding "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" to Season Seven.

Gonna have to go check this out & see if there are any tracks I'm missing. Some of them, like "Goodbye" and "Angel Recognizes Buffy" have dialogue. I have "Evil Buffy" and "Faith's Theme," and what's cool is you hear Faith's heart monitor beeping while she's having her nightmare, her running and the girls fighting and then Faith's yell in the grave, and the people on the streets talking while she's wandering after coming out of her coma.

I have the "Buffy/Riley" theme and an unused track by Robert Duncan called "Deadman."

ETA: Ok, looks like there's only a few tracks I don't have, like "Golf Claps," "Fyarl in the Morning" and "Haunted." But I'll still get it. 'cause...sweet.

Oh, and an FYI: When you listen to the track "Remembering Jenny" turn the volume up just a bit about half-way through - that's Tony Head vocalizing.

[ edited by ShadowQuest on 2008-08-11 04:49 ]

ShadowQuest | August 11, 04:43 CET

Seriously?! I've been waiting forever for a full Buffy Christophe Beck score soundtrack and actually thought it would never happen. Absolutely love Buffys music and tried to get any piece of it possible before. This surely did brighten my day. :D

EDIT: Awww no "Anne theme" or "Class protector"? :(

[ edited by Rhodey on 2008-08-11 05:18 ]

[ edited by Rhodey on 2008-08-11 05:22 ]

Rhodey | August 11, 05:12 CET

Is it September 9th yet?

madmolly | August 11, 05:31 CET

Rhodey This is far from a "full" score - there are a lot of movements missing, and it seems to pick & choose which episodes to feature. For instance - I have "Dublin 1938," "Dreaming" and "Magic Snow Music" from "Amends." "Resurrection" and "Sledgehammer" from "When She Was Bad," "Ampata's Kiss" from "Inca Mummy Girl," "Mark of Eyghon" from "The Dark Age," etc.

As I said, I have over two hours of music; only the last almost 22 minutes isn't his work. (The "Chosen" suite is 7 minutes 51 seconds.)

I'll have to take a look at this when it comes out, see if it gives track lengths - if they're longer than what I have, it might be worth it. I'd want "Haunted," "Fyarl in the Morning," "The Tower," "Losing Battle" and "Apocalypse" from "The Gift" and...since when does that end Season Four?? I'm thinking the "Hush" and "Restless" tracks are what we have on the OMWF soundtrack.

ETA: Here's the Blunt Instrument page on the tracks for each season: http://www.bluntinstrument.org.uk/beck/buffy/slayer.htm (WARNING: Black font on red background may cause headaches!!!)

Wax Lion You mean "I'll Be Mrs"? Check LimeWire for that - I've got it (Stuck it in my Musical Buffy playlist, which starts w/the OMWF theme and has "Behind Blue Eyes," "Free Bird" and "Epiphany" and then goes into the OMWF soundtrack - I've got it right before "The Mustard Song".) but it starts with Anya talking to a sleeping Xander.

[ edited by ShadowQuest on 2008-08-11 06:15 ]

ShadowQuest | August 11, 06:00 CET

I was kind of hoping that an official release of the Anya song from Selfless would've made it onto here... but oh well. Cool stuff anyways.

ShadowQuest: I do have a version of it that starts where the music of the song starts, but it's always nice to have an official version of it.

[ edited by Wax Lion on 2008-08-11 06:27 ]

Wax Lion | August 11, 06:03 CET

Thank you.

WilliamTheB | August 11, 06:35 CET

Finally! Very good find Serge.

Though no Close Your Eyes?

Simon | August 11, 07:10 CET

Heh, he named the track from "Amends" Magic Snow Music, greatly amusing. Goddamn magic snow and the extra-thick clouds that apparently produced it, still silly to me, even considering the probablity that The Powers That Be and/or Jasmine saved Angel there (I do like the possibility that her influence and the plans for what she was doing extend that far back in the franchise, even though there's no way Joss thought of it when he wrote "Amends". It fits).

Maybe they'll hide Anya's "Selfless" song as a bonus track, out of place as it would be on here (but hey, score music made it onto all three previous Buffy soundtracks so far).

This is awesome. Buying it. I buy every Buffy CD (okay, I didn't buy the UK's better soundtrack, so every North American-released CD).

Aside from the comic, this is the only Buffy merchandise I'll have bought for many years (I pre-ordered the very cool tarot card deck, but they canceled it).

Simon, maybe they omitted Close Your Eyes purely because they remembered it was released on the first Buffy soundtrack. Then again, they're repeating themselves with "Hush" and "Restless" material.

[ edited by Kris on 2008-08-11 07:20 ]

Kris | August 11, 07:18 CET

I will definitely get this, even though I have a CD of Beck's music in mp3 format (at least 2 hours long). Some of the pieces are among my favourites of his.

Of course, my favourite piece of score music is Robert Duncan's long version of "Chosen".

samatwitch | August 11, 07:21 CET

I wonder if the UK version will get a different track listing (thus in keeping with the proud tradition of Radio Sunnydale).



I wondered that too. Shame really as it's an incredibly good score.

Simon | August 11, 07:33 CET

samatwitch Really? What do you have? I mean...don't list all the tracks, obviously, but...how does it compare to what this CD offers?

In my pursuit of Beck music, I found a site that apparently streams a couple hours worth, but it's all totally random (Not in episode order) and there's music from the bands mixed in. I've got a "Background Buffy" playlist which is Bronze music, but only stuff I liked, not every band featured. And I couldn't listen to the site, 'cause...dial-up.

Wax Lion I know what you mean - I'd love to have a longer version of Tony singing "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Free Bird," without the dialogue. Some of the stuff I was getting from LimeWire was obviously recorded from the episodes, and not the best quality, so I dumped it. And there was a lot of stuff by Beck that showed up in a Buffy search that wasn't from the show. (Right off I can't remember titles, but there were a few from Under the Tuscan Sun.)

Kris, Simon I don't have the first one, so I don't know what's on there, but "Close Your Eyes" might've been left off because they wanted "fresh" tracks. And there's a chance, albeit a slim one, that the "Hush" and "Restless" pieces aren't the same as the suites on the OMWF soundtrack.

ShadowQuest | August 11, 08:18 CET

I must say that I downloaded everything of the score music that I found online, but I will still so totally buy this album. I love the BUFFY soundtracks, no matter whether it is score or another music genre.I am really excited, cause I never would have thought that they would release another soundtrack. :)

Donnie | August 11, 09:03 CET

Amazing, might just get it in time for my birthday.

Numfar PTB | August 11, 09:38 CET

*nods pleased* My cell phone is going to get some cool ringtones soon!

Mirage | August 11, 10:58 CET

It's about time! :) I listen to the Firefly and BSG score music all the time & always wondered why there was never a score soundtrack released for Buffy.

Aviva | August 11, 11:13 CET

The "Close Your Eyes" theme might have been signed off for TVT when they did the soundtrack album, so might actually be a copyright issue -- or it's, as ShadowQuest says, a way to not repeat tracks.

The Restless tracks aren't the same as on the OMWF soundtrack. For one, "Body Paint" is not included in the "Restless Suite" - really missed that one, simple but still the most immediately recognizable bit from Restless. "Spaghetti" isn't in the suite either, I think (believing that's from Giles' dream). So probably, none of it is. Haven't checked lately.

As for the old Christophe Beck-released mp3s, those were:
Resurrection (2.01)
Sledgehammer (2.01)
Ampata's Kiss (2.04)
Mark of Eyghon (2.08)
Accused (2.11)
Robot Rampage (2.11)
Escape (2.13)
Moment of Happiness (2.14)
What's That Do (2.14)
Mob Rush (2.16)
The Buffy Rat (2.16)
Twice the Fool (2.16)
Angel Waits (2.17)
Remembering Jenny (2.17)
Love is Forever (2.19)
As Angel Becomes (2.21)
Cursed (2.21)
Devil Child (2.21)
Massacre (2.21)
Show Me Your World (2.21)
Close Your Eyes (2.22)
Vision of Jenny (2.22)
Waking Willow (2.22)

Deliverance (3.01)
Goodbye (3.03)
Sugar High (3.06)
Tai Chi (3.06)
Loneliness of Six (3.08)
Bizarro Sunnydale (3.09)
Blood Machine (3.09)
Slayer's Elegy (3.09)
Dreaming Of (3.10)
Dublin, 1938 (3.10)
Magic Snow Music (3.10)
A Father's Love (3.12)
Betrayal (3.12)
Kralik's House (3.12)
Dead Guys with Bombs (3.13)
Alternate Willow (3.16)
Into the Mayor's Lair (3.19)
Class Protector (3.20)
Dearly Beloved (3.20)
The Beginning of the End (3.20)
Faith's End (3.21)
Poison Arrow (3.21)
Aftermath (3.22)
Drink Me (3.22)
Little Miss Muffet (3.22)
One Last Look (3.22)
War (3.22)

... they're not in that order within each episode - think I got them switched around alphabetically within the episode at one point - need to reorder soon... Anyway, around 1 hour, 45 minutes. But Beck released the second season in 128kbps (season 3 in 192kbps), so really looking forward to hearing it in higher quality in any event. And I don't think it's been officially available since around 2000 or earlier, so I guess it's fair to "rerelease" some of those tracks. =o)

Kaneda | August 11, 11:26 CET

"Although I've come around some on Wanker's scoring for S5 and S6, I think if Beck had been around, he would have raised some people's opinions of the seasons, especially S6. He was that good. "

I agree shambleau -Wankers score was shockingly bad. The same cues repeated over and over. Nothing compared the the genius of both Beck and Kral.

angeliclestat | August 11, 11:29 CET

I actually have a copy of the season 2 tracks, used to have the season 3 ones, but lost them during an event. Wasn't able to recuperate them yet.

Numfar PTB | August 11, 11:45 CET

I already have a big chunk of the score found online but it'll be great to have a CD, hopefully with some insightful liner notes, so it can be ripped lossless (if necessary).

Just because it's Monday though, I have to grumble slightly that they couldn't fit Rob Duncan's stuff on there - his 'Chosen (long version)' is one of the very best bits of music from Buffy IMO (and a few other of his S7 pieces are very nice like 'kissed to life' or 'something about Buffy') and again, it'd be nice to have it on a disc to rip according to preference. Hopefully if this sells OK they'll consider a Volume 2 (or maybe a definitive set) with seasons 5-7 included.

(and man, if my name was Wanker you can bet i'd insist it be pronounced with a 'V' sound ;)

Saje | August 11, 12:12 CET

The "Twin Peaks" season two soundtrack only just got a release last year, so long waits between a show ending and the music being released aren't unprecedented.

mjwilson | August 11, 12:23 CET

Excellent news!

Thanks for posting it and making my afternoon. :)

171Oak | August 11, 14:04 CET

Great. Now I have to reorganize my Buffy music playlist again.

I wonder how much of this stuff I already have; a buddy sent me a burned CD with many tracks on it, and I'm only gradually sorting out which goes with which episode. Faith's End was a little obvious, but the rest were a challenge; I didn't place "Slayer's Elegy" as being from the Wish until my next run-through of the series.

I collect the better Bronze bands too -- but has anyone else gone so far as to get the Flamingos doing "I Only Have Eyes For You" and Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses"?

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | August 11, 16:00 CET

I agree with the praise on here about Rob Duncan. Actually, I really loved the score for the final season as a whole. This soundtrack is great, but I'd love to see another with some season seven stuff.

galactijoe | August 11, 17:17 CET

ManEnoughToAdmitIt, I have the Cream song :) My best friend and I have compiled our own Buffy soundtracks. There are some really good songs featured in the show's background.

Valentyn | August 11, 17:18 CET

I think Wanker(lol) did a pretty good job...The Spike and Buffy scene especially comes to mind.

Rhodey | August 11, 17:37 CET

ManEnoughToAdmitIt - I do have almost every song appearing or "covered" in the show. From "Macho Man" and "Lois on the Brink" to "Black Cat Bone" and "Tears are In Your Eyes". Except for a few that were never actually released to the public (such as the royalty-free music used for a few eps of season 2), none of it is downloaded. Around 220 songs were checked on my checklist for the first 6 seasons, I think -- around 90% of them were bought second hand.

Didn't follow up on it on season 7. Maybe I should... Guess it's easier -- and even cheaper -- now, with iTunes.

And yes, I do have Flamingos and Cream, as well as Gary Oldman's version of Sid Vicious' version of "My Way", as sung-along-to by Spike. Those were actually some of the first I got, before collecting them became an obsession... =o) Lots of nice new music to add to my tastes...

And yes, Wanker bad, Duncan pretty. ;o)

Kaneda | August 11, 18:40 CET

Serge Well, in that case I'll have to get this, because those are tracks I'd need, too. I should have just pulled out the OMWF soundtrack & looked on the back, since they list the movements. D'oh!

Hmm....the suite from "Restless" is 5:02, and from "Hush" is 6:54. So...adding in the other tracks...holy cow that's a lot of music! If I had the talent & the know-how I'd try to work the new tracks into the existing suites. But...don't.

I also have:

Angel Recognizes Buffy (1:13)
Hush rhyme (:28)
The Gentlemen (2:46 - with chains and Olivia's gasp)
Buffy/Riley (:43)
Evil Buffy (1:20)
Faith's Theme (1:11)

You've got longer versions of some of them than I do. "Goodbye," "Sugar High," "Sledgehammer," "Ampata's Kiss," "Mark of Eyghon..." Oh, dear. And here I thought I had an awesome playlist! Where did you get those from??

But I've got "Istanbul," "Lesson One," "In Westbury Field," "Just in Time," "On the Mend," "Deadman," "Sleeper" suite, "Kissed to Life," "Hell School/Prokaryote Stone," "There's Something About Buffy," "Every Girl a Slayer" and the nearly 8 minutes of "Final Battle."

ManEnoughToAdmitIt Yep. Got Flamingoes & Cream. Even have Patsy Cline and The Kingsmen. But, like I said, I went with what I liked, not everything that was played in the Bronze or used in the background. Hmm...no Cher. Shame on me. :-P

ShadowQuest | August 11, 19:06 CET

ShadowQuest: The numbers after the tracks in my list aren't playtimes, it's episode number (season.episode) =o) (and I only just realized they were also listed on the Chris Beck resources site). They were released on his own website (I believe it was) back in... 2000 or something, and later pulled. Consisted of the stuff he also had on his promotional CDs. So you probably have the same ones. They're sure to have spread around the internet since then.

The ones with dialogue and sound effects have no interest to me, since I might as well watch the episode, and if it came to removing the dialogue and sound effects from the episode audio, I mostly find I can do a better job of that than the tracks of various stuff I've found on the web. =o)

As for Restless suite vs. the tracks on the new CD... The Restless suite consists of:

- Willow's dream, starting from the moment she sees the cheese man, and while she's talking to Tara between the curtains (at 0:00)
- End of Giles' dream (at 0:52)
- Buffy fighting with the first slayer (at 1:00)
- Buffy saying "Wait! I have weapons" after Riley leaves, then going primal - skips the bit where Riley says "OK, killer" etc. (at 1:37)
- Buffy walking into the desert (at 2:34), going into...
- Tara/the first talking to Buffy in the desert (at 3:29), going into...
- Buffy realizing she's looking at the first slayer and rejecting the slayer's value set (at 4:00)
- Ends when the Slayer says "No friends!"

In other words, most of the suite is Buffy, and a bit of it is Willow, and a tiny bit is from Giles' dream. It all skips around a bit at the beginning, Beck having chosen to make the music speak musically rather than chronologically =o)

On the new CD...

- "Spaghetti", I think would refer to the end of Giles' dream, when he tries to untangle the audio wiring behind the stage at the Bronze. Hoping it's more than just that bit, because I quite like the first part of his dream in the graveyard.
- "Body Paint", is clearly the bit at the beginning of Willow's dream, which I've also missed a lot...
- "Big Sandbox" - either the part of Xander's dream taking place in the playground (hope so), or a repeat of Buffy's desert stuff in the Restless suite.
- "Xander's Nightmare" - either the second part of Xander's dream, after the playground, or the entire thing? In that case, "Big Sandbox" could be Buffy's dream as mentioned above, and we could hope for all of the Restless music split up into four tracks, one for each person... Would take quite some space on a single CD, though...

In any event, lots of new Restless material on the CD.

And yeah, I have Cher. More shame on me. :oP

[ edited by Serge on 2008-08-11 19:52 ]

Kaneda | August 11, 19:51 CET

There is a cover art on AMAZON by the way:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510bvVqzlsL._SS500_.jpg

Some season one fun.

Donnie | August 11, 19:55 CET

Serge Ahhh, ok. And...I kinda like having the FX in the bits. Like Angel saying "Buffy?" - it's...painful in the middle of the music like that. Plus I've not found "Angel Recognizes Buffy" w/out that, so...

And I, as mentioned, don't know how to tweak stuff.

I think "Body Paint" might be when Buffy opens the satchel and starts smearing the mud on her face. Not sure about "Xander's Nightmare" - maybe when "I didn't order any vampires!" happens?

I think I can cobble "Demon Got Your Tongue," "Golf Claps" and "The Princess Screams" onto the end of the original suite, if "Schism" is when the minions are chasing Tara. And I might squeeze "The Exposition Song" in before "Spaghetti," if that's really Giles backstage, as you suggest.

Donnie Sweet! Thanks for that!

ShadowQuest | August 11, 20:20 CET

The latter, probably - or when the Apocalypse Now bit ends and Xander runs around the sets... Hope it might include more than that, since the actual "nightmare music" is a bit generic. The former... I really hope "body paint" refers to Willow painting on Tara's back, not to Buffy, since that's already in the suite (see above: "[Buffy] then going primal"). =o)

As I said, I also hope there's more to Spaghetti than Giles backstage. Since Joss thinks of Giles' dream as being mostly about "untangling his life", I guess the music might refer to all of it. I can hope =o) Should be room for it, since it's just the hypnosis bit (20 seconds), the bit in the graveyard with Buffy-as-child (about a minute) until Giles enters Spike's crypt, and then the bit backstage (another minute). The rest of his dream is without music (other than the Exposition Song).

Of course, this may not just be about space, but also about what Beck may have figured best hidden beneath dialogue and sound effects forever. =o)

Kaneda | August 11, 20:47 CET

Can't wait for this. Too much information. When 9/9 rolls around, can we re-post with easy linkage?

korkster | August 11, 21:06 CET

Wow! Although, I can't see "Run" from "Into The Woods" which makes me a little bit cranky, although I know, that wasn't Beck... But it's sooooo good... :)

Djungelurban | August 11, 23:00 CET

FINALLY. I couldn't believe they released score cds for firefly and angel but NOT buffy? this took way too long but I am so glad its finally happening. Chris Beck's music is film quality and I haven't seen anyone match his skill on a tv show except Michael Giacchino. So happy right now.

eddy | August 12, 00:16 CET

Not feeling that album art. :/ I wonder if the sales are good enough for this there will be a second one. A man can dream can't he? :P

Rhodey | August 12, 00:28 CET

I know this isn't the same as having it on a CD but some of Rob Duncan's tracks from season 7 are on his website for free download. www.robertduncan.com

LadySings1 | August 12, 02:03 CET

Thanks for the link, but his site's under construction at the moment. No files, all you can do is e-mail him.

Kris | August 14, 09:07 CET

Close Your Eyes was probably ommitted because it sounds very similar to Moment of Happiness and the ending of Massacre (from the mp3s I have listened too), though I wish they still included it. I was hoping some of the season 7 scores would be included too. Oh well, I'm still going to buy this.

[ edited by xander fan on 2008-08-14 23:49 ]

xander fan | August 14, 23:43 CET