Music
Live Fast, Die Never:
Music From The TV Series "Angel"
Click here to buy it now: Angel: Live Fast, Die Never - Music from TV Series
Distributed By: Rounder Records
Reviewed by Justine Manzano
Music can change the entire feel of a television series. On a show like Angel,
where everything is grand and epic and every episode is like a mini-movie, the
music on the show became an important part of what made it what it was. Live
Fast, Die Never: Music for the TV Series, "Angel", proves this. As Joss Whedon,
creator of Angel, said in his introductory notice within the CD’s booklet, “If
[composer] Robert Kral had written some happy polka music now and then, I think
we would have seen a whole different side to Angel. But no, it’s all sweeping
romance and portentous doom. Epic, memorable, and intrinsically related to
Angel’s every triumph, defeat, and yes, every bad mood.” I couldn’t have said
it better myself, Mr. Whedon. But I’m sure going to try.
Angel is a television series that revolves around
it’s main character (of the same name) and his friends as they fight to help the
helpless and keep hope alive in Los Angeles, a city overrun by demons and more
than it’s fair share of evil lawyers. So it’s only natural that it’s soundtrack
CD would have grand powerful themes with names like "Start The Apocalypse","
Hero", and "Castle Attack". The CD is filled with 19 instrumental songs that
served as the background of the series in it’s five year run, plus 6 other songs
that found their way into the forefront of certain episodes. The instrumental
songs are powerful at points and sentimental at others, depending on the
specific songs, and all contain gorgeous melodies that serve
to remind the listener, not only of what they were going through as they first
experienced the episode, but also of just how good a composer Robert Kral is.
Favorites on this disc are "Hero", the theme from the episode of the same name,
in which series regular Doyle sacrifices himself to save others. This song
gives me chills. Another favorite is the triumphant, "I’m Game", which followed
Angel from his initial venture into the business of life saving, all the way to
the 100th episode of the show. Hearing it in that episode, I couldn’t help but
squeal about the fact that our long-suffering hero, Angel was back in the
business of saving lives. It was a great moment and the CD has reminded me of
that.
Other songs include "Sanctuary" by Darling Violetta, an interesting extended remix of the series theme, "Touched" by Vast, which holds this whole chanty hard-rock vibe that absolutely knocked my socks off from the very first time I heard it, and "A Place Called Home" by Kim Richey, a song that was used in the series to say goodbye to fan favorite character Fred upon her death. And of course, you couldn’t make a soundtrack to a series that spent 2 seasons in a karaoke lounge and not put any on the soundtrack. Included here are "Lady Marmalade" and "It’s Not Easy Being Green", performed by Andy Hallett who played series regular Lorne, the karaoke bar’s owner, who just happened to be a green demon himself. You can’t miss the irony there. Finally, included on this CD is the full version of the" L.A. Song" by Christian Kane, lead singer of the country rock band Kane and actor who played Lindsey on the series. Christian has got quite a set of pipes as do all of the singers in this portion of the CD, and it shows!
Live Fast, Die Never is a well put together soundtrack and they chose good songs to be included. It is always worth mention when a song sticks out from a television show, but just hearing this, every song brought me back to the episode which it was originally aired in (although, that may just be cuz I’m an Angel fanatic, but I digress). It also doesn’t hurt to have funny and informative comments in the CD booklet explaining the placement of the songs and why they were needed for the story. Now, if they had just included Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley singing “We Are The Champions” at the karaoke bar, my life would have been complete. That one was so bad, you HAD to hear it!
For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at justine@g-pop.net.
Related Articles:
Buffy-Boards.com: A Review of the Website based on Buffy and it's spin-off series, Angel, by Justine Manzano.
