A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

It is generally in the second season when tv shows really find their feet - they must have been decent enough in their first in order to be renewed, but generally the production and writing teams will have found out what their characters can and can't do and come into their own in season two.  A parallel can be made with Michael Giacchino's music when it comes to Alias.  The music from the first season (released by Varese Sarabande during 2003) was decent enough but a little bland, but for the second series he established a more confident, dynamic sound which makes for an enjoyable album.

After the "nothing" main title composed by show creator JJ Abrams comes the album's first (and best) Giacchino cue, the fantastic "On the Train", which is sexy action music at its best and highly reminiscent, with its wailing brass and synth percussion, of David Arnold's Bond scores.  I suppose a more typical action cue is "Over the Edge".  Despite Giacchino's claims in the liner notes that the music may have synths but it is always live players who dominate, that certainly doesn't seem to be the case in general for the action music, and this cue is full of all sorts of synths and samples.  Perhaps it's a little similar in approach to John Powell's Bourne Identity / Supremacy music.  Synths or no synths, it's strong material, especially for television.

There is some genuinely emotional and impressive music elsewhere, when action takes a back seat.  The impassioned "Emily's Eulogy" is particularly moving, and "Fond Memories" quite, quite beautiful.  "Syd Implores Dixon" is a different kettle of fish, but its impassioned string writing is mightily impressive.  "Inferno" has a sense of tragedy which would not sound out of place in a war movie.  "Syd's Best Alias Yet" is a good bit of suspense scoring, with slowly-building tension throughout ending with some more good action material.  Alongside all of this, Giacchino also finds time for some scene-setting (and fairly emotive) arabic-infused ethnic music, which works well too.

Because this is essentially a compilation album, it would have been difficult for it to have had all that much dramatic flow, but it's been put together remarkably well and you wouldn't guess it was anything other than a dramatic film score.  It's stronger than the first album and a good demonstration of Giacchino's ever-more-evident skills.

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Tracks

1. Main Title (:27)
2. On the Train (2:59)
3. Mother of a Mother (1:38)
4. Rabat (2:22)
5. Over the Edge (3:03)
6. Emily's Eulogy (3:06)
7. Fond Memories (2:16)
8. Post a-Mortem (1:32)
9. Syd's Best Alias Yet (3:44)
10. Going Down? (:51)
11. Sydney Implores Dixon (2:40)
12. Aftermath Class (4:14)
13. Sarkavator (:33)
14. I'm So Promoted (2:28)
15. I'm So Screwed (2:47)
16. I'm So Demoted (1:39)
17. Inferno (2:33)
18. Do I Have to do Another Eulogy? (6:16)
19. Something Fishy (2:37)
20. Sloane's Revelation (2:48)
21. Hitting the Fan (4:20)
22. Balboa and Clubber (1:30)
23. Almost Two Years (4:58)