Search - Ben Foster, Murray Gold :: Torchwood [Original Soundtrack Recording]

Great Music, Awful Quality.

J. Forster | 11/11/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This CD for me is a tragedy. It has really awesome music in it, but the quality is so bad some of the tracks are unlistenable. It's like some deaf (or stupid) sound engineer turned the gain up super high. The track "Sleeper, Awake!" has ridiculous clipping distortion.



Again, the music itself is great. If you're not sensitive to horrible digital distortion then you'll love this CD. If you are, I'd highly recommend you preview the tracks thoroughly before buying."

Ben Foster brings his A-game to Torchwood

James Thomas Jeans | Glenwood Acres, TX USA | 10/17/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For whatever reason, the American iTunes store has released this album for download quite a bit before the scheduled release date in the United Kingdom, and being the fan that I am of both Murray Gold and Ben Foster, I jumped at the chance to get the album in digital form ASAP.



I can't comment on the presentation of the disc itself as I've not gotten it yet, but the music itself is astonishing. While Ben Foster isn't quite as seasoned as Murray Gold on the composing front, he more than holds his own. The themes and motifs he's written to represent these characters range between grungy rock and heart-wrenching orchestra.



Stand out tracks include Owen's Theme -- a piece of music that was particularly popular among fans -- and Gray's Theme, which utilizes the voice of Annalise Whittlesea in much the same way Doctor Who utilized Melanie Pappenheim. Captain Jack's Theme is an epic composition that many fans will remember from the series 2 trailer that aired at the end of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.



While there's plenty of tracks that get the pulse racing, there's also a lot of quiet emotion on display here. Often the music is much more somber and reflective than what is heard on the parent show, but it manages to avoid the trap of becoming nothing more than atmospheric noise, and it certainly never gets dull. The last 5 tracks on the disc are almost entirely comprised of soft mournful melodies, but it works to great affect.



The extended version of the Torchwood theme is... odd. It begins by pasting the opening titles music (all eight seconds worth) onto the ending titles theme, but then segues into a piece that was used as incidentals on the show. The editing is a bit bumpy, but it works well enough.



The one sticking point, for me, is the lack of music composed by Murray Gold. He did some excellent work in the first episode of series 2, all of which is missing here. This album is almost entirely Ben's baby, and while it's strong enough to stand on its own two feet, some more of Murray's music would have been nice.



Another issue is in the quality of the sound. There's some pretty nasty clipping in some tracks, and there are some digital artifacts that should have never made it past quality control. The series 3 Doctor Who soundtrack suffered from the same issues to a lesser degree, and I really hope we don't have the same problems to look forward to with the next Doctor Who CD.



If you're a fan of Torchwood -- or a fan of electronic meets orchestra -- definitely pick up this album. It's worth it. Despite having purchased it on iTunes, I will definitely be picking up a hard copy as soon as I can."

Great Music, but Beware of Slackjob Mastering!

R. Toomim | Austin, TX USA | 08/21/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It's unfortunate that I purchased this before I read the reviews. If you can get past the horrid mastering snafu on some of the more prominent tracks (i.e., "Captain Jack's Theme"), then you'll thoroughly enjoy this soundtrack. I wish I could return the MP3s having heard how bad some of these are...



That said, Ben Foster (and the BBC orch of Wales, natch) did an amazing job, making this series' music an emotionally charged gem in the sea of TV soundtracks."