Doctor Who - Original Television Soundtrack Review

Doctor Who purists (and the generally curious) should take note that this soundtrack release is comprised of music from the 2005 and 2006 series of Doctor Who, the former starring Christopher Eccleston as the good Doctor and the latter starring David Tennant in the titular role. While the music focuses on the most recent incarnations of the popular character, there are trace elements of the classic Doctor Who running throughout, most prominently in the bookend tracks "Doctor Who Theme (TV Version)" and "Doctor Who Theme (Album Version)" as well as in slightly altered refrains such as "The Doctor's Theme," etc.

While composer Murray Gold is merely the latest musician to tackle the score to a chunk of the on-going Doctor Who legacy, he seems to have a wonderful knack for mining the quirky sonic theatrics of vintage Sci-Fi and then marrying them to more modern sounding elements to create his own singular aural universe that at once brings to mind the schlock laden hey days of the '50s and the as-of-yet-unexplored worlds of the future.As mentioned above, the album kicks off with the ubiquitous "Doctor Who Theme," this most recent version clocking in at a mere 41-seconds and sounding a bit unfinished (amazing how it seems so much longer when coupled with the swirling, hypnotical gases that usually accompany the opening credits of the show). Still it contains the recognizable synth flourishes that have made it one of the all-time great television theme songs of the day.With "Westminster Bridge," Gold presents a new opening number that was used to open the 2005 and 2006 editions of the series. Borrowing a heavily dog eared page from the flamboyant spy thriller song book, he whips up a swaggering guitar driven little ditty that sounds part go-go futura bam-bam and part over-the-top espionage excitement. Truly boffo. In stark contrast, "The Doctor's Theme" re-works the classic main theme with hauntingly detached femme fatale vocals and a rich sense of disembodied tonal ambiance. Mesmerizing in its deceptive simplicity."Cassandra's Waltz" dips back to that sense of never was meeting never now, a strange blend of classic dance mechanics and flittering Sci-Fi bravado turned down several notches to create a whimsically harrowing little number that is as dainty as it is ominous. And at 3-minutes and 8-seconds it's also one of the more fully realized numbers on the album. While blending a diverse pastiche of patented film and television motifs is Gold's main modus operandi, he also seems to enjoy "borrowing" from other classic television programs of years past. For example astute pop culture sonic historians will no doubt pick up on the Mission Impossible-styled thematics (both in terms of the thundering rhythms and the accentuated horn elements) lodged deep within "Slitheen."Meanwhile "Father's Day" returns to a more somber mood, relying on forlorn piano and little else. Offsetting this introspective detour is "Rose In Peril," which lives up to its theatrical title thanks to a grandiose, old school Hollywood score feel. "Boom Town Suite" keeps things within a similar vein, actually combining bits of a waltz with the more poised nuances of an emotional musical passage, dipping into restrained territory almost as quickly as the frivolity occurred at the onset. With "I'm Coming To Get You," Gold continues his emphatic big screen scoring ideas, unleashing a flourish of large orchestra energy, mixing swelling choral arrangements with a flooding wash of strings for a grand expose.By now it should be obvious that the middle portion of this 31-track disc is heavily laden with silver screen inspired grandiosity. "Hologram," "Rose Defeats The Daleks," "Clockwork Tardis," "Harriet Jones, Prime Minister," "Rose's Theme," "The Face Of Boe," "Unit," "Seeking The Doctor," "Madame De Pompadour," "The Lone Dalek," "New Adventures," "Finding Jackie," "The Daleks," "The Cybermen," "The Impossible Planet," "Sycorax Encounter" all fall under the jurisdiction of classic movie and television themeology. Granted some of these pieces fall toward the quiet and introspective end of the sonic spectrum ("The Face Of Boe," for example) whilst others lean more toward the dramatic and forceful ("Unit," being one of the best of this latter bunch), and still others go for that retro Sci-Fi-meets-Bali Hi sense of etherealism ("Seeking The Doctor"), but all in all this portion of the disc is what we shall call the more "traditional" score section.
Tucked in amongst the above listed numbers is the chaotic rhythm surge and quasi industrial brashness of "Tooth And Claw," a song that more than lives up to its name thanks to primal chanting and clattering rhythmic interphase. Sadly, it dips back into standard score terrain at the halfway mark for a bit then jumps back with a crescendoing combination of the two to round it out. The same can be said of "Monster Bossa" which starts off with promising energy then slips into a slithering down-tempo sense of surrealism. Meanwhile "Doomsday" is something of an anomaly, as well, coming off like an electric dash-off sandwiched between all the classical score elements. This is evidenced by the presence of electric bass and cooing female vocals that make it sound more like a futuristic dark lounge number than anything else on the album.
Speaking of left-of-center inclusions, Neil Hannon, the man behind The Divine Comedy, and one of Brit Pop's great unheralded talents, chimes in with no less than two vocalese tracks. Sounding not unlike a more reserved Jarvis Cocker, Hannon has one of those classic traditional pop voices that swells with emotive countenance and like much of Gold's instrumental themes provides a wonderfully hazy sense of time and place; it sounds both familiar and yet strangely new. "Song For Ten" has tinges of glam era Bowie slathered in strings and Burt Bacharachian elements. "Love Don't Roam" is a shagging jet set number that easily could have been an outtake from Austin Powers or any number of vintage '60s swingin' flicks. The retro inflammation teeters on the edge of being kitschy, but in the end Gold's swaying hipster elements meld rather well with Hannon's rich theatrical swoon. Vegas watch out, baby!The album concludes with the 2-minute and 36-second "album version" of the "Doctor Who Theme," which while containing the familiar haunting synth squiggles and ominous swirling mist-icism, also fleshes out the theme with more symphonics and a somewhat bombastically absurd passage of what can only be described as glorious jubilation from an orchestral vantage point. Or something like that. For the casual Doctor Who viewer Doctor Who - Original Television Soundtrack is far from being essential. There are some moments of near-brilliance to be sure, but like most scores and soundtracks, this is a release aimed more squarely at the faithful and fanatic than anybody else. Those intimately familiar with the 2005 and 2006 series of the show will no doubt have a much deeper emotional connection to the music. That said, the album isn't necessarily a waste of time or money, per se, it's just that if you're a full-blown Doctor Who connoisseur, then you'll probably get a lot more out of it than Johnny Television who doesn't know Tom Baker from Peter Cushing.
Definitely Download:
1. "Doctor Who Theme"
2. "Westminster Bridge"
3. "The Doctor's Theme"
4. "Cassandra's Waltz"
5. "Song For Ten"
6. "Doomsday"
7. "Love Don't Roam"