Bear McCreary is my new hero, and pretty much the only thing keeping me from saying that he's the best composer alive is that as far as I know, the following people aren't dead: John "Star Wars" Williams, James "Star Trek II" Horner, Ennio "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" Morricone, and Hans "Pirates of the Carribean" Zimmer.
But unlike all those guys, Bear is still primarily a television composer. Which means he's not as famous. Still, over four seasons of BSG, he's given us some of the coolest musical themes and stings I've heard in a long, long time.
Honorable mention #1: the Colonial Anthem, better known as the original series theme, composed by Stu Phillips.
Honorable mention #2: the Miniseries theme, composed by Richard Gibbs. Bear McCreary is awesome and I wouldn't want to live in a world where the following tunes don't exist, but at the same time, I kind of miss the Miniseries theme and wonder what it would have been like if Richard Gibbs had stayed on to do the show.
Honorable mention #3: "All Along the Watchtower." Someone got the bright idea to do a cover of the only song in the world that has already recieved a definitive cover. I did include another Final Five track in the actual list.
10) "Black Market." Say what you will about the episode, but the title track is awesome. Shame we get to hear about three seconds of it unless we buy the soundtrack. (Um, "Black Market.")
9) "Farewell Apollo." This is the last time the Adama theme gets a big old showcase, now with military drums. With themes like these, I tend to like the later arrangements better just because they're more fully evolved. ("Six of One.")
8) "Storming New Caprica." Hell yes. This and the Adama theme are what make bagpipes bearable. ("Exodus, Part II.)
7) "Apocalypse." Downtuned guitars crunching away underneath the main title theme? If I didn't know better, I'd say Bear wrote both pieces simultaneously. (The Plan)
6) "Kat's Sacrifice." The fact that this theme only appears in one episode is downright criminal. But I guess that's what you get when you compose a theme for a character who promptly gets killed off. ("The Passage")
5) "Diaspora Oratio." What? They found Earth? But we're only halfway through Season 4! How are the next 10 episodes going to play out? This music is probably the main reason we don't ask that question. ("Revelations")
4) "An Easterly View." This was the music with which to end the show, playing over the scene that should have ended it: about two minutes before "Daybreak, Part III" actually ends, Adama sits next to Laura's grave, as the fantastic "Violence and Variations" theme plays one final time with incredible gusto.
3) "Something Dark is Coming." Move over, "Pegasus," this is the best psychedelic-tinged guitar track in the series. It plays at the beginning of "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I."
2) "Kara's Coordinates." It all comes together in "Daybreak, Part II." Starbuck's destiny, Hera's notes, the Final Five... well, kinda sorta, anyway, as far as the storytelling goes. Once again, the music sells it.
1) "Prelude to War." Perfection.
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