Bear McCreary vs. Other Composers

[Robert Maxwell]

I was listening to "Diaspora Oratorio" tonight and realized it bears a strong similarity to a Johann Johannson song I like. First, listen to "Oratorio":



Now, Johannson's "IBM 1402 - Card-Read Punch" (yeah, bizarre name):



I wouldn't say Bear ripped him off but there is a striking resemblance and I'd be surprised if he wasn't influenced by this song (or perhaps Johannson in general.)

What do you guys think? Are there any other songs from BSG's soundtrack that resemble the works of other composers? (Aside from "All Along the Watchtower," obviously.)

[Brikar99]

At some point, everything resembles something else. Female vocalists and ethnic instruments are not new ideas in music, but McCreary used them extremely well.

[exodus]

I just like the dudes name: Bear.

How do parents pick that as a name?
Was he born with a full beard?

[Robert Maxwell]

Brikar99 wrote:

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At some point, everything resembles something else. Female vocalists and ethnic instruments are not new ideas in music, but McCreary used them extremely well.

I'm not slamming him at all, I just thought the similarities here were more than superficial--enough to indicate a clear influence.

exodus wrote:

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I just like the dudes name: Bear.

How do parents pick that as a name?
Was he born with a full beard?

I dunno, but it is a pretty wicked name.

[Mutenroshi]

Robert Maxwell, I strongly suggest you listen to Gustav Holst's The Planets, especially Mars: The Bringer of War.
It was written b/w 1914-1916...

[Robert Maxwell]

Mutenroshi wrote:

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Robert Maxwell, I strongly suggest you listen to Gustav Holst's The Planets, especially Mars: The Bringer of War.
It was written b/w 1914-1916...

Quite familiar with The Planets, especially Mars. Great stuff!

[The Stig]

The "Adama Theme" is remarkably similar to a track on the Blackhawk Down soundtrack.

[pst]

The Stig wrote:

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The "Adama Theme" is remarkably similar to a track on the Blackhawk Down soundtrack.

yeah the adama theme from BSG and caprica is very similar to an old irish song called "the minstrel boy" - which appeared in black hawk down and an episode of star trek: the next generation called "the wounded".

black hawk also features a piece by hans zimmer called "leave no man behind" which is eerily close to "roslin & adama" from BSG.

jerry goldsmith's theme from alien (heard about 35 seconds in) also bears a striking resemblance to mccreary's earth theme from "daybreak, parts I & II", as does the old 90s jingle from ABC.

bear mccreary was probably inspired by black hawk down in the early days of BSG (or the producers were), hence the similarity there. as for the alien connection, i think mccreary was paying homage to goldsmith.

[Samuel Walters]

It's too bad that we haven't yet got a more comprehensive representation of Bear's work on BSG. In currently in the process of mixing various tracks to create thematic-based "suites" but the sad truth is that many themes are woefully underrepresented on the current CD releases.

[Harvey]

Has he mentioned the 2-disc release he was planning with more music from the series lately? I was looking forward to that, but haven't heard much since the series ended.

EDIT: Okay, I see that Bear mentioned on his blog that he was moving on this soon. The comment was made back in February. Fingers crossed.

[David cgc]

I tend to assume that the similarities between prior film scores and BSG tracks come down to the temp-love the producers constantly berated themselves for whenever talking about the music. Though, oddly, I've never seen anyone track down the one instance they explicitly cited, where the track "Pegasus" was inspired by a piece by the Psychedelic Furs. Any fans of that band around here who can figure out which song that was?

[Samuel Walters]

I always thought the guitar melodies that accompanied the "Pegasus" scenes/episodes were exceptional.

[Robert Maxwell]

Samuel Walters wrote:

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I always thought the guitar melodies that accompanied the "Pegasus" scenes/episodes were exceptional.

I agree, a lot of people complained about it at the time because it was unusual, but I loved the feel it added to the scene. Running into another Battlestar was not at all an everyday occurrence, and you wouldn't want to use everyday music to communicate it. You'd want to use something unusual and unexpected, just like Pegasus was. The track Bear composed worked excellently, in my opinion.

[Gep Malakai]

David cgc wrote:

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I tend to assume that the similarities between prior film scores and BSG tracks come down to the temp-love the producers constantly berated themselves for whenever talking about the music. Though, oddly, I've never seen anyone track down the one instance they explicitly cited, where the track "Pegasus" was inspired by a piece by the Psychedelic Furs. Any fans of that band around here who can figure out which song that was?

Sorry to bump such an old thread, but I got to wondering about this myself. Not a fan, but I did a little digging around on YouTube and I'm pretty much certain it was their 1980 piece "India." Have a listen to the first 2:30, then skip to the last 0:20:



That ending with the staccato drumbeat and electric guitar-twang cutoff is pretty much identical to the McCreary version.

[Ian Keldon]

No one's mentioned the amazing similarities between the music we hear during the "Adama's Last Flight" and "Into the Sun" scenes and Stu Phillips?

Which, by the way, were the two best tracks Bear composed for the entire show...