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My favs from TNG's Ron Jones soundtrack compositions ...

Salinga

Salinga

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
Went thru all 14 CDs of the "Ron Jones Project" audio CDs. Since YT features all tracks, I post my favs from the CD's here. Not too many, because 90% is pretty much filler stuff that dont hold up when listen to alone.

Contract (from "Devil's Due")
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Imperfect Solution (from "The High Ground")
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Docking at Starbase 74/Eyes (from "11001001")
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I Only Gag When You're Near (from "Allegiance")
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Ancient Battle Site/Promellian Vessel/Ready to Return (from "Booby Trap")
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Captain and Kids/Doomed by Technology (from "When the Bough Breaks")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJDYAHaqKOM

Erstwhile Encounter/Normal Routine (from "The Outrageous Okona")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sCjkPYfyT8

Final Mission, Part I (from "Final Mission")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rAlKE6Rjms

Foot Sex (from "Up the Long Ladder")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3TFK5LwWhc

Hot Hands/Done Deal/Three to Beam Up/Last Theorem (from "The Royale")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otfoyJcMekY

Klingon Tea Ceremony (from "Up the Long Ladder")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0gi0MhUpig

Night Strings (from "Allegiance")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biUI3zMwKcI

Riker Takes Command (from "A Matter of Honor")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1HmgMVlU-w

The Vision (from "Who Watches the Watchers")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goiJFzyw-HQ

Voice Mail/Letter Continues/Keiko Cancels (from "Data's Day")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUwRB7ZE7xc

Waiting/Explorers/The Fridge/Frozen (from "The Neutral Zone")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o8eg2f2yvU

Bonus: Jazz tracks from "11001001"

Johnny Mercer & Victor Schertzinger - I Remember You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EBvdcberXA

Ned Washington & Hoagy Carmichael - The Nearness of You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlBBMAkrX7Y

----

Here is the Ron Jones page on YT-Music, which features all the music he composed for TNG:
https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCs9L-l1CofLY2c9CnxDxpOg

... and a YT music player with all tracks:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zzLbOX0ivQE&list=PLossw7ZihEfoDdL2ZM9G1l-BqozFaKzas
 
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There are way too many faves for me to highlight, it's actually faster just to whine about the tracks that didn't work. Which is easy to say since there's only one cue track of his I didn't care for, but given how Jones' contributions more than merely contributed to TNG's success - they were iconic and elevating even the most dire script into something better - it's remarkable any would be "off", but one did exist:

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(in full context...)

It's the one ill-fitting track in his TNG catalogue, from "Booby Trap" (the guy's a musical genius and then some) oddly. The cue in of itself thematically matches the rest of the episode's score, which is excellent in of itself... and yet this one track feels far more detracting from the perilous escape - to the point that the decision to scrap it and re-use and augment music from "Where Silence Has Lease" was the right thing to do.

And now, back to more good tracks - his style probably helped save TNG from cancellation after its first season but he was indeed a trendsetter in all of his scores!

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Late-80s yet timeless all rolled into one*, and that's before acknowledging how he made TNG come alive.

* not unlike how ABBA made the 1970s disco genre above and beyond such ephemeral tunes into something timeless
 
"Night Terrors-Vessel of Death" sets the tone for eeriness perfectly!
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I love "The Price: End of Hole". It gives such resonance to the moment when Geordi sees the "end of the hole".
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"A Matter of Honor: Riker takes commmand" is foot-tapping, edge-of-your-seat music that makes "A Matter of Honor" a matter of awesomeness!

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Armus said:
Why Rick, why? That's all I can say.
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It's funny how as the years go by, more and more people (even if I'm not really one of them) seem to be agreeing that most of the things Berman-era Trek was criticized for really weren't that bad after all... but the firing of Ron Jones and the subsequent focus on "sonic wallpaper" music is one of the few things that absolutely nobody seems willing to defend.
 
BeatleJWOL said:
Amazing. Loving these record companies dumping files to Youtube. Good stuff!
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"CDBaby" does operate a music store by the looks of things, but issuing so many complete, unabridged tracks with minimal sound quality loss seems counter-intuitive?
 
BigDaveX said:
It's funny how as the years go by, more and more people (even if I'm not really one of them) seem to be agreeing that most of the things Berman-era Trek was criticized for really weren't that bad after all... but the firing of Ron Jones and the subsequent focus on "sonic wallpaper" music is one of the few things that absolutely nobody seems willing to defend.
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It certainly was a shame that Jones was let go at the end of season four, and while his music is still my favorite from any Trek TV series, I personally find much to enjoy in the scores by McCarthy and Chattaway in the latter seasons. It's different, and as McCarthy stated once in an interview years ago, is more akin to the slower movements of a Mahler symphony. In fact, the more concert classical music that you listen to, from late 19th and early 20th century (the tonal side, not so much the atonal Webern, Berg and Shoenberg works), the more McCarthy's assessment makes sense. They can indeed be slower, string-heavy, and sometimes more about exploring just texture and instrumental color than repeating a catchy 8-bar tune. Anywho, always glad to talk about Ron Jones' awesome TNG music!
 
TV's Frank said:
It certainly was a shame that Jones was let go at the end of season four, and while his music is still my favorite from any Trek TV series, I personally find much to enjoy in the scores by McCarthy and Chattaway in the latter seasons. It's different, and as McCarthy stated once in an interview years ago, is more akin to the slower movements of a Mahler symphony. In fact, the more concert classical music that you listen to, from late 19th and early 20th century (the tonal side, not so much the atonal Webern, Berg and Shoenberg works), the more McCarthy's assessment makes sense. They can indeed be slower, string-heavy, and sometimes more about exploring just texture and instrumental color than repeating a catchy 8-bar tune. Anywho, always glad to talk about Ron Jones' awesome TNG music!
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McCarthy's work during the early seasons of TNG occasionally rivalled Jones. But he let Berman sap his scores of emotion and his work became much more bland. McCarthy is the composer who came up with "The Picard Theme" which was a great piece of music. I believe there's a final hint of it at the end of "Yesterday's Enterprise". But Berman prohibited him composing anything as thematic or melodic. That being said he did some good work and even when it was bland he injected some warmth into his music. In the later seasons his scores for "Violations", "Conundrum", "Attached" and "Frame of Mind" stand out. His work had more variety of mood than Jay Chattaway, who rarely composed anything other than dour notes that go nowhere. His first few scores, "Tin Man" and "Remember Me" were amazing and I liked some of his season 5 scores such as "Power Play", "The Perfect Mate", and "The Inner Light".
 
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Cutie McWhiskers said:
"CDBaby" does operate a music store by the looks of things, but issuing so many complete, unabridged tracks with minimal sound quality loss seems counter-intuitive?
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I've seen major labels doing it too. Elvis and The Beatles tracks are all up on Youtube now, for instance.

I think these particular uploads are region-locked though, so there's that. No different than using the free version of Spotify, I suppose.
 
Armus said:
McCarthy's work during the early seasons of TNG occasionally rivalled Jones. But he let Berman sap his scores of emotion and his work became much more bland. McCarthy is the composer who came up with "The Picard Theme" which was a great piece of music. I believe there's a final hint of it at the end of "Yesterday's Enterprise". But Berman prohibited him composing anything as thematic or melodic. That being said he did some good work and even when it was bland he injected some warmth into his music. In the later seasons his scores for "Violations", "Conundrum", "Attached" and "Frame of Mind" stand out. His work had more variety of mood than Jay Chattaway, who rarely composed anything other than dour notes that go nowhere. His first few scores, "Tin Man" and "Remember Me" were amazing and I liked some of his season 5 scores such as "Power Play", "The Perfect Mate", and "The Inner Light".
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Yes, McCarthy's "Picard" theme was certainly a melodic device he used quite often early on, certainly in season 1 and 2 scores, a few from season 3, such as the aforementioned "Yesterday's Enterprise", and it can also be heard in "Q-Pid" in season 4 (evident if you listen to these cues on the 50th anniversary CD set from La-La Land Records). Also, as a slight correction, "Frame of Mind" was composed by Jay Chattaway, not McCarthy. An interesting aspect about the latter years of McCarthy's scores is that the melodic material that is present is just not repeated, developed and put through variations as found in Ron Jones's scores, or those from TOS. There might be 5-6 note phrase passed from woodwinds to strings in a certain cue, then it simply is not referred to again. In compositional terms, it's more gestural in structure and intent than a formal theme-and-variations approach, since the phrases don't become a recurring identifying device and yet it can be effective in the moment.

Also, I agree with you about Chattaway's scores, those you mentioned are engaging thematically, along with "The Host" and "In Theory", each of which features a delicate, episode-specific theme.
 
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Just watched "Who watches the watchers" and man I loved that soundtrack. It was really different than the other tracks and pretty cool too.
 
Spicy Thunder said:
Just watched "Who watches the watchers" and man I loved that soundtrack. It was really different than the other tracks and pretty cool too.
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Agreed - "Who Watches The Watchers" is an absolute musical highlight of Jones' output specifically and also TNG scores overall. It's got wonderful episode-specific themes, unique instrumentation, cool synths and a satisfying musical arc. One of Jones' top 10 scores from the series and it's worthwhile to check out this score from the big CD box set since it features a 3-minute cue ("The Vision") that was dropped from the episode yet essays the main episode theme.
 
Spicy Thunder said:
Just watched "Who watches the watchers" and man I loved that soundtrack. It was really different than the other tracks and pretty cool too.
Click to expand...

TV's Frank said:
Agreed - "Who Watches The Watchers" is an absolute musical highlight of Jones' output specifically and also TNG scores overall. It's got wonderful episode-specific themes, unique instrumentation, cool synths and a satisfying musical arc. One of Jones' top 10 scores from the series and it's worthwhile to check out this score from the big CD box set since it features a 3-minute cue ("The Vision") that was dropped from the episode yet essays the main episode theme.
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Agreed. I feel that Ron Jones' TNG compositions are the best of the era - especially the music for the "Who Watches the Watchers" episode. He should be more widely known and celebrated.
 
Mutai Sho-Rin said:
OT, can I guess that you’re a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan?
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Hello Mutai Sho-Rin,

I am not a fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd; however, I have never made an effort to listen to their music. Given my obvious preference to atmospheric synthesizer music of the 1980s and early 1990s, should I purchase a Lynyrd Skynyrd album?

Best Regards
 
Needle and Spoonhead said:
Hello Mutai Sho-Rin,

I am not a fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd; however, I have never made an effort to listen to their music. Given my obvious preference to atmospheric synthesizer music of the 1980s and early 1990s, should I purchase a Lynyrd Skynyrd album?

Best Regards
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Nope, it doesn’t sound like Southern Rock would be in your favorites list. It’s just that one of their songs was entitled “The Needle and the Spoon”.

https://www.google.com/search?q=skynyrd needle and spoon
 
Mutai Sho-Rin said:
Nope, it doesn’t sound like Southern Rock would be in your favorites list. It’s just that one of their songs was entitled “The Needle and the Spoon”.

https://www.google.com/search?q=skynyrd needle and spoon
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I listened to the song - I dig the message...

I do enjoy ZZ Top. "TV Dinners" is one of my favorite songs.

I also think the U.S. needs to drop the petty prejudice and adopt Ya'll. It's the perfect plural pronoun.
 
Needle and Spoonhead said:
I listened to the song - I dig the message...

I do enjoy ZZ Top. "TV Dinners" is one of my favorite songs.

I also think the U.S. needs to drop the petty prejudice and adopt Ya'll. It's the perfect plural pronoun.
Click to expand...
Except... as a native Southerner ... I must tell you that y’all is singular. “All y’all” is the plural form.
We now return to our originally schedule program.
 
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