hough probably best known to audiophiles for his role as executive album producer on many of the recent Star Trek soundtrack releases, Neil Norman is also an accomplished musician who has recorded with artists ranging from Les Baxter to The Monkees. But his self-professed true love is science fiction, and the Greatest Science Fiction Hits series, which he began more than two decades ago, has over the years offered SF fans revamped renditions of numerous speculative television and movie themes.
The latest edition of this ongoing project, appropriately titled Greatest Science Fiction Hits IV, presents adaptations of melodies derived from both classic and contemporary adventures. Among the 28 compositions are works from The Wild, Wild West, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Reanimator, Stargate SG-1, The X-Files, Men in Black and both Predator flicks. The CD also contains versions of hard-to-find motifs from Amazing Stories, Men Into Space and Saturn 3, and even features four altogether original songs: "Conquest of the Thaxton Nebula," "Alien Autopsy," "Universes" and "Godzilla's Interlude."
While many of the tracks solely showcase the talents of Norman and his four-man Cosmic Orchestra, a 60-piece-plus symphonic ensemble provides backup on a significant number of tunes. The liner notes list all of the players, along with background information on each selection and more than a dozen photos of Norman either performing onstage or posing with various celebrities.
Faithful renditions, inventive interpretations
Unlike many other speculative music compilations, Greatest Science Fiction Hits IV does not seek to simply mimic famous melodies. Rather, the collection provides an interesting mix of relatively faithful renditions of rarely heard cuts and inventive interpretations of well-known compositions.
Standards like The Twilight Zone or "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (2001: A Space Odyssey) are absent (they were already covered on earlier volumes), and in their stead Norman provides reasonably coherent readings of works from projects such as The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Meanwhile, those tunes that are readily available elsewhere are rendered in a much more freewheeling style, resulting in rock 'n' roll takes on pieces like Babylon 5 and Escape From New York. An especially invigorating selection is "Star Trek Encounters," which intermingles motifs from each of the Trek TV shows and a few of the films into a fast-paced and surprisingly satisfying medley.
Unfortunately, some numbers--including the lackluster The Lost World: Jurassic Park--simply don't make the grade, and the liner notes, which were written by Norman, are extremely self-centered. Nevertheless, while most SF music buffs aren't likely to be fooled into thinking that any of these tracks are the original versions, folks interested in hearing generally competent and occasionally outrageous arrangements of speculative songs should find Greatest Science Fiction Hits IV amusing and agreeable.
