Why you SHOULDN'T buy THE WALKING DEAD AMC Original Soundtrack Vol. 1

EeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEYYYEEEEEAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH...!!!!!!!

This is not cool, AMC. Not cool at all.

A little while ago my beating heart be stilled when I read that the first soundtrack album of AMC's megakewl series The Walking Dead is set to be released on March 19th!

I know, right? Happy-dance time. Because there has been a massive demand for a soundtrack CD from this show for ages. It's at least more than a year overdue.

What have we wanted all this time? Nothing less than The Walking Dead's orchestral score. A bona-fide album of all the major pieces that Bear McCreary has composed for this show. EVERY bit of the music that has been most-desired on a quality album, going back to Season 1.

So are we getting that on March 19th?

LIKE HELL WE ARE!!

Lemme put it this way: I don't possibly see how The Walking Dead: AMC Original Soundtrack Volume 1 can honestly be called an "original soundtrack" with a straight face. Much less marketed and sold to us.

Here's the upcoming CD's cover...

Here is the album's official page on AMC's website, which includes the track listing. There is one - count 'em, ONE - track that could be called something from the score: the title theme. And that one isn't even the actual theme at all but a remix!

I'm getting a little tired of this crap. Longtime readers of this blog know what I mean. Remember the nonsense we went through to get Steve Jablonsky's epic Transformers score released on an album? A lot of people bought that Transformers "soundtrack" CD because they believed in good faith that they were getting Jablonsky's music... only to find that they had been deceived. Some of us pitched a fit (and righteously so) to get a legitimate score CD released. Heck, THOUSANDS of people signed that petition! In the end it finally got published (though I will admit: there is evidence that it was going to be released eventually anyway but hey: "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", right?)

To its credit, that first Transformers album did not say "Soundtrack" on its cover. It said "Music from and inspired by..."

AMC has the gall to call THIS The Walking Dead album a "soundtrack"... and it's... well, it's just gosh-#$&@ dishonest marketing. I see one track in that listing that I would want. That's "The Parting Glass". And I already have that via iTunes.

AMC, listen up: I would be extremely happy to pay good money for a true album of Bear McCreary's The Walking Dead score. So would many, many other fans of the show as well. Remember the music that played at the very end of "Beside the Dying Fire", as the camera panned up and we got our first-ever glimpse of the prison? Or that tense piece in the final scene of "Better Angels" as Rick and Carl are standing in the field, unaware of that gigantic herd of walkers that were approaching the farm?

Those and a bunch more McCreary pieces from Seasons 1 and 2, we are eager to get our grubby paws on. We want this more than you might imagine. We do not want this new "Original Soundtrack Vol. 1" when to call it a soundtrack is disingenuous at best.

So be warned my fellow Walk-aholics: if you are looking for Bear McCreary's The Walking Dead soundtrack score, it won't be on The Walking Dead: AMC Original Soundtrack Vol. 1. I don't know what precisely to call this album: maybe an "inspired by..." compilation. But it is not an honest-to-goodness soundtrack in the least shape or form.

AMC, fix this. You know what needs to be done.

Don't make us go all-petitiony and media-mayheming on y'all...

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THE WALKING DEAD tonight made Chris go freaking bonkers!!!

For the record, that was the MOST intense scene that I have personally witnessed from any television drama. If you saw it then you know what I'm talking about even if I don't say it: the walker down the well at Hershel's farm and how the gang uses Glenn as, ummm... bait.

No kidding: I was screaming HARD and grabbing the sides of my head during that part. Kristen was hollerin' loud too! That was definitely one of the best filmed and edited sequences that I've seen in a very long time.

The Walking Dead has been consistently raising the bar with each passing week and tonight's episode, "Cherokee Rose", upped the ante across the board. Especially watching Shane wrestle with the internalized anguish of the choice he made at the high school in the previous episode. That and the interaction between Rick and Hershel: a character who I am enjoying more and more every time he gets screen time. Sorta reminds me of the "man of science versus man of faith" dynamic that Jack and Locke had on Lost.

And speaking of The Walking Dead, longtime friend and fellow blogger/geek Geoff Gentry directed my attention to the website of Bear McCreary, the composer of The Walking Dead's music. Prior to that he scored Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica series. McCreary maintains a blog on his site in which he discusses his musical work and the process of composing for television, and it's quite a fascinating read! The latest thing he's shared via his site is this very cool video of himself doing an "accordion orchestra" of one of the pieces from Battlestar Galactica. Check it out!

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