Intrada Soundtrack Forum

INTRADA Announces:



SPECIES II
Music Composed and Conducted by EDWARD SHEARMUR
INTRADA ISC 460

It’s important to touch people with your work, and Ed gave a soul to this film with his score.
- Peter Medak, Director

Intrada's latest release from the MGM catalog features Edward Shearmur's 1998 score to Species II, the sequel to the successfull 1995 film Species. Species II represented a leap for Shearmur, as his career began just a few years earlier. This genre sequel brought him his largest project to date. Director Peter Medak and Sheamur agreed not to follow the musical language set by composer Christopher Young in the first film and take a more traditional approach. Featuring large orchestra and layers of electronics, Shearmur delivered a rousingly scary and sensual score. In what seems a rare occurence these days, the well-spotted film features the finished score as originally intended by the composer with little to no deviation. For the composer, the score was a step towards even bigger projects, including the stunning music for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and The Count of Monte Cristo. And for the rest of the world, a new sci-fi horror score arrived to thrill.

The original release on TVT Records featured less than half of Shearmur's score, clocking in at 30 minutes, whereas this release features over 70 minutes. Robert Fernandez created a crisp and vibrant mix of the original sessions, now featured in its entirety on this new Intrada album.

In the film, astronaut Patrick Ross (Justin Lazard) returns from Mars a hero, but also infected with alien DNA. Back on Earth, he works his irresistible glamor into a host of instantly newborn sons, all waiting to metamorphosize into world-destroying aliens. Earth’s only salvation is Sil, now reborn as “Eve,” once again played by Natasha Henstridge, but now in a more sympathetic, if no less dangerously reprised, form to help save the world.

INTRADA ISC 460
Barcode: 720258546005
Retail Price: $19.99
Starts Shipping November 17th
Note: Due to local restrictions related to the pandemic, shipping time may be slower than usual
For track listing and sound samples, please visit http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.12211/.f

Would like to bring this up here as well, before it falls into oblivion at the FSM board – Unfortunately the Species II CD has some noticeable glitches as mentioned here:

Sorry for bumping – I just guess most owners of this CD either haven't listened to it yet or mistook the glitches for intentional 'alien sounds'?

Here's a comparison of the three most noticeable glitches:

I've listened to this release many times and yes, the glitches are there (some brief low static sound in a few moments). But thankfully they are minor (almost inaudible) and IMO shall not prevent anyone who might like this score to get this release.

This is one of those underrated scores from an almost forgotten sequel/box-office failure and it great that it has been finaly released in complete form. The complete presentation allows the thematic material to be much more apparent and there were great tracks missing like "Eve Breaks Out".
Would I prefer these glitches were not there? Of course I would, but this is not a new score and maybe that's due to masters deterioration over time, but overall this release does sound great.