Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani

Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani

Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

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CD Album 35 tracks £8.99
Download Album (FLAC) 35 tracks £7.99
Download Album (MP3) 35 tracks £7.99
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Description

Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani

The first archive release of a Doctor Who soundtrack since the Doctor Who 2005 British TV comeback, featuring music by British electronic composer Roger Limb. The Caves of Androzani was Roger Limb’s seventh of eight contributions to the series, and the first of his two very successful collaborations with director Graeme Harper. Broadcast in March 1984, the 4 episodes showed the regeneration of The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) into The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker). In 2009 The Caves Of Androzani was voted the best in the history of the series by fans.

Reviews

Finally we have Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani, which has to be one of the most interesting releases of the moment, simply because it’s late-period Radiophonic Workshop (1984), and lots of people like a bit of that. After the tweaked classic theme we settle into 34 further tracks with funny words the likes of “Spectrox” in the titles. ROGER LIMB, the man at the controls here, knew what he was doing. With now classic studio tools at his disposal, including the Fairlight and Yamaha DX7, he could quickly create otherworthly sounds, futuristic tensions and wibbly-wobbly noises with a minimum of fuss and clutter; but the new equipment also restricted the amount of sounds that Limb could make aqnd combine. As such, it’s a little pedestrian, repetitive and even hammy at times, but it’s nonetheless decent, functional, pared-back space music that’s certainly coming into vogue now as tastes for more progressive electronica flourishes.
Record Collector ***

“Roger Limb (and the Radiophonic Workshop) provided the score and here it finally is, nearly 30 years later. And isn’t it just bloody wonderful.”
- Gay Times 5/5

“Poignant, beautiful and heart-breaking, The Caves Of Androzani is Doctor Who at its very best and it was given a score to match from Roger Limb.” - Kasterborous

“Essential Listening” - Eye of Horus

“…hearing the music once more, I want to experience it all over again! Do you think I’m mad for this soundtrack? I am mad.” - Sci-Fi online 9/10

Although several of the BBC’s Doctor Who DVDs have featured isolated music scores, Silva Screen’s CD marks one of the rare occasions a full score makes its debut on disc (and limited purple LPs), giving fans an opportunity to hear how well the show’s electronic music holds its own outside of the series.
Roger Limb stays rather exclusively in the realm of traditional suspense scoring, relying on a handful of eerie, cyclical motifs which give the score its momentum. A classic two-note arch forms the score’s main theme, and Limb expands it into extended chords which trail off, punctuated by a synth chime, or layers in a collection of wooden rapping sounds, shakes and scrapes, and light percussion.
Not unlike John Carpenter’s electronic scores, the 56 minutes of music weaves in and out of various states of unease, but there are no extended confrontation cues or singular cathartic moment. Most of Limb’s music is designed to sustain tension, and the strategic nature has most cues end without resolution.
A march (“Doctor Pursued”) is the score’s main action motif, and like Carpenter, Limb adds a throbbing bass line which provides some contrast against the mid-range rapping and arching synthetic strings. The epic “Milk of the Queen Bat” brings the score to a formal close, stitching together all the motifs into a 7 minute cue, but the edited material still mandates a restatement of Ron Grainer’s classic series theme to bring the score to its end.
Most of the cues average less than two minutes, but Limb’s variations and instrumentation emulations provide a decent level of variety in what’s essentially an hour-long suspense suite. Silva’s mastering is clean and, and as fans of the BBC are aware, the score is in straight mono with the lone cue “The Magma Beast” either being the only surviving stereo cue, or a curious exception or experimentation from Limb. Whether it was convention for pre-stereo shows or the BBC’s in-house practices, the music from shows like Edge of Darkness (Eric Claption and Michael Kamen) and Tender is the Night (Richard Rodney Bennett) have only appeared in flat, dry mono recordings.
- KQEK

Tracklisting

CD Album (SILCD1370)
  1. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Doctor Who (Opening Theme)
  2. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Androzani Minor
  3. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Gun-Runners
  4. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Morgus and Chellak
  5. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Death Sentence
  6. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Sharaz Jek
  7. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Death Under the Red Cloth
  8. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Androids
  9. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Next Time It'll Be for Real
  10. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Nobody Lives for Ever
  11. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Spectrox
  12. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Salateen
  13. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Exile
  14. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Clever Little Android
  15. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Two Kilos, What a Deal
  16. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - The Magma Beast
  17. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Blind Fools
  18. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Tear His Arms Out
  19. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Stage Three
  20. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Geostationary Orbit
  21. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - The Girl Will Be Alone
  22. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Peri Abducted
  23. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Vertical Descent Pattern
  24. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - It Could Have Been Worse
  25. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Do You Think I'm Mad?
  26. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - The Doctor Pursued
  27. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Mud Burst
  28. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Morgus and Stotz
  29. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Face Off
  30. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Morgus Kaput
  31. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Not Beaten Yet
  32. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Milk of the Queen Bat
  33. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Return to the TARDIS
  34. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Is This Death?
  35. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Doctor Who (Closing Theme)
Download Album (SILED1370)
  1. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Doctor Who (Opening Theme)
  2. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Androzani Minor
  3. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Gun-Runners
  4. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Morgus and Chellak
  5. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Death Sentence
  6. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Sharaz Jek
  7. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Death Under the Red Cloth
  8. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Androids
  9. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Next Time It'll Be for Real
  10. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Nobody Lives for Ever
  11. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Spectrox
  12. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Salateen
  13. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Exile
  14. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Clever Little Android
  15. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Two Kilos, What a Deal
  16. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - The Magma Beast
  17. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Blind Fools
  18. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Tear His Arms Out
  19. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Stage Three
  20. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Geostationary Orbit
  21. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - The Girl Will Be Alone
  22. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Peri Abducted
  23. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Vertical Descent Pattern
  24. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - It Could Have Been Worse
  25. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Do You Think I'm Mad?
  26. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - The Doctor Pursued
  27. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Mud Burst
  28. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Morgus and Stotz
  29. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Face Off
  30. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Morgus Kaput
  31. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Not Beaten Yet
  32. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Milk of the Queen Bat
  33. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Return to the TARDIS
  34. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Is This Death?
  35. Roger Limb & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Doctor Who (Closing Theme)