I actually ended up buying the four BSG albums in reverse order. Listening to this after having spent hours listening to the later albums is a little bit like revisiting your past. I can't help feeling a little nostalgic listening to the early themes here in their early forms. The music is much more stripped down and elemental than in the later albums. Compared with Season 4, where the sound is very tight and beautifully crafted, the sound here is very loose and straightforward. Perhaps raw would be the best word to describe it. All that being said, I think the sound totally works here and this album captures the loneliness, the loss, the chaos, the fear, the adrenaline, the sense of brotherhood, and ultimately the sense of hope better than any other album. If you had to buy just one of the albums, get this one and buy the tracks Prelude to War and Kara Remembers separately.

This is my favorite soundtrack of any series I've ever watched. It is one of those very rare soundtracks that can stand alone from the story-line, but remains the perfect compliment to what is going on. Beautiful work. I love how this isn't your mother's sci-fi soundtrack, completely different but at times still the same. The Prologue and Main Title are perfect examples of where sci-fi meets world music. The result is a very grounded soundtrack through all of the amazing seasons of BSG.

I have to admit I was never a fan of soundtrack music until I saw BSG. It was so much like another character in the series that I had to pick up the 4th season and could not stop listening to it. I grab the rest and I listen to it all the time. Just such wonderful music that really evokes strong emotions from excitement to sadness and triumph. If you like the series, its a must and even if don`t know what BSG is you`ll still appreciate McCreary.

I've now bought this after buying and listening to the soundtracks of seasons 2-4. The experience is like going back in time and hearing the beginnings of all the different musical themes that developed over the course of the show's four seasons. It's an amazing compilation that encompasses all the emotions of the first season. The first notable difference is there is much more reliance on the drumming and percussion than in the subsequent seasons. For those who have heard the other 3 seasons, you know that's saying a lot! My favorite tracks are The Oympic Carrier, A Good Lighter, Two Funerals, Forgiven, Starbuck On The Red Moon, Passacaglia, Kobol's Last Gleaming, and The Shape Of Things To Come. My absolute favorite track is the very short Bloodshed. Mainly because it brings to mind all the emotions I felt watching the events that happened at the end of Season 1. BSG fans must buy!!

Bear McCreary needs a new agent! This guy should be scoring movies as often as Desplat, Elfman, Newman, Horner, etc. He is the real deal and all the soundtracks for Battlestar were exquisite. Nice to have the one that started it all - here on iTunes.

Bear McCreary's amazing musical artistry shines in the soundtrack for the first season of Battlestar Galactica. The first season of the show was, well, AMAZING, and the music just added to the drama and suspense that the show was all about. First of all, Battlestar Galactica is about the characters. It's about the survival of the human race. When McCreary started working on the first soundtrack, he wanted to avoid the common sound of other TV show's music. This he accomplished wonderfully. He also wanted to avoid creating a theme for each character. As the project continued, he found out that this would be impossible. And so the character themes emerged. This album is home to the first renditions of Lee Adama's theme (The Olympic Carrier), the Boomer/Sharon theme (Two Boomers), and the Adama family theme (A Good Lighter). It also contains some amazing action cues with plenty of those taiko drums we all love. But I think the two most fantastic songs on the album are Passacaglia, and my personal favorite, The Shape of Things to Come. After watching the series finale, and going back to listen to it, I was brought almost to tears, realizing that something in the first season could have such enormous implications in the final season, all illustrated by the music. This astounding album is the foundation of musical success over four seasons. All of the themes throughout the soundtracks are a beautiful, musical journey. And it all starts here. If you're a fan of BSG, or music in general, buy this album. You'll fall in love, and come back craving for more. It is truly The Shape of Things to Come.

nuff said.