I've now hear the 4th suite in the B5 CD, the new one that will be
added to the general release CD. Just gorgous. Christopher asked which
pieces I'd like included, and there's the Garibaldi-cralwing-to-the-tube
music from "Chrysalis," the killing-zone music from "Signs," and some
other just gorgeous stuff. I think it adds something like 10-12 minutes
to the CD. I figure it'll probably be set to go out by the end of the
month or shortly thereafter.

jms

Re: typos...sometimes the carpal tunnel gets worse than at other
times, and the thought of going back and retyping sentences to correct
typos is just too much.

jms

Actually, to correct this, the last track in the European version
has more *perussion* and fewer strings, whereas the American version has
more strings and less percussion (this in the longer, reorchestrated
suite of the Requiem for the Line). This was because Chris sent me the
tape with the last track for my approval. I listened to it, and thought
it was great...but for me, what really makes the RftL theme so beautiful
and moving and tragic and powerful are the strings in counterpoint to the
rest of the rhythm. Here they were missing. So I called, and said, "It
really needs the strings." By this point they were already pressing the
European edition, and it was too late to do anything about it. It was
subsequently revised for the American release. So now there are two
versions floating around out there; the percussive version is nice for
the driving aspect of it, it hits you hard in the gut; the string version
hits you in the heart and breaks it.

jms

For track 12, Christopher did a much longer, full-length version of
The Battle of the Line sequence, adding a lot of depth and letting it play
out fully. So yes, parts of it echo what's on the disk earlier, but in a
better, extended-play version. For me, it's one of the best tracks on the
disk (though I somewhat prefer the American version over the European
version, due to the strings).

jms