Review: Tim Jones’ Chuck: Original Television Soundtrack

Chuck the TV show had some retro elements, including a classic title sequence in which they never shortchanged Cake’s “Short Skirt/Long Jacket.”  If you watch the 91 episodes of Chuck, you’ll hear that title music 91 times, as it was never pared away to make room for story or advertisers, unlike the titles of many of its contemporary shows.  Consequently, this intro music is strongly identified with the show, but what you will find when you are listening to the Chuck: Original Television Soundtrack is that there are many other tracks of incidental music that will recall entire episodes of the show as you are listening to it.  These tracks were not cover tunes, but scored by Tim Jones, the composer for the Chuck TV series.

The base of Chuck‘s musical score is firstly an energetic spy movie sensibility and secondly a collection of motifs that are flexible enough to be re-purposed at will.  Just as a good comic book will change its layout drastically depending on the content of the page, so did the composer’s musical ear find the best music to underscore each moment with the right emphasis, so that the soundtrack takes on the nature of the action, and if you were not a fan of the show, the music would still be a pleasurable hybrid of soundtrack genres.  Love scenes sway with melodic chords; combat is paralleled by a strident dynamism; comedy is accompanied by light arrangements of notes that would not be out of place in Looney Tunes; and, Jones often slew the audience with a deeply poignant piece, such as “Charah’s Theme,” also known as “A Question and A Spy” on this album.  And what is particularly masterful is that, just as the Chuck TV show could stop on a dime and switch genres, the music mirrors it so adroitly that it becomes a microcosm of the show.

If you have monotonous tastes in music, or don’t like your food to touch on your plate, the Chuck soundtrack might not be for you.  It is definitely a mash-up of styles and tastes, and like the show, fearlessly steps into any territory that will make you feel something, whether it’s the romance that’s the heart of all 91 episodes, the parodied hard rock of Jeffster, or the over-the-top but suspenseful spy score.  If you like good music, on the other hand, you may find yourself listening to the Chuck soundtrack anywhere and everywhere, because just as the score adapted quickly to any genre in the TV show, so you will find it surprisingly fitting to the background of your own life.  I am no doubt biased for watching Chuck the TV show multiple times, but on a scale of one to ten, I would rate this a 17, as it is not only a tremendously good soundtrack, but that is how many Subway footlongs appeared on the show.

The Chuck: Original Television Soundtrack is available through Varese Sarabande, and it is also available through iTunes, where you will find four additional tracks.  You can find a sampler of the album on Nerdspan by following this link.