• Highland Warrior
• World Without End
• One Vision
• Ride On

Haunted Melody

music to hear

From pipes and plaintive vocals to raging electric guitars, the music of Highlander is diverse. Both the selected songs and the original scores have maintained a high level of quality, and achieved unity though their thoughtful placement in the series and films.

You can listen to track from the albums below with the Jukebox feature, or follow the "listen" links below. (View the list of albums at amazon.com to purchase.)

Director Russell Mulcahy showed the members of Queen a rough cut of his original 1986 Highlander film, and the songs they wrote found a home on their studio album A Kind of Magic. Six of the nine songs are also heard in the movie (in different versions). The album continued to provide the "sound of Highlander" on television, with Princes of the Universe as the series' theme song, and strains of Who Wants to Live Forever cropping up here and there. While not a masterpiece, this album captures Highlander's furious action and gentle moments - since, after all, Freddie Mercury's voice turns anything to gold.

Loreena McKennitt began her career covering traditional Gaelic music, her soaring voice and harp-playing memorable to all listeners. Her fourth studio album, The Visit, expands her sound with Middle Eastern rhythms, and features original compositions as well as adaptations. Bonny Portmore was selected for use in the film Highlander III: The Sorcerer, starring Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod. (Bonny Portmore is arranged by Roger Bellon and sung by Laura Creamer in Highlander: The Series - see below.) Loreena's musical journey mirrors Duncan MacLeod's: beginning in secluded Gaelic lands and travelling the world. The Old Ways is a song specifically about leaving the old world for the new.

The acoustic classic Dust in the Wind is first heard in the episode The Darkness, as Duncan remembers his life with the now-departed Tessa. It's heard again in Unholy Alliance. A song that speaks of the impermanence of all things is appropriate for Immortals, certainly. The rest of the album mixes straightforward guitar rock and progressive rock, and features several rock radio staples. It wouldn't sound out of place at Joe's blues bar.

Endgame was the only Highlander film to receive a proper soundtrack release. Glennie-Smith and Graziano's use of electronic music is a pleasant surprise. For the action scenes, we get pounding techno, while ambient compositions underscore quieter moments. Balancing these modern tracks are more traditional Scottish and choral pieces, and while the two styles don't always blend seamlessly, there are standout tracks. Say Goodbye to Kate/ Last Supper Slash is suspenseful, while Prelude - The Song of the Pooka is gorgeous (and heard in the sex scene, naturally.) There's another helping of Bonny Portmore, sung by Jennifer McNeil. Though some tracks bring video game music to mind, overall the electronic sound is refreshing.

Wow, that's a lot of tracks. These two discs contain a wide selection of original score from Highlander: The Series by composer Roger Bellon. Many compositions lean on electric guitar, piano, and vocals, with bluesy bits thrown in for Joe. Duncan's flashbacks allow for variety: we hear lots of different styles and instruments, for instance, those of Japan, Spain, and India. Laura Creamer's Bonny Portmore is the best-known song on these discs, though original versions of Will Ye No Come Back Again and It's A Long Way To Tipparary are quite good. While far too disjoined and sprawling to stand as conventional albums, these two volumes are treasure troves for Highlander fans and musts for completists.

The Best of Highlander: The Series by Roger Bellon (2002) combines tracks from the above volumes onto one disc and adds a few new cuts. Two distinct versions of Laura Creamer's Bonny Portmore are included, from the episodes Homeland and Not to Be.