Soma (song)

"Soma", originally called "Coma", is a track on the album Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins.

Overview

The song-writing credits list James Iha and Billy Corgan as co-authors, but Corgan claims that Iha only wrote the chord structure for the beginning of the song, and that Corgan himself wrote the rest. One of the longest songs to appear on a Smashing Pumpkins album, it is said to have included up to 40 guitar tracks over the course of the song. Corgan says the song "is based on the idea that a love relationship is almost the same as opium: it slowly puts you to sleep, it soothes you, and gives you the illusion of sureness and security." It was also acknowledged that song was inspired by Corgan's break-up with his ex-wife, Chris Fabian. The song also contains references to a hallucinogenic drug which was featured in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World and features a prominent piano figure by Mike Mills of R.E.M.

Reception

The song received positive reviews. Ned Raggett of Allmusic especially praised the song's guitar solo, while spotting elements from gothic rock and psychedelic rock. The song was also likened to Prince's "The Beautiful Ones". The critically acclaimed guitar solo was rated as the 24th in Rolling Stone's "The 25 Coolest Guitar Solos" list. The guitar solo was placed as 41st in NME's "50 Greatest Guitar Solos" list.

Is This It

Is This It is the debut studio album by American rock band The Strokes. Recorded at Transporterraum in New York City with producer Gordon Raphael, the album was first released on July 30, 2001, in Australia, with RCA Records as the primary label. The record entered the UK Albums Chart at number two and peaked at number 33 on the U.S. Billboard 200, going on to achieve platinum status in several markets. "Hard to Explain", "Last Nite", and "Someday" were released as singles.

For the album, The Strokes strived to capture a simple rock sound that was not significantly enhanced in the studio. Building on the work of their 2001 debut EP, The Modern Age, the band members molded compositions largely through live takes during the recording sessions, while songwriter Julian Casablancas continued to detail the lives and relationships of urban youth. Following the completion of Is This It, The Strokes embarked on a promotional world tour before its release. The album's cover photograph courted controversy for being too sexually explicit and was replaced for the U.S. market. The American track listing was also amended in light of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Soma (Steve Roach & Robert Rich album)

Soma (1992, sometimes spelled SoMa) was the second collaborative album by the U.S. ambient musicians Steve Roach and Robert Rich, following their 1990 album Strata.

Overview

The liner notes explain that the word soma can be found in the ancient Vedic texts describing a drink made from plants to help commune with the gods (a botanical hallucinogen), and that the same word meant "body" in Ancient Greek.

The music on the album is "tribal ambient" (a mix of tribal house and ambient music) with dark hallucinatory overtones. The album ends with a gentle, serene piece for electric guitar titled "Touch".

Track listing

All compositions by Steve Roach and Robert Rich.

Personnel

Enterprise (soundtrack)

Enterprise is the soundtrack for the first season of Star Trek: Enterprise. It features the opening title song, "Where My Heart Will Take Me", as sung by Russell Watson, alongside instrumental compositions by Dennis McCarthy.

Background

McCarthy first became involved in composing music for Star Trek with the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter At Farpoint". He went on to work on several more Star Trek series, along with the film Star Trek Generations. He won an Emmy Award for his composition of the theme tune for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He recorded the score for the pilot episode, "Broken Bow", with an orchestra on September 10 and 11, 2001. Despite an offer to postpone the recording on the second day because of the September 11 attacks, they decided to continue recording the music. McCarthy described this as "the hardest recording session of my entire career".

It was rumoured that Jerry Goldsmith would compose the theme tune for Enterprise, having previously created the themes for both The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. This was later denied on his official website, and series executive producer Rick Berman explained that they would be seeking to use "a little bit more contemporary kind of music".

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise (titled simply Enterprise for the first two seasons; sometimes abbreviated to ST: ENT) is an American science fiction TV series and a prequel to the original Star Trek series. The series premiered on September 26, 2001, on the UPN television network and the final episode aired on May 13, 2005.

The show is set in regions of the Milky Way galaxy near Earth, aboard the Enterprise NX-01, Earth's first starship designed for long-range exploration of the galaxy and the first to be Warp 5-capable. The series begins in 2151 (115 years before the original series) when Jonathan Archer becomes the captain of the Enterprise, and ends in 2161 with the formation of the United Federation of Planets.

Production

In May 2000, Rick Berman, executive producer of Star Trek: Voyager, revealed that a new series would premiere following the final season of Voyager. Little news was forthcoming for months as Berman and Brannon Braga developed the untitled series, known only as "Series V", until February 2001, when Paramount signed Herman Zimmerman and John Eaves to production design Series V. Within a month, scenic designer Michael Okuda, another long-time Trek veteran, was also signed.Michael Westmore, make-up designer for Trek since Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), was announced as working on Series V by the end of April. Returning as director of photography would be Marvin V. Rush, who had been working on various Treks since the third season of TNG. For visual effects, Ronald B. Moore, who had previously worked on TNG and Voyager, was brought in.

USS Enterprise (1775)

Enterprise was a Continental Navy sloop-of-war that served in Lake Champlain during the American Revolutionary War. She is the first of a long and prestigious line of United States Navy ships to bear the name Enterprise.

Enterprise was originally a British topsail schooner (classified as a "sloop-of-war" by the Royal Navy, not to be confused with an actual sloop, which has only a single mast) named George, built at St. Johns (now Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu) in Quebec, Canada. In May 1775, a small American force under Colonel Benedict Arnold sailed up the Richelieu River on the recently captured Liberty. At 07:00 on 18 May, Arnold and 35 raiders captured the fort and shipyards at St. Johns, along with the newly launched George, with no loss of life. The unlaunched schooner Royal Savage was also at the shipyard, and would be captured by the Americans later that year. Two hours later Arnold's raiders left with the newly captured sloop, which was later armed with 12 guns and renamed Enterprise.