Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Alison Krauss

Bluegrass singer Alison Krauss of Union Station sang two songs in different Buffy episodes.

"It Doesn't Matter" appears in the opening episode of Season Two, "When She was Bad" as Buffy's mother drives her to school. Buffy is acting badly towards everyone, but maybe it's because the Master is haunting her dreams.






"That Kind of Love" was included in the episode "Entropy" in Season 6. As the title implies, things "fall apart" once again for Xander and Anya, as well as Buffy and Spike when a hidden camera reveals Spike and Anya doing the hanky panky. But Willow and Tara get back together as this song plays.

Who would sell their soul for love?
Or waste one tear on compromise
Should be easy enough
To know a heartache in disguise
But the heart rules the mind
And the going gets rough
Pride takes the fall
When you find that kind of love

I can't help feeling like a fool
Since I lost that place inside
Where my heart knew its way
And my soul was ever wise
Once innocence was lost
There was not faith enough
Still my heart held on
When it found that kind of love



Though beauty is rare enough
Still we trust
Somehow we'll find it there
With no guarantee
It seems to me
At least it should be fair

But if it's only tears and pain
Isn't it still worth the cost
Like some sweet saving grace
Or a river we must cross
If we don't understand
What this life is made of
We learn the truth
When we find that kind of love
Cause when innocence is lost
There is not faith enough
We learn the truth
When we find that kind of love



"That Kind of Love" appears on Radio Sunnydale UK and "It Doesn't Matter" appears on Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Album (1999 Television Series)

Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Nickel on "School Hard"

Nickel plays two songs at the Bronze in the Season Two episode "School Hard," which introduces Spike and Drusilla as new villains who come to town to get rid of Buffy, and meet up again with their old pal Angel.



The title refers to the fact that Spike attacks Sunnydale High on parent-teacher night after a long week for Buffy in which the Principal gives her a hard time. Ironically, the way Buffy saves lives during the ordeal impresses her mother more than any school work could have.




"1000 Nights"



"Stupid Thing"

Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Buffy and Angel Love Themes

There are two different Buffy and Angel "Love" Themes, both by Christophe Beck and both quite beautiful: "Close Your Eyes" and "Moment of Happiness."

More About Buffy on Christophe Beck's Official Website
Amazon's Christophe Beck Store

The composer's biography from his website:

Canadian composer Christophe Beck started piano lessons at five, and by eleven he was learning Bee Gees songs by ear and performing with his first-ever band, the unfortunately-named Chris and The Cupcakes. During high school he studied piano, saxophone, and drums, and wrote many tender 80's love ballads.

While studying music at Yale, Beck wrote two musicals with his brother Jason (a.k.a. Gonzales, the Paris-based pianist-producer-TV Host-prankster), as well as an opera based on "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe.

Upon graduation, Beck moved to Los Angeles to attend USC's prestigious film scoring program, where he studied with Jerry Goldsmith. A personal recommendation from the legendary Buddy Baker, head of the USC Music Department, led to his first assignment for a Canadian TV series called "White Fang." Several TV series later, he was asked to score the second season of WB Network's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Beck received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for his score to the "Buffy" episode, "Becoming, Part 1."

In 2000, the cheerleading comedy "Bring It On" launched Beck's film career, which has included such credits as "Under the Tuscan Sun," "Saved," "The Pink Panther," "We Are Marshall," "Year of the Dog," "What Happens in Vegas," and more recently, "The Hangover," now the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time.

Close Your Eyes plays in the Season Two Episode "Becoming." It is included on Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Album (1999 Television Series)

The meaning of the title comes from the tragic fact that Angel can't be happy with Buffy because as soon as they find perfect happiness together, he loses his soul and she has to kill him. We see the flashback in "Becoming Pt. 1" just before the vampire Darla kills Liam in order to turn him to Angelus, she tells him to "Close your eyes." In "Becoming Pt. 2", just before Buffy kills Angel, she too says, "Close your eyes."


The "Moment of Happiness" version appears in "Innocence" and is included on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Score

Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Cibo Matto

Cibo Matto is a group made up of two Japanese women singers, Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, Timo Ellis on Drums, and Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, on bass guitar. They disbanded in 2011, but soon got back together again for several fundraisers sponsored by Yoko Ono, including a benefit for the Japan Earthquake survivors. Their blog is Here and you can read more Here.

Both songs found in this episode are included on the 1997 album Super Relax. "Sugar Water" is also found on the imported UK version of Radio Sunnydale.



Cibo Matto played at the Bronze in Episode One of Season Two - "When She was Bad." In that episode (written by series creator Joss Whedon) Buffy is still reeling from her encounter with the evil Master Vampire in Season One that left her literally dead until discovered underground by Angel and Xander, who brought her back to life with CPR. Despite a summer away from Sunnydale with her well-meaning father, Buffy comes home acting sullen and quiet, plagued by nightmares and dark thoughts of death. Buffy mistreats everyone close to her, not just Cordelia who deserves it, but Xander who is still in love with her. In a famous scene, Buffy acts like a bitchy femme fatale, making both Angel and Willow jealous while she dances with Xander, whom she also torments by coming onto him sexually. The background music to all this is Cibo Matto's otherworldly sound.



It's such an interesting plot twist to have the superhero behaving badly, and it works to humanize Buffy, who is physically strong but often emotionally vulnerable.

The two songs by Cibo Matto in this episode are "Spoon" and "Sugar Water."





One more interesting note: during the dance sequence, a man who looks very much like the vampire Spike dances in front of the band while watching Buffy and Xander. This predates the arrival of Spike later in Season Two, Episode 3 - "School Hard". And it isn't Spike because the same young man appears in the final classroom scene, ironically sitting in front of Buffy's desk, and in the sunlit classroom - so definitely not a vampire either. It's quite possible thought that Joss Whedon was foreshadowing Spike early in the season - he knew William the Bloody was coming to Sunnydale, after all, and this guy has exactly the same hair. Maybe the make-up artist was practicing, LOL.