Available for the last few months in the Cirque Boutique and at the Luxor BeLIEve gift shop as a physical CD (Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMCD-10032, 2010) the soundtrack has just been made available for download on ITunes ($10.00) and Amazon (where it's currently $8.00). The album can also be sampled in its entirety (not snippets, but full versions of all of CD songs) on the Cirque du Soleil website, in the Audio section of the Multimedia Gallery.

For a show that had "Version 1.0" with music and storyline dominant, and a "Version 2.0" where those take a backseat, the question becomes which version of the show does the CD document? Since it was recorded before the changes to the show this CD is obviously for Version 1.0, but how would a buyer know? And how many of the songs from Version 1.0 made it into Version 2.0?

For the first question, one need look no further than the CD front cover. Emblazoned there, on the booket first page, and CD label is a thick red banner saying in French and English "Original Soundtrack by Eric Serra 09-2008 through 09-2009." So there is truth in advertising going on here, Cirque is being very clear in saying this is the music for the first year of the show. As to the second question, depend on your friends at Fascination! But more about that in a minute. Is the CD worth it or not?

It isn't just the red-band "warning" that makes this most-recent CD release different from other recent Cirque CD's. While the packaging is the standard Cirque tri-panel recycled cardboard (with artwork evoking the tone of the show), and there are pictures of show characters Kayala, Crimson and the clown quartet there are no pictures of Criss Angel anywhere. The booklet is a simple 4-page affair, there are no producer, composer, or musical director notes to be found (as have appeared on other CD's lately). The booklet has the feeling of just presenting the basics in order to get the CD released and be done with it, it doesn't have the "feel" of a graphics team that wanted to evoke the show with more graphics within its pages.

But the booklet is revealing. It shows that most of the sounds are played by Eric Serra himself, eschewing the original live BeLIEve band, which included..

o) Vocalist Nitza
o) Guitarist Elvis Lederer
o) Bandleader and Bassist Jean-François (DJeff) Houle
o) Percussionist José Pepe Jimenez

The CD does feature vocals by Nitza on four tracks, as well as soprano InvaMula. Jim & Jon Grandcamp, who play guitar and drums on Serra's side project RXRA, contribute to two tracks. There are also symphonic parts performed by the London Session Orchestra. But the rest of the keyboards, guitars, drums and sounds are Serra's (though he does credit several sample libraries).

The 64 minutes of music centers on slow and mid-tempo rhythms featuring exotic sounds and carries the ethos of Angel's darker gothic persona throughout. A few themes recur - the fun"Homage to the Rabbits" theme appears in several places, as well as a grander "wedding" theme that comes into play towards the end of the CD (the orchestral version of the theme on the last two songs are highlights). Many cuts incorporate several short musical ideas, as if Serra were editing different ideas together to make a full track. While most of the mash-ups are successful, some of the combinations make me want to slice the CD up into smaller tracks so the musical ideas don't mash together.

As a CD, despite the troubled show to which it's attached, there are some interesting melodies and sounds to be heard here. The "Homage" and "Magic Wedding" tracks stand up against some of the best Cirque has to offer. I would have liked to hear more of the creation musicians, but since the show no longer uses them it doesn't matter.

As to the question of whether it's a worthy soundtrack to Criss Angel BeLIEve 2.0...

At the risk of eliciting sympathy (or more likely noting how much money I "wasted") from BeLIEve haters I should state that my wife and I have seen the show twice (on the same date a year apart it turns out), once for Version 1.0 and once for Version 2.0. The show is now much more suitable to Angel's persona, dropping the "storyline"(and with it a majority of the "Cirque" input) and taking a straight-ahead magic show approach. Criss talks much more and has more audience interaction now, but keeps the show the same length, so there is less chance for music. As we recall, some cues sounded like recordings of the old live band, while several cues sounded like they came straight from the CD. Our recollection is that the following tracks on the CD are used in Version 2.0 of the show:

o) 1-Homage to the Rabbits
o) 2-The Life Factory (last section)
o) 4-Flying With The Birds (first section)
o) 13-Prewed
o) 15-She is Gone to the Sky
o) 16-The Magic Wedding

You can decide for yourself if six tracks (though it may be more like seven or eight) is enough to make it a "soundtrack" or if this relegates the BeLIEve CD to the scorned stack of Cirque soundtrack mis-fires like "Zumanity" (and to a lesser extent Varekai). Though before you do (as you should do with all Cirque CD's) give it a listen on the Cirque website first, it has several things to recommend it. Because I doubt we will be getting a soundtrack dedicated to the time after September 2009.

Unless something magic happens.