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Just came here to say: HOLY SHIT @ Reminiscence Therapy. What a mindblowing, bonkers track, like a remix of the OT scores on steroids! Absolutely mops the floor with Rogue One in 6 minutes flat! Who'd have Star Wars scores would sound vastly superior with layered orchestration and a mix that resembles a virtuosic orchestra in a symphony hall, rather than sounding submerged underwater! Williams and Powell work gloriously together and all the reinterpretations of Han's Theme threaded through the score are fantastic. It's actually quite fun hearing Williams reinterpreted through the lens of modern writing by a composer who understands symphonic writing and clearly understands Williams' classical sensibilities. The orchestrations are absolutely top-notch, very worthy of a Williams Star Wars score IMO.

Well, I know what I'm doing this afternoon...

Quick show!

Lmao the one person trashing the score still thinks it’s an improvement over Rogue One

The score is SO MUCH better than Rogue One! Just finished first album listen, starting a second after a Wet Hot American Summer detour Dice & Roll is such a fun album-ending track!

I don't think it's always necessary to lean on cognitive bias to proclaim anyone's ability to judge a piece of music. In this specific case, I think Williams' own specific stylistic traits are well recognizable just by listening to the piece even without knowing it's him. Of course it's perfectly understandable to dislike it, or to think the Maestro has done better for compositions like this one. I happen to like it a lot, but I don't think it makes me automatically biased since I knew already it was JW. I like how the piece moves and develops, I like how it's orchestrated and how it keeps being always interesting for the whole duration. It's a lovely symphonic miniature, much like a Shostakovich overture or a Prokofiev dance piece.

WOW!!!! First half just ended. The program posted online is COMPLETELY wrong - the first half was all Williams music, and it was full of rare gems! It had the special concert only version of Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra, the 2008 Marion's Theme arrangement, and the Sugarland Express theme with the harmonica part changed to a flute part. It was awesome! What a night so far!

New interview with Powell on Billboard: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/movies/8456721/solo-star-wars-story-composer-john-powell-interview

One of the things I love about Powell is how he can appeal to classic orchestral score enthusiasts without ever once being a “throwback.” He is just himself.

I think people are just paranoid Giacchino will one day take over the world and enslave us all.

After a first listen, Solo definitely blows Rogue One out of the water for me.

These are weird comparisons. John Powell is like . . . a composer who crafted a better Star Wars score than Michael Giacchino.

doesn't feel forced

Can we please discuss this music while still being nice to each other? Thank you.

It’s not that we *need* to deprecate Giacchino. It’s just that I think a lot of people, myself included, overlooked the flaws of Rogue One because we figured that Williams set the standard so high that Rogue One was the best could realistically be expected from a non-Williams SW score. Now that we have heard a non-Williams SW that is actually great, it puts into sharp relief how disappointing Rogue One was.

It's not delivery! It's Giacchino!

Yes, that's my first reaction. You can go to literally any track and there isn't a dull moment here. So fear not for everyone who disliked Rogue One; this is the Star Wars spinoff score you were looking for! WOW! Gone is the shithouse dry mixing, replaced by the virtuosity of a symphonic orchestra all doing their own thing yet working together brilliantly. Han's Theme @ 1:35 in Flying With Chewie! Both the Powell appointment and Williams writing the main theme (for Powell to thread through the score) have proven very wise and inspired decisions.

Well anyways it is just a first impression, obviously one that can change on subsequent listens Powell clearly uses the Rebel Fanfare as a theme for the Falcon in this score. I think "L3 & The Millennium Falcon" has one of the best versions of the Rebel Fanfare ever! Mine Mission had a LOT of similarities with March of the Resistance

Yeah that definitely happened. He was doing backflips in his pajamas while shouting it at Kathleen Kennedy over skype.

I forgot... I took a picture of the music credits during the end credits! Here iit comes!

Just finished the whole album. Wow, this is a really exhausting album, it's like when you do a sprint, you force it out in the beginning, and then you take a rest in the middle, but then, you have to finsih the task so you take a full force again, until you pass out in the end. But the thing is, I am exhausted in awe and wonder. Thematically speaking, and im talking about Powell's, this may not be his best effort, but if we are talking about one true composer ability, i think Powell just hit the peak here, way above there. I love how he geniusly plays with his own themes (powell's, let me straight that out), and almost at any moment, makes a hell of revelation for me. I love it the way Powell truly experiments with the writing, and really plays it out. And the most important thing is, like someone here said, HE IS REALLY GOOD WITH STORYTELLING. He is a very good storyteller, and thats why all tracks in the album are worth the listen, and they really flow! and that what makes him stood apart from the rest of them. Bravo!

Rogue One feels like the score to a Spaceballs sequel

I'm listening to the album right now.. just amazing, the orchestration of Adventures of Han is so swashbuckling, reminds me of Korgold and his Pirate movie scores. Now, back to the listening session :)) edit: I'll just summarize the powell score: Solo: How to train your Chewbacca :))

Track times: 01. The Adventures of Han (3:47) Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams 02. Meet Han (2:18) 03. Corellia Chase (3:32) 04. Spaceport (4:05) 05. Flying with Chewie (3:28) 06. Train Heist (4:46) 07. Marauders Arrive (5:13) 08. Chicken in the Pot (2:07) 09. Is This Seat Taken? (2:34) 10. L3 & Millennium Falcon (3:15) 11. Lando's Closet (2:11) 12. Minen Mission (4:09) 13. Breakout (6:13) 14. The Good Guy (5:23) 15. Reminiscence Therapy (6:11) 16. Into the Maw (4:47) 17. Savareen Stand-Off (4:24) 18. Good Thing You Were Listening (2:06) 19. Testing Allegiance (4:19) 20. Dice & Roll (1:54)

I'd say The Adventures of Han is..... one part Poe's Theme, one part Rey's Theme, one part Hyperspace, and one part Escape, all thrown in a blender and mixed around, with a layer of Williams-isms (xylophone runs and false endings) on top. Honestly, it doesn't sound to me too much like a theme presentation, more like a 4 minute film cue (other than the false endings). It's almost sounds like a TFA outtake, like for some deleted scene we never heard before. It's not very swashbuck-ly, it's not very Star Wars-y, but it is in line with his modern style / his general TFA/TLJ sound. It's very Williams-y, and not at all Powell-y. The piece doesn't' start out like the leaked sheet music did, that must have been sheet music that literally just laid out the two themes. This has a proper intro before getting into the A theme.

The performance in Boston tonight was just under 4 minutes long.

Kasey plz

3CD/1BD: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D515631/ 5LP: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D54LF9N/ Release date of Friday July 27th 2018

Yeah, for some reason, every time I hear the start of the A theme, I expect into continue into the RPO theme and am thrown off by the short conclusion Love the B theme though

I honestly didn't really notice or mind that it wasn't Williams himself utilizing the theme through these tracks. Just off one listen it sounded great and organic every time and Powell paid a lot of attention to it. One thing I wanted to mention, that kinda whirling Shostakovichian/Battle of Craitish section in the middle is really fun in "Reminiscence Therapy," I love that Powell threw that in there. That whole track really summed the fun of this score for me, I was never into the idea of anybody collaborating with JW for Star Wars but he and Powell made great dance partners! When I was listening I got this funny image of the two of them in their top hats and tails, shim sham shimmying away.

It's funny - that is how I feel about Alden Ehrenreich. He's perfectly fine as a generic roguish action hero but I don't get the sense he is actually playing Han Solo because he doesn't have that extra bit of magic that made Ford's performance so indelible.

So...I check out this thread to see any new discussions on the score, and instead I end up crawling through 3 pages of people spewing their insults at Giacchino's Rogue One. I guess people forgot how Giacchino didn't have two main themes written for him by Williams, and about 50 weeks more to score the film...

"Marauders Arrive" is a definite album highlight. Consistently engaging and suitably epic. Just a blast to listen to. Best use of vocals I've heard in a film score in a while.

I loved it! That was definitely one of those moments where a new voice was welcome. Williams would never write anything like that and yet at the same time, it fits in the universe. It's kinda playing by the "rules" for SW source music and kinda not.

This. Right off the bat, I vastly prefer the first few tracks of the album to anything from Rogue One. Powell's work here retains that classic Star Wars vibe while also having this wonderfully modern feel to it.

I also liked Giacchino's score, but I don't know if it was the lack of time or that maybe he was trying too hard to sound like Williams, but this ends up being better, because Powell is able to introduce his style, but without leaving the Star Wars sound, and that's what I think Giacchino should have done. (Well, he did that in a few cues, but for most of the score is like he is trying to sound like Williams, not like himself).

If Giacchino is Dominos Pizza, Powell is Pizza Hutt. Dominos has better drinks, but Pizza Hutt has better everything else.

Believe me, it delivers! Williams' new theme(s) are all over the score with both tender and soaring action mode renditions. Many of them more impressive than Williams' own arrangement here.

I'm preparing my "Solo is what TLJ should have been!!!1111" takes because I like sounding like a moron.

Amazon shipped my pre-order yesterday. I got the notification at 9am today to say it would be delivered today. At 11 it was here

The CD track is 3'49. And glorious.

If you like Star Wars then you’ll enjoy this. It’s just a lot of fun. Could probably do with being about 10 minutes shorter but I really enjoyed it. Very rewatchable.

Superb virtuosic trumpet writing. Just amazing!

Plenty of people will prefer the Giacchino score and plenty will prefer the Powell. The only difference is, those who prefer Gia will be wrong. Seriously though, I don't know how anyone could consider Giacchino a better fit for Star Wars than Powell.

I've now listened to it all the way through probably about 5 times. It gets better and better. The B theme (0:41, 2:33) is especially great!

Wow! It sounds really great! There is much energy and freshness in it!

What makes those titles worse is that I could see some of them being used on a Giacchino album.

I like Rey's ditties.

Hi everyone, I just attended an open rehearsal of tomorrow's Boston Pops concert (with the maestro himself conducting!). It's going to feature the world premiere of "The Adventures of Han," as well as Pops premieres of "Rebellion is Reborn" and the new "Han Solo & the Princess" arrangement. I've got a lot to say about the new Solo piece, which I'm sure we'll all be poring over soon enough. But I thought I'd just share this much -- you're going to love it. It's complex, substantial, and memorable. There's some impossibly virtuosic trumpet writing in the middle that is especially impressive, very much in the vein of "Rey's Journey" from TLJ, only even more elaborate. In fact, the whole piece feels like a hybrid of straight-forward character themes (themes--yes, there's two) and action set-piece. I noticed some welcome shades of the ostinatos from "I Can Fly Anything" and the little recurring octatonic motif from "The Battle of Crait." If it's using this thematic material, I imagine Powell's score should be a real barn-burner!