Datameister

This list is shit. No offense to whoever put it together. But it's shit. Breaking Bad all the way down to 16? No Good Place, Lost, or The Office? The Americans near the top 10? I can't take that seriously.

This one has always been a "probably" for me. It's close enough to seem like it was likely intentional. Not quite close enough to feel definitive.

I absolutely unironically loved TROS right up until around the time Hux reveals his secret. Then it all spiraled out of control and ultimately hurt my enjoyment of the whole trilogy.

TFA in its entirety is not just a remake, but there are enough parts of it that are. Young rebel hero captured by baddie in a black mask in opening battle MacGuffin is a computer file sent by said hero into the desert in the memory banks of a cute, round droid that speaks in beeps and is briefly captured by small alien scavengers Baddies pursue said droid as it happens to fall into the hands of a young, parent-less nobody (who later turns out to be the Force-sensitive progeny of the big baddie) Droid and nobody narrowly escape the desert planet on the Falcon The masked baddie doesn't get along with his more straight-laced imperial co-baddies and regularly uses the Force to physically intimidate his subordinates The gang is threatened by tentacled, googly-eyed space monsters An old man provides wisdom, guidance, and sass Old man is lightsabered by the masked baddie (who betrayed him long ago) as the youths look on in horror inside a huge spherical battle station with a planet-killing weapon that threatens the rebel base's jungle planet in a ticking-clock third act wherein X-wings blow up said battle station by attacking its weak spot (after its power was put on display by destroying an important but hitherto-unseen good guy planet in the second act) There's a cantina scene somewhere in there There's plenty of other stuff that's different, but when there's so much that's not, it's impossible to miss. And that's not even including the stuff borrowed from ESB, like the presence of a tiny wizened old alien mentor in the second act and the fact that the masked baddie communes with the big boss in a giant holo-chamber. That being said, it's still my favorite of the sequels. There's a lot to enjoy, and it laid the groundwork for what could have been a really cool trilogy.

Various flutes played with fast, breathy vibrato. Crops up in Horner's work. I've really been enjoying his oeuvre lately, but this is a sound that's always off-putting to me.

I knew it was Star Wars

Skywalker Saga, plus all JW recordings for Solo, Obi-Wan, and Galaxy's Edge. 21 discs. Every cue recorded. OT transferred from pristine newly discovered original elements. It won't be. But god, could you imagine?

I am probably less interested in new additions to the Star Wars canon than ever before. Ever since 2015, there's just been too much Star Wars too often. Still love a lot of the older stuff (and even some of the newer stuff), although it occupies less space in my world than it used to.

Not sure for Cubase. In Reaper, each MIDI item has a Properties dialog where you can adjust the speed. So I just record to the normal metronome, playing half tempo. Then I adjust the recording's speed to 2.

Good luck. Opinions vary. To me, it's pretty clear that JW wrote most or all of the genuinely new material.

Indeed. I dunno if I'd go for any of the MG scores, but I really like what Don Davis did (mostly). I'd buy it for sure.

Interesting to see how my answers have shifted (or not) over time. My current top picks, just going off of the end credits themselves: ANH: Classic, giddy, and romantic. Perfection. ESB: Outstanding variations on the new themes for Yoda, Vader, and Han/Leia, all expertly woven together. TFA: Juggles a whopping 5 new themes without just rehashing the score. In addition to simply being extraordinary music, these three are the most unique/indispensable compared to the other tracks on their albums. They're also some of the best musical summaries of their respective films/scores. But the others are all varying degrees of superb too. TLJ comes in last. EDIT: Oops, sorry, you were just asking about the first six films. I'm actually unsure what would come after ESB … at the moment I'm leaning toward TPM.

Meh, not really. The only way to know would be to see the sketches - and even then, those wouldn't necessarily reveal all the subtleties of the communication between the two men. Maybe it would help if someone discovered hidden camera footage of the entire composition process? But no, I think we can be reasonably certain that the long green stretches were all JW. Meanwhile, the red and yellow passages were a mixture of JW and BR. The purple was probably more JW than BR. Silence, yep. Meh, why not. Enjoy! COS copycat sheet.xlsx

For me: GOF = great waltzes and lighthearted cues; too melodramatic and strident otherwise OOTP = very pretty writing at times; action and suspense sound cheap HBP = like OOTP but sadder DH1 = awesome orchestration and recording; tunes aren't memorable DH2 = great reprise of "Leaving Hogwarts"

Superman, E.T., and CE3K are all fantastic releases. E.T. is probably the least mind-blowing for me simply because previous releases were already so good, but I'm still glad I picked it up.

I got curious how a visual breakdown of COS's original and less-than-original passages would look, and I came up with this image. Green (62%) = new material Yellow (9%) = transitions/adaptations Red (27%) = direct HP1 quotes Purple (2%) = adapted from other scores This is based off of the score proper (no concert suites, tracked music, or alternates) as heard on the LLL set. My criteria were slightly different from Holko's. The "transitions/adaptations" category comprises passages where there's still a strong, clear, direct influence from HP1 material, but noticeable changes have been made - instruments added/changed/removed, chord progressions altered, tempo dramatically changed, new countermelodies, etc. It doesn't include new statements of HP1 themes - if it's a new variation, I've counted it as new.

Glad the CD will be available for those who still want to buy it. I already bought a lossless download and won't double-dip. Sucks that things shook out this way; I would have preferred to buy it on CD from the start.

For passages that were literally verbatim quotes, Ross probably would have just said C.S. [come sopra] HP1 5M2 mm. 5–21 or whatever. (Made-up example.) I suspect he would have completely re-sketched passages that involved any significant degree of alteration. And then new original material would be sketched by Williams. But yeah, Ross would have been the one sketching out the bits of connective tissue between quotes, with the orchestrators performing their usual duties on a JW score of the era: expanding and transposing the condensed notation into a neat, legible, standard full score, perhaps with occasional suggestions for different doublings or what have you.

The less new music is involved, the less involvement JW probably had. But I'm sure he at least signed off on the end product, and there was probably guidance in the process—again, to varying degrees. Like you said, without footage of the whole process, we're never going to know for sure who did exactly what in each passage. But based on interviews and on how the two men have collaborated in more recent years, I think it's pretty clear that the new scoring generally came from JW.

@Edmilson I'd bet big money that virtually all the new material in that cue came from JW in some way. Some of it may have been communicated in simpler sketches than usual, perhaps mixed with conversation and piano demos and handwritten fixes. I'm sure it takes a very skilled and experienced collaborator like Bill Ross to do this in a way that both saves the composer time and sounds right. But ultimately 95% of the final product is JW.

I frickin love Water Ballet! As a general principle, I don't think JW chooses cues for album inclusion based purely on whether they are "highlights" of the score. If you take just the most conspicuous musical moments from a long score to an action film, you'll end up with a very loud and rather monotonous album program. JW likes his albums to flow between pieces with different moods and dynamic levels. Of course, I've disagreed with lots of his specific choices over the years. But as a general approach, I get it. And I think it works very well for this particular album.

Oof. Wish I could come. I finally saw the film a month or two ago and I absolutely loved it. Have fun!

Very different from the first score. Lots of grooving Latin percussion and little use of the previous themes. There's a new, more darkly adventurous theme that bookends the events on the island, as well as new motifs for the dinosaurs (both as threatening predators and as caring parents). It's dark and jungle-y and not very melodic. It was really disappointing to me at first. Later it became one of my favorites.

Oh, I'll definitely be doing that. I don't have Devil's Dance, but I've got all the others.

Wow. I've got some treats ahead of me then! I finished listening to the standard edition and bought the five additional tracks, but I haven't listened to them yet. I'll look forward to that.