90 minutes of Star Wars music

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Al right, here's the story:

I got the Star Wars SE Trilogy discs, and I friggin' love 'em. One problem though: I can't listen to them in the car. We don't have a CD-player. So I'm planning to record it on a 90-minute cassette. This is my first draft, and I'm still missing some music (CD 2 from ESB, for instance), but I'd like your opinion. What should go, what should stay, what should come? Please tell me.

Side A:

1 20th Century Fox Fanfare 0:23

2 Main Title/Rebel Blockade Runner 2:14

3 Burning Homestead 2:50

4 The Battle of Yavin 9:06

5 The Throne Room/End Title 5:36

6 The Imperial March 3:03

7 The Battle of Hoth 14:48

8 The Asteroid Field 4:15

Total: 42:15

Side B:

9 The Rebel Fleet/End Title 6:27

10 Parade of the Ewoks 3:28

11 The Pit of Carkoon/Sail Barge Assault 6:02

12 Alliance Assembly 2:10

13 Shuttle Tyderium Approaches Endor 4:06

14 The Forest Battle (Concert Suite) 4:03

15 Leia's News/Light of the Force 3:21

16 Victory Celebration/End Title 8:33

Total: 38:10

Total (Side A + B): 80:25

So... tell me.

[Justin 2]

Looks good to me.

Justin

Harry Potter (John Williams)

[MoffJake 0]

Pretty Cool. It looks like you got most of the bases covered. Remember, you can always get a tape with a 120 minutes capacity (although the quality might not be the best).

At first I wondered why you had Parade of the Ewoks before Sail Barge Assault and a couple of the other ROTJ tracks. It looked like you were going for chronological order. But now that I think about it, the transition from the ESB end credits to the Sail Barge Assault might be a little jaring. 'Ewoks' is probably a good intro to the ROTJ portion of your compilation.

I think I get a general sense of the music you want on your tape so I might recomend putting in some music from the ESB finale (like Hyperspace) and taking out one or two of the ROTJ tracks (like Alliance Assembly or Shuttle Tydirium Approaches Endor).

Just my 2 cents

[Guest]

What I did when I made a cassette recording of the complete scores to the original Star Wars films, I did the following:

For "Star Wars" I used a 110-minute tape to record the entire score onto a single tape. I used the 2-disc SE CD and the 4-disc Anthology box set as the main basis for my mix, and I did it chronologically to the pacing of the film. There were a few instances where I would choose a particular cue from the Anthology box set over the 2-disc SE CD because of better sound quality in the Anthology release. Once I reached the end of the film score on side 2, I then included "Princess Leia's Theme", followed by the alternate "Binary Sunset" cue and the five different versions of the "Star Wars" main title cue.

For "Empire" I used a 90-minute tape and a 60-minute tape to record all the music used. A few times I went with the Anthology box set again, but on the second tape, once I reached the reached the end of the score, I did a mix of the Finale and End Credits as heard in the original film, using the tracks found on the Anthology set. Then I included "Yoda's Theme" and "The Imperial March" for the full orchestral marches, followed by the edited film version of "The Rebels Escape Again" and the original version of the Finale and End Credits as it appears on the 2-CD SE set. For both the "Empire" and "Jedi" mixes I used the Fox Fanfare as was heard on the Anthology mix and not the slightly edited version that appeared on the SE CDs.

For "Jedi" I repeated the same process again, using two 90-minute blank tapes to record the entire score. If you factor in all of the music as recorded for both the original film and the SE, as well as all of the orchestral cues and alternate cues, you're looking at nearly three hours of music alone for that film. I retained the "Baroque" music and "Jedi Rocks" because of their placement in the SE version. Once I got to the Ewok source music, I divided it accordingly based on the cue's usage in the film, then continued with the main music. I retained the alternate opening strains of "The Emperor Arrives" (used on the 2-CD SE set as the opening portion of "The Lightsaber") at the start of tape 2 with the main music from "The Lightsaber" because of its placement in the film. As opposed to the "Empire" mix, I went with the music as heard on the 2-CD SE and kept the full versions of "Funeral Pyre for a Jedi" and "Ewok Celebration"/"Finale and End Credits". Then I went with the music as heard in the original version and included all of the alternate cues and orchestral cues in complete film order, with a mix version of the more instrumental "Ewok Celebration" and "Finale and End Credits" as heard in the original version of the film, followed by the original album version with the chorus.

Even with all of this recorded and in sequence, there's still some music from "Empire" and "Jedi" that remain unreleased to date (though some of the "Jedi" source music was used on the "Star Wars Trilogy" radio drama releases).

This, to me, is the best way to have all of the music together in its proper order. That way, you're hearing everything completely.

[Wickenstein 0]

 

Even with all of this recorded and in sequence, there's still some music from "Empire" and "Jedi" that remain unreleased to date (though some of the "Jedi" source music was used on the "Star Wars Trilogy" radio drama releases).

What's missing from Empire? Alternates?

[bruckhorn 105]

Suggestion for addition:

Side A, 2:43 available

Binary Sunset (Alternate) 2:19

Side B, 6:37 available

Lando's Palace 3:53

The Levitation/ Threepio's Bedtime Story 2:46

This will put you two seconds over 45 min. In my experience in making tapes, this won't be a problem. (But make the silences between selections as short as possible.)

Of the three pieces listed, the one I like the most is Lando's Palace. It has so many of the main themes, all in once piece.

BTW, thanks for the springboard, I was thinking about making a tape for my seven year old nephew, and well... I think I got me some ideas now.

b.

[Guest]

There was some music used in the movie that has not surfaced in any version of the soundtrack releases, for a couple of scenes on Dagobah and also the film version of the first music for the Imperial Fleet (which combines the first 50 seconds of "The Imperial March" and the and the last 51 seconds of the music for the Imperial Fleet that appeared on the SE CD) was never released in its film version, though a successful hybrid of the two can be editorially done.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Hmm. I've got bit of a problem. The things I want to add are

Lando's Palace (3:53)

and

The Clash of Lightsabers (4:17)

That would make a total running time of 88:35 minutes. But there's not enough room on Side A to only fit Lando's Palace, and there's not enough room on Side B to fit both. What should I do? :cry2:

[PetePan 163]

Buy a CD player in your car!!

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

How I solved the problem because I am too poor and cheap to buy a CD player too:

I bought a portable CD player with cassette adaptor. They can run you about $40-200 depending on the sophistication. Mine's a cheap one, but it works.

But then DO NOT TAKE VALUABLE CDS IN THE CAR! They can get stolen (ask a few people on this MB, including Trox if I remember correctly) or damaged in the extreme heat/cold and cheap CD wallets (KM had a SWEET CD wallet with good, sturdy CD hodkers instead of the slide-in felt thingees, but for the life of me I can't find one like his... ). A few of my discs got damaged before I had a CD Recorder and I hate it.

Solution for that is: Make CDR copies. Then your problem goes to deciding what to put on 74-80 minute discs.

-Chris... zzzzzzz