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The Force Awakens ALBUM Discussion (No Film Spoilers)


rebekahnoelleparker

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Has the delicious rising low string passage at 4:14 in the end credits track been discussed? Is it a motif? It also appears in those scoring session clips.

I think that coupled with the following brass motif is music for the First Order and Snoke before Kylo Ren's theme. The brass motif usually appears in scenes either involving Kylo Ren and use of the Dark Side or the First Order.

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Ah cool. I also love the statement of the force theme at 7:30 in the same track, which plays with Rey's theme as counterpoint - a certain similarity in harmonic progression between these two themes which is interesting!

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If I'm not mistaken, this is the chronological order of the OST:


01 Main Title and the Attack on the Jakku Village

02 The Scavenger

04 Rey Meets BB-8

03 I Can Fly Anything

05 Follow Me

07 The Falcon

08 That Girl With The Staff

09 The Rathtars!

17 Snoke

11 Maz's Counsel

10 Finn's Confession

12 The Starkiller

13 Kylo Ren Arrives At The Battle

14 The Abduction

15 Han And Leia

18 On the Inside

19 Torn Apart

20 The Ways Of The Force

21 Scherzo For X-Wings

22 Farewell And The Trip

23 The Jedi Steps and Finale


CONCERT ARRANGEMENTS:

06 Rey’s Theme

16 March of the Resistance

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That is such a silly thing to say.

The Prequels, and probably to some extent the EU proved that there is a wealth of possibility for stories.

Of course you can make up dozens of stories out of anything (eg. Darth vader as a baby, Darth vader goes to University, Han Solo teen comedy etc.), but are they really needed? that is what I'm asking. The core thematic elements have been exhausted, and every addition is the same things just with another wrapping.

Personally I can't think of a 4th, 5th , 6th and so on film that was at least just as good and presented something new, to the original films.

Anyway, this is the score thread so maybe we should talk about it in the other thread.

I had a theory that, in some early draft in the 70s, the whole Obi-Wan/Anakin/Padme dynamic was cribbed from the Arthur/Lancelot/Guenevere love triangle from Mallory's La Morte De Arthur. In fact, before AOTC came out, I was basically sure that Lucas was going to go in this direction (its dramatically better in every possible way) - but he didn't.

That said, its obvious we can retell a story in different ways - theres only a set number of stories to tell, something like a dozen or so - but its like the George Carlin line about playing the Blues: "Its not enough to know which notes to play, you need to know WHY they need to be played." which is a lesson JJ has never once picked up on.

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For me, I would consider it as good as Phantom Menace. It's still early, but on first listen I would place it firmly ahead of Clones and Sith.

After a few listens, this is my feeling as well. I already enjoy this album presentation much more then both AOTC and ROTS albums. Not sure were exactly where I would rank this among the other four but, I think it has at least equaled TPM.

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Sorry, but the album is disappointing. Not near another Star Wars score. Except for Rey's theme, it doesn't have an own personality whatsoever.

First half is Williams on absolute autopilot.

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hey Sharky is that a "VERTIGO" homage at 1;50 in "The girl with the staff"

t

Colouristically it's very Benny-esque with the sizzle cymbal and muted brass, but it's a much denser sonority. I suspect it's built from both tonal and non-tonal elements (pitch class sets--probably saturated with 0134s, 0145s or 0156s) - basically a compound chord rather than a polychord.

So you mean you didn't like it?

No, I mean it's not original.

Is that a bad thing?

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"Follow Me" and "The Falcon" are two halves of one continuous sequence of music. It's a shame Williams chose not to combine them together for the OST - and not even that, but break them up with a concert arrangement in between!

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I like that Williams chooses his own sequence for his OSTs. He's certainly earned the right.

But yes, have Matessino do a 3CD complete release sooner rather than later, Disney!

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in 15 years instead of the usual 25

Only 10 years passed from Return of the Jedi's OST release to the Anthology boxset.

And only 1 year from TPM OST to TPM UE.

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About a theme that is NOT on the album.

I'm happy there is no trace of Yoda's theme on the album, altough it's not really a confirmation that he doesn't appear in the movie. Afraid, I was afraid. Feeeew.

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I will say, without having seen the film, I think this is one of Williams most perfectly paced albums. I'm not sure how much more I need in terms of expansion.

It's more important for us to get to hear all the original versions that were replaced by inserts and revisions, than it is the extra music heard in the film that isn't on the OST.

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The score for me was exciting in some areas. Though I'm afraid to say that in the next movie, if Williams doesn't come back we will possibly be getting a very auto pilot score. Maybe its just me, but in the movie they used some of the old themes a bit to much and didn't really put the focus on new themes. I remember the 16 second clip had a really nice motif going on. It only shows up twice I believe in the whole movie and for literally that 16 seconds :( I haven't listened to the score on its own yet, so maybe that's why my opinion is like this at the moment.

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Alright, I just finished listening to the OST and here are my first impressions and thoughts. First, in the big picture, the score is quite good, but not one of the greats. That said, it is a very impressive achievement for Williams, considering his age and recent health matters. I also thought it flowed together better than I expected.

Now for the details. The first thirty minutes sounded like Tintin after a couple of weeks at the gym. The opening was not as effective as it could have been and I found the music for the villains to be rather dull and generic throughout the score. Rey's Theme puzzled me. It sounded a bit out of place for a Star Wars score, and I couldn't really latch on to it. (Also, parts of it reminded me of the theme to the HBO John Adams miniseries, for some reason.) There were moments of enjoyable energy, though.

Now, throughout the first half of the film, I noted the echoes of the old Star Wars themes. I especially liked the Force Theme statement in The Starkiller. It occurred to me that Williams was letting the images on the screen tell most of the story, with the music only occasionally foreshadowing what was to come, how the characters were going to be drawn in to the larger saga. Well, starting with the March of the Resistance, the music awakened and the score became a Star Wars score. The new themes began to merge with the old, and they all started to propel forward. Even Rey's Theme started to make sense. The Scherzo is the best use of Luke's Theme in the whole saga, outside of the Main Titles. The Force Theme statement near the end was perfect. The final sequence of tracks was very, very satisfying, the end titles almost brilliant in places. My overall score for the score would be 7 out of 10.

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I don't think this is on the level of Tintin. Tintin is a hell of a lot more exciting to my ears. There's too much old material amongst weak-ish new stuff, and I have a hard time seeing Rey's theme in a Star Wars sound universe.

Not to mention the Resistance march is an alternate trade federation/droid march from TPM, and Snoke 90% similar to RotS.

Plus, the Binary Sunset transition into the end titles in almost a RotS quote. Tame.

At mid-80 years of age, great music, but still not up to par with the other 6. Except AotC, anything would surpass that one.

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Lol at the AotC bashing...

Its definitely growing on me. Once you accept it for the kind of score it is, it's fantastic.

I do agree with GK about Snoke's Theme and to an extent, the Resistance March.

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The Resistance March almost sounds more like a bad guys' theme than a good guys' theme?

No, I was referring to how he said that it's pretty much a variation of the Trade Federation March. I agree that the Resistance March is pretty "by-the-books" for Williams, like it puts together bits and pieces of past marches he's written.

I've only heard the score once, while I watched the movie.

How'd you like it?

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I actually feel the same about the IMF theme from MI5

Yes, especially in the "Meet The IMF" track - its so ominous there!

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The Resistance March almost sounds more like a bad guys' theme than a good guys' theme?

No, I was referring to how he said that it's pretty much a variation of the Trade Federation March. I agree that the Resistance March is pretty "by-the-books" for Williams, like it puts together bits and pieces of past marches he's written.

Sorry, that was my own view, now me thinking that was your view

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I don't think this is on the level of Tintin. Tintin is a hell of a lot more exciting to my ears. There's too much old material amongst weak-ish new stuff, and I have a hard time seeing Rey's theme in a Star Wars sound universe.

Not to mention the Resistance march is an alternate trade federation/droid march from TPM, and Snoke 90% similar to RotS.

Plus, the Binary Sunset transition into the end titles in almost a RotS quote. Tame.

At mid-80 years of age, great music, but still not up to par with the other 6. Except AotC, anything would surpass that one.

Tintin has the freedom of being as eclectic as it wants. You can jump from the opening jazz music to the pirate music to anything else and it works, because Williams still approached it as a cartoon -and wrote one hell of a score. But here, there has to be more cohesion. I'd love him to do it, but he can't jump to a jazzy european piece right in the middle of fucking nowhere.

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The Resistance March almost sounds more like a bad guys' theme than a good guys' theme to me?

It is one of those classic preparation fugues JW wrote back in the 1970's and 80's for every other score. I think it is supposed to express grim determination in the context of the film.

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I don't think this is on the level of Tintin. Tintin is a hell of a lot more exciting to my ears. There's too much old material amongst weak-ish new stuff, and I have a hard time seeing Rey's theme in a Star Wars sound universe.

Not to mention the Resistance march is an alternate trade federation/droid march from TPM, and Snoke 90% similar to RotS.

Plus, the Binary Sunset transition into the end titles in almost a RotS quote. Tame.

At mid-80 years of age, great music, but still not up to par with the other 6. Except AotC, anything would surpass that one.

Well, we never did get a concert version of the Droid march. Now we have one and that is good.

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