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John Powell's SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (2018) - Deluxe Edition 2020 / Intrada 2-CD edition October 31, 2023


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I'm just a few tracks in, and I'm loving what I'm hearing by far. Has anyone noticed some kind of action arrangement of one of the Empire motifs from ANH in the track Train Heist at around 3:35? It's a coincidence or is it the real theme?

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The new Han themes are very quickly becoming favourites of mine since the return of Star Wars to the big screen. Powell nails their usage in the body of the score.

 

As for comparisons to Rogue One, I'm one of the (seemingly few) that enjoyed Giacchino's score, but it doesn't hold a candle to this.

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Just now, Alan said:

The new Han themes are very quickly becoming favourites of mine since the return of Star Wars to the big screen. Powell nails their usage in the body of the score.

 

As for comparisons to Rogue One, I'm one of the (seemingly few) that enjoyed Giacchino's score, but it doesn't hold a candle to this.

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).

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3 minutes ago, kaseykockroach said:

If Giacchino is Dominos Pizza, Powell is Pizza Hutt.

Dominos has better drinks, but Pizza Hutt has better everything else.

Pizza Hut sucks, it's greasy as hell and tastes like funnel cake.  John Powell is more like a non-chain family owned Pizza restaurant with affordable prices.  Or maybe Papa John's.  

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I think Powell's overall performances in this, the writing , the orchestration, the energy, the spirit, the passion; really just easily forgives a blatant similarity in his themes.

 

> Love Theme = god! this annoys me, beacuse i know i heard it somewhere. Aside from his Rio materials, i know this theme borrows haevily from famous old cue

>  Gang Theme = His stoick theme in HTTYD

>  L3 theme = the resistance march (any resistance march from Williams)

> Chewie theme = terminator salvation theme

 

Enfys Nest theme  is the best of the bunch (Marauders Arrive is its best rendition, while Savareen Stand-off is what i pressume to be its concert arrangement)

 

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Giacchino is Dominos - doughy and just want you need when you wanna go cheap

 

Powell is Pizza Express - a decent, sit down restaurant but still family friendly and high-street

 

Williams is a generations old family restaurant in Naples that you can't get a booking for.

 

...I want pizza now.

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Papa John's is like eating off the floor of a good pizza restaurant.

 

Pizza Hut has a bit of nostalgic appeal for me because of its overly cheesy, greasy pan pizza - but I'm first to admit that it's also not good by any metric.

 

Domino's is somewhere between the two.

 

It's the 21st century, so just go to a regular pizza place IMO.

 

I really liked Giacchino's Rogue One score, although not as much as any John Williams Star Wars score.

 

I look forward to John Powell's Solo score.  It will probably still fall below the eight Star Wars scores for me, but I doubt he'd find that particularly controversial.

 

If either of them want to send me a pizza, I'll gladly eat it.

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4 minutes ago, EhTar said:

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

 

Here iit comes!

 

 

20180523_161937.jpg

 

It wouldn't be a score by a student of Hans without several additional music composers. :P

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2 minutes ago, mstrox said:

It's not delivery!  It's Giacchino!

Digiorno - a nasty frozen pizza that tries and fails to approximate a higher end pizza and ends up being worse than Tombstone.  That's an apt comparison.

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Damn those timezones, I can't wait to get to midnight! I have to get up early, but fuck that, Adventures of Han is more important!

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

I think we need to talk about "Chicken In The Pot"

 

This was certainly the most unexpected thing I've ever heard on a Star Wars music album!

 

I think it's great! It's probably the most "Earth-sounding" of any cantina/club source music from the franchise so far. The Star Wars equivalent of an R & B song.

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1 minute ago, John said:

 

I think it's great! It may be the most "Earth-sounding" of any cantina/club source music from the franchise so far. The Star Wars equivalent of an R & B song.

 

Have you heard "Jedi Rocks"?

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10 minutes ago, Not Mr. Big said:

Digiorno - a nasty frozen pizza that tries and fails to approximate a higher end pizza and ends up being worse than Tombstone.  That's an apt comparison.

 

To be fair, Bruce Broughton can be hard to top.

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4 minutes ago, Knight of Ren said:

Oh my God! That female choir (I think is Enfy Nest theme). Did someone say Na'vi? And also, Reminiscence Theraphy. Wht a great track!

 

I was thinking that!  Very reminiscent of the Na’vi choir

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I don't trust any pizza place that doesn't carry anchovies as a topping.  Which means I don't ever eat any of the chain ones because none of them do (at least the locations in my town don't) but all three of the local family owned pizza places here do!

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3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I don't trust any pizza place that doesn't carry anchovies as a topping.  Which means I don't ever eat any of the chain ones because none of them do (at least the locations in my town don't) but all three of the local family owned pizza places here do!

Papa John's has anchovies. 

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6 minutes ago, John said:

I think it's great! It's probably the most "Earth-sounding" of any cantina/club source music from the franchise so far. The Star Wars equivalent of an R & B song.

 

 

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. 

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I have just finished listening to the whole album and I really like it. I'm still waiting to hear it in context, and by some comments I have read, it looks like its buried under SFX for the most part, and that's too bad, because this one is really great. Powell uses Williams material (not just Han's new theme, but all the classic material) as his own and arranges it into the score in the most natural ways. And his material is also really great, but I still have to give it a few listens to recognize each theme properly but for now the one that stands out the most is the Enfy Nest theme because of its original instrumentation.

 

There's just one thing i don't like and that is that they didn't include the end credits fanfare and the following suite, as they did with Rogue One, but that's just a small nitpick. Overall, a really great entry into the saga!

 

About the love theme, I think that in Testing Allegiance, around the half of the track, the theme appears in a piano solo (sorry for the pun) version. I think that's the theme, but it could be a different theme.

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2 hours ago, crumbs said:

Both Williams ideas get a fantastic action-mode workout in Break Out, as well.

 

This was one of my favorites! The Chewbacca theme rendition near the beginning is great too.

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37 minutes ago, EhTar said:

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

 

Here iit comes!

 

3 people wrote "additional music".  Interesting!

 

I hadn't realized Randy Kerber did orchestrations for Powell!  TIL.

 

I also hadn't read that this was a Shawn Murphy recording.  How about that.

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I think my favorite tracks are Mine Mission, Break Out, Reminiscence Therapy, and Dice & Roll

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I feel the same, just not quite as strongly as Star Wars doesn't mean as much to me as it does to a lot of you (Jurassic is the J. Williams legacy I identify with). But believe me, the joyful reactions have been ECSTATIC to read!!

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22 minutes ago, aj_vader said:

That ace Imperial March cue in the film is missing from the OST :(


I was wondering whether it appeared in the film! It's total absence from the OST wasn't a negative for me, but I was surprised it didn't at least appear in Reminiscence Therapy.

7 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

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.


I still think Giacchino deserves a huge amount of credit for achieving what he did in the time he had, but you're right. The two scores are what they are, and Solo is far superior. 

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1 hour ago, Knight of Ren said:

I'm just a few tracks in, and I'm loving what I'm hearing by far. Has anyone noticed some kind of action arrangement of one of the Empire motifs from ANH in the track Train Heist at around 3:35? It's a coincidence or is it the real theme?

 

You're absolutely right. Sounds to me almost like he's taking the piss (in a good way).

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23 minutes ago, Alan said:


I was wondering whether it appeared in the film! It's total absence from the OST wasn't a negative for me, but I was surprised it didn't at least appear in Reminiscence Therapy.


I still think Giacchino deserves a huge amount of credit for achieving what he did in the time he had, but you're right. The two scores are what they are, and Solo is far superior. 

I don't think the time argument is good because great scores have been written in that amount of time. JNH's King Kong and Desplat's Imitation game to name a few...

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Chain pizza is trash and anyone who eats it needs to rethink their lives.  No composer is bad enough to warrant a comparison to a pizza chain.  This score is great, Rogue One was terrible.  Consider these arguments settled.

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