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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 think in Gordy's case a film would actually be beneficial. Right now he's scoring nothing, having to fake narrative in the music where there is none. Imagine John Williams scoring a Star Wars film without having any footage, just a few pieces of concept art. I imagine it would sound almost identical.

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22 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

I think in Gordy's case a film would actually be beneficial. Right now he's scoring nothing, having to fake narrative in the music where there is none. Imagine John Williams scoring a Star Wars film without having any footage, just a few pieces of concept art. I imagine it would sound almost identical.

 

Not sure if I agree on the last sentence, but with your general argument, absolutely. :)

 

While Haab often sounds more like pastiche than genuine passion and craft, there are enough little moments of brilliance to make me hope he gets the chance to flex his compositional muscles in a more traditional film format. 

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I am music illiterate and cannot read notes, but I can read and write the abcd.. stuff.. so below is my analysis

 

Haab's theme (1st phrase - 10 notes | 2nd phrase - 9 notes)

GH 1st Phrase: d# - d# f f# f c# c# f# f d#

GH 2nd Phrase: d# - d# f f# g# f c# C a# 

 

Williams's theme (1st phrase - 6 notes | 2nd phrase - 8 notes)

JW 1st Phrase: d# - f f# g# c# d#

JW 2nd Phrase: d# d# - f f# g# f c# a# 

 

Let's put them one after another and add a little spacing

 

GH 1st Phrase: d# - d#   f  f# f  c# c# f# f  d#

GH 2nd Phrase: d# - d#   f  f# g# f  c# C  a# 

JW 1st Phrase: d# -      f  f# g# c#          d#

JW 2nd Phrase: d#   d# - f  f# g# f  c#    a# 

 

Now let's put them one after the other one phrase at a time

 

GH 1st Phrase: d# - d#   f  f# f  c# c# f# f  d#

JW 1st Phrase: d# -      f  f# g# c#          d#

 

GH 2nd Phrase: d# - d#   f  f# g# f  c# C  a#

JW 2nd Phrase: d#   d# - f  f# g# f  c#    a#

 

William's theme is a subset of Haab's theme and changes a single note! I mean of course you have to account for period and time and pitch and I am sure a lot of other musical things but note wise they are almost the same!

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On March 4, 2019 at 10:18 AM, TheUlyssesian said:

CC has declared this the best score of the year!

 

http://www.filmtracks.com/awards/18.html

 

Another nice victory for Williams after last year's sweep.

Neat article. Nice to read. Thanks for sharing!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I loved everything John had to say, but I felt as though at times the questions seemed to be a bit too reverential to Williams. Who doesn't understand how great Williams is and wouldn't revere his influence, I want to know Powell's process, his take on the scoring process and his creative input.

 

 

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Yes, I wish that videos like this would focus more on Powell's score and his process, rather than 'That Williams guy wrote a new theme!!!!  OMG!! ?$&%*&% :D:D'

 

I can't overstate how much I hate questions that resemble 'what was it like working with XXX?'. They just descend into praise that offers no insight.

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I reckon this might be a Williams cue too, or at least something Williams wrote that was adapted.

 

 

Something about the counterpoint here is tremendously effectively. If it's Powell reinterpreting JW then kudos to him. He absolutely nailed this score and the fact that his musical voice shines through is a real credit to his talent (especially when we know what usually happens when other composers follow in Williams' footsteps).

 

I don't think it'd be hard to determine which cues Williams wrote, despite his themes being all over the score. Williams didn't integrate any of Powell's themes in his sketches so any cue that interpolates both composer's themes isn't from JW's hand. Isolated sections like the middle of Flying With Chewie, or cues like Return to the Village, Dice and Roll, or the one above (Falcon To Hyperspace) strike me as JW sketches that have been integrated into the score proper. Conversely, cues that feature fragments of JW's themes integrated directly with Powell's are certainly Powell cues.

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The trumpet calls in that remind me a lot of the Force statement in “Farewell and the Trip” so wouldn’t surprise me if it was J Dubs. 

 

Obviously the pull from “Adventures of Han” in “Reminiscence Therapy” is him but was there ever speculation on this transitional melody? I kinda just started assuming it was Williams but who knows. It’d be a hell of an imitation.

 

 

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6 hours ago, crumbs said:

I reckon this might be a Williams cue too, or at least something Williams wrote that was adapted.

 

 

Something about the counterpoint here is tremendously effectively. If it's Powell reinterpreting JW then kudos to him. He absolutely nailed this score and the fact that his musical voice shines through is a real credit to his talent (especially when we know what usually happens when other composers follow in Williams' footsteps).

 

That octave G in the horns at 2:59 is my favourite note from the score. :mrgreen:

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Wha?

 

Quote

extremely strong score but, with its unnecessary bevy of new themes, a step behind its predecessors

 

It's not as good as its predecessors because he came up with a load of new themes?

 

CC's opinions often don't compute.

 

(although, wrong thread...)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow, great work @Loert!! 

 

I'll admit the first couple minutes of "Into the Maw" have always bordered on headache-inducing for me, and that's no less true here. But your transcription of all portions is skillful, and the Chewie's theme part in "Reminiscence Therapy" is one I really enjoyed. Your arrangement there was beautiful. 

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4 hours ago, Bofur01 said:

Has the track been deleted? The link is broken for me

Yeah, just checked and it has been removed.

 

 

4m27 Family Stories

 

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Oh yeah! Listened to Solo for the first time in a while yesterday. Captures so many highlights and is easily my favourite score of 2018. Probably the best JW follow-up ever. It really is a feel-good album- it's just bursting with moments that make you cheer, smile, and love the Powell-Williams collaboration. On that note, you'd have thought that, and it would probably been the case with any other composer but Powell, with Williams writing a theme (a two part theme and a fully developed concert piece, nonetheless), that the rest of the score would shy away from developing too many other good themes or motifs, and mostly revert to Williams material because it's been handed to them to use. What I love is that Powell uses The Adventures of Han so well, and yet still has room to develop five or so killer themes, including the Enfys Nest theme (wow), the gang theme (a personal pleasure for me), the love theme (perfect), the Crimson Dawn motif (alright), L3's theme,and of course Chewie's theme, which is remarkably versatile. Cues such as Train Heist (great balance there), Mine Mission, Break Out, Reminiscence Therapy (I adore the blend of old and new music here) and Maruaders Arrive are some of the best action set pieces of the year. It's a really, really good score. A few really good moments in the film we still don't have, and that pity of an FYC blunder is still looming in my mind. Chicken in the Pot could've easily been left off the album in place of, say, Break In, Mimban Battle, the film versions of Train Heist and Marauders Arrive, Hyperspace, or the Maelstrom. Anyways, that's a very small negative takeaway, and it's not at all on the part of the composers, but rather Disney and co. Perhaps a sessions leak one day (unlikely I'd say, considering we still don't have a Rogue One leak from the permeable grip of Michael Giacchino) or an expansion, but the OST album, while action-heavy, is extremely enjoyable.

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6 minutes ago, Holko said:

I adore Enfys' material. The Bulgarian women add so much personality and texture to it!

 

When it first popped up in the opening heist of the film, I thought, "Ooh, this movie's gonna be fun!"

 

AND YOU KNOW WHAT, DAMMIT, I WAS RIGHT!

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Looks like a different user has uploaded Blu-ray rips from Solo to YouTube, so they're out there once again. It appears that said user even edited together tracks. Hm. I was confused when I saw this at first, thinking they released an FYC or something suddenly.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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