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THE LAST JEDI - OST Album MUSIC Discussion (No Movie Spoilers)


Jay

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39 minutes ago, Jay said:

Aw dang, I wonder if you're right - that that tweet was always about the end credits opening, and not the main title!

 

Maybe JW kept the Main Title from TFA to avoid hurting Dudamel's ego.

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2 hours ago, BTR1701 said:

"Where was the epic new tune to hum on the way out of the theater?"

 

If only this question would be asked of all other modern film composers currently working. At least Williams is producing music that's melodic and listenable. I honestly can't imagine why someone would sit down and listen to a score from THE AVENGERS or JUSTICE LEAGUE, for example. They're just 45 minutes of endless fluttering string ostinatos over booming electronic drums and the themes-- if they exist at all-- consist of long, sustained whole notes running up and down a scale progression.

 

That ain't hummable.

 

Great point! Come to think of it, I never really hear that criticism leveled at other composers. Which as you point out is incredibly ironic since many other composers don't have a single actual "tune" in their whole score, let alone an "epic" one.

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4 minutes ago, Skywanker said:

 

Others have said this, but I think it's INCREDIBLY difficult to talk about a new score when considering it in some ways against or alongside music that you've lived with for 40 years. It's easy to think of themes we've lived that long with as "hummable", but I'm not sure that anyone was walking out of the theaters then and humming them right away.

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13 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

That review has been shared in this thread twice already

 

But has this one?

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2017/12/13/Star-Wars-new-last-jedi-john-williams-soundtrack-music-film-score-review/stories/201712120107

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18 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

 

I actually clicked on it this time, and it's giving me that whitelist shit.  Fuck you, Post Gazette.  I just won't read your article.

 

17 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

There's too many.

 

frFrAwX.png

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30 minutes ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

frFrAwX.png

 

Pilgrim, that's not the like button! :D

 

As you should know by now, I'm just pulling your leg! :D As I've said before, Zimmer isn't all bad - he just makes his music too easy (and fun) to criticize.

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A much more positive review from Soundtrack Dreams.

 

Quote

“The force awakens” was a great score and John Williams was actually just warming up with it. It’s rare that a film score, especially for a movie like “Star Wars” where the story is everything, provides a listening experience as rich and rewarding as actually watching the film itself but this is the case here; 80 full, enjoyable and emotional minutes pass in a heartbeat and I just want to start all over again and know the music by heart before I go see the movie.

 

http://www.soundtrackdreams.com/2017/12/soundtrack-review-star-wars-the-last-jedi-john-williams-2017/

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2 hours ago, Taikomochi said:

Every time I hear that phrase “I didn’t come out of the theater humming anything,” I want to scream and pull my hair out. What an arbitrary and useless standard to hold any score to. I understand the desire for memorable themes, but I have heard that exact phrase so many times. We should put a moratorium on it.

 

Star Wars isn't some moody thriller, or any other random film, where memorable themes aren't necessarily required, it's THE epitome of pop culture film music. The vast majority of people want recognizable, hummable music in a Star Wars film. Outside the film score fandom, and there are a LOT of people there watching this film, people neither pay attention nor do they care about how intricately woven something like The Fathiers is. It's a burden you have to carry if you decide to be part (again) of that universe. 

 

And also on this board, all people talk about prior to the release is how excited they are for new Star Wars themes. I don't buy it that the people now saying well, you know, it's all we can ask for and the film doesn't really call for new themes, aren't at least a bit dissapointed.

Can you imagine going back to 2005 or whenever Episodes II and III happened, and getting scores with endless renditions of the Force Theme, Anakin's Theme, and the Droid March, all from Episode I, and saying about them, well, the films really don't call for new themes? No Battle Of The Heroes, no Lament, no Across The Stars.

Be honest now.

 

I can't blame people who are somewhat dissapointed.

 

By the way, every time I hear the Resistance March in brass, I keep thinking how great of a villain march it would be.

 

Also, Canto Bight - Tintin main titles?

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9 minutes ago, gkgyver said:

 

And also on this board, all people talk about prior to the release is how excited they are for new Star Wars themes. I don't buy it that the people now saying well, you know, it's all we can ask for and the film doesn't really call for new themes, aren't at least a bit dissapointed.

Can you imagine going back to 2005 or whenever Episodes II and III happened, and getting scores with endless renditions of the Force Theme, Anakin's Theme, and the Droid March, all from Episode I, and saying about them, well, the films really don't call for new themes? No Battle Of The Heroes, no Lament, no Across The Stars.

Be honest now.

 

I can't blame people who are somewhat dissapointed.

 

 

Speaking for myself, I don't mind so much about the absence of hummable themes.

The Asteroid field that I mentioned earlier, doesn't have a hummable melody, yet I think that is better than anything I listened in TLJ album.

Even if I get to later albums, the Immolation scene also doesn't have a hummable theme but I consider it to be a great moment, such as which  I never found in this album now.

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3 minutes ago, Jay said:

And I think The Battle of Crait is the best Williams action track in a decade!

Wrong!  It is the second best.  The Fathiers is the best.  

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As for hummable themes, I do think that top-tier soundtracks need to have at least one new "hummable" thematic idea, if not two. But yeah, a film can have a theme that the audience won't necessarily hum, but that they will be aware of it and even affected by: the lament motif from Revenge of the Sith, which was brought up earlier, is a good example.

 

But films, and by extension, film music, live and die based - in large part - on how iconic they are. Not necessarily iconic in term of being nestled into popular culture, but in temrs of having something unique that you can point to in attempting to recall that film. "You remember that film" - "oh, yeah, the film when x happened." Its the same with film music: "remember the score to X" - "oh, right, the score with that <hums melody> theme."

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What I find a bit odd, too, is that the album doesn't give you time to unwind. It's a somewhat nondescriptive piece in track 19, then with 20, you get some tingling Rose's theme, a short dark intermezzo, Binary Sunset, boom, End Titles.

 

Also, but this isn't a negative, I can't hear the big difference in sound compared to Episode VII. Yes, I get the feeling that there is more reverb involved, but the orchestration is really the same. Again a curious absence of xylophone or other small percussion, which I would expect from a Williams SW score. But that's only a positive for me, xylophone annoys the shit out of me.

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1 minute ago, gkgyver said:

Again a curious absence of xylophone or other small percussion, which I would expect from a Williams SW score. But that's only a positive for me, xylophone annoys the shit out of me.

 

Yeah, its too bright a sound. I remember it breaking up all that dark music in Revenge of the Sith, making me really upset.

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8 minutes ago, KK said:

Those two aren't exactly the same though.

 

The slight differences are probably due to one being at 44 and the other at 48.  Yeah, actually, why is the TLJ one at 48?  Where'd you get that?

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It's a 320kbps mp3 file sampled at 48 kHz, not encoded by me :D I'll try it out with a lossless rip tomorrow so I can even try to mix both tracks and see exactly if there are differences, but I'm pretty sure there is nothing.

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11 minutes ago, leeallen01 said:

I'm behind so this may have already been said, but at 5:50 in Battle of Crait, it gives me MAJOR vibes of Obi-Wan watching Anakin burn; "YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!" 

 

Yeah, almost like a quotation :D 

 

By the way, I really love the little dark motif that we can hear in 3: 0:36 and 18: 0:21

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Okay, got the end credits out of the way too. What was THAT? I mean... To me, TFA's suite always sounded like JW ending in reflection and giving the franchise his own personal fond farewell, but this...? Maybe I need to watch the film, but... I don't know... I just don't like this...

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The only part of the credits that bothers me is the transition as Yoda’s theme fades out. It’s so artificial. I wish Rose’s theme went on longer, yes, but I can easily live with that. 

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Well, I didn't mean those last notes, but the whole pomp and circumstance with Rey, the Force and the Rebel Fanfare. That felt like a goodbye to me. While I agree with Jay that the ending of this suite might be appropriate, the whole package just sounds terribly clumsy and cobbled together as an afterthought: Oh, yeah, right, we still need credits.

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