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Where do you rank the score for "The Last Jedi"?


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Where do you rank the score for "The Last Jedi"?  

108 members have voted

  1. 1. Where do you rank John Williams' music for "The Last Jedi" among his previous 'Star Wars' scores?

    • It's his best Star Wars score.
    • It's his second best Star Wars score.
    • It's his third best Star Wars score.
    • It's his fourth best Star Wars score.
    • It's his fifth best Star Wars score.
    • It's his sixth best Star Wars score.
    • It's his seventh best Star Wars score.
    • It's his eighth best Star Wars score.


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I don't think the second Dragon score was striped.  It's a great utilization of studio technology when you do it to process and handle different sections in different ways, but yeah, I don't approve when Powell or anyone does it on straight orchestral scores.

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I’m curious what the thought behind that method is for traditional orchestral scoring. Maybe it is easier to come to an ideal ‘mix’, without having to care about the orchestrations too much?

 

Still, imagine horns and celli doubling the same line, I do believe they should be in the same room, inspiring each other and feeling that they’re being part of the same musical gesture.

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It's more than that though.  The way the stuff interacts in the air, you can't fake that, and it is part of the magic.  I reckon in most cases, yeah, it's about ease of mixing questionable material.  But Powell isn't a dodgy orchestrator.  Who knows.

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10 hours ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

It's more than that though.  The way the stuff interacts in the air, you can't fake that, and it is part of the magic.  I reckon in most cases, yeah, it's about ease of mixing questionable material.  But Powell isn't a dodgy orchestrator.  Who knows.

 

Exactly! Now that we’re at it, I wonder how he’s going to handle Solo, especially since it’s been stated it would be in line with the Williams scores. We shall see.

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I voted fifth. I will placed before 1) 'Empire Strikes Back', 2) 'Star Wars', 3) 'The Force Awakens' and 4)'The Phantom Menace'; but before 6) 'Return of the Jedi', 7) 'Revenge of the Sith' and 8) 'Attack of the clones'. Not that I dislike any of the Star Wars scores ('Rogue One', which will be 9th, has even grow in me with some of its tracks) but after some listenings I this 'The Last Jedi' is one of the most enjoyable scores from the saga.

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Undecided after one listen, not on a level with Episode 7 -the Finale seems confused, all these themes thrown together. I'd score 8/10, though where I'd have it against the other seven films will be seen after a few more listens. 

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I changed my vote. Listening to a combination of the OST and FYC, I realized that this is the most boring Star Wars soundtrack ever.  All seven of the other scores are tons better. Even AOTC. 

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On 13/01/2018 at 9:55 AM, Bespin said:

So it's TLJ is really the fifth best Star Wars score, as in my book the four previous ones are 5 stars too (ANH, Empire, Return of the Jedi and TFA).

 

I agree with you but I'm not sure if TFA is better than TLJ. I prefer how TLJ brings old and new themes together.

 

Obviously there's also ANH, Empire, ROTJ... Maybe I prefer the original trilogy as a whole. I'm not sure, it's hard to really say one is better than the other.

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The major default of the TLJ score is that it's smell a little bit the temp track ("Here they come" and The Emperor's Theme... really???).

 

Everything that surrounds this movie is a little bit strange anyway, so why not the music too?

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13 minutes ago, Bespin said:

The major default of the TLJ score is that it's smell a little bit the temp track ("Here they come" and The Emperor's Theme... really???).

 

And Battle of the Heroes, and Anakin’s Betrayal, and some Grievous-Esque percussion, and binary sunset....

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I guess we'll never know if John Williams did that to buy peace and shut up the mouth of Rian Johnson... if Rian Johnson really loved these quotes... if he specifically ask for them... or was just too shy to ask John Williams to remove them.

 

So many questions.

 

Anyway, for me, the result doesn't look like a 100 % sucessfull partnership between a director and his composer.

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I think some people are exaggerating the use of existing themes especially when they say TLJ is a "best of" kind of score.  I can understand the complaints about the usage of the force theme and possibly Leia's theme but all the other instances of existing themes were appropriately used in the film and weren't distracting... at least to me.

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I am sure this has been discussed in one of the many threads, but why is Battle of the Heroes quoted in full?  It cannot be a coincidence (can it?) but the "good person death scene" just doesn't connect to the ROTS duel in any way whatsoever. 

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3 minutes ago, Jerry said:

Battle of the Heroes (...) was not in The Last Jedi in any way!!!!

 

This:

is what they're referring to.

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28 minutes ago, Jerry said:

Reaching...

If that is reaching, then any and all plagiarism threads about any composer much end now.  It is a near direct-quote. 

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2 hours ago, Jerry said:

whoever the heck said the drums in Chrome Dome reminded them of Greivous needs help.

 

That's not the one.

 

I can't find it right now, but there were some Grievous-y percussion in there, somewhere.

 

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2 hours ago, Jerry said:

Where did you hear the Emperor's Theme, Bespin?

 

Only in the movie, during the fight between Ben and Rey in front of Snoke, that's not on the album.

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1 hour ago, Jerry said:

Just because the London Voice do their little la-di-da doesn't make it BOTH or DOTF!!!

 

Its not the London Voices! Its the Los Angeles Master Chorale. And that's not the point. The Battle of the Heroes "quote" doesn't even involve a choir.

 

What did people who saw the film had to say of the music? "Sounds like Revenge of the Sith", so its not just us imagining the connection.

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Guys, I had a epiphany last night! Jaws has two notes that alternate...E F E F E F...wait a minute...change the key...D# E D# E D# E...remove that first and last note...wait a minute...wait a...-- oh my god! 

 

 

Now why would John Williams use that as the basis for a theme about a shark, there's no thematic connection there at all!!!?  :blink: :huh:

 

 

 

 

For the life of me, I will never comprehend how you hear Battle of the Heroes. That moment sounds like a tragic war anthem more than anything else; I could totally hear it in a World War II video game.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Tom said:

I am sure this has been discussed in one of the many threads, but why is Battle of the Heroes quoted in full?  It cannot be a coincidence (can it?) but the "good person death scene" just doesn't connect to the ROTS duel in any way whatsoever. 

 

It does make some sense when you recall that Paige referred to her sister as a hero.  Also, after the battle when Leia reprimands Poe, and he says there were heroes on that mission, to which her reply was “Heroes, but no leaders.”

 

That’s a stretch, yes, but it’s what I’ve got.

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I don't think its intentional in terms of Williams intending to quote the theme and make a narrative connection. But that it is so evocative of Battle of the Heroes is certainly an issue because it can pull one out of the movie.

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2 hours ago, Tom said:

If that is reaching, then any and all plagiarism threads about any composer much end now.  It is a near direct-quote. 

I don't know what's on screen at that time, but I don't hear it at all as a quote, and I strongly believe it's coincidental.

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24 minutes ago, Jerry said:

You may be confusing the Emperor with Snoke. Their themes are very similar in that it's a bunch of monks chanting oohhh in the four deepest notes.

No, the Emperor’s theme is played when Snoke is torturing Ray. 

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Definitely the Emperor's theme. No doubt about it.

 

And its not monk chanting. That's more in line with Palpatine's teaching where its a long drone produced by overtone singing. Here, its just singing quite deep in the bass register. Its actually not even that deep: Russian bass singers go far deeper than either Snoke or the Emperor's music requires.

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I actually really like the quote of the Emperor’s theme. I think we can acknowledge it’s there and still appreciate it’s use in the context. The Battle of the Heroes quote is tenuous and debatable. The Emperor quote is not, but it is a plus for the score because it’s a really cool rendition of the theme.  Acknowledging the quote is not inherently negative. I love The Last Jedi score.

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It’s actually a neat little quote, although it doesn’t really need to be there. But yeah, it’s the Emperor’s theme, sure as daylight.

1 hour ago, Jerry said:

C'mon folks!! Enough drawing parallels and negativity on this soundtrack.

 

Critical thinking involves acknowledging both what is good and what is bad.

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After all... Obi-Wan's theme became The "Force Theme", Luke's Theme became the generic "heroic" theme, why shouldn't Emperor's Theme be the new generic "Dark Side Theme"? :sarcasm:

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I can't rate this score or any other of Star Wars scores. John  Williams has shown amazing consistency throughout the whole saga. They are all great and are all my favourites depending on the day. However Across the Stars is the best composition ever in my books !!!!!!

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