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The Best Star Wars Soundtrack


tmarps

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So, come on guys, let’s hear you - which, out of all 8 SW masterpieces, is your favourite? And why?

 

To kick things off here - mine is The Empire Strikes Back, namely because of the introduction of the Imperial March, the Battle of Hoth and the Clash of Lightsabers.

 

 

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I always though it was Empire (for it's themes)... but in overall.. it's Star Wars, the first one.

 

So much themes, so much environments, different moods, a true perfect score.

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1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. Star Wars

3. Return of the Jedi

4. The Phantom Menace

5. The Force Awakens

6. The Last Jedi

7. Revenge of the Sith

8. Attack of the Clones

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Again, you can't really do this, but...

 

1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. Star Wars / Return of the Jedi

3. Revenge of the Sith

4. The Force Awakens / The Last Jedi

5. The Phantom Menace / Attack of the Clones

 

*I'd probably stick Rogue One around TPM and AOTC. I don't necessarily have high hopes for Solo, at least not enough to surpass Rogue One.

 

Edit: Whoah this was stupid! 

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STAR WARS - perfectly spotted, doesn't overstay its welcome, every single cue is completely iconic, it recalls a golden era.

With Empire, I feel it's in that awkward state of the '70s trying to die and the '80s trying to be born, and I never cared too much for Yoda's Theme. The highlights may be better (Imperial March, Battle of Hoth, Hyperspace) but overall I like it less.

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Empire without a doubt.  It is cohesive, a true complete musical expression.  Williams at his peak, really, or at one of his peaks.

Nevertheless, I concede that Star Wars itself has better themes.  Princess Leia's Theme is the franchise's best, I think, with the concert arrangement being one of John's finest musical achievements. 

 

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Its a tough question to answer because of the high quality of all (yes, all) of the entries, as far as the music goes, and also because I cannot completly separate my impressions of the music, to the impression of the film that it accompanies. 

 

Even though its my most revered film out of the series, I have to knock Empire Strikes Back down a few spots. While it has three very effective and memmorable themes, its WAAAY too reliant on the Imperial March: I think its in there a good 30 times or more, within just two hours of music. That's nuts.

 

Star Wars doesn't quite fall into that trap, but I'm torn between this and some of the prequel scores, because I really like the dramatic effect of the SATB choir in The Phantom Menace, and especially Revenge of the Sith. But than, these scores suffer from being attached to sub-par films, and the latter feels like it was being made in the shadow of the other popular scores of its day: We have the moaning woman right out of Gladiator, and the chorus right out of Lord of the Rings, so it takes some getting used to. The only thing its missing are the pipes from Braveheart and Titanic!

 

I'm not a big fan of Return of the Jedi, film or score. Because of the episodic nature of the film, there isn't a defined, overarching "main theme" in the style of other scores of this franchise. The closest would be the Ewok material, which I don't care for all that much. But this far, I have to say I like the sequel films score way less. The Force Awakens has good (but not outstanding) thematic material, but it lacks the extrovert, full sound which very much defined the previous scores. Also, because I look at scores as a cinematic tool, I have to refer to the film mix which rendered the score effectivelly imperceivable. While The Last Jedi is a step (or ten) back towards the "big" sound, it unfortunately has little in the way of new thematic material and therefore has to rely way too heavily on existing themes, largely in defiance of the composer's modus operandi over the years.

 

I'd also put Attack of the Clones low in the list (although above the sequel scores thus far), because while I love "Across the Stars", there is no other memorable theme so - like Empire Strikes Back - its too reliant on this one theme, more like an idea fixee more than a leitmotivic score.

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12 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Even though its my most revered film out of the series, I have to knock Empire Strikes Back down a few spots. While it has three very effective and memmorable themes, its WAAAY too reliant on the Imperial March: I think its in there a good 30 times or more, within just two hours of music. That's nuts.

 

Interesting - I've never felt that the Imperial March overstays its welcome in TESB.

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Interesting.

 

I think that, unlike with something like Attack of the Clones, because there is at least one other very memorable and heartfelt tune to be found in the Princess and Han's love theme - the score doesn't feel like an idea fixee score outright. But it is in there a bit too often for my tastes.

 

Its true of other scores in the series, as well: Rey's theme in The Force Awakens, for instance. But its much less extrovert and thus draws less attention to itself, especially in the film mix. Its also true of other scores of Williams, especially ones from the time period of Empire: Even Spielberg felt that Raiders' March was used way too often in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

There's an unwritten rule of cinema: "thou shalt not quote thy main theme over twenty times in thy motion picture." Its also an argument for more dense scores: when you have more leitmotives, the less you are likely to fall back too often on just one of the them.

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RETURN OF THE JEDI. Also happens to be my second favourite score of all time. The OST kicks ass, but in this case I might actually prefer the expanded Arista box CD.

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On 20/02/2018 at 12:24 PM, Thor said:

RETURN OF THE JEDI. Also happens to be my second favourite score of all time. The OST kicks ass, but in this case I might actually prefer the expanded Arista box CD.

 

The OST has Lapti Nek so it's a closed contest as far as I'm concerned! :P

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54 minutes ago, Thor said:

RETURN OF THE JEDI. Also happens to be my second favourite score of all time. The OST kicks ass, but in this case I might actually prefer the expanded Arista box CD.

 

Curious about what's your favourite score of all time. Is it JP? :)

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7 hours ago, Chen G. said:

 

I'm not a big fan of Return of the Jedi, film or score. Because of the episodic nature of the film, there isn't a defined, overarching "main theme" in the style of other scores of this franchise. The closest would be the Ewok material, which I don't care for all that much.

 

Indeed, there is no overarching main theme in ROTJ, but the Emperor's theme gets quite some memorable statements (I think much more worthy of attention than the Ewok material). The cue for the Emperor's Death has some outstanding writing and shows a very intelligent use of dissonance. The episodic nature of the movie greatly affects, for example, the possibility to use the beautiful theme for Luke and Leia, which appears only in two cues and does not get the development that it deserves. Fortunately, JW made one of the best concert arrangements of the saga out of it.

 

  

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Oh, the emperor's theme is great, but which is the theme that is featured most prominently in the closing credits? Its not the Emperor's theme; its the Ewok theme. Williams clearly concieved the main Ewok theme as his "big tune" for that film.

 

Its not bad music, but its too playful to carry any real weight, and that it is attached to something as narrativelly redundant as the Ewoks doesn't help either.

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On 20/02/2018 at 3:09 PM, mstrox said:

I think the Ewok theme was written as a theme for Han Solo.

 

I think it's secretly an alternate Emperor theme. If you focus real hard you can hear him humming it from underneath his hood. 

 

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  • 5 months later...

I'm a die-hard Williams fan, but my favorite Star Wars score is probably Solo! It has this boundless energy, wit, romanticism, and pizzazz that no other score I've listened to has matched. I could just listen to it over and over, especially Mine Mission, Break Out, Reminiscence Therapy, and Into The Maw. It's an instantly iconic score with plenty of new themes, but also great references to old themes where necessary. And some of the references are just so clever! Like the actiony reference to the opening fanfare in Break Out or the awestruck SW theme during L3 and Millennium Falcon.

 

All in all, I love the score to Solo. 

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My ranking changes on any given day...

 

1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. Star Wars

3. Attack of the Clones

4. The Force Awakens

5. Revenge of the Sith

6. Return of the Jedi

7. The Phantom Menacce

8. The Last Jedi

 

And obviously Solo > Rogue One.

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On 2/20/2018 at 1:48 PM, Horner's Dynamic Range said:

AOTC is so underrated. Or over-bashed.

 

Or both.

It can never be bashed enough. 

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On 2/20/2018 at 11:23 AM, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

 

I haven't dated anyone for a while.

I'd date you if you came dressed as Margo Channing!

Anyway, the best Star Wars score is...Solo. 

And I guess second place can go to Attack of the Clones, since it has the Natalie Portman love theme.

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