5777 replies to this topic

[E.T. & Elliott]

I listened to AOTC today and thought of SOTE. The reason was because AOTC the movie sort of took us to environments that were featured in SOTE and Joel McNeely previously composed music for. The kind of seedy underworld and back alleys of Coruscant (or Imperial Center). Do you think McNeely nailed it better musically than Williams?

[steb74]

Do you think McNeely nailed it better musically than Williams?

Not even in my most twisted dreams.
I personally don't find the musical language in SOTE to have the character of the SW universe but it's something I find in the prequels very much so.

[Charlie Brigden]

I listened to AOTC today and thought of SOTE. The reason was because AOTC the movie sort of took us to environments that were featured in SOTE and Joel McNeely previously composed music for. The kind of seedy underworld and back alleys of Coruscant (or Imperial Center). Do you think McNeely nailed it better musically than Williams?

I think so. Like the film scenes, Williams' sounds pretty glossy. I always liked the bit at the end when Fett kills Zam though. I wish JW had maybe gone for more of a detective vibe with Obi-Wan's investigation. And no Dex's Diner.

[steb74]

I thought Williams wasn't responsible for Dex's Diner?

[John Crichton]

AotC is a very underappreciated score. I think a proper complete release will turn a lot of heads.

[Datameister]

I agree. It's hardly the best Star Wars score, but that's not really saying a whole lot.

[Trent Bennett]

I thought Williams wasn't responsible for Dex's Diner?

He wasn't, his son did the Dex's Diner source just like the Mos Espa source.

AotC is a very underappreciated score. I think a proper complete release will turn a lot of heads.

I agree with this as well. Grant it is the weakest of the six scores but it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

[Marian Schedenig]

AotC is a very underappreciated score. I think a proper complete release will turn a lot of heads.

I'm not sure. I like the action tracks on the album a lot, but most others seem to hate them. A complete release is unlikely to change that.

[publicist]

AotC is a very underappreciated score. I think a proper complete release will turn a lot of heads.

I'm not sure. I like the action tracks on the album a lot, but most others seem to hate them. A complete release is unlikely to change that.

Let the Williams well run dry for a few more years and everything except Joey starts agreeing with you. When i recently got THE EDGE by Goldsmith, i listened to it again since a long time and was shocked of how great, even sublime a lot of it seemed. When the score came out, i liked the theme and found the interior music serviceable but not much more. With filmmusic today what it is, even a workmanlike Goldsmith adventure score seems like a thundering musical achievement.

[Mark Olivarez]

There's no doubting the technical quality of AOTC, minus that damned guitar. That being said, unless there are some major surprises that weren't reported, I doubt there's much music we haven't heard yet.

[Jason LeBlanc]

Well there's the unused finale we only have 2 seconds of

[Mark Olivarez]

Correct but didn't someone here sneak a peek at the scoring sheets and pretty much confirm there isn't a whole lot missing?

Granted that was 8 years ago.

[Jason LeBlanc]

I don't recall that at all. As far as I know nobody really knows what it would have been like apart from the final 2 seconds

[steb74]

I do, I'm sure it was an interview with one of the LSO members. I'm talking about the unused finale though and not the missing music in general.

[Mark Olivarez]

No it wasn't that. I think someone actually saw the original sketches and confirmed there wasn't that much missing music. The tracked music really didn't replace anything Williams had originally composed.

[Jason LeBlanc]

No that's completely wrong. The OST/film version uses the Imperial March while the original version didn't

[John Crichton]

I think Mark's talking about the Battle of Geonosis, not the finale. And yes, we've known for quite a while Williams never wrote anything for it.

[Mark Olivarez]

The tracked music from TPM, not any re-writes Williams did.

[Jason LeBlanc]

Obviously Williams never scored the big battle. But the unused original finale cue would be great to hear, and judging by the last 2 seconds its a very nice piece

[Mark Olivarez]

It was probably Jim Ware or John Takis who mentioned it. Of course John did the cue breakdown.


During the summer of 2002 I was getting married so AOTC was least important thing on my mind.

[Marian Schedenig]

Let the Williams well run dry for a few more years and everything except Joey starts agreeing with you. When i recently got THE EDGE by Goldsmith, i listened to it again since a long time and was shocked of how great, even sublime a lot of it seemed. When the score came out, i liked the theme and found the interior music serviceable but not much more. With filmmusic today what it is, even a workmanlike Goldsmith adventure score seems like a thundering musical achievement.

I've had a similar experience with The Edge, though I attribute much of it to the fact that there IS a lot of excellent material in the underscore. Your point may be the reason for my growing enjoyment of Timeline, though.

[Mark Olivarez]

Funny you mention Timeline, I was listening to it a few weeks ago, some fun stuff in there. It's a shame the score got scrapped.

[steb74]

It was probably Jim Ware or John Takis who mentioned it.

Perhaps they have but I'd be surprised if they had saw the original sketches, simply because I'm sure they'd be able to shed more light on the missing slate numbers and cue titles in the prequel resource thread for example.

[Jason LeBlanc]

Yup, I think Mark's just remembering wrong

No one I'm aware of has heard or seen the sheet music for the original dropped finale

[Trent Bennett]

Funny you mention Timeline, I was listening to it a few weeks ago, some fun stuff in there. It's a shame the score got scrapped.

Goldsmith's Timeline score isn't too bad but for myself, I personally prefer Tyler's version of the score.

[steb74]

There was definitely an article/interview here around the time of AOTC and I'm sure it was by an LSO member.
It may of mentioned the finale but I think it was dealing more with how much original music was recorded because there was alot of speculation at the time.
It probably isn't here on the site anymore but perhaps some exploring through the internet archives site might help.

[Jason LeBlanc]

Hmmm ok, if someone can find that post/article I'd love to read it

[TheTennisBallKid]

AOTC Chorus Singer Talks CD Edits

Here's the article with the "massive orchestral blowout " quote about the finale.

[Joey]

Funny you mention Timeline, I was listening to it a few weeks ago, some fun stuff in there. It's a shame the score got scrapped.

Goldsmith's Timeline score isn't too bad but for myself, I personally prefer Tyler's version of the score.

me too.

[steb74]

AOTC Chorus Singer Talks CD Edits

Here's the article with the "massive orchestral blowout " quote about the finale.

That's probably the one I was thinking of, good work man!

[Incanus]

Hey thanks for digging up that small report TTBK!

Map Room: Dawn

[Jason LeBlanc]

Here's the relevant quote

The track that I immediately played was the "Confrontation With Count Dooku and Finale". I can tell you now that this cue has been revised from what I heard at the recording session. I was waiting for the massive orchestral blowout before the finale statement of the Love Theme. I have been raving about this material since the day I heard it in January. Imagine my disappointment when I heard that the entire sequence had been replaced with a grandiloquent statement of the Imperial March. I considered this to be the high point of the music that I heard that day.

Remember that I spoke to you months ago about this section of the music- It underscores the scenes where thousands of Clone Troopers are standing in attention in front of three hooded figures who are surveying this military parade. Huge spaceships are flying overhead. This scene is obviously meant to depict the birth of the Empire. These massive statements from the orchestra are then immediately followed by the final statement of the love theme, then the end titles.

I kind of wish that Williams had not bowed to pressure and left any statements of the Imperial March until Episode Three- can you imagine the dramatic effect of not hearing the theme until we see the first glimpse of Anakin in his new incarnation as Vader? I can just imagine it. The original music was more effective I think- but Lucas must have had different ideas. I wonder if this original version will ever see the light of day... too bad.

I really really want to hear this!

[E.T. & Elliott]

It's theorized you can hear parts of it in the Across the Stars music video edit. There's a bit of music in there with no identifiable source, but it could be part of the big orchestral finale. I really want to hear it.

[steb74]

I think it's generally considered by most that it is part of the unused finale.
It's very frustrating to know that there are people out there who have it or at least the opportunity to listen to it, the composers at lucasarts for example

Across The Stars Music Video
(It should jump directly to the part in question)

However, fans being what they are, I'm sure if we did have this version but found out that there was a variation written that included the Imperial March, we'd be just as hungry to hear that.

[Hedji]

Dracula (1979)

So lovely. Parts of the theme actually remind me of the bridge to the Nimbus 2000 / Longbottom Flies theme.

Tis a shame none of our labels managed to squeeze this out in time for Halloween.

[Mark Olivarez]

I just hope the tapes have survived.

[Hedji]

Is Universal notorious for losing tapes?

[Joey]

I paid close attention to the scores in How to train your dragon, which I deemed wretched, and IJKCS which I enjoyed more in the film than I previously remembered. I think it's time to end my sabatical from Indiana Jones music and I'll download the 4 scores to my mp3 player.

[Mark Olivarez]

Is Universal notorious for losing tapes?

There were some rumors at FSM by someone who has worked within the industry. Although this same person was making other unfounded claims that Robert Townson wasn't diligent enough when it came to assembling Spartacus so go figure.

But material recorded overseas always worries me when it comes to storage.

[E.T. & Elliott]

Is Universal notorious for losing tapes?

That King Kong fire in Hollywood destroyed a ton of tapes and archival things. Universal claimed what was lost is basically backups, but I've heard rumor indicating otherwise. Family Plot and Dracula were probably in there.

Busy day:

Angela's Ashes, War of the Worlds, E.T., Harry Potter 1 album (a parting thing), Prague Close Encounters set, Cinderella Liberty and Lost in Space: The Reluctant Stowaway.