74 replies to this topic

[wanner251]

This should be interesting discussion... that is, if it hasn't been discussed before....

I tend to like the Originals much more than the Prequels because they are much more powerful and brash. The Prequel version just sounds weak to me.

[Jason LeBlanc]

There's actually only 4 to choose from, as Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of the Sith just re-used the Phantom Menace recording with no alterations; They didn't re-record it again each time. So you can remove those options from the list.

[wanner251]

Ah, thanks for the tip... I'll combine them...

By the way, that's a real shame...

[Faleel]

ESB is the only one that is different arrangment wise (the intro is slightly different) ROTJ just has more trumpets.

[wanner251]

I'm talking more about the quality of the recording of the same material... think of it as "Which film has the best "TAKE""...

[Faleel]

"Which film has the best "TAKE""...

well ANH has about 20......

[Jason LeBlanc]

5

[Faleel]

oh, I was guessing on what the guy says in between the takes...

"16!"

"Take 20..."

[Jason LeBlanc]

The main title wasn't the first thing they recorded. The take # increases throughout the entire film's sessions; it doesn't reset for each new cue

[wanner251]

"Which film has the best "TAKE""...

well ANH has about 20......

I surrounded "take" with quotes because I meant it figuratively. Treat each final version that made it into each film as a take... which one is the best in your opinion?

[Faleel]

Star Wars

[Stefancos]

Its certainly the most unique one. No other recording sounds anything like Star Wars.

[Quint]

I always loved the version on my old Rebel Assault cd. It has that awesome (though jarring) seque into the end credits which I haven't heard anywhere else. Always thought it was strange, that.

[Thor]

Hmmm....I've never noticed much of a difference, to be honest (except when the track moves on to other bits after the credits roll and all that). They're all pretty ace in my book. It would be easier to say which version of the theme I prefer OUTSIDE the films (or compared to the film versions)....on various compilations etc.

[Wojo]

I'll have to dig out my old RA disc, then, when I get back home.

I've never been as big a fan of the ROTJ main titles. The very first trumpet fanfare sounds like one performer jumps the gun, and the triplet pattern that brings the middle part back into the reprise of the main theme is truncated.

[Luke Skywalker]

ROTJ also begins with a prominent drum roll.

wins for me.

Star Wars would, if it was not a hackjob. As it is, i just cant vote it.

[Stefancos]

What?

[p0llux]

Pre-quel main titles are better. They got better recording quality and the orchestra feels a lot more balanced than the originals. However, the best recording of the main titles is on the album "The Hollywood Sound" conducted by JW and performed by the LSO in 1996.

[Faleel]

Pre-quel main titles are bad. They got thin quality and the orchestra feels a lot more tired than the originals

Fixed.

[Ro Sajooc]

I love the the trumpets of ROTJ.

[Hedji]

Star Wars has the best resolution of the main statement at 1:04




All the others seem to emphasize the same note an octave higher. Not sure I'm explaining that correctly, but I like the finality of the way it resolves in Star Wars.

[indy4]

I vote for the prequels. They are a lot crisper, and vertically speaking they are much more in sync.

[Wojo]

That's because in the prequels, once you've heard one, you've heard the other two.

ESB's was always the most interesting to me.

[E.T. & Elliott]

I love the the trumpets of ROTJ.

Yep. I think that's the best one.

[Chaac]

I'm unsure about this. I'm also not sure what differences are because of the recording or because of rearrangement.

.
Star Wars would, if it was not a hackjob. As it is, i just cant vote it.

¿?

[Charlie Brigden]

I think ESB is probably best, but SW has an intangible nostalgic quality that makes me love it most. I also love the take 16 version with the swell before the crash.

[Jason LeBlanc]

Me too

[Hedji]

Me three. I think that swell was actually re-recorded for the intro to the vintage Making of Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back documentaries.

I also like the take that features the cymbal crash and the enhanced triangle percussion. That take was used for the opening of each episode of the Radio Drama.

[wanner251]

In the prequels the trumpets are weak and horribly out of tune.

Also, that swell I think was to set up the beginning so that it would sound more like an explosion. Star Wars I think does this and is cut right before the first note. The other two just start right on the first note and sound more like an orchestra, without that exploding sound. The first time I heard Star Wars it took me about a second and a half to realize that the first note was intact the orchestra. Weird, huh?

[publicist]

In the prequels the trumpets are weak and horribly out of tune.

Yes, Williams must have said 'Please, LSO, play this weak and horribly out-of-tune. I have conducted this sucker so often, i want my revenge on it'

[wanner251]

That sixth note of the melody (high Bb) is quite the clunker I'd say.

[MrJosh]

Hmmm, I need to go back and listen to them all more critically now. I have always liked the Prequel recording because I felt that the trumpets were "softer" rather than in your face brassy kind of sound, and I liked the softer approach. I also just like the very first chord the best on the prequel recording...just sounds awesome to me, like a splash of excitement, whereas for STAR WARS, it feels more like a a jab of excitement...too much trumpet in my face.

But then again, maybe I'll change my mind after I listen tomorrow.

[tannhauser]

The trumpets in the Prequels don't sound out of tune to my ear but I think maybe they're mixed a bit lower? It's a slightly more bass-heavy mix than the OT recordings.

My favourite is Star Wars.

[Richard]

"ANH", by a country mile! The way the music "explodes" on the first note is just phenomenal!

[king mark]

Star Wars 1977

Same for the opening section of the End Credits before Leia's theme

[Quint]

You mean the western arrangement.

[Stefancos]

It is not a hoe- down Lee.

[Scarpia]

This poll is about the best recording of the same material. However, there are differences in the orchestration of the Original Trilogy main titles, as well as the prequels one, so I decided which one is my favourite in a complete sense, recording and orchestration. My vote is for Star Wars: A New Hope, because reserves the predominacy of the strings playing in the high octave the reprise of the main theme up to the second phrase, concluding beautifully and heroic. I listened to this for the first time after A LOT of listenings of the prequels main title, and recordings of the concert version, and that ending in the 1977 recording made me fall in love again with the piece.

[Pasi Tiitinen]

Jedi.Trumpets.Glorious.

[Maurizio]

I also love the take 16 version with the swell before the crash.

Yeah, that first take really great. I wonder if Williams originally planned the swell to play on black screen and then syncing the crash with the appearance of the STAR WARS title as in the actual version.