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Part of the issue is that Mike and Nick had a relatively short window to get it edited, mixed, and mastered to coincide with the special edition release of the trilogy. I've tended to prefer the RCA 2-CD set, at least in the case of Empire, because of the sound quality. The Arista set, which adhered to Eric Tomilson's stellar mix, had quite a few dropouts and other anomalies as the tapes used at the time was the only available source. If anyone hasn't read it before, check out the Jan/Feb 1997 issue of Film Score Monthly (available in the "print backissues" section as a PDF); Mik

Kojian's. The biggest selling points: The 20th Century-Fox Fanfare, plus what was then the unreleased material. This and the OST albums (this was years before we had expansions of any kind) were so ingrained in my ears that hearing Williams own collective take of the trilogy years later was anticlimactic. I felt the playing by the Skywalker Symphony was lackluster, uninspiring, and too slow. It was almost as if Williams was tired of having to hear this Frankenstein's monster that he created with the Star Wars theme for the umpteenth time. Then again, it might have been due to the SSO bein

Yeah, even as a 9-year old back then, I thought the liner notes concerning Star Wars were a bit silly ("'Battle it out' with cosmic explosions," "Space You Out," etc.) for a movie I took very seriously! If anyone is curious on what Marty Gold's arrangement on Star Wars sounded like: Mine was also scratchy and prone to skipping as heard here! Still, I played it a lot since it was all I had in terms of Star Wars music at the time.

Not counting all those later CD and digital editions, I still have the original double-LP, as was released on 20th Century Fox Records. Later I "upgraded" to the cassette because I needed a clean-sounding tape for portable listening purposes as the vinyl eventually made too many loud cracks and pops to make a good recording out it. While Star Wars, as was the case for many others, was the movie that got me into John Williams and film music, it was actually my third LP album of his after Superman and The Empire Strikes Back. Before that, the only thing I could afford was this cheap compilati

If memory serves, members of the Boston Pops didn't care for it, either. This was apparently the source of creative differences that nearly had Williams quitting the BPO back in the early '80s. The 1941 march doesn't do too much for me; maybe it's the flamboyancy or comedic tone of it, although the same probably could be said of "March of the Villains," which I actually do enjoy.

Didn't critic Royal S. Brown also make comments along those lines of how Williams actually set back the progress of film music by going all out retro for Star Wars? I don't remember the exact wording, but it was something to that effect.

The intended version for me as well. With the release of the FSM set, not only was it a revelation in finally listening to the intended main titles restored in its rightful place after the "Prelude," but also hearing it synchronized to the title sequence (featured in FSM's "Score Restore" article when the Blue Box was released). However, since seeing the clip, now all those nuances in the performance where the orchestra "hits"/modulates/flourishes on the names in the credits sticks out far, far more than ever before in just listening to it by itself. But in a good way, since the intended ma

There can be too much of a good thing, sometimes. With all those expansions from last year and more recently that of SUPERMAN, it's almost coming at the expense of listening to the newer releases. I still have a big backlog of new (that aren't new anymore!) albums that are still sitting on the shelf, unopened because of this. It's not necessarily a good problem to have. Still, I eagerly await whatever expanded scores are coming out just to repeat the cycle. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My set came in on Wednesday, and I'm very pleased. The orchestral details are very striking, indeed, as many have pointed out. Not all the tracks are night and day difference when compared to the FSM set, but in most cases the instrumentation can be heard with even greater clarity and stereo separation. I gave it a couple listens through speakers and on my computer (as FLAC files through a DAC and Sony MDR-7506 headphones). You can almost hear each specific section of orchestra in finer detail, with the first chair leading the way. That said -- I concur with what jwalk713 said

The Amazon link that Jay provided is correct for the jewel case version of TLJ. I ordered it from Amazon.co.uk back on 12/18 and it arrived today. Just a comparison of the jewel case and standard:

24 hours later, this news is still sinking in. Like others, I was keeping vigil, hoping that he wasn't involved in the plane crash. But with little in the way of updates, it became grimmer by the hour. It's all the more tragic because he still had many more years of creativity in the making. The passing of like Goldsmith, Rosenman, Poledouris, etc., were at least "easier" to accept because they were in ill health and you knew eventually time would catch up. But this one really stings.. For me, the two scores of his that made me take notice of him were Star Trek II and Cocoon. I remember

Sometimes I wonder if the Academy is voting in committee. As it stands, most of them don't know what they're voting for, at least in the technical categories. How does Alan Menken win a total of 8 Oscars, coming only behind Alfred Newman's nine? Or that he is only the second composer to win Best Original Score, next to the great Franz Waxman, in consecutives years? Or Ann Dudley winning for The Full Monty, the worst possible choice of the nominees? I despise the trend of giving an Oscar as an "apology" or compensation rather than giving it towards a more deserving nominee. I really don't

I'm not that surprised Williams didn't win, given the history of how Academy voters chooses the music winners. It almost always goes to someone whom I've never heard of, or has music that goes some "important" film (however bland the music might be), or has been said, some guy with a foriegn name (suggesting the person writes more serious music). Didn't Santaolalla write the music before he was even associated with the film? How does that qualify? Of course, it also doesn't help when the music branch picks certain (undeserving?) nominees in the first place! If only the winners were chosen

Even with reading all the spoilers and spy reports, I was cautiously optimistic going in. And after the first viewing, at least, it pretty much met up the standard I was looking for: dark, brooding, and tragic. More emotion. Perhaps a wee bit too much action that could have been used in more character driven moments. I didn't set any high standard for it as I did with AOTC, and found ROTS to be good enough to close off the Star Wars saga.

Obi-Wan's lines in TESB about Luke being the last hope can be thought of in a couple ways. One, the dialogue was meant ambiguous and that if Luke failed in his gung-ho mission attempt against Vader, all would be lost. Even though Yoda chips in about there being "another," it wouldn't have the impact if Yoda spilled all the beans in detail of their Plan B. The situtation wouldn't have sounded as dire in comparison to what we have now. Of course, Obi-Wan could be thought as sexist, as some have suggested, probably feeling Leia had no Force potential (Vader never sensed her) and it would be to