Datameister

I'll definitely grab this one. The themes have some good propulsive energy, and the complete score has enough variety to still make for an interesting listen 

My copy just arrived and I'm enjoying it greatly. One question:
 
On the list of musicians, there's a guitarist credited but I can't hear a guitar anywhere so far. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
 
Mark

There are even contradictory statements in Abbey Road's web presence.
 
https://www.abbeyroad.com/news/the-history-of-film-recording-at-abbey-road-studios-as-told-by-abbey-roads-mirek-stiles-part-two-2744
 
https://www.abbeyroad.com/studio-one
 
So I really don't know what to make of it all. The only thing that's consistent across accounts is that at least most of the score was recorded at Anvil.

Good choices posted so far. I also thought of Klaus Badelt's The Time Machine. I actually really like the time travel cues.

Well, if that uncertainty doesn't persuade Disney to immediately commission MM to produce a proper re-release of all the OT scores with definitive information about where and when everything was recorded, I don't know what will.
 
So there.
 
Mark

There are even contradictory statements in Abbey Road's web presence.
 
https://www.abbeyroad.com/news/the-history-of-film-recording-at-abbey-road-studios-as-told-by-abbey-roads-mirek-stiles-part-two-2744
 
https://www.abbeyroad.com/studio-one
 
So I really don't know what to make of it all. The only thing that's consistent across accounts is that at least most of the score was recorded at Anvil.

There are even contradictory statements in Abbey Road's web presence.
 
https://www.abbeyroad.com/news/the-history-of-film-recording-at-abbey-road-studios-as-told-by-abbey-roads-mirek-stiles-part-two-2744
 
https://www.abbeyroad.com/studio-one
 
So I really don't know what to make of it all. The only thing that's consistent across accounts is that at least most of the score was recorded at Anvil.

I don't want any Star Wars movies for a good while longer.  I think even the currently planned 2025 is too soon.  Wait until 2029, give 10 years for the environment to rebound after the toxic disaster of TROS

I've seen conflicting accounts of whether any of ESB happened at Abbey Road, surprisingly. I honestly don't know who to believe. But anyway, let's add Galaxy's Edge to the list.

Very well said. It's really going to be tough to wait for S2. For me, this show has really been the biggest (good) surprise in Disney's Star Wars ventures.
 
One thing I was reflecting on: When I saw the OT as a kid, the sillier aspects were almost completely lost on me. This was a serious story of grown-ups fighting deadly battles in a super cool imagined universe, with some sophisticated humor thrown into the mix. I loved it. (I still do, but when I try to look objectively as an adult, I can see that they're fundamentally campy kids' movies.)
 
In some ways, Andor is kinda delivering the same sorts of feelings the OT did, but translated for my adult brain. It feels about as serious now as the OT felt when I was a kid.

Trailer here!
 
 

Very well said. It's really going to be tough to wait for S2. For me, this show has really been the biggest (good) surprise in Disney's Star Wars ventures.
 
One thing I was reflecting on: When I saw the OT as a kid, the sillier aspects were almost completely lost on me. This was a serious story of grown-ups fighting deadly battles in a super cool imagined universe, with some sophisticated humor thrown into the mix. I loved it. (I still do, but when I try to look objectively as an adult, I can see that they're fundamentally campy kids' movies.)
 
In some ways, Andor is kinda delivering the same sorts of feelings the OT did, but translated for my adult brain. It feels about as serious now as the OT felt when I was a kid.

Oh yeah, and for that, they literally just reused the choral recording from TFA. (JW seems to have written the TLJ material with that intention.) But the effect is the same: here we go, again.
 
I actually think many of these are perfectly fine in isolation. Some are even really fun. And it's true that there's still plenty of material that's not direct quotes. And some of that material doesn't even hearken back to a specific recognizable temp track. But for me, it's less about the percentage of the time spent on quotes, and more about the number of quotes. Each time a new one starts, my attention is drawn to it.
 
It also doesn't help that the score proper starts with several of these in rapid succession: the piccolo solo, Kylo's theme when the star destroyer arrives (sans Kylo), and the sinisterly twisty low strings from the TFA credits. There's some new writing in these passages, but much of it is reminiscent of the Anakin/Obi-Wan duel. So all this primed me to be listening for quotes, and the rest of the score continues to deliver them.
 
I'll reiterate that I do like TLJ. It's just my least favorite of those nine stellar scores.

Oh, TFA for sure on both. TLJ is too reliant on direct lifts from previous scores, and some of the underscore is kinda anemic. TROS comes closer to the energy of TFA, but it's dragged down a bit by the film's viscerally unfulfilled potential.
 
That said … they're JW Star Wars scores. I can't complain that hard.

Are you thinking of the moment for TROS? Surely we can't blame this on RJ.
 
In any case, it may or may not have been JW's call, and I don't think we can say he particularly opposed it.
 
 
More broadly, we have to accept some amount of leitmotivic drift across the saga. Luke is nowhere in sight when Chewbacca takes the copilot's seat for the first time in Solo — but I personally think busting out Luke's fanfare (the "main" theme) is a great choice for that moment.
 
...the specific case of Luke lifting the X-wing to "Yoda and the Force" does rankle me personally, but it strikes me as not a serious motivic jump.

Off the top of my head:
The piccolo solo after the main title March of the Resistance (the suite) in the opening battle Poe's theme from the TFA credits in the opening battle Kylo's themes from the TFA credits when he's brooding in the elevator Rey's Theme (the suite) as she follows Luke Leia's Theme (the suite) for that … controversial scene Luke's theme from ANH (when they see the Falcon again on the Death Star) when BB-8 shoots the coins  Yoda's Theme (the suite) at the end of his scene Some of the "sneaking around" music from TFA onboard the First Order ship The serious, march-like passage from early in TFA, heard as Finn and Rose are marched toward their doom  Ways of the Force for Snoke's death Here They Come, Again The love theme's last TFA statement when Luke hands over the dice  The finale leading into the credits  
Admittedly, not all of these are "edited," as I said. Some are just straight quotes.

Off the top of my head:
The piccolo solo after the main title March of the Resistance (the suite) in the opening battle Poe's theme from the TFA credits in the opening battle Kylo's themes from the TFA credits when he's brooding in the elevator Rey's Theme (the suite) as she follows Luke Leia's Theme (the suite) for that … controversial scene Luke's theme from ANH (when they see the Falcon again on the Death Star) when BB-8 shoots the coins  Yoda's Theme (the suite) at the end of his scene Some of the "sneaking around" music from TFA onboard the First Order ship The serious, march-like passage from early in TFA, heard as Finn and Rose are marched toward their doom  Ways of the Force for Snoke's death Here They Come, Again The love theme's last TFA statement when Luke hands over the dice  The finale leading into the credits  
Admittedly, not all of these are "edited," as I said. Some are just straight quotes.

Off the top of my head:
The piccolo solo after the main title March of the Resistance (the suite) in the opening battle Poe's theme from the TFA credits in the opening battle Kylo's themes from the TFA credits when he's brooding in the elevator Rey's Theme (the suite) as she follows Luke Leia's Theme (the suite) for that … controversial scene Luke's theme from ANH (when they see the Falcon again on the Death Star) when BB-8 shoots the coins  Yoda's Theme (the suite) at the end of his scene Some of the "sneaking around" music from TFA onboard the First Order ship The serious, march-like passage from early in TFA, heard as Finn and Rose are marched toward their doom  Ways of the Force for Snoke's death Here They Come, Again The love theme's last TFA statement when Luke hands over the dice  The finale leading into the credits  
Admittedly, not all of these are "edited," as I said. Some are just straight quotes.

Off the top of my head:
The piccolo solo after the main title March of the Resistance (the suite) in the opening battle Poe's theme from the TFA credits in the opening battle Kylo's themes from the TFA credits when he's brooding in the elevator Rey's Theme (the suite) as she follows Luke Leia's Theme (the suite) for that … controversial scene Luke's theme from ANH (when they see the Falcon again on the Death Star) when BB-8 shoots the coins  Yoda's Theme (the suite) at the end of his scene Some of the "sneaking around" music from TFA onboard the First Order ship The serious, march-like passage from early in TFA, heard as Finn and Rose are marched toward their doom  Ways of the Force for Snoke's death Here They Come, Again The love theme's last TFA statement when Luke hands over the dice  The finale leading into the credits  
Admittedly, not all of these are "edited," as I said. Some are just straight quotes.

Off the top of my head:
The piccolo solo after the main title March of the Resistance (the suite) in the opening battle Poe's theme from the TFA credits in the opening battle Kylo's themes from the TFA credits when he's brooding in the elevator Rey's Theme (the suite) as she follows Luke Leia's Theme (the suite) for that … controversial scene Luke's theme from ANH (when they see the Falcon again on the Death Star) when BB-8 shoots the coins  Yoda's Theme (the suite) at the end of his scene Some of the "sneaking around" music from TFA onboard the First Order ship The serious, march-like passage from early in TFA, heard as Finn and Rose are marched toward their doom  Ways of the Force for Snoke's death Here They Come, Again The love theme's last TFA statement when Luke hands over the dice  The finale leading into the credits  
Admittedly, not all of these are "edited," as I said. Some are just straight quotes.

Actually, there wasn't even a spotting session. Johnson had someone cut together a temp track of JW music (95% from other Star Wars scores). Then they just gave him that temp track to work from. This both shocked me and made perfect sense: I don't know why in the world they'd take this approach, but it certainly helps explain why significant stretches of the score either mimic or directly quote edited versions of pre-existing cues.

This show has really taken me by surprise. Never would have expected to be so enthralled based on the title—I had no particular desire to learn more about Cassian's story. Glad I still gave it a chance.
 
I think this and Mando S1 are my favorite onscreen stories to come out of Disney Star Wars. Mando was like we were getting back to the heart of what I loved about the Star Wars universe, and Andor is like we're truly adding some new things to love in the Star Wars universe.
 
We were particularly gutted by Kino's "can't swim" reveal. Adds so much to his reluctance leading up to the breakout—and it adds even more to his eventual participation.

And in the form of adrenaline-pumping action music (e.g. Desert Chase). Not to mention big heroic versions that aren't marches (e.g. Flight From Peru). And then there are passages that are more tense or emotionally complex (e.g. To Nepal). Like most great Williams themes, it's extremely versatile.

I think TLJ isn’t just the best sequel score, it’s the best Star Wars score. It’s incredibly well crafted and comparing it to the other sequels demonstrates the benefits of a good director collaboration and/or a director who knows when to say “it’s up to you”.
 
That said, TFA’s album is hard to beat as an album. And TROS none of us have actually had the opportunity to judge as written...

This show has really taken me by surprise. Never would have expected to be so enthralled based on the title—I had no particular desire to learn more about Cassian's story. Glad I still gave it a chance.
 
I think this and Mando S1 are my favorite onscreen stories to come out of Disney Star Wars. Mando was like we were getting back to the heart of what I loved about the Star Wars universe, and Andor is like we're truly adding some new things to love in the Star Wars universe.
 
We were particularly gutted by Kino's "can't swim" reveal. Adds so much to his reluctance leading up to the breakout—and it adds even more to his eventual participation.