Datameister

I normally like to place the composer's latest revisions in the main program and leave earlier alternates for the end...but with the start of ESB, the multiple inserts make that decision more difficult for me. If you go with Williams' latest revisions, you end up cutting out some great material and chopping up a longer cue into separate parts. But if you go with the original, you miss out on the more mysterious opening to the film.
 
In any case, I certainly agree with Jay (and many others here) that I want to hear what the composer wrote and recorded, not what the film editor included in the final cut. For something like ESB, the film benefits from the way the score was pared down and replaced in parts, but when I listen to it outside of the film, I want to hear the score that was recorded.
 

I normally like to place the composer's latest revisions in the main program and leave earlier alternates for the end...but with the start of ESB, the multiple inserts make that decision more difficult for me. If you go with Williams' latest revisions, you end up cutting out some great material and chopping up a longer cue into separate parts. But if you go with the original, you miss out on the more mysterious opening to the film.
 
In any case, I certainly agree with Jay (and many others here) that I want to hear what the composer wrote and recorded, not what the film editor included in the final cut. For something like ESB, the film benefits from the way the score was pared down and replaced in parts, but when I listen to it outside of the film, I want to hear the score that was recorded.
 

There's the soft passage for strings, piano, and percussion in ESB when the Rebel troops are looking out across the surface of Hoth, waiting for the Empire to show up.

The ghostly synth polychords for the invisibility cloak scenes in his Potter scores are pretty mysterious.

Pocahontas for both. Hunchback has some absolutely stunning material in it, but other parts inexplicably grate on my nerves. I don't have that issue with the songs or score for Pocahontas.

About to resume my job from before the pandemic. I expect to have some frustrations, but overall I've really missed it and I'm looking forward to being back.
 
Some of the work I've done in the meantime has really tried my patience at times. I wouldn't say I've hated it, but this is almost certainly going to be a lot better.

Update: now that Disney has an upcharged replacement for FastPass, I guess they don't care as much about total immersion in Galaxy's Edge as they did before.  Now the attraction doesn't have a proper sign, but the Lightning Lane™ for it does.
 
So can we get some Williams music in there now?
 

About to resume my job from before the pandemic. I expect to have some frustrations, but overall I've really missed it and I'm looking forward to being back.
 
Some of the work I've done in the meantime has really tried my patience at times. I wouldn't say I've hated it, but this is almost certainly going to be a lot better.

More importantly it means that this great score isn't limited anymore to a small population of existing super fans, but open to budding and casual John Williams fans to discover in Spotify or wherever.

It seems nothing was written or recorded for that, yeah. My best guess is that they intended to track in the end credits all along.
 
@Manakin Skywalker, which music do you think was written for the earlier part of the duel (the part in which they move from the hangar to the big generator room or whatever)?

That's filmmaking for you. It happened in the OT, too. Think of how much of ESB's score was dropped or replaced. And in TPM's case, yeah, they heavily recut the whole end battle after the music was written.

Nah, I think it was a good call. My disappointment is in the fact that there ended up only being two "Star Wars Stories," and they had totally different openings from each other and from the episodes, yet both used the classic Star Wars end credits. It's a melange of unique and familiar elements that doesn't quite work for me.
 
I would have preferred that the anthology films not use the main saga's main title or end credits. I also have a slight preference for the idea of them sharing similar new formats for each, but oh well.

Right now most of my pure listening is on my iPod. It's a holdover from before I had a smartphone, and it still gets the job done. I tend to buy pretty cheap phones, so I'm not exactly drowning in storage space for my large collection, and I don't use any streaming services either.
 
Second place would be my computer. That's of course where I do lots of music-related stuff, but right now I'm not often just sitting and listening there.

Also, some of "The Great Dual [sic]" was still used as intended in the film. The cue was split into two separately recorded pieces, with some music in the middle never being recorded. From the first part, there's the quiet, swirly passage just after the laser walls go up; from the second part, there's the percussion for the queen's surrender (although they took out the piccolos) and the music for Anakin's crash.

Better question, yeah. I fix them. I fix capitalization, too - a much more frequent issue with record labels of all sizes. I don't know why overcapitalization is so rampant.

Better question, yeah. I fix them. I fix capitalization, too - a much more frequent issue with record labels of all sizes. I don't know why overcapitalization is so rampant.

Also, some of "The Great Dual [sic]" was still used as intended in the film. The cue was split into two separately recorded pieces, with some music in the middle never being recorded. From the first part, there's the quiet, swirly passage just after the laser walls go up; from the second part, there's the percussion for the queen's surrender (although they took out the piccolos) and the music for Anakin's crash.

Better question, yeah. I fix them. I fix capitalization, too - a much more frequent issue with record labels of all sizes. I don't know why overcapitalization is so rampant.

I was chatting with someone elsewhere and managed to change my own mind on that. I still think a "greatest hits" style of BGM would be disastrous, but it actually could be possible to create appropriate orchestral loops for different areas of the land. I started thinking of examples and realized that I could get onboard with the use of atmospheric cues that aren't too thematic or mickey mousey (ironically). The Resistance forest, the market, the First Order area, and the Falcon area could each get their own distinct loop.
 
The hard part would be finding enough material to avoid having super short loops like Universal's.

Right now most of my pure listening is on my iPod. It's a holdover from before I had a smartphone, and it still gets the job done. I tend to buy pretty cheap phones, so I'm not exactly drowning in storage space for my large collection, and I don't use any streaming services either.
 
Second place would be my computer. That's of course where I do lots of music-related stuff, but right now I'm not often just sitting and listening there.

Right now most of my pure listening is on my iPod. It's a holdover from before I had a smartphone, and it still gets the job done. I tend to buy pretty cheap phones, so I'm not exactly drowning in storage space for my large collection, and I don't use any streaming services either.
 
Second place would be my computer. That's of course where I do lots of music-related stuff, but right now I'm not often just sitting and listening there.

I missed this thread the first time around. Either that or I didn't bother posting because I knew I couldn't vote, because my answer to both questions is "not ROTJ." The other two are locked in an eternal struggle in my heart. SW edges out on the basis of maximum nostalgia; ESB edges out on my subjective impression of its objective quality. That's true for the films and the scores.

Saw the film last night and loved it! Loved the CGI-heavy third act a little less than the compelling and visceral first two acts, but it was all very well done. Loved all the actors, loved the characters, was impressed by how emotionally resonant the relationships were and how compelling the villain was.
 
The score was generally quite good and aided the film well, although I wish there'd been a more memorable main theme. The Chinese flavor was well integrated with the western orchestra.

I highly recommend everyone go check out the film in theater, and maybe sample the score on Spotify before purchasing digitally.
 
Yavar

I just think you ought to withhold judgment till you've visited in person. Films and theme parks have different musical needs. (Also, Williams's Star Wars source music can be quite "off" - consider the three Tatooine source cues from TPM. Odd recorder harmonies, non-Western percussion, weird vocals, etc.)
 
For me, the only problem with this cue in situ is that the melody is hard to pick out. It sets the tone really well, but it's only recognizable if you know the suite well and you listen closely. Part of that is the slow tempo, part of it is park acoustics, and part of it is the blurry synth pads beneath the flute-like melody. The end result is that the reference to Williams's theme feels almost like an Easter egg. I think I would have preferred a version that more clearly established the theme, setting up its orchestral statements in the attractions.
 
That's just me, though. Still happy to be able to listen to this track on its own!

Yep. You get orchestral scoring in the two rides and in the lightsaber building experience. All three of those include material adapted from the suite. But the orchestra isn't heard elsewhere in the land - the cantina features the Star Wars equivalent of club music, and you hear bits of alien folk music in a few spots outside, and the entrances/exits to the land use Kerber's arrangement for transitional ambiance.
 
I like the decision to save orchestral scoring for actual story moments. I do wish there were more pervasive area BGM (still in the same indigenous-sounding vein), and I wouldn't have minded if the orchestral BGM started sneaking in during the ride queues. SWGE's music sounds good when you do hear it, but I think hearing it more often would help.
 
I also still wish they had put together a small ensemble to play live music here and there. It would have been challenging but so worth it.