Cerebral Cortex

Came across this on Twitter/X:
 
 
https://x.com/pureevilbich/status/1750168797065941049?s=46&t=qD_26VYTJS4cdEm47c4eUg
 
Apparently McQuarrie told this story on a podcast (not sure if this was recently or when they were promoting Rogue Nation).

EDIT: Not sure how to embed the tweet, so I’ve attached the picture from the original post.
 

Rey's theme played on piano by JW himself no less!

I'm just glad that the default opinion is the music was one of the good things about the sequels. And that TFA isn't going very far back for a nomination Reddit doesn't consider lazy. Nobody's trying to disrespect JW's longevity here. 
 
I'm happy for him to collect Oscar nominations like Pokemon. They blur together, regardless. The legend of John Williams is epic scores for big blockbusters every decade with nonstop Oscar nominations til he's like 100 years old. He's never had a Diane Warren reputation where her version of this is getting nominated for the Flaming Hot Cheetos movie. John Williams nominated for Indiana Jones 5 is pretty typical at worst, it just slides in. 

I wish he scored the Hot Cheeto movie 

Amazing how every Lucasfilm movie JW has scored since the Disney acquisition has received an Oscar nomination. They're getting a solid return on investment.
 
Would be nice if someone at Disney Records had the bright idea of monetizing all that free publicity with score expansions...

Williams showing up at the next Disney stockholders meeting:

"Yeah, I'm gonna need all of you sick sons of bitches to stop making Star Wars films with Daisy Ridley in them..."

OK I've gone through the entire film and identified everything now, and even noted down timestamps that include miliseconds you can use to identify everything
 

  Start End Length Cue 1 00:00:45.546 00:03:30.749 2:45 American Spy 2 00:03:36.297 00:03:55.440 0:19 American Spy {Continued} 3 00:03:58.209 00:04:25.446 0:27 Bombs Away! 4 00:04:25.446 00:05:20.312 0:55 Bombs Away! {Continued} 5 00:05:42.062 00:08:54.394 3:12 Indy Driver 6 00:09:38.019 00:09:49.147 0:11 Indy Driver {Continued} 7 00:09:49.147 00:13:58.975 4:10 It's A Fake 8 00:13:58.975 00:16:20.899 2:22 Indy Rescues Baz 9 00:16:48.100 00:19:35.706 2:48 Combat Train-ing 10 00:19:35.706 00:21:47.866 2:12 Jump 11 00:27:00.048 00:27:39.320 0:39 [TRACKED] Helena's Tutorial 12 00:28:15.133 00:30:07.211 1:52 [TRACKED] Voller's Interview 13 00:30:07.211 00:30:28.528 0:21 [WILD] Nazis 14 00:32:38.048 00:33:09.324 0:31 I'm Not Selling This, Am I? 15 00:33:09.324 00:37:55.386 4:46 The Archives 16 00:37:55.386 00:40:45.800 2:50 Helena Runs 17 00:43:02.027 00:45:31.271 2:29 Pulse Of The City 18 00:46:35.168 00:48:17.750 1:43 Voller's Interview 19 00:48:17.750 00:49:11.480 0:54 Sallah To The Rescue 20 00:50:36.642 00:52:03.599 1:27 Departures 21 00:52:40.641 00:53:44.616 1:04 It Must Be Destroyed 22 00:53:44.616 00:54:45.183 1:01 To Morocco Again 23 00:56:52.260 00:58:20.268 1:28 Indy Recognizes Professor Schmidt 24 00:58:20.268 00:58:44.861 0:25 Doing Helena's Bidding 25 00:58:44.861 01:00:09.494 1:25 Rossini's Menu 26 01:00:26.661 01:01:31.711 1:05 Rahim Arrives 27 01:01:31.711 01:02:04.321 0:33 You Don't Need Me? 28 01:02:04.321 01:03:49.838 1:46 Streets Of Morocco 29 01:03:54.519 01:08:16.575 4:22 Tuk Tuk Chase 30 01:09:37.906 01:10:59.945 1:22 Airplane Mutiny 31 01:13:12.050 01:14:39.576 1:28 To Athens 32 01:15:11.235 01:16:22.196 1:11 Sunken Ship 33 01:19:26.994 01:20:18.192 0:51 Indy's Regret 34 01:21:39.081 01:22:46.543 1:07 Eels 35 01:22:46.543 01:23:28.220 0:42 [TRACKED] Centipedes 36 01:23:39.751 01:28:37.461 4:58 Water Ballet 37 01:29:24.968 01:30:36.524 1:12 Polybius Cipher 38 01:30:36.524 01:33:25.295 2:49 Helena's Tutorial 39 01:33:25.295 01:34:07.331 0:42 Escaping the Boat 40 01:34:49.198 01:36:19.348 1:30 Melting Wax 41 01:36:19.348 01:36:35.260 0:16 [TRACKED] Archimedes' Tomb 42 01:36:35.260 01:37:18.562 0:43 Melting Wax {Continued} 43 01:39:03.444 01:39:40.383 0:37 Teddy Is Kidnapped 44 01:39:40.383 01:39:54.756 0:14 [TRACKED] To The Airport 45 01:39:54.756 01:40:19.523 0:25 Teddy Is Kidnapped {Continued} 46 01:40:19.523 01:40:53.349 0:34 [WILD] Helena In Action 47 01:40:53.349 01:41:55.358 1:02 Teddy Is Kidnapped {Continued} 48 01:42:17.904 01:43:07.480 0:50 The Crescent 49 01:43:18.681 01:44:27.352 1:09 The Crescent {Continued} 50 01:45:02.178 01:45:14.014 0:12 [TRACKED] Eels 51 01:45:14.014 01:48:18.369 3:04 Centipedes 52 01:48:18.369 01:49:44.231 1:26 Handcuffed 53 01:49:50.236 01:52:27.339 2:37 Archimedes' Tomb 54 01:52:27.339 01:55:07.686 2:40 Confrontation At The Tomb
55 01:55:07.686 01:56:37.322 1:30 To The Airport 56 01:56:37.322 01:58:19.925 1:43 To The Airport Part 2 57 01:58:19.925 02:02:23.931 4:04 Airport Nazis 58 02:02:23.931 02:02:59.486 0:36 [TRACKED] Water Ballet 59 02:03:08.144 02:04:38.263 1:30 [TRACKED] Melting Wax,Centipedes,Water Ballet,Helena's Tutorial 60 02:04:38.263 02:05:17.953 0:40 Through The Portal 61 02:05:32.378 02:06:11.570 0:39 [TRACKED] Ancient Syracuse,Water Ballet 62 02:06:11.570 02:06:42.033 0:30 Planes In Trouble 63 02:06:42.033 02:09:45.853 3:04 Ancient Syracuse 64 02:10:07.981 02:10:22.183 0:14 Ancient Syracuse {Continued} 65 02:10:22.183 02:10:57.526 0:35 [TRACKED] Through The Portal,Ancient Syracuse,Confrontation At The Tomb 66 02:10:57.526 02:11:55.492 0:58 Ancient Syracuse {Continued} 67 02:11:55.492 02:17:40.520 5:45 Centuries Join Hands 68 02:19:23.330 02:20:15.427 0:52 For Who... Whom? 69 02:21:57.172 02:23:23.181 1:26 Finale 70 02:23:23.181 02:25:19.382 1:56 Raiders March 71 02:25:19.382 02:28:44.005 3:25 Helena's Theme 72 02:28:44.005 02:29:18.309 0:34 [WILD] Nazis 73 02:29:18.309 02:30:06.144 0:48 End Credit Part 3 74 02:30:06.144 02:30:55.348 0:49 [TRACKED] To The Airport 75 02:30:55.348 02:34:19.563 3:24 End Credit Part 3 {Continued}  
Updated the Google Doc as well
 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gLWlWGQDU2sjQtm83qAu9pgDTlEMSH7smeWw5zZwqHs/
 
And if anybody uses command line ffmpeg this will split the iso score into correctly named tracks for you
 
 

I used to be a stickler for that, too. But more and more I realise that the power of these themes is in their capacity for change. That's what funny about motive lists with names, is people try and find a name that "covers all the bases" so to speak, but the fact of the matter is that a theme can mean X and then come to mean Y only later. Obviously not all musico-poetic developments are going to feel as warranted or as succesfull to all people, but in this case it doesn't really bother me in and of itself.
 
I think that, looking beyond the individual themes, the Star Wars scores are built on a kind of binary opposition in music: there's the "good guy music" (the Jedi and Rebels/Republic) and "bad guy music" (The Sith and the Separatists/Empire). They're juxtaposed all throughout, and then at the end of Return of the Jedi, the good guys' music clearly wins.
 
Once its won, its over.

Wow, that variation of the Indy theme at 3:17 is fantastic! That's really inspired.
 
 

Fucking amazing choice. He channels Williams SO well.

Beautiful 
 

Great question! What a leprechaun's dilemma.
 
I say DoD for film because, while I was rarely, how you say, entertained by it as I should have been, I spent way less time actively frustrated and angry while watching it. Also, each movie has one really big idea (send Indy back in time and tempt him to become one with his life's work rather than work through his family issues in the present; tempt Luke to lose hope in his life's work and redeem him last-minute with a noble sacrifice that inspires the future). DoD features a deeply flawed execution of a big idea I rather like, while TLJ features a mostly competent execution of an idea I abhor.  Both films feature overhyped side characters who divert or muddy up the central plot, or just make no impact whatsoever where it would be reasonable to expect one (hi there, Benicio and Antonio).  Both feature characters we're apparently supposed to like who come off as obnoxious (Helena and Holdo), and both fail miserably at comedy.  (I do like Rose's line about "doing talking" with a Resistance hero.)
 
For score, I'd say DoD for a couple of reasons.  Frankly, my expectations were lower, because JW was six years older when it came out.  But also, astonishingly, it features more new melodic material than TLJ, where you get past Rose's theme and Luke's island half-theme, and you're gnawing Harry Potter and prequel leftovers in the action music and trying for years to successfully hum Holdo's theme.  DoD, on the other hand, has several notable minor motifs that actually feel like crafted melodies rather than riffs of a handful of notes.  (I can't name any of them on the spot, but I just rewatched the CGI prologue a week or so ago and kept thinking, "Oh, there's that one again!  Something about the Nazis/the Greeks/the Dial!") Both scores have more needle-drops than I'd like, but TLJ's are more obnoxious because they're straight from the concert arrangements (Leia and Yoda) or from extremely famous pre-existing score setpieces (Jedi Steps, the Emperor) or both (Here They Come!).  I don't know the depths of Indy action music well enough (nor, I would argue, does the culture) for those drops to be egregious, especially for a 90-year-old composer.  Finally, hearing Williams play around with Helena's theme, a new melody, in a million wonderful guises, is another gulp of the same oxygen I've been breathing as a JWFan for decades.  TLJ had far fewer moments of that.  You could also argue that, because of the prominence of Helena's theme in the score vis-à-vis Rose's in TLJ, DOD owes far less to previous Indy films than TLJ owes to The Force Awakens, where most of its melodic material comes from.
 
 

Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the crew I ask that you please direct your attention to the monitors above as we review the emergency procedures. There are six emergency exits on this aircraft. Take a minute to locate the exit closest to you. Note that the nearest exit may be behind you.

A vinyl box set of 11 discs (7 albums) of Yoko Kanno's original Cowboy Bebop soundtrack is coming this January.
2 of the 7 albums being the Movie Soundtrack.
 


https://helixsounds.com/products/cowboy-bebop-vinyl-box-set-yoko-kanno-11lp

And Milan Records just opened the pre-orders for a double LP and a single LP best of compilation especially curated by Kanno herself, covering all of Cowboy Bebop contents produced so far (Original anime, movie, Concert, Live action adaptation, etc...)



 
https://milanrecords.com/cowboy-bebop-vinyl-pre-order-is-here/

Just started listening to the Neon Genesis Evangelion scores by Shiro Sagisu and managed to listen to it all in under a couple days. Overall the series has great music and a surprising amount of musical themes. Rei’s theme has now become one of my new personal favorites. It’s so mysterious and eery yet also very emotional at the same time.
 
I was also surprised by the sheer amount of music and albums there are. I was a little overwhelmed but after listening to everything and organizing all the themes I have a great appreciation for the work.

Film: The Last Jedi
 
Felt like a singular vision from a very very competent director. I'll take that over a committee every day of the week.  It's the only sequel trilogy movie I liked.
 
Score: Dial of Destiny
 
It has 'To Athens'

How is this for irony?  With the original Star Wars, JW thinks he is scoring a B-movie that might make for nice lazy Sunday afternoon movie.  Then, with the last one, he scores just that movie.  

What a treat. Only strengthens my opinion that TROS is the best musical entry in the sequel Trilogy. Not just the thematic variants (though those are great too). It's all about the transitions!:
 
*The way the Force theme in Dm is flanked, first by that beautiful dissonant texture that seems to coalesce on a E♭-maj pandiatonic cluster, then a post half-cadential sustain on the ♭II(ma7) chord (also E♭). Both bookending sections have a nice rising line [G3-C4-D4-G4 before, G3-A3-D4-Eb4 after]. Kind of Mountain Motif from CE3K-esque.
 
*The little idea starting at 0:28 in B-major. That quick progression, B to Bdim7 back to B, is a crucial harmonic ingredient in the Friendship Theme that comes a few minutes later.
 
*The interstitial material after Rey's theme gives us, for the first time I think in a long while in Star Wars, that wonderful Waltonian harmonic sensibility. Chords are Bma7/A♯ <=> D♭/G♭ => E♭ma7/B♭ => D♭ma7/B♭ => C/G. There are a few other patches where Williams re-channels Walton in TROS and it's just so satisfying to hear that sound return.

Amazingly, no less than THREE different cues were written for this one short scene: 1M3 Nothing is Impossible, 1M9 Rey Wakes Up and 1M24 Meditation.
 
The final cut uses a combination of two (1M24 and 1M9).
 

 
The timings in the November 11 spreadsheet seem to match the final cut, so only 18 seconds of this cue ever got used. What a shame... and really makes one wonder how much other gold is sitting on a hard drive in Disney's vault gathering, er, dust.
 

 
1M24 Meditation ultimately scored the shot of Rey meditating, before the film transitions back into 1M9. Who knows if 1M24 originally went longer and covered the rest of the dialogue with Leia, considering two other cues were already recorded to cover that dialogue.
 
As for the earliest version of the cue, 1M3 Nothing Is Impossible? Well, fortuitously, it appears we can hear a snippet of that in the making-of doco!
 
It's wild that such a simple scene could end up with 3 different cues but it seems reel 1 was heavily restructured throughout post-production, constantly moving scenes around. Probably made JW's task all the more difficult, when so much of his Star Wars writing is transitional music between cues.
 
At various points in post-production, this scene followed the Luke and Leia flashback, then Kylo's first meeting with the Emperor, then finally the lightspeed skipping sequence.

Great discovery of the weekend!
While remembering the Blu-Ray menu gave us the clean version of the "Rey Training" cue which is unreleased, I wanted to see what the DVD menus had since those usually contain additional screens for the "Scene Selection" and "Language/Subtitles".
 
The amazing @crumbs found a complete DVD rip and we were able to find another previously unreleased cue, not featured on the Blu-Ray!!
 
It is the "Meditation" cue, featured in the "Scene Selection" menu:
 
tros-amp.mp3
 
 
Another DVD exclusive menu for the language setup comes with the section of "Reunion" that contains Rey & Yoda's Theme, which is on the OST, so no other unreleased music there.
 
This is all new information, right?

I always thought that Clint Bajakian's work on Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (video game) totally captured the "feel" of Williams' Indy scores, particularly with regards to the brass writing:
 
 
 
 

Williams was very actively involved with SOLO. Not only did he provide thematic material, but he spotted the film with Powell and made suggestions. He also heard and approved the final cues. He seems to have such a strong affection for Daisy Ridley and Rey that I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he asks to be involved with this new film, so long as his health and schedule permit. (For that matter, I'd actually like to see Powell get another bite at the Star Wars apple! When I interviewed him for the recent Intrada release, he seemed very taken with the notion of getting to do something with the Force theme, which he loves but had no opportunity to use in the Jedi-free world of SOLO.)

I remember Spielberg revealing in an interview that he has a scene for a Jaws sequel that he will never tell anyone because he doesn't want it out there, but he fantasizes about it all the time and has to keep talking himself out of it.