curlytoot

0% chance Zimmer scores this film. Kennedy won't allow it.

At 5:22 there is a great overlap of the upper string instruments and the lower string instruments playing two separate lines. What I like about this passage is that later at 5:44, the upper melody drops out and the lower melody is passed on to the horns. Then at 5:55, after the horns are finished the string section picks up again with that original upper melody on its own. So basically, Williams starts the section by having both melodies play simultaneously, then each is played independently.

The Imperial March and the Funeral Theme at the end of ROTS comes to mind (in the sequence with Vader overlooking the Death Star).

A recent favorite is this revised section from "A New Beginning."  There's like 3 or 4 different melodic threads occurring at once, weaving in and around each other and it is glorious.
 
2:30 - 3:00
 

Remember Hollywood people give politic (i.e. not actually true) explanations for things.  My guess is Abrams wanted to help write the song with Lin M. and that was that. 

He's not saying it wasnt.

I think it's the best track on the album

Oh, yes, it's lovely. 

I know the piece was heavily discussed very early on in this thread, but I want to take a moment to express my awe for the Men of Yorktown March.  I did not think we would ever get a "new" Williams march with his over the top (in a perfect way) style ever again.  While not a brand new piece, the new arrangement scratches that itch quite nicely. 

Wouldn't starting at measure 37 (DOOT! Da doot, da doot!, etc.) produce an effect identical to playing the last two tracks of the Lockhart album sequentially?  It would eliminate the redundancy of two "Jedi Steps" in a row, as Lockhart has done, but it wouldn't cure the lack of a transition between the concert "Jedi Steps" and the finale.
 
Either way, I've never had a "clean" opening to a Star Wars end title track before, so I like this variation.

Never would have guessed just a year and a half ago that we'd already be getting a professional rerecording of TFA music this soon!!!

I'm not complaining about the sound. Its very natural. Like a live concert performance. The Towering Inferno sounds smaller than the OST version though.
 
 
Hey! The TFA music sounds good!

Wow, Stargazers is wonderful, I wasn't expecting it to be 7 1/2 minutes!

Jedi Steps concert version sounds fantastic! What a deliciously dark and moody track at this stage of Williams' career. I hope he expands upon these ideas in TLJ; it's very reminiscent of Dracula.

I am a more than halfway through and the album has been pretty great thusfar.  

I've listened up through Night Journeys so far and this is really good!  The early stuff is extra nice because you don't hear it as frequently, and Night Journeys was really really good!

Now onto Stargazers!

I don't understand the complaints about the sound...? For instance, it's better than pretty much anything we've heard from Giacchino in awhile.

This is spectacular!  I know nothing about sound quality, but it sounds fantabulous to me.

Nearly finished listening. Nice album, but the very early scores didn't really appeal to me. Sound mix is excellent, loving the woodwinds in the Star Wars suite and Stargazers! But still don't like the Jedi Steps, I think it's a relatively dull concert arrangement and the idea worked much better in the film version. I don't like the transition from that to the sudden triumphant finale, the Force theme needs to be there... Hope he'll do more albums like this, I want Double Trouble on a Boston Pops CD.

I'd say this is without a doubt my favorite JW compilation album yet. Just about every selection was already a favorite of mine; no real "misses" on this one. Sound quality is pretty good; it's great to finally hear cues like "Night Journeys" recorded with such clarity.

I had no expectations for this album, so I discovered it with no particular idea in mind...  I'm not a fan of Lockhart's albums, but let's give a chance to the runner....        
 
Surprise....Oh wow! Three times wow! 
 
What a great produced album! Congratulations to Keith Lockhart, this album is truly great! This will surely be the best selling album of all his career. The album is ALL good, but the gem is really Stargazers: just wow!      
 
This album is truly a great companion to the 3 Spielberg/Williams albums. Add the 1990 Star Wars Trilogy CD, recorded digitally by Williams, to this set and we have a perfect starting kit for any future fan, almost a best-of!
 
I really can't wait for a volume 2! 

It's available for download on the BPO's website.
 
https://www.bso.org/brands/pops/shop/six-decades-of-john-williams.aspx

Yeah, people like to look at waveform comparisons and imagine they can hear major differences.
 
Triggering audiophiles is a favorite pastime of mine 

I've just looked at the track listing for this cd:
6:14 for THE TOWERING INFERNO?
7:23 for E.T.?
What could warrant an extra 1:14 for TTI?