This was only the second CD release I’d ever owned (after Jurassic Park earlier the same year). Disc Three remains my favorite presentation of Return of the Jedi, both for the sound quality and sequencing. It’s essentially the double LP that never was.
Also: kudos to whomever did the mockup of a nine-film Star Wars soundtrack collection boxset, which nodded to the black-on-black look of this set.
Yeah I think the anthology boxset was £99.99 in HMV. It took me a while to save up for the special edition sets as well, however they seemed to be more mainstream and appeared in far more stores than the anthology set did. I didn't have the internet at that point, stumbling on releases was really my only way of finding these things out, we had the internet at school but it had filters for anything that wasn't related to the lessons. When I stumbled on the Empire SE set in HMV it was in one of those empty cases with a blue card saying Empire Strikes Back Special Edition blah blah ask at the counter. I asked to see it and I remember my eye's widening at the track list for Disc One Track 4, "Aboard The Executor", I thought this is it! the film version of the march at last! Nope! . I begged my Mother to buy it but it was £49.99! I had no chance. That was the leather non plastic version.
This is the kind of post I came here to read. Thank you, Tallguy.
I bought this at the Virgin Megastore in either Kingston-upon-Thames or Oxford Street in London, I forget which. It was really the purchase that reignited my childhood love of soundtracks - mostly Williams and John Barry - that I'd sort of abandoned in my teens. (Not out of any sort of dislike; just pursuing different tastes and exploring different avenues.)
Just to have some extra "bits" that had been missing off earlier releases was mind-blowing. Tracks like The Fleet Goes Into Hyperspace, Destruction of Alderaan, Funeral Pyre For a Jedi (Film Version) etc. None of it was in the "right order." None of that mattered. The thrill was total. The packaging was sublime. It was special.
Still is, and yes, I still possess the very same set and I still love it.
This fascinates me. For one thing I was 8 when I got the original double LP. And although it grew on me (because it was Star Wars) I didn't have anticipation for it. Your story is ground zero nerd love. Wow.
In the coming years before the SE sets this (rather pricey) box was the only way to get the Trilogy music. (Was that really only a four year gap? Astounding!) I remember working in a music store in 1994 and there was a kid who wanted Star Wars music. Being rather socially tone-deaf and also a zealot it never occurred to me to offer the Skywalker Symphony or another re-recording that was more in line with what the kid's Mom was willing to spend. I mean your grade school child likes Star Wars, why WOULDN'T you buy him an expensive, elaborate box set for music that he THINKS he might like? Yes, sometimes I was a cautionary tale.
I would have learned about this by reading this post by @Lukas Kendall in rec.arts.sf.starwars in 1993:
From: ldke...@unix.amherst.edu (Lukas Kendall)
Organization: Amherst College, Amherst MA, USA
Item: Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology
Label and # is: Fox 07822-11012-2.
General description: 4 CDs of music from the original soundtracks to all
three films, including around an hour and a half of previously unreleased
music. Will come in long-box sized packaging with removable lid--inside are
four jewel boxes plus a long-box sized full color 64 page booklet. Booklet
features an essay by director Nick Meyer, detailed track by track liner
notes, and numerous color plates of stills and production paintings sent by
Lucasfilm which have never been seen before.
How the hell I know all this: Lucky me has talked with Fox producer Nick
Redman about the project from the start, so I'm doing the track-by-track
liner notes.
Retail cost: $49.95
There will not be a cassette release.
Here's what to expect:
Disc 1: The original 2LP set to Star Wars on one disc, resequenced in
more of a chronological order than before, and minus "Cantina Band" which
wouldn't fit. (Don't panic about "Cantina Band"--read on.) This has been
remastered from the film mix, and the sound is fantastic.
Disc 2: The original 2LP set to Empire, also resequenced in chronological
order, minus "Departure of Boba Fett." This is actually being re-mixed from
the original sessions as I write this, and some things which were edited
out from the original release (a few bars here, 30 seconds there) will
hopefully be restored.
Disc 3: The original single LP to Jedi, plus 30-35 minutes of additional,
previously unreleased material. Let's see, that includes: Luke's battle with
the Rancor, the Emperor's arrival at the Death Star, the death of Yoda,
the first Ewok battle and fight with the Tie Fighters, the choral music when
Luke flips out and cuts off Vader's hand (at last!), Darth Vader's Death,
and "Through the Flames," when Lando blows up the Death Star. Oh, and I'm happy
to report that Lapti Nek has been relocated to disc four, speaking of which...
Disc 4: As if the first three discs weren't enough, disc four contains another
75 minutes of music from all three films, including "Cantina Band," "Departure
of Boba Fett," and "Lapti Nek."
Here are the track listings. Will notate any changes from original album
track in brackets.
Disc One: Star Wars***********************************************************
1) Fox Fanfare
2) Main Title
3) Imperial Attack [30 seconds longer--restored music]
4) The Desert/The Robot Auction
5) The Little People Work
6) The Princess Appears
7) The Land of the Sand People
8) The Return Home
9) Inner City [also 30 seconds longer--restored music]
10) Mouse Robot/Blasting Away
11) Rescue of the Princess
12) The Walls Converge
13) Ben's Death/TIE fighter Attack
14) Pricess Leia's Theme
15) The Last Battle
16) The Throne Room/End Title
Disc Two: The Empire Strikes Back*********************************************
1) Fox Fanfare
2) Main Title/The Imperial Probe (extended version) [Instead of the cave music,
which will appear on disc five next year, this continues with previously
unreleased music for the opening Hoth scenes--when Han and Leia bicker, etc]
3) Luke's Escape [including music edited out of old album (approx. 30 seconds)]
4) Luke's Rescue [previously first part of "Rebels at Bay"]
5) The Imperial March
6) The Battle in the Snow
7) Luke's First Crash [previously second part of "Rebels at Bay" (with
approx. 30 seconds restored)]
8) The Rebels Escape Again [previously second part of "Heroics of Luke & Han"]
9) The Asteroid Field
10) Yoda's Theme
11) Han Solo and the Princess
12) The Training of a Jedi Knight
13) The Magic Tree
14) Yoda and the Force
15) City in the Clouds [with 30 seconds restored]
16) Lando's Palace
17) The Duel
18) Hyperspace
19) Finale/End Credits
Disc Three: Return of the Jedi**********************************************
1) Fox Fanfare
2) Main Title/Approaching the Death Star
3) Han Solo Returns [at the Court of Jabba the Hutt]
4) Fight in the Dungeon *
5) The Return of the Jedi
6) The Emperor Arrives *
7) The Death of Yoda *
8) Parade of the Ewoks
9) Luke and Leia
10) The Emperor Confronts Luke *
11) Into the Trap
12) First Ewok Battle/Fight with the Fighters *
13) The Forest Battle
14) Final Duel/Into the Death Star *
15) The Emperor's Death [previously titled "The Emperor"]
16) Darth Vader's Death *
17) Through the Flames *
18) Leia Breaks the News/Funeral Pyre for a Jedi [prev title "Rebel Briefing"]
19) Ewok Celebration/End Credits
* Previously Unreleased Music
Disc Four: The Star Wars Trilogy (Outtakes & Prev. Unreleased Music)**********
1) Fox Fanfare
2) Star Wars - Main Title (alternate version) [very similar to original]
3) Heroic Ewok [Paploo steals speeder bike] and The Fleet Goes into Hyperspace
(Return of the Jedi)
4) Destruction of Alderaan (SW)
5) A Hive of Villany (SW) [Ben, Luke, and droids go to Mos Eisley]
6) Drawing the Battle Lines/Leia's Instructions (Empire) ["Good! Our first
catch of the day!"]
7) The Ewok Battle (Jedi) [actual film version of "The Forest Battle"]
8) Attack Position (Empire) [Falcon turns to attack Star Destroyer]
9) Crash Landing (Empire) [Luke lands on Dagobah, R2 swallowed by swamp
creature]
10) Cantina Band (SW)
11) Lapti Nek (Jedi)
12) Cantina Band #2 (SW) [the second song--it's pretty groovy!]
13) Faking the Code (Jedi) [Approaching Death Star in Tydirium]
14) Brother and Sister (Jedi) [film version of Luke and Leia--Luke tells Leia
they're siblings, etc.]
15) Standing By (SW) [The X-wings and Y-wings take off from the Rebel base]
16) Leia Is Wounded/Luke and Vader Duel (Jedi) [Leia shot at shield bunker,
on Death Star, Luke backflips up to catwalk]
17) Carbon Freeze/Luke Pursues the Captives/Departure of Boba Fett (Empire)
[Continuous 11 minutes of Bespin battle music]
18) Losing a Hand (Empire) [Luke gets hand cut off, hangs off weather vane]
19) The Return of the Jedi (Jedi, alternate version) [completely different
version of the sail barge battle]
20) Leia Breaks the News/Funeral Pyre for a Jedi (Jedi) [alternate version--
in latter case, the film version, of the track "Rebel Briefing" on old
Jedi album]
21) Ewok Celebration (film version) and Empire end credits (film version)
All music on disc four previously unreleased except Cantina Band, Lapti Nek,
and Departure of Boba Fett
Okay, I won't try to fool you die-hards. There is still music in the movies
not on this box set. However, Fox is considering doing a fifth disc, which
will take care of that. Fox may or may not release it next year, depending
on how well this box sells. There are naturally going to be people who say,
"Yeah, I liked those five hours of Star Wars music, but you bastards left
off my favorite one minute cue when Chewie puts Threepio back together!"
For those people, all I can say is you'll have it eventually. This box set
will rectify 16 years of screwed-up albums (the infernal Polygram has
nothing to do with it) and will give the Star Wars and movie music fan more
music than anyone could have ever hoped for.
The entire SW and Empire soundtracks cannot be put on one CD because
they simply won't fit. While technically a CD can hold up to 79 minutes,
the manufacturer in this case (Arista) has limited each disc to 75 minutes.
The rationale is that with discs of great length, you get more screw-ups in
the pressing run. Arista--which is just manufacturing the CDs, not producing
them--said that they absolutely would not go past 75 minutes. They put it in
writing to the producer at Fox, the fellow I've been dealing with, that if
he delivered CDs longer than 75 minutes and there were screw-ups in the
pressing run, they could hold him legally accountable.
In the case of Star Wars, we are using the film mix, instead of the album
mix. Basically, when they record a film score, it goes on a multi-track
master. You've got some instruments on one channel, others on another
channel, etc. For SW, there was a mix made for the film which is very crisp
and in-your-face. For the album, a softer, mushier mix was made in order to
disguise the occasional wrong note, not that you or I will be able to
notice any such flubs. The album mix was used on the previous album and CD,
but we'll be using the film mix, and it really reveals the score anew.
In a few cases, different takes have been used so that it sounds a little bit
different.
Empire has been altered more, specifically because Polygram was unable
to supply the album masters, so the CD (disc two) had to be reconstructed
from the aging session masters. For Empire, a variety of tape sources has
been used. To make a long story short, some of the tracks are taken off of
the film mix, some were mixed down from the multi-tracks in an all new mix,
and one track, Yoda's Theme, was actually lifted from the old CD. Trust me,
you won't be able to tell the difference.
On the original Empire album, the first track combined the main title and
Luke getting whacked off his Tauntaun with the "This Is No Cave" music from
later in the picture. Here, we have restored some four minutes of music--
in lieu of the cave music--originally intended for the opening of the
movie. Said music was re-recorded on the first track of the Varese
re-recording. The cave music will appear on the possible fifth disc.
My producer contact at Fox isn't too happy about this either. Here's what
happened: Because of the way we had to assemble the discs one at a time,
disc four was done assuming the cave music would go on disc two, because
disc two would be done with the album masters. When the album masters didn't
show up but the session masters did, we decided to include the extended
Imperial Probe cue because it was important and intriguing "missing music"
that also kept to the chronological order Lucasfilm was bugging us about.
No problem, "This Is Not a Cave" would go on disc five. Now, the higher-ups
at Fox have decided to put disc five on hold. There's no way we could have
forseen this. So, yes, there will two and a half minutes of music on the
original Empire CD that may never been re-released. Well, what can we do?
For Jedi, two main sources have been used, the film mix and the old CD.
The following tracks were culled from the old CD as that was the only
available recording, and with digital technology it sounds exactly the
same: Han Solo Returns, The Return of the Jedi, Parade of the Ewoks, Luke
and Leia, The Forest Battle, Ewok Celebration/End Credits, and Lapti Nek.
Of the remaining tracks, Main Title/Approaching the Death Star is ten
seconds longer but it's the same music, just joined at a different spot;
Into the Trap and Rebel Briefing are identical; and The Emperor is the same
music although there's one very faint synthesizer overdub heard on the old
CD that won't be on the new one. However, unlike SW, this is the same mix.
Again, you won't be able to tell the difference.
One of the few things that will not be on this box set or the subsequent
fifth disc is the film version of Lapti Nek. We simply have been unable to
find the tapes of it. The album version will be used instead. Sorry about
this, but there's nothing I can do about it.
In the strict technical term of "mastering," all four CDs are being
re-mastered and re-equalized for compact disc presentation by one of LA's
finest sound engineers.
Here are two main reasons why they've been resequenced:
1) Lucasfilm insisted.
2) The original SW and Empire albums were designed to work each as four sides
totalling one larger whole. You have four independent listening experiences
of 15-20 minutes apiece. With CDs, you have one, 75 minute listening
experience. Because of that, it makes sense to present the tracks in
chronological order to better serve that one long listen.
To elaborate, the original 2LP sets to SW and Empire were constructed in no
order whatsoever except as a musical program. As such, cues from different
parts of the movie were joined together in many cases. Because the albums
have been around so long, all but two of those joins or crossfades have
been left as is because it works musically, but this throws a few kinks
into Lucasfilm's demand for chronological order. Basically, disc one is in
mostly chronological order, disc two is in chronological order except for
two instances, and disc three is in entirely chronological order. Disc
four, the bonus outtakes disc, is not in any chrnological order because
it's a collection of extra music, not a direct soundtrack to any one film.
Any questions/comments/complaints? Are you not properly overwhelmed with joy?
This is amazing reading everyone's wholesome stories around this boxset.
I was 6 years old when I got this set in 1993, I had to wait until I got enough money from Family Christmas cards to be able to buy it from HMV. I vividly remember going home on the bus after getting it and I was physically shaking with excitement and anticipation on the journey home, which would have only been around an hour at the most, but felt like an eternity, especially at that age.
I think it's still the most excited I've ever been with a soundtrack release, the special editions were close but just didn't have the same kind of energy for some reason. I didn't even have all the OST's before I had the anthology, I never found them in record stores. The only Star Wars music I had before the anthology was Varèse Sarabande's Star Wars Trilogy released in 1990.
When I got home I remember putting in disc two first and skipping to all the statements of the Imperial March 😂. At that point I hadn't heard the OST's at all and only had the original versions of the films on VHS. So when it got the end of the Magic Tree and Yoda and The Force those huge Imperial March statements blew my head off! (For clarification the original film version just tracked the ostinato from the film take recording of the Imperial Fleet, clunky edit as well).
This is amazing reading everyone's wholesome stories around this boxset.
I was 6 years old when I got this set in 1993, I had to wait until I got enough money from Family Christmas cards to be able to buy it from HMV. I vividly remember going home on the bus after getting it and I was physically shaking with excitement and anticipation on the journey home, which would have only been around an hour at the most, but felt like an eternity, especially at that age.
I think it's still the most excited I've ever been with a soundtrack release, the special editions were close but just didn't have the same kind of energy for some reason. I didn't even have all the OST's before I had the anthology, I never found them in record stores. The only Star Wars music I had before the anthology was Varèse Sarabande's Star Wars Trilogy released in 1990.
When I got home I remember putting in disc two first and skipping to all the statements of the Imperial March 😂. At that point I hadn't heard the OST's at all and only had the original versions of the films on VHS. So when it got the end of the Magic Tree and Yoda and The Force those huge Imperial March statements blew my head off! (For clarification the original film version just tracked the ostinato from the film take recording of the Imperial Fleet, clunky edit as well).
For whatever reason, of all the orders I have made from LLL, this one took the longest to ship out and then get to me, but I'm happy it's here!
I still remember getting the OST as a Christmas present in 1999. I first got into movie scores in 1997 or so, and for some years onward I always asked for soundtracks for Christmas. I remember listening to it when Y2K happened. I think I paused the track briefly to see if the world ended, and then continued onward when it did not. Good memories! I'm excited to dig into this!
I've had this setup for 15 years now and I still love it. I'd love to upgrade but it's just too pricey. Soundtracks, Music and Computers keep getting in the way.
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