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JWFan: The Empire Strokes Back

JWFan: The Empire Strokes Back

On October 19, 2025, @Quppa made a reference to prepositions in a JWFan post, a first in my 18 years on this board, and all was well.

My review of this set:
 
The good:
The music is great! Most albums are modern Matessino remasters. There's nothing new here for collectors - no need to spend $200+ on this set to get some previously unreleased material. Good liner notes (as expected) from Matessino and @John Takis. The bad:
Arguably slightly conceptually confused - why are the expanded releases of CE3K and the Indiana Jones movies included when everything else represents the premiere (JW approved) soundtrack releases? Empire of the Sun and Always aren't remastered, presumably because the expanded releases didn't include remastered OST programs. Slightly disappointing, but if this weren't the case it would invalidate my point about collectors not being forced into buying this set. 2018 Star Wars releases featured here are flawed. Some mildly surprising omissions like The Poseidon Adventure. Lack of attention to detail regarding capitalisation. For the most part, prepositions are lowercase (good! I wish the specialty labels would learn), but not always. There are also tracks where the CD case and booklet disagree. Some issues I noticed: The March From 1941 has capital 'From' compared to other tracks correctly formatted e.g. Escape from Venice. Prayers At Bedtime should be Prayers at Bedtime. Andie is Stranded (case - incorrect) vs Andie Is Stranded (booklet - correct). Finding The "Orca" (case - incorrect) vs Finding the "Orca" (booklet - correct). Land of the Sand People (case) vs The Land of the Sand People (booklet - matches other releases).
The ugly:
Ugly colours and a bad choice of font. It looks a little better in real life, but not much. Very expensive on a per-disc basis - maybe this was inevitable given the cross-licensing requirements.

Yeah I read about it over on WRFan.
 

The concert version of "Theme From Jurassic Park" is not the same thing as the OST track called that; It's mostly end credits material, with the very end taken from the end of "T-Rex Rescue and Finale"
 
 
 
 
 
In the film that bit scores the T-Rex fending off the last of the raptors and roaring as the "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth" banner falls down past him
 
 

I thought I was going crazy!

Huzzah!!!  What a time to be alive!  That's one more for the John Williams Tonal Rarities album...
 
Fanfare for Michael Dukakis
Dear Basketball
Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic Ball
Of Grit and Glory
Overture to the Oscars
Centennial Overture
Deep Ocean Forests
When the World Was Waltzing
 
Super-excited for the inevitable follow-up piece, "When the World Loved Cat Dancing"!

Huzzah!!!  What a time to be alive!  That's one more for the John Williams Tonal Rarities album...
 
Fanfare for Michael Dukakis
Dear Basketball
Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic Ball
Of Grit and Glory
Overture to the Oscars
Centennial Overture
Deep Ocean Forests
When the World Was Waltzing
 
Super-excited for the inevitable follow-up piece, "When the World Loved Cat Dancing"!

Huzzah!!!  What a time to be alive!  That's one more for the John Williams Tonal Rarities album...
 
Fanfare for Michael Dukakis
Dear Basketball
Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic Ball
Of Grit and Glory
Overture to the Oscars
Centennial Overture
Deep Ocean Forests
When the World Was Waltzing
 
Super-excited for the inevitable follow-up piece, "When the World Loved Cat Dancing"!

Huzzah!!!  What a time to be alive!  That's one more for the John Williams Tonal Rarities album...
 
Fanfare for Michael Dukakis
Dear Basketball
Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic Ball
Of Grit and Glory
Overture to the Oscars
Centennial Overture
Deep Ocean Forests
When the World Was Waltzing
 
Super-excited for the inevitable follow-up piece, "When the World Loved Cat Dancing"!

and are perfectly willing to violate recording rules.  

Huzzah!!!  What a time to be alive!  That's one more for the John Williams Tonal Rarities album...
 
Fanfare for Michael Dukakis
Dear Basketball
Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic Ball
Of Grit and Glory
Overture to the Oscars
Centennial Overture
Deep Ocean Forests
When the World Was Waltzing
 
Super-excited for the inevitable follow-up piece, "When the World Loved Cat Dancing"!

Huzzah!!!  What a time to be alive!  That's one more for the John Williams Tonal Rarities album...
 
Fanfare for Michael Dukakis
Dear Basketball
Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic Ball
Of Grit and Glory
Overture to the Oscars
Centennial Overture
Deep Ocean Forests
When the World Was Waltzing
 
Super-excited for the inevitable follow-up piece, "When the World Loved Cat Dancing"!

Huzzah!!!  What a time to be alive!  That's one more for the John Williams Tonal Rarities album...
 
Fanfare for Michael Dukakis
Dear Basketball
Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic Ball
Of Grit and Glory
Overture to the Oscars
Centennial Overture
Deep Ocean Forests
When the World Was Waltzing
 
Super-excited for the inevitable follow-up piece, "When the World Loved Cat Dancing"!

Lovely to hear some of the more unusual selections, like Tree of Life, Argo, and Little Women! 
 
As a side note, it's interesting that "The Queen" on the album seems to include music from The King's Speech, even though the main theme from that score also gets a separate track. "The Rehearsal" is a wonderful cue, though, so no complaints from me!
 
 

I choose to believe that Williams is wheeling around the JKMS sheet music factory like a cross between Jack Skellington and Dr. Finklestein, approving or rejecting every drop of ink his minions produce.

Even if this is just a redo "Great Ocean Forests," it's great news that Williams is still, in some form, in the game.  And capable of stamping an ink stamp, it seems?  Fingers crossed for a Spielberg theme!  Heck, scribble some notes on William Ross's shirt cuff, for all I care.

Even if this is just a redo "Great Ocean Forests," it's great news that Williams is still, in some form, in the game.  And capable of stamping an ink stamp, it seems?  Fingers crossed for a Spielberg theme!  Heck, scribble some notes on William Ross's shirt cuff, for all I care.

Even if this is just a redo "Great Ocean Forests," it's great news that Williams is still, in some form, in the game.  And capable of stamping an ink stamp, it seems?  Fingers crossed for a Spielberg theme!  Heck, scribble some notes on William Ross's shirt cuff, for all I care.

Even if this is just a redo "Great Ocean Forests," it's great news that Williams is still, in some form, in the game.  And capable of stamping an ink stamp, it seems?  Fingers crossed for a Spielberg theme!  Heck, scribble some notes on William Ross's shirt cuff, for all I care.

Even if this is just a redo "Great Ocean Forests," it's great news that Williams is still, in some form, in the game.  And capable of stamping an ink stamp, it seems?  Fingers crossed for a Spielberg theme!  Heck, scribble some notes on William Ross's shirt cuff, for all I care.

Sorry but he was in his 80s when he composed it, since the concert arrangement was recorded on February 7, 2022.
 
However, he has continued to work on Star Wars music in his 90s:
 
 
From this thread:
 
https://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/33860-find-a-thread-information-catalog-all-upcoming-recent-john-williams-works-concerts/

It dawned on me randomly today that it was this otherwise minor and innocuous little theme—mostly like composed after February 8, 2022, since it was announced so late in post-production—that extended JW’s streak of composing Star Wars music in every decade of his life from his 40s to his 90s. Can anyone confirm or parade-rain?

It dawned on me randomly today that it was this otherwise minor and innocuous little theme—mostly like composed after February 8, 2022, since it was announced so late in post-production—that extended JW’s streak of composing Star Wars music in every decade of his life from his 40s to his 90s. Can anyone confirm or parade-rain?