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So, this EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is the greatest score ever thing...


Henry B

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Empire is the best film.

Rabbit--slightly taken aback by Skyy's evaluation

I'll take the above as a vote of confidence,rabbit,if I may...and if not..well..."Force Yourself"..... :)

Again,as far as textures,and also reading the motives of Ben Burtts ground-breaking sound effects are concerned,in "ROTJ" opening scene after the crawl,on the SE Soundtrack,you can almost hear the soft whine of the Imperial Shuttle as it exits the lumbering Star Destroyer,just on the strength of the music alone.

Try playing back that cue to the movie,with the volume turned down(on your TV),and you'll see/hear what I mean...

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My 2 cents: All 6 Star Wars scores are my favorite. I consider them all installments on the same body of work and I love every one. I'd dare say that Williams himself thinks of them that way as well. Otherwise he probably would have stopped doing them after a while, like he's done for every other movie franchise he's worked on. All 6 Star Wars scores are loved and cherished by me, so I can't really say one is better than the other anymore. It basically changes on my mood.

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IMO, ESB is a better score than Star Wars : A New Hope.

It seems clear that ESB gave the Star Wars saga its definitive musical direction. In comparison, ANH is a fantastic swashbuckling score, one of the best ever written, but IMO doesn't have the epic quality of ESB. ANH seems, to me, to be only a preparation for ESB (though JW didn't know there would be a sequel).

For Episode IV, he began the leitmotif trend, suggesting a backstory (the emotions provoked by Binary Sunset for instance), perfecting some of the most heavily orchestral action cues ever heard. Episode V brings all of this to a new level. The leitmotives are now "hummable", and more cleverly used (permutations for the love theme range from timidity -- the end of Asteroid Field -- to despair -- Carbon Freeze --) ; the number of motives expresses this backstory (Cloud City for example) ; the action cues are arguably more energetic ( and the orchestration is simply better : to me, ANH still, at times, "sounds old" ; The Clash of Lighsabers could have been recorded yesterday ).

ESB is, in my opinion, all in all, the best soundtrack ever : varied, massive, innovative, beautiful.

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I've never listened to the complete ESB and haven't listened to any individual cues for months. Apart from not being a SW fan, I think the general recording quality of that era somehow puts me off. Maybe I just prefer his more recent style, who knows. These scores just don't do much for me.

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Hm? Raiders always sounded very clear, clean and defined to me. Those of you that dislike the "ugly" brass of Star Wars and Empire shouldn't have a problem with it. Still, I can't think of a Williams score from that era that sounds as good as Wars ... or any score of his, period (Superman might have been a contender had the best master tapes been discovered in time for the complete score release). These new mixes are very dull. Someone mentioned the "classical" feel of the cellos, and that's a good point. The strings are so direct. Compare "Binary Sunset" to the distant, manufactured sound of its derivative in "A New Hope and End Credits" from Sith. The brass is boisterously strong, and though it is over-miked on occasion, it sounds great. The woodwinds, too. I like that you can almost hear the closing of the valves, the breaths of air, the turning of pages.

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Hm? Raiders always sounded very clear, clean and defined to me.

I agree. The extended edition mastered by Steve Hoffman sounds very good.

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Well to me there is a difference in quality, but it may just come down to me not being a Star Wars fan. If the OT were re-recorded today and sounded fantastic, I still have doubts I would enjoy them. The majority of my listening these days is devoted to other composers.

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I know, it's really hard to believe someone doesn't have a huge liking for Star Wars :ola:

If it makes you feel better, I put Jurassic and ToD on the other day and air conducted nearly all of it.

You know what - just forget I said anything.

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I know, it's really hard to believe someone doesn't have a huge liking for Star Wars :ola:

Star Wars, Schmar Wars.

If you're a John Williams fan, you have to at least listen to ESB at least once from start to finish.

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I don't blame him. I can only do one disc at a time. It's just too much.

Don't get me wrong...I love it, consider it one of the all-time greatest....rank it right next to the original....but it's a daunting listen and can be overly jarring and harsh.

For long listens I prefer something more along the lines of The Lord of the Rings.

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If it makes you feel better, I put Jurassic and ToD on the other day and air conducted nearly all of it.

No... no, it doesn't. :ola: Give Williams's better scores a try.

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I don't blame him. I can only do one disc at a time. It's just too much.

Don't get me wrong...I love it, consider it one of the all-time greatest....rank it right next to the original....but it's a daunting listen and can be overly jarring and harsh.

For long listens I prefer something more along the lines of The Lord of the Rings.

:ola:

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Don't let them get to you. Yes, I too find it a bit mind-boggling that you don't like the Star Wars scores. But I would just say give them another shot. If you can find someone who has the SEs, I suggest borrowing them--or at least borrowing the original Star Wars score. "The Throne Room" is arguably the best film score finale of all time, and I think the whole score stands up well as, possibly, JW's masterpiece, whether you're talking about film score or not. The ESB SE should also be a pretty good listen if it's the recording quality that's bugging you.

Also, if you did enjoy TOD and Jurassic Park, there's hope. :ola:

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I do enjoy TPM, RotS hugely, and parts of AotC. I also have all of the concert suites and some of the underscore from eps 4-6. I just don't have the whole scores. It's not so much that I don't like them. I've just always found it a little difficult to really connect with the full scores given my lack of interest in the movies.

But hey, maybe my tastes have simply evolved over the years from being exposed to a huge amount of other talent :ola:

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Are you saying you do or do not like the LOTR Complete Recordings? Really, Star Wars and LOTR are apples and oranges. Two very different styles and approaches.

Yeah, richuk, I'd definitely recommend revisiting the OT, in that case. You may be surprised.

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I'm saying I think the LOTR scores are more interesting and better than the prequel scores, which means that I like them.

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Okay, cool. I couldn't tell if you were saying it as a diss to the prequel scores, or a positive comment for the LOTR CRs. They are indeed great. I bought a portable CD player on the road to Gatlinburg so I could listen to FOTR for the trip. It was a wise decision. <_<

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I already have, read my statement, its a proven fact!

Seriously Stefan, sometimes you must understand that you're not the only one whose opinions must be held as fact.

It is more rare, but acceptable. As long as the person doing it has more than 10000 posts that is. ;)

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