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The Force Awakens For Your Consideration (FYC) Album


Jay

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On 1/18/2016 at 3:39 AM, rough cut said:

I think it's curious though.... Everybody in the industry seem to hail John Williams as the greatest film composer of our day. His legacy reaches back over 50 years. Yet, studios seem reluctant to give his albums any kind of love. Just look at how the Hans Zimmer's "Intersteller" was released. "Interstellar" was another hotly anticipated sci-fi movie by a talanted compser. Getting all the tracks was appearantly a mess with different editions having different material which were further consfused by regional restrictions, but at least fans were given the oppertunity to BUY the music in various standard/deluxe packaging. Why not the same treatment for JW given his status in the industry as well as Star Wars TFA now being crowned as the most anticiptated movie of all time?


This is something that has confounded me for quite some time. 

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16 hours ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

Listening to TFA and ESB side by side, they're closely related in many ways, yeah.  And, the former is much more satisfyingly performed.  No numerous flubs and intonation issues as are found throughout the latter.  

 

I mean, some of the strings during the ESB opening crawl... how the hell can anyone prefer that performance to the new one?

 

Oh, ESB has its fair share of flubs, to be sure. So does Raiders. But in both cases, it sounds to me as if the players were just so excited that they couldn't quite achieve their usual synchrony. (Even though I highly doubt that was the case.) I enjoy those particular imperfections, for whatever reason. These super enthusiastic performances are a lot of fun. TFA, like the prequels, has a much more polished sound - but I find that sound more pleasing in the case of the prequels. Just comparing the main titles or end credits reveals a number of differences in performance, mixing, and overall tone. And I don't prefer the approach in TFA.

 

Also not sure what you're talking about with the ESB main title strings. Sounds fine to me...

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On 1/23/2016 at 11:55 AM, TheGreyPilgrim said:

By that logic, TFA shouldn't have been recorded in London or LA.  But Prague, on a tape recorder.  


But thats not "a little rough around the edges", thats "a lot rough around the edges".

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On January 18, 2016 at 3:02 AM, DominicCobb said:

Seems like that music was replaced wholesale for the more propulsive music used in the film (Attack on Jakku FYC approx. 0:23-0:36). The passage JJ refers to was probably set to score when the transport is flying towards the screen. You can actually hear it on the soundtrack on Jedi Steps/End Credits at 4:13 (abandoned First Order motif?).

Saw the film again for the thousandth time. You can hear this "motif" when Daniel Craig's stormtrooper tells Rey he'll tighten her restraints. Then it goes right into Kylo's secondary theme (just like in the credits, don't think it's tracked though) as the film cuts to him walking down the hallway.

 

Quote

Sounds like there might actually be a few edits in in the opening tack now that I listen to it. FYC at approx. 0:15, 0:23, 0:50. Insert?

The bit at 0:23 is heard again when Starkiller Base starts charging, and while had previously assumed it was tracked in that scene, seeing the film again it might be more likely that it was tracked in the opening because 1) it fits the charging scene perfectly and 2) as we've seen in the 60 minutes video that music wasn't originally part of the opening and there are audible edits.

 

Also, side note, don't expect there was any tracking involved but I noticed this time around that when they project the map for the first time in The Falcon the music is very similar to the starry night opening, which I thought was cool.

 

Currently my most wanted unreleased cue is the when they discuss the plan to take down Starkiller Base and then start prepping the fighters. Some fantastic variations of the Resistance March there.

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On 17/01/2016 at 7:33 AM, Stefancos said:

Which do you guys prefer?

 

Torn Apart OST or Torn Apart FYC.

 

Right now I would go with the OST. because it contains the full statement of that building "death music", which is truncated on the FYC, which also is missing that kickass version of The Force Theme near the end.

 

For The Ways Of The Force I would again defer to the OST. The cutting back and forth on the FYC means it really never gains much momentum. I fully understand why Williams chose to separate the scherzo on the OST.

 

I'm torn apart with torn apart. Maybe I'll do an edit and mix the two. . . .

 

For Ways of the Force I go with the FYC because I listen to it especially because the X-Wing attack cue on it is MUCH better than the concert Scherzo track. The Scherzo seems like they just put Luke's theme in there every second bar. The FYC reserved it and used it in really nice spots.

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19 hours ago, Flare said:

I'm torn apart with torn apart. Maybe I'll do an edit and mix the two. . . .

 

For Ways of the Force I go with the FYC because I listen to it especially because the X-Wing attack cue on it is MUCH better than the concert Scherzo track. The Scherzo seems like they just put Luke's theme in there every second bar. The FYC reserved it and used it in really nice spots.

I feel like that track is a mess and a victim of heavy movie editing. It always cuts when it's about to build up with great momentum, its the ultimate music blue balls.

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I wonder why the Rathtars track is so heavily truncated on the FYC. There's a lot of fun music in that track on the OST version; maybe Williams felt it was a bit too "harsh" sounding for Academy voters to enjoy?

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Williams probably had little of nothing to do with the FYC.

 

Because of Academy rules an FYC is only allowed to contain music that was actually used in the film. Which explains why they tend to have the film edits in them.

 

 

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So some lowly music editing intern decided they hated that section and cut off the start and the end!

 

There was music in the film not included on the FYC in plenty of places, so someone determined a listening experience of sorts.

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14 hours ago, crumbs said:

I wonder why the Rathtars track is so heavily truncated on the FYC. There's a lot of fun music in that track on the OST version; maybe Williams felt it was a bit too "harsh" sounding for Academy voters to enjoy?

 

That's not an accurate description.  The OST track by that name is 4 different cues combined together as an album suite (they don't overlap at all in the film and in fact have other, unreleased cues in between them).  The FYC track of the same name is simply one of those 4 cues, in complete form.

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Watched the film again saturday and noticed something interesting, I don't know if it's already been posted before though:

 

Finn's motif (what can be heard in "Follow Me") is like, perfectly linked with Poe's theme. In "The Jedi Steps And Finale", we can clearly hear these 2 themes at 5:20 (FYC).

 

I guess Abrams asked for this kind of link because there's a scene in the movie that confirms it: the moment when the resistance comes to rescue Han, Finn and Chewy (when "The Resistance" track from FYC is played). In this scene we can see Finn and Poe's X-Wing on the screen for about 20 seconds even if the camera rotates. So I guess it's a message that JJ wanted to pass on to us as well as Rey's theme link with the Force theme (in the credits too).

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been working on updating my own "Expanded OST" for The Force Awakens.

It is focused mainly on listening experience and not so much on a C&C presentation with all alternates included.

 

The main edit I did so far that I don't remember seeing from anyone else is:
OST "Finn's Confession" + FYC "You Got A Name?"
That seems to work pretty well and saves having multiple shorter tracks.

"Maz's Council" can then also remain as it is on the OST.

However, I have a question regarding "The Ways of the Force" and "Scherzo for X-Wings".
By making use of the FYC, you end up with a section of the heroic Scherzo inbetween the more dramatic Kylo/Rey confrontation.
I am not convinced that works very well for the listening experience.

Last time, I tried to combine the FYC "Scherzo" section with the concert suite itself; that saves having two tracks repeating that material.
But I think that still misses out on some content and doesn't seem like an ideal solution either.
So I'm curious what you people think on that one. Any clever ideas by any chance?

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For my edit, I kept the scherzo as a separate bonus track and edited the OST and FYC versions of "The Ways of the Force" together. I don't mind jumping from the duel to the discs battle and back - that's nothing new for Star Wars, and Williams handled it very well. Of course, I don't know if the segue I created is what Williams intended, but the last chord of the first part of the duel perfectly matches up with the start of the FYC version, so it certainly works musically, and it allows me to enjoy the contents of both tracks.

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1 hour ago, Datameister said:

Of course, I don't know if the segue I created is what Williams intended, but the last chord of the first part of the duel perfectly matches up with the start of the FYC version, so it certainly works musically, and it allows me to enjoy the contents of both tracks.

 

It certainly works this way, and did this in my first edit too. Then I realised in the film, the first part of the duel (Rey gets the saber) is followed by tracked music from the first sequence.  It's on Attack on the Jakku Village, Part 1, at 2:49 to 3:03, and then jumping to 3:06 to 3:15. After that, the scherzo begins. That's the way it's placed in the movie, and musically it works fine. I really like it, to be honest.

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Yeah there's tracked music there in the film. I'm guessing - and I very much could be wrong - that the scherzo material actually was supposed to start there, but they decided it didn't for the earlier parts of that scene, so they cut down the scherzo stuff (hence the noticeable editing in the FYC and film) and started the scene with tracked material instead.

 

If only we had sketches to check so we could be sure...

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Thanks for the response. It seems that the combined FYC+OST as one track plus the concert suite as bonus is by far the preferred solution.

I may just have to make my peace with having it that way.

 

Then all that's left to figure out is if it makes sense to still have "Scherzo for X-Wings" anywhere in the main program then.

It does double up on material then, but I like fitting as much content as I can (all if possible) between the main and end title tracks.

 

I suppose there is precedent for that on the OST, where a short part of "March of the Resistance" is played during "Han and Leia", with the full track following right after.

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I ordered concert arrangements right after the Main Title and Attack of the Jakku Village (Parts 1 and 2). It serves a double purpose for me, as they don't get in the way of the score, and at the same time provide all the musical basis that will be developed or used througout the programme. A prequel Williams' OST approach, really, but it works fine for me.

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26 minutes ago, Scarpia said:

I ordered concert arrangements right after the Main Title and Attack of the Jakku Village (Parts 1 and 2).

Interesting. Did you have it as:

Main Title and Attack on the Jakku Village

Concert Suites

 

Or:

Main Title

Concert Suites

Attack on the Jakku Village

 

Or:

Main Title and Attack on the Jakku Village (Part 1)

Concert Suites

Attack on the Jakku Village (Part 2)

 

Indeed the prequel approach is not a bad one.

Though I also like the first appearance of a theme being the film version of it. That way there is more development throughout the presentation.

Otherwise the "biggest statements" are at the beginning, making it hard for the rest to live up to the opening.

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I've got it like the first option. The full opening, then the concert suites, and then the rest of the programme.

 

But your reservations about this order are interesting also. I think it depends on the score. I would never put a full-blown rendition of ET's flying theme in the beggining of the disc. I would totally respect the film order instead, as the music is following closely a narrative structure. For The Force Awakens, I like it this other way.

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  • 1 month later...

Is this bit at the beginning unreleased? Can't remember if it's on the OST or FYC at all.

 

 

Also I totally feel like Williams has done that before but I can't think of where. Isn't there something really similar in one of the prequels? Or maybe Memoirs....

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Haha that's close! I guess that's probably it, but it doesn't have that little 6 note riff at right about 3 seconds in the clip. That bit in particular just sounds so familiar to me....

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30 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Is this bit at the beginning unreleased? Can't remember if it's on the OST or FYC at all.

 

 

Also I totally feel like Williams has done that before but I can't think of where. Isn't there something really similar in one of the prequels? Or maybe Memoirs....

 

It sounds familiar to me too (maybe from seeing the movie 6 times? haha), but it's definitely not on the OST or FYC.

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