Except for the first and last tracks, what are your Top 5 tracks from the TFA soundtrack album?

[Josh500 1,615]

And why? 

 

1. Rey's Theme

2. Scherzo for X-wings

3. Farewell and the Trip

4. The Scavenger

5. March of the Resistance 

 

I'll tell you the why shortly. 

[indy4 155]

Rey's Theme

Scherzo for X Wings

I Can Fly Anything

March of the Resistance

Torn Apart

 

 

[crumbs 14,301]

Rey's Theme

The Scavenger

March of the Resistance

Farewell and the Trip

Scherzo for XWings

[Josh500 1,615]

I am still discovering things, but "I Can Fly Anything" contains some of the best JW action writing in many years.

[Arpy 4,145]

1. Rey's Theme: Elegant, sweeping, yearning, confident, supple, all words that describe the power of the theme and the character. It sounds as if Williams melded the magic of his Potter music with the world of Star Wars.

2. Farewell and The Tip: After Rey's Theme (after all it is a suite) this track contains everything I love about Williams more modern writing. All the themes are brought together so well and the renditions of the Force Theme feel so natural and just...right. The whole track is lovely especially as it leads into the new crew of the Falcon, with this little fanfare before going into a bolder statement of Rey's theme! I'm going to listen to it again now!

3. The Scavenger: More of Rey's Theme is presented but the delicate rendition at the end is what makes the track, with the harp and synth before it.

4. The Falcon: Finn's theme rushes in and the escape in the Falcon is scored with such energy. Just hearing Finn's theme weave in and out is great enough.

5. March of the Resistance: Just a very bold and distinctive idea for the resistance, relateable to The Last Crusade but marches are what Williams revels in. It's militaristic but that develops into something heraldic/ heroic which although sounds menacing initially really becomes a piece that musters people to war for a good cause.

[Bowie 45]

I was just about to make a thread about the 1-2-3-4 punch of Scherzo for X-Wings, The Ways of the Force, and Farewell & The Trip, followed by the end track (should have been in that order on the album)... they form a brilliant set of writing rivalling anything from your Last Crusade/Jurassic Park/Prisoner of Azkaban type of scores.

 

So I'll go with those three, plus I'd have to say Rey's Theme. And it's a toss up between The Scavenger (solely because it's so similar to Rey's Theme) and maybe Han and Leia... or The Abduction. Since I can't choose, I'll stick with:

 

1. Rey's Theme

2. Farewell & The Trip

3. The Ways of the Force

4. Scherzo for X-Wings

5. The Scavenger

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

 

Well, I'm not sure.

[Taikomochi 1,136]

1. The Girl with the Staff

2. The Rathtars!

3. Snoke

4. Maz's Counsel

5. I am the Senate

 

[karelm 2,903]

1. The Starkiller: this one stops me in my tracks just because it is so beautiful and moving.  It is also VERY unlike what we've heard before in Star Wars...just showing at 83, JW is still adding to the body of soundscapes in this very rich musical universe.

2. The Way of the Force: Dramatic culmination of the story but also gives us one of the grandest versions of the Force Theme.

3. On the Inside: Sneaking around a deathstar music but has much more tension in the underscoring telegraphing the climactic encounter in Torn Apart.

4. Torn Apart: While full of orchestral flourishes of the bravado from the resistance, we still get a weighty pensiveness not very common in these movies.  It feels fresh, tense, doom laden, but still Star Wars...new and old.

5. The Resistance (FYC): Great and excitingly overt brass fanfares!

 

In hindsight, these tracks seem to show Star Wars at its most operatic...full of drama and despair for the untested heroes except for #5 (The Resistance) which is just exciting...almost an entre'acte. 

[curlytoot 97]

Tough to choose, but currently it's:

 

1. "Rey's Theme"

2. "Torn Apart"

3. "The Abduction"

4. "Scherzo for X-Wings"

5. "March of the Resistance"

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

1. The Scavenger - It was hard choosing between this and "Rey's Theme" but this one wins on the virtue of the longing flute rendition of the theme in the second half.  

2.  Rey's Theme

3. Farewell & The Trip 

4. Torn Apart 

5. Kylo Ren Arrives At The Battle & The Abduction (I consider this to be one track, like "Follow Me" and "The Falcon") -

[Sir Hilary Bray 235]

Haven't given it a thorough listen yet but so far I'm quite partial to The Starkiller. Quietly powerful without beating you over the head. Went well with the sight of the beam crossing through space and Rylo Ren watching it from the Star Destroyer's bridge.

Then Han & Leia, I know it contains bits we've heard before but in the context of the film I quite liked it.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I love the ending of "Han and Leia".

[Muad'Dib 1,801]

1. Rey's Theme

2. The Abduction

3. I Can Fly Anything

4. Follow Me / The Falcon

5. March of the Resistance

[Jay 37,287]

The Attack On The Jakku Village

The Scavenger

Maz's Counsel

The Ways of The Force

Farewell and The Trip

 

[nightscape94 965]

Incredibly hard to choose on this, but I purposefully didn't select concert arrangements, so for now I'll go with these:

 

The Scavenger

I Can Fly Anything

The Abduction

The Ways of the Force

Farewell and the Trip

[Cerebral Cortex 3,357]

1. The Scavenger

2. Farewell and the Trip
3. March of the Resistance
4. Follow Me / The Falcon
5. The Starkiller 

[Balahkay 627]

The tracks with Rey's theme.

 

1. The Scavenger

2. The Abduction (both OST and FYC)

3. The Ways of the Force (the sequence of Rey's theme followed by the Force theme is amazing.)

4. Farewell and the Trip

5. Maz's Counsel

[DominicCobb 194]

1 hour ago, nightscape94 said:

Incredibly hard to choose on this, but I purposefully didn't select concert arrangements, so for now I'll go with these:

 

The Scavenger

I Can Fly Anything

The Abduction

The Ways of the Force

Farewell and the Trip

Same.

[Jilal 569]

1. The Falcon

2. Rey's Theme

3. Scherzo for X-Wings

4. March of the Resistance

5. The Starkiller

[Cerebral Cortex 3,357]

I may actually have to go back and amend my list to make Farewell and the Trip my favorite track on the album. How seamlessly we jump from Rey's theme to Han and Leia's theme to the Force theme to Leia's theme to the Rebel Fanfare to Luke's theme before ultimately jumping back to Rey's theme in such a relatively short amount of time... I mean, wow. Indescribably cool. Absolute bliss.  

And the playing a hint of Luke's theme right before Rey and company go to find him is also a great touch. 

[skyy38 21]

20 hours ago, indy4 said:

Rey's Theme

Scherzo for X Wings

I Can Fly Anything

March of the Resistance

Torn Apart

 

 

WHAT happened to the traditional ending of STAR WARS? Music-wise?

Did it go the way of the traditonal BEGINNING when 20th was no longer involved?

A LOT of US STAR WARS fans have elected NOT to see this, for the above two reasons!

[Josh500 1,615]

Just updated my list.

 

Scherzo is amazingly good. I can't get it out of my head.

Not quite like the Scherzo from LC, but also good. Good in a different way.

[Loert 2,510]

At present:

1. The Scavenger - What places this above Rey's Theme is the stunning flute passage at the end (as well as the harp + synth transition into it). When I listen to it I feel like I'm in a medieval fantasy world somewhere.
2. Rey's Theme - It has a sense of adventure to it, and I truly admire his usage of all the different instruments in the orchestra, from the celesta, to the flute, to the pizzicato strings. To me it's the highlight theme from the soundtrack.
3. March of the Resistance - Has a good drive to it. It might take a few listens to 'get' it since it's more complex and (in the words of Marcus) more Beethovenian than typical Williams, but once you get more exposed to it Williams' genius really shines through. I particularly adore the fugal section in the middle, and the numerous "heinious" modulations! 
4. The Falcon - Proves (if it ever had to be proved) that JW has not turned lazy and is still capable of whipping out a thrilling and coherent action cue.
5. Farewell and the Trip - It came down to Scherzo for X-Wings or this for #5, but I've been enamored with that "Force Theme" statement near the beginning ever since I saw TFA in the cinema (which was before I had listened to the album). It's certainly one of my favourite moments from the soundtrack.

 

 

 

[Lewya 360]

The Scavenger

Rey's Theme

Farewell and the Trip

The Resistance (FYC)

The Attack On The Jakku Village

[Josh500 1,615]

The Attack is part of the first track!

 

If we were to include this, it'd be my no. 1!

 

 

By the way, I absolutely love Rey's Theme as heard in the last track. The orchestration is gorgeous. Love the trumpet accompaniment... 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

1. The Starkiller - has those mournful JFK type strings and chords that's fitting for an abrupt end to a planet or civilisation. Good work, Johnny!

 

2. Rey's Theme - this took a while to grab me, and its Harry Potter-esque aesthetic could have made it Hermione's theme or something if Johnny returned for DH.

 

3. Farewell and the Trip - has a lovely recap of Rey's Theme and there's a wonderful meloncholy quality that elevates its quality as a penultimate track. Also, anyone else feel this whole sequence in the film is structurally like the whole ending to Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes? Battle won, hugs and kisses galore, hero leaves in ship, goes through portal/hyperspace, arrives on planet to find big revealing surprise. Just felt like that to me.

 

4. Han and Leia - great variety in this track. Love the fanfare sandwiched between reprisals of familiar themes.

 

5. March of the Resistance - a new fanfare for a new age. Not as bold as the Rebel Fanfare, but still catchy.

[Josh500 1,615]

Ray's Theme is a little reminiscent of Memoirs of a Geisha, I thought. No violin or cello solos, but the flavor is similar. Kind of oriental, sweeping, mystic, adventurous, majestic.

 

 

[Quintus 5,399]

On 27/12/2015 at 5:30 PM, karelm said:

1. The Starkiller: this one stops me in my tracks just because it is so beautiful and moving.  It is also VERY unlike what we've heard before in Star Wars.

 

 

Sure, but it's a bit Adagio for Strings as well isn't it. Plenty of lesser film composers having been reaching to this style of 'musical tragedy' for some time now, especially the RCP guys. As such, it came across to me during the movie as feeling strangely cliché and 'unstarwarsy'. As far as 'music for exploding civilisations' goes (is there a compilation album?), I actually much prefer Zimmer's achingly melodic destruction of Krypton. 

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Really? Sounded more JFK or The Immolation Scene from ROTS to me.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

43 minutes ago, Quintus said:

Sure, but it's a bit Adagio for Strings as well isn't it. Plenty of lesser film composers having been reaching to this style of 'musical tragedy' for some time now, especially the RCP guys. As such, it came across to me during the movie as feeling strangely cliché and 'unstarwarsy'.

 

Finally, a sane person!

 

The Starkiller always sounded like one of the weakest cues from the score to me. We've heard that kind of stuff a thousand times before, yet many people call it minblowing, superb, riveting, chilling... "It's proof that Williams is the best composer evah!" Wut?

[publicist 4,643]

Is there one cue one this new release that wasn't called all that at some point? Doubly amazing considering how much recent stuff is quoted sometimes almost verbatim. 

[BloodBoal 7,538]

True.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

9 hours ago, Quintus said:

 

Sure, but it's a bit Adagio for Strings as well isn't it.

 

The voice leading is pure Williams, not Barber. Could you post some links to RCP composers writing in this mode? I haven't been following the careers of Balfe, Kawczynski and friends.

[EdwardHall 30]

1. March of the Resistance

2. The Falcon -  it took me about twenty listens to warm up to this one but now I love it because I have it memorized

3. Rey's Theme

4. Han and Leia

 

Not sure what I would choose for 5. I must think on it.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

In no order.

 

• Torn Apart
• Farewell and the Trip
• The Ways of the Force
• Han and Leia
• Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle/The Abduction

[armorb 9]

Beyond Rey's Theme, I think "Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle" might be my most played thus far....

[aj_vader 533]

1. Rey's Theme - Absolutely Beautiful, Best film music I've heard in years!

 

2. Scherzo for X-Wings - This is kind of fan service hearing the Main Title Theme next to the Force Theme in Battle Mode is rather exquisite.  

 

3. March of the Resistance - This Theme has really grown on me, I think seeing the film twice made me like it more. My first impressions were 'this is rather average', I think i'd been building hope (from the track title) that this was going to be the gem of the soundtrack. 

 

4. Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle - Love Kylo Ren's motif here alongside the attack on Maz Canata's Castle. I think its a 5th to sharp 4 in the melody, which gets me every time. 

 

5. The Scavenger - It's a toss up between this track and The Starkiller, I went for this one because I love the Rey Theme here it's beautiful. 

[Taikomochi 1,136]

I didn't love March of the Resistance at first, either, until the moment I heard it first in the theater.  My opinion of it instantly changed.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

On 27/12/2015 at 9:30 AM, Josh500 said:

I'll tell you the why shortly. 

 

This has to be the longest "shortly" I have ever seen.

[Sir Hilary Bray 235]

After a full listen of the score, I'd list my current top 5 in no particular order as:

 

1) Han and Leia

2) March of the Resistance

3) Scherzo for X-wings

4) Farewell and the Trip

5) The Starkiller

 

initially placed "Torn Apart" in the listings but replaced it with "Farewell and the Trip", equal mix of the new sound and classic Star Wars (Leia's Theme/Han Solo & The Princess).

 

 

[Flare 10]

1. I Can Fly Anything

2. March of the Resistance (or The Resistance on FYC)

3. The Scavenger

4. Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle

5. Scherzo for X-Wings

 

I would pick attack on the Jakku Village but that's in the first track . . .