Petition: Star Wars Complete Scores

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I was happy with the vinyl boxset + digital download cards.

[Jay 37,319]

Sony has the license to release more music from the Star Wars films, but they don't actually have the music to release; They'd have to get it from Lucasfilm, it's possibly Lucasfilm would simply rather wait to release complete versions themselves on a Disney label instead of letting Sony do it.  Also, it's possible no one at Sony is motivated enough to even try to put together new sets.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Thats very likely.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

John Williams feels that the OSTs are a sufficient presentation of the scores outside the films. The only anomaly is the Ultimate Edition. I think we have no one to blame but our lord and savior, John Towner Williams.

[crumbs 14,304]

Well Murphy said last year they couldn't find the OT session masters in the salt mines, and they did search for them. I'd say until someone has the time and inclination to search through thousands of archive boxes for the tape masters, no updated release of the OT will happen (nor should it without sourcing from first generation tape masters). The good news is that Lucasfilm/Disney can probably work on this whenever they want; they likely can't release it until Sony's contract expires in 2019. And considering they need Williams' blessing for such a project, hopefully he'd recommend Matessino for the job, given his experience with the scores.

 

And surely only the OT scores would require expensive restorations? TPM was the only prequel recorded analogue but every note of the prequels & TFA would exist on a hard drive somewhere at Lucasfilm (due to the digital post-production workflow), so the biggest challenge there is assembling the multitude of revisions and edits. Who knows where you'd start with TFA, given the volume of alternates. Probably JJ's iPod?

 

Are we still working off the assumption that the last digitization of the OT scores was 1997? Did we trace the origin of the Musical Journey DVD pieces? They sounded substantially better than the SE releases, especially the ROTJ tracks.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

If the OT masters are missing, that's a fucking travesty. However, I find it a bit hard to believe. It would seem Lucas kept everything except the masters for the scores and the Jabba's Palace Band source music. Something went screwy there, which is why we ended up with flawed versions of Empire and especially Jedi. But everything else Star Wars has been exploited and released, including billions of items no one would ever want and should be sent wherever the E.T. Atari game was, yet we can't get the complete scores for the Star Wars Trilogy in good sound quality and with the Max Rebo Band music.

 

I mean, thank fuck for what we have and nice job with the recent remaster of the OSTs. Boy, does Empire sound great. And Jedi is the same as the original CD release, which sounded better than everything. Now imagine the complete chronological scores sounding like that. But nope, they just keep releasing the same RCA CDs with horrible packaging of Darth Vader from the Revenge of the Sith marketing campaign in douchey poses.

[Will 2,215]

18 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Well Murphy said last year they couldn't find the OT session masters in the salt mines, and they did search for them. I'd say until someone has the time and inclination to search through thousands of archive boxes for the tape masters, no updated release of the OT will happen (nor should it without sourcing from first generation tape masters). The good news is that Lucasfilm/Disney can probably work on this whenever they want; they likely can't release it until Sony's contract expires in 2019. And considering they need Williams' blessing for such a project, hopefully he'd recommend Matessino for the job, given his experience with the scores.

 

And surely only the OT scores would require expensive restorations? TPM was the only prequel recorded analogue but every note of the prequels & TFA would exist on a hard drive somewhere at Lucasfilm (due to the digital post-production workflow), so the biggest challenge there is assembling the multitude of revisions and edits. Who knows where you'd start with TFA, given the volume of alternates. Probably JJ's iPod?

 

I hear that JJ's edit uses the tracked Burning Homestead. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Why would Disney or Lucasfilm need Williams' blessing? They own the music, he doesn't.

[Trent B 337]

11 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Why would Disney or Lucasfilm need Williams' blessing? They own the music, he doesn't.

 

The composer would still have to sign off the sets.  Just like any other Williams related releases from other labels.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Isn't that just done out of courtesy though?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I was checking out at Amoeba Music the other day and saw the ROTJ OST reissue on vinyl. I scoffed at it. The CD is clearly superior.

[Jay 37,319]

10 hours ago, Stefancos said:

Isn't that just done out of courtesy though?

 

More or less, yes, it is - a courtesy the labels always do so that they'll get help when they need it on the next expansion, etc.

 

Although supposedly, Spielberg had such pull in the industry that the Spielberg/Williams scores actually do contractually require sign-offs by both of them (Spielberg and Williams).... everything from Raiders forward I believe (I think LLL's 1941 set didn't require their sign off anyway)

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Exactly. For example it's quite possible Universal could license out the score for The Sugarland Express without Williams' permission. But why would they do that? And if it's indeed true that Williams doesnt want it released, why would any of the labels want to disrespect that?

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Wouldn't Lucasfilm be obliged to give Sony access to all music if they'd ask?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

At least they reissued them on vinyl, right? Right?

[Jay 37,319]

On 11/19/2016 at 5:05 PM, Pieter_Boelen said:

Wouldn't Lucasfilm be obliged to give Sony access to all music if they'd ask?

 

No, definitely not

[Pieter Boelen 740]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

 

No, definitely not

Seriously? What good is it to have the rights to music when you don't have access to that music?!?

[Jay 37,319]

I'm not sure why you're confused.  Sony could ask Lucasfilm for better master files.  And Lucasfilm could give it to them.  But they don't HAVE to.

[Pieter Boelen 740]

It just seems rather pointless to me to have the rights to release music that you don't have and may not be able to get either.

Can't say I'm surprised though. Legal mumbo jumbo does tend to be quite silly at times.

[Bilbo 3,709]

No. Lucasfilm is the owner so their rights should be protected. Sony's deal is to release whatever Star Wars music that Lucasfilm wants released. Why should Sony get the rights to do whatever they want with someone else's stuff?

[crumbs 14,304]

1 hour ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

No. Lucasfilm is the owner so their rights should be protected. Sony's deal is to release whatever Star Wars music that Lucasfilm wants released. Why should Sony get the rights to do whatever they want with someone else's stuff?

 

Pretty much this. Lucasfilm owns the music, Sony merely have the licence to release it. Whenever Lucasfilm want to release music from the first six films, it must be under Sony's label until the current licensing deal expires (probably in 2019).

 

When Disney acquired Lucasfilm, they became parent owners of the music from I-VI, but Sony retained their licence to release the music. Neither Disney nor Lucasfilm will commission any new soundtrack collections until the distribution rights have reverted to them. When that happens, they'll have full ownership of the Star Wars music library and can release whatever they want on their own label without splitting profits with Sony.

 

 

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[crumbs 14,304]

17 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

There's still the problem with the 20th Century Fox regarding the original film, though.

 

Yeah, presumably Fox just get a cut of the profits for both the film and the soundtrack. Still pales in comparison to what Sony would get from all 6 soundtracks though.

 

I'm more curious about what happens to the existing soundtrack releases once Disney acquires the licence. Will they simply take the existing 1997 SEs and prequel OSTs and release them on their own label? Presumably Sony have no lingering ownership over those albums?

 

With luck, Disney will take the opportunity to do the job properly, rather than rehash a release Sony have already flogged to death for two decades.

[Jay 37,319]

Disney certainly COULD simply repackage the 1997 SEs and re-release them under their own label.  In fact, that's literally exactly what Sony did in 2004; The 1997 SEs were released on the RCA Victor label, long before Sony even had a license to release Star Wars music.  Eventually, Sony re-released the 1997 sets RCA Victor put together under their own label.

 

Of course, we all hope Disney hires Matessino or an equivalent producer with experience working on reissuing catalog film scores from analog element to over see brand new sets, but we currently have no way of knowing if Disney will do that or not.

[Pieter Boelen 740]

13 hours ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

No. Lucasfilm is the owner so their rights should be protected. Sony's deal is to release whatever Star Wars music that Lucasfilm wants released. Why should Sony get the rights to do whatever they want with someone else's stuff?

Ah, THAT's how it works! Got it now.