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Disney Records has reissued the original Star Wars OST albums - Sony's contract is over! [digital/streaming releases only]


Jay

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OMG, Since Sony has put up the OT OSTs on google play I've been listening to them for the first time and its such a strange experience. I grew up listening to the expanded special edition scores. Hearing stuff like "Rebel Briefing" in ROTJ actually be music from 2 other scenes (with the big rendition of the Force theme not actually being in the film) is throwing me for a loop. And the track titled "The Emperor" is actually the music from his death scene. JW is crazy with his album presentations. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Somehow I'm only just realizing that this contract business means that the '97 SE releases are not available to buy digitally at all anymore.  That also means the physical releases are functionally out of print now, right?  Not that you can't buy the CDs cheaply, but that new ones are not being manufactured anymore.

 

Interesting!  If Disney doesn't release their own "expanded" versions soon, you might not be able to buy new copies of the SE releases on CD anymore from retailers like Amazon.  It's just kind of crazy to me since, being born in the late-80s, those SE releases have been the de facto "main" versions of the Star Wars soundtracks for most of my life.  They were certainly the first ones I owned.

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That would be interresting to issue the old unaltered (but improved*) prelogy on Blu-Ray... and some "real" Expanded Scores, adding the music that was especially recorded for the SE (Jedi Rock, ROTJ Finale, etc.) only as BONUS.

 

*Only some brightness & contrast adjustements are needed most of the time.

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Like I said, it just feels like the end of an era since those are the versions of the soundtracks I grew up on.  Some kid out there just getting into Star Wars music right now searches Spotify today and they get the 1977 OST to listen to, not the '97 release.

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Not only that, but the original soundtrack releases of TPM, AOTC, and ROTS are now technically Out Of Print (on CD) too!

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A strategy to make an own expansion more seccessful: 

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

[...] the '97 SE releases are not available to buy digitally at all anymore.  That also means the physical releases are functionally out of print now [...] Not that you can't buy the CDs cheaply, but that new ones are not being manufactured anymore. [...] you might not be able to buy new copies of the SE releases on CD anymore from retailers like Amazon. [...]

 

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17 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Ah, I see, yes that's true.  Although I think this is more of a legal thing than a business decision.

 

Indeed. Sony's contract is done, so they can't sell it any more. Simple as that.

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And Disney could choose to sell the 1997 SE programs digitally or on CD if they want to.. or not.  Just like they can choose to put the prequel OSTs back in print on CD.. or not.

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47 minutes ago, Jay said:

And Disney could choose to sell the 1997 SE programs digitally or on CD if they want to.. or not.  Just like they can choose to put the prequel OSTs back in print on CD.. or not.

 

I guess them choosing not to sell the SE albums at all could be interpreted as a sign that they will want to sell their own expanded releases sooner rather than later.  But that would be a very optimistic interpretation.  Might as well live as if the glass is half full! :) 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 1/4/2017 at 10:34 AM, thx99 said:

 

Ah, but did you get the cardboard box that houses all 3 of the "books" (similar to the Indy box)? I did. :)

 

On 1/4/2017 at 10:34 AM, Jay said:

pic?

 

Haven't found my box yet (it's still packed away somewhere), but @Trent B posted a pic of the three SEs along with the box on FB...
 

Spoiler

box.jpg

 

I'm fairly certain this is the same box I have.

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On 1/24/2017 at 11:22 PM, Bespin said:

That would be interresting to issue the old unaltered (but improved*) prelogy on Blu-Ray... and some "real" Expanded Scores, adding the music that was especially recorded for the SE (Jedi Rock, ROTJ Finale, etc.) only as BONUS.

 

*Only some brightness & contrast adjustements are needed most of the time.

Yes. Plus they can hopefully use the original Album sessions recorded for JEDI. For the RCA edition they were able to only use the existing album master [as explained by Mike Matessino in the FSM Analysis back in 1997] I think Shawn Murphy was able to find the original session tapes for the JEDI OST used for the Ultimate Vinyl and digital download. When they sit down to do the new issues they ought to use them again.

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Listened to the 1997 ROTJ release today, didn't have a problem with it.  Between this and the grubbing for FOTR unreleased bits, ye gods!

 

The JWFan Completionist Anthem:

 

 

It ain't much I'm asking, if you want the truth

Just gimme them sweet, sweet unreleased cues

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6 hours ago, azahid said:

Yes. Plus they can hopefully use the original Album sessions recorded for JEDI. For the RCA edition they were able to only use the existing album master [as explained by Mike Matessino in the FSM Analysis back in 1997] I think Shawn Murphy was able to find the original session tapes for the JEDI OST used for the Ultimate Vinyl and digital download. When they sit down to do the new issues they ought to use them again.

 

That's all they found, the album masters. So they can use it for those cues but it's only 45 minutes of music. :(

 

They desperately need to find the original session masters. There's no point even redoing the scores unless they find a better source for ROTJ.

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15 minutes ago, crumbs said:

 

That's all they found, the album masters. So they can use it for those cues but it's only 45 minutes of music. :(

 

They desperately need to find the original session masters. There's no point even redoing the scores unless they find a better source for ROTJ.

You don't think they lost Jedi do you? If so what else could be lost?

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They could have the session masters now for all we know. They're not really open about it though, so no one outside of Lucasfilms knows. Last we hears, they were still lost in the archives, but that was over a year ago. They could have found them by now.

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9 hours ago, dillweed97 said:

You don't think they lost Jedi do you? If so what else could be lost?


Well both Shawn Murphy and Skywalker Sound's Dann Thompson said they've looked for the masters over the years and never found them.

 

Of course, that might just mean a cursory glance inside the archive boxes labelled 'MUSIC' and not exploring much further than that.

 

Hopefully they're just in an unmarked box somewhere in the salt mines. What concerns me is that, with all the different labels who've handled the scores over the years, the session tapes may have been lent out and not returned.

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1 hour ago, crumbs said:


Well both Shawn Murphy and Skywalker Sound's Dann Thompson said they've looked for the masters over the years and never found them.

 

Of course, that might just mean a cursory glance inside the archive boxes labelled 'MUSIC' and not exploring much further than that.

 

Hopefully they're just in an unmarked box somewhere in the salt mines. What concerns me is that, with all the different labels who've handled the scores over the years, the session tapes may have been lent out and not returned.

True, like when they were restoring scenes for the Blu-Ray release the found a reel in an unmarked canister in the prop section or something like that. 

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Lucas is pretty famous for "keeping everything," so there would be vast amounts of undocumented material in those archives. Literally thousands of boxes, apparently.

 

I'd be surprised if Disney didn't commission a mass-cataloging of all the material in the vaults; it's their property now, after all.

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1 hour ago, crumbs said:

Lucas is pretty famous for "keeping everything," so there would be vast amounts of undocumented material in those archives. Literally thousands of boxes, apparently.

 

I'd be surprised if Disney didn't commission a mass-cataloging of all the material in the vaults; it's their property now, after all.

Honestly they should, it would be a huge benefit to the company.

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The proper elements for all 3 scores exist, apart from the stuff that got lost in relatively quick manner (the raw sessions for the final day of ROTJ recordings, meaning the full recording of Jabba The Hutt and the End Credits opening are what ultimately isn't available from that day via the album master)

 

The free DVD that came with ROTS proves this, as well as better versions of OT music showing up in video games.

 

If Disney wants to spend the money, proper 2CD sets will sound great.

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Thinking on it, wouldn't Disney just be able to get the clean opening for the End Credits from the film stems themselves? That would really only leave the Jabba The Hutt concert suite.

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What?  Yub Nub overlaps the opening of the end credits in film and album.

 

They had to use the opening of the TESB end credits for the '97 film and 2CD album.

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1 minute ago, Jay said:

What?  Yub Nub overlaps the opening of the end credits in film and album.

 

They had to use the opening of the TESB end credits for the '97 film and 2CD album.

 

Only for the CD. The correct opening is present on both the 2004 DVD and 2011 Blu-Ray release, so I would assume it was still there for the 1997 VHS SE one as well.

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Positive. I can even provide the snippet from a blu-ray rip I have. It's definitely the ROTJ version.

 

EDIT: Not superb quality, but here's the scene in question:

 

 

For comparison, the original theatrical version:

 

 

Definitely both the same recording. Don't know why they didn't just ask for the film stem when they couldn't find the original session tape.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

 

 

The free DVD that came with ROTS proves this, as well as better versions of OT music showing up in video games.

 

 that's what I thought .Light of the force sounds really improved

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A short bit of the Max Rebo Band source cue is in the SWBF music files (although it was edit to sound like it's coming from speakers), so I'm assuming they found that cue, or at least used the film stems.

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Yeah supposedly the soundboard just used the track from the film stems. The original session tapes are apparently lost.

 

Incredible for such a high profile series, but there you go.

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You know I wouldn't be surprised if they are sitting in a unmarked box at Lucas Film or 20th century storage. It's somewhere, could be anywhere a..... well wait a minute the first Star Wars can't be too lost remember the anthology release had like what 4 takes from the real master session tapes on the CD? so they are somewhere. Which means we have hope or a Star Wars complete release this year. 

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