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GALAXY'S EDGE - New John Williams composition (2018)


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21 minutes ago, Fabulin said:

TL;DR / copy

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"Look forward to our next opportunity to make music together."

 

LSO concert confirmed!

 

44 minutes ago, mstrox said:

kind of silly to have the same track on both sides. 

 

It actually makes perfect sense - when one side is scratched up, just flip to the other!

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On 5/6/2020 at 12:46 PM, Disco Stu said:


I know of two times, both conducted by David Newman last August: at Tanglewood Film Night and at the Hollywood Bowl.

 

Here’s the Bowl performance

 

 

 

This piece sounds like a mess to me. Like the first 2 1/2 minutes never get out of first gear. Starts with a muddy theme, then is lost in scattered Williams-isms, and just ends.

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They should put down those crappy shaky cellphone videos in Youtube. You practise whole your live to get the best sound from your instrument. Then someone put a crappy video on youtube, great!! 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

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The opening in the commercially available version is the alternate opening; the original just goes straight from the opening crescendo to the sparkling strings. You can hear that original beginning in the very first video featuring the piece.

 

The material in the Rise video is different - I think it's part of Bill Ross's adaptations for the ride, like the rest of the music in the video. Either that or it's from Savi's. I'd have to do some YouTube comparisons to figure it out.

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  • 3 months later...

Well, someone has chimed in on Mousebits to say that unfortunately none of the Bill Ross material is in the game, but I would be very interested to hear these Gordy Haab arrangements.

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15 hours ago, Dr. Know said:

I was just reading on one of the Disney music boards that a new Sims 4 expansion includes Galaxy's Edge and features original audio from the land... not clear whether any of the unreleased orchestral pieces from the attractions are included, but probably bears investigation.

 

Apparently, "Batuu radio" plays the following in-game:

John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - Finale
John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle (Sims)
John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - March of the Resistance (Sims)
John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - Rey's Theme (Sims)
John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - Star Wars Main Theme (Sims)
John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - Who Are You?

 

I would like to hear these.

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So there's like dozens of gameplay videos of the Sims Batuu Expansion pack and every single one has some obnoxious game reviewer speaking loudly over everything, or library music replacing the actual game audio.

 

I guess there's this Sim-ified disco version of Rey's Theme in the trailer, but no idea if this is Haab's arrangement or just trailer music:

 

There's a March of the Resistance remix later in the gameplay trailer too.

 

EDIT: Okay, this guy has stacks of gameplay videos with no narration, so there should be decent examples of the music here.

 

A fragment of Haab's Rey's Theme here:

 

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A more complete list of the music in the game, including tracks by Kevin Kiner and Randy Kerber:

 

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sims_4:_Journey_to_Batuu

 

Batuu RadioyH5BAEAAAEALAAAAAABAAEAQAICTAEAOw%3D%3DEdit

  • Beckerman Green and Douek - Ti Lo Laka
  • Guy Mayzig - Galma
  • Harlan Hodges - Marketplace
  • John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - Finale
  • John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle (Sims)
  • John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - March of the Resistance (Sims)
  • John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - Rey's Theme (Sims)
  • John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - Star Wars Main Theme (Sims)
  • John T. Williams (Haab arrangement) - Who Are You?
  • Kevin Kliner - Victory On Ryloth
  • Randy Kerber - Marketplace Hora
  • Randy Kerber - Mischevious

 

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  • 7 months later...
  • 4 months later...

To quote the dude from ST III: Have you lost your sense of reality?  Why would any corporation use this when they have Williams's original composition?  It is like going to the finest restaurant only to order Mcnuggets, or to have freaking John Williams compose you a brilliant piece only to use this crap.  

 

Actually, it is quite like the latter...almost identical, in fact. 

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Whooaaaa, this has been up for 11 months and I hadn't seen it till now. Super cool! Seems to be a different mix but that's all right.

 

EDIT: @Tom I'm sure Randy Kerber would agree that Williams's version is more sophisticated and interesting. But I can appreciate the desire for a more "naturalistic" approach to the area background music.

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34 minutes ago, Tom said:

To quote the dude from ST III: Have you lost your sense of reality?  Why would any corporation use this when they have Williams's original composition?  It is like going to the finest restaurant only to order Mcnuggets, or to have freaking John Williams compose you a brilliant piece only to use this crap.  

 

Actually, it is quite like the latter...almost identical, in fact. 

The park tries to be an immersive experience so this music plays in the distant background near the entrances and you hardly notice it. There is no real bombastic music anywhere in the park outside of the ride. JW's composition is great and great for advertising but it doesn't fit in the park itself.

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58 minutes ago, Tom said:

To quote the dude from ST III: Have you lost your sense of reality?  Why would any corporation use this when they have Williams's original composition?  It is like going to the finest restaurant only to order Mcnuggets, or to have freaking John Williams compose you a brilliant piece only to use this crap.  

 

Actually, it is quite like the latter...almost identical, in fact. 

I assume you know that Randy Kerber is keyboardist on the majority of JW's post 89 scores

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8 minutes ago, Grace Under Pressure said:

I assume you know that Randy Kerber is keyboardist on the majority of JW's post 89 scores

Yes.  What does that have to do with the quality of the piece in relation to Williams's own? 

33 minutes ago, artguy360 said:

The park tries to be an immersive experience so this music plays in the distant background near the entrances and you hardly notice it. There is no real bombastic music anywhere in the park outside of the ride. JW's composition is great and great for advertising but it doesn't fit in the park itself.

 

27 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

I literally walked through the entrance an hour ago. The Williams version plays plenty elsewhere in the park. The ambient version works well as a transition. 

I have not been to the park, but these two posts do not seem consistent, unless the by "plays plenty" you just mean the ride.  Is the piece only heard in the ride, but not elsewhere?  And if it is played elsewhere, then why not the gate?  

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It plays in a bunch of the rides. There’s a bunch of music medleys that play over the rides. As far as I could tell, the ambient version is only at the entrance. Most of what plays in the park proper is source “alien” music.

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3 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

It plays in a bunch of the rides. There’s a bunch of music medleys that play over the rides. As far as I could tell, the ambient version is only at the entrance. Most of what plays in the park proper is source “alien” music.

Ok, yes. That's how I remember it as well. The music in the park is all ambient and immersive. The rides have classic Star Wars music.

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Yep. You get orchestral scoring in the two rides and in the lightsaber building experience. All three of those include material adapted from the suite. But the orchestra isn't heard elsewhere in the land - the cantina features the Star Wars equivalent of club music, and you hear bits of alien folk music in a few spots outside, and the entrances/exits to the land use Kerber's arrangement for transitional ambiance.

 

I like the decision to save orchestral scoring for actual story moments. I do wish there were more pervasive area BGM (still in the same indigenous-sounding vein), and I wouldn't have minded if the orchestral BGM started sneaking in during the ride queues. SWGE's music sounds good when you do hear it, but I think hearing it more often would help.

 

I also still wish they had put together a small ensemble to play live music here and there. It would have been challenging but so worth it.

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10 hours ago, Datameister said:

Whooaaaa, this has been up for 11 months and I hadn't seen it till now. Super cool! Seems to be a different mix but that's all right.


Different mix than the entrance music heard in the park?

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12 hours ago, thx99 said:

 

Here’s Randy Kerber’s arrangement of Williams’ “Galaxy’s Edge” theme, as used for ambient entrance music at the parks: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/sbMEPeEmoNKkfcpf6

It's interesting! I feel there's enough music for an album with Ross, Haab or Kerber's takes on Williams music. 

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4 hours ago, thx99 said:


Different mix than the entrance music heard in the park?

 

Yeah, I haven't done a direct comparison with a live audio recording yet, but I confess that on one occasion I stood in the entrance for a while just to get a sense for how long the loop is and what's in it. The more rhythmic elements aren't there in the park mix at all. I think they may have shortened it, too. I'll compare them and let you know what I find.

 

EDIT: I was wrong about the shortening - they used the whole track. It loops at about 4:54, overlapping the beginning on the ending. But yeah, the rhythmic panpipe breaths (starting around 1:12) and the drums (starting around 1:22) are completely missing from the park mix.

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45 minutes ago, Tom said:

Okay, I am calmer now.  I suppose I find the immersive rational odd.  The source music of JW's SW scores are very earthly, and I think that is what makes it great.  "Alien" music that is just synth based stuff seems to lack any real creativity (like out of PBS kids show about the future), and it just feels like Disney is trying to reinvent the SW musical wheel (when no such thing is called for).  

 

Maybe I am not as calm as I thought. 


In fairness to Kerber, his entrance music is thematic to Williams’ composition whereas the shopping area music cues within Galaxy’s Edge are not. The latter are more of what you described in your post above.

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43 minutes ago, Tom said:

Okay, I am calmer now.  I suppose I find the immersive rational odd.  The source music of JW's SW scores are very earthly, and I think that is what makes it great.  "Alien" music that is just synth based stuff seems to lack any real creativity (like out of PBS kids show about the future), and it just feels like Disney is trying to reinvent the SW musical wheel (when no such thing is called for).  

 

Maybe I am not as calm as I thought. 

 

I just think you ought to withhold judgment till you've visited in person. Films and theme parks have different musical needs. (Also, Williams's Star Wars source music can be quite "off" - consider the three Tatooine source cues from TPM. Odd recorder harmonies, non-Western percussion, weird vocals, etc.)

 

For me, the only problem with this cue in situ is that the melody is hard to pick out. It sets the tone really well, but it's only recognizable if you know the suite well and you listen closely. Part of that is the slow tempo, part of it is park acoustics, and part of it is the blurry synth pads beneath the flute-like melody. The end result is that the reference to Williams's theme feels almost like an Easter egg. I think I would have preferred a version that more clearly established the theme, setting up its orchestral statements in the attractions.

 

That's just me, though. Still happy to be able to listen to this track on its own!

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I was chatting with someone elsewhere and managed to change my own mind on that. I still think a "greatest hits" style of BGM would be disastrous, but it actually could be possible to create appropriate orchestral loops for different areas of the land. I started thinking of examples and realized that I could get onboard with the use of atmospheric cues that aren't too thematic or mickey mousey (ironically). The Resistance forest, the market, the First Order area, and the Falcon area could each get their own distinct loop.

 

The hard part would be finding enough material to avoid having super short loops like Universal's.

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15 hours ago, Datameister said:

I was chatting with someone elsewhere and managed to change my own mind on that. I still think a "greatest hits" style of BGM would be disastrous, but it actually could be possible to create appropriate orchestral loops for different areas of the land. I started thinking of examples and realized that I could get onboard with the use of atmospheric cues that aren't too thematic or mickey mousey (ironically). The Resistance forest, the market, the First Order area, and the Falcon area could each get their own distinct loop.

 

The hard part would be finding enough material to avoid having super short loops like Universal's.

There's definitely a noticeable lack of JW in the park outside of the rides. I wish the lines would at least pump a mix of JW tracks. That said, I thought some JW SW music played along with the brief outdoor shows the actors do? I seem to remember a Kylo Ren skit that played his theme.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update: now that Disney has an upcharged replacement for FastPass, I guess they don't care as much about total immersion in Galaxy's Edge as they did before.  Now the attraction doesn't have a proper sign, but the Lightning Lane™ for it does.

 

So can we get some Williams music in there now?

 

2021-reopening-wdw-hollywood-studios-ris

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  • 2 months later...

I had forgotten all about this short GE suite until now whilst trying to assemble a playlist of Williams' entire concert versions of his glorious Star Wars music. The Star Wars religion is surely today's cultural equivalent of Wagner's Ring cycle. Have I missed anything in the playlist? Please advise me. 

 

 

 

This Theme Park Overture has remained mostly under my radar since it was released 2 and half years ago. Time flies! 

      I listened to this music a couple of times in 2019 but thought little of it. To me it sounded like a hash job from Williams. Not his best and maybe something he had to write in a real hurry. 

      The thing I didn't consider however until hearing it again today is that this is music ostensibly for the outdoors and Williams in his genius has somehow written his own version of an "Outdoor Overture"...a la Star Wars!

     What is striking about this Star Wars music is how wide open and utterly expansive the whole thing is. The more I listen to it now (after forgetting it for 30 months) the more it grows on me. Maestro Williams continues to beguile! 

       On hearing this work again today my ears told me something that I hadn't picked up on in 2019. Listen to the gigantic chords at 2:41 which are immediately followed by a flourish on trumpet with the same massive chords repeated a some bars later. 

           Could Williams have utilised a magnificent passage that was replaced ultimately by a rather obvious statement of the Imperial March? Fabulous measures that ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. 

          I speak of the Finale of AOTC. I last heard those colossal chords (in the exact same modality) when I was standing in front of Mr Williams at Abbey Road nearly 20 years ago whilst singing the score with London Voices. I was blown away. To me it was definitely the finest moment in the score. 

     I've listened to the mock up recording I have of this passage from AOTC and both grandiose sequences sound very very similar to me. Whilst not "adaption" per se I would proffer that pressed for time perhaps Williams plundered an unused section from an earlier score and fashioned it to suit. 

       In a way this brings to mind Ken Thorne's judicious use of a completely unused idea written for Superman the Movie which the Englishman then utilised for his arrangements for Superman II... 

      I view this fascinating spin-off Overture as a perfect pedant to Williams' music for Solo. Both lesser efforts perhaps but still  worth the replay mileage. 

 

 

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3 hours ago, stravinsky said:

Have I missed anything in the playlist? Please advise me.


So, confusingly, there is an ‘Anthem of Evil’ concert arrangement, part of the 4-movement Suite from The Rise of Skywalker, but the ‘Anthem of Evil’ track on the OST is not that concert arrangement (which apparently works in some Kylo material), though we still haven’t identified all of it:

 

Anthem of Evil 3:24

0:00-1:48 unknown

1:48-2:00 1M8 Approaching the Nursery

2:00-2:48 unknown

2:48-3:07 6M12 Six Twelve

3:07-end unknown

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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Question: I was only recently made aware that this composition has been released on vinyl. 

 

https://www.disneymusicemporium.com/product/XVLP99/star-wars-galaxys-edge-symphonic-suite?cp=null

 

Does anyone know if it has also been released on CD? 

 

Or is this a vinyl exclusive?

 

Thanks. 

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