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The Rise of Skywalker OST Album Discussion


Jay

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1 hour ago, Tydirium said:

Why is everybody talking about the credits music so much? Who cares? Lol, there's plenty of score tracks (and the phenomenal concert arrangement "The Rise of Skywalker") to talk about!

Because Williams still bothers to construct a proper end credits suite for listeners, often incorporating the themes from the film in arrangements unique to the credits.

 

If I never bought any of the scores, and I wanted something which presented all the film's themes in one place, I'd always find and look forward to how he'd present it in the end credits!

 

***

 

Speeder Chase sounds different from the clip that was released, I'm assuming that's the film version that's unreleased.

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31 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Speeder Chase is probably his best action cue in years. Almost a bit Quidditch-esque. I'm guessing Bill conducted this due to the energy level.

 

If williams was there to get his insights, I frankly could not care less of who conducted it :) 

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Having only listened to it twice so far, Finale is clunky. I don't like ending on the exact same rendition of Binary Sunset as TFA including the very ending swell, and the transitions between themes in the end credits sound rough. But maybe more listens will change my impression. I really enjoy the Imperial March performance and the second Rise of Skywalker theme part.

 

Reunion is quite odd. It sounds like an end credits cast montage but removed from the last track and turned into its own.

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It's one of his best concert arrangements in recent memory, if not dare I say of all time. I love both its themes about equally; they are a perfect match for one another. Can't wait until the LSO inevitably does a re-recording of it one day.

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Already comments asking where Duel of the Fates is. 

 

I can't stand this current craze of idiots expecting trailer music to be on these albums! No, just because something's used in a trailer does not mean it's going to be in the film...

 

 

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5 hours ago, Dixon Hill said:

 

That is the way of things.  The way of the forum.

 

I hate you. 

 

Anyways, kudos to JJ for making John record the Star Wars main titles one last time from scratch. 

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I love the transition from Luke & Leia to the new (trio?) theme in "Reunion" at 3:25.  It's beautiful.

 

 

And really "Finale" would be perfect if the Imperial March wasn't in the middle of it for no reason.

 

If it went:

 

Force Theme

End Fanfare

Trio Theme

Anthem of Evil

Rey's Theme

Rise of Skywalker

Rousing fanfare to close out Williams' Star Wars scores

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11 hours ago, Amer said:

I still feel the Finale / End Title is basically devised for the album. The Shazam listing referred to it as The Album Finale-So I think this edit is just unique to the OST  the way 'Mischief Managed' was for the AZKABAN OST album.We just have to wait till Friday and listen to the finale in the movie to figure it out and also once the CD back scan is properly revealed. However, i could be wrong entirely...

 

I don't think Shazam labeled it "The Album Finale" as much as they labeled it "The Rise of Skywalker Album - Finale", to help differentiate it from other "finale" tracks, on countless other albums, in their database.  I don't think it is because they know it is different in the film.

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6 minutes ago, rolltide1017 said:

 

I don't think Shazam labeled it "The Album Finale" as much as they labeled it "The Rise of Skywalker Album - Finale" to help differentiated it from other "finale" tracks on countless other albums in their database.  I don't think it is because they know it is different in the film.

 

Precisely!

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Where is the love for the harp in Fleeing from Kijimi? The bassoon (?) in We Go Together?

 

I think I will agree with pretty much everybody here; this is a very nice surprise after TLJ. The new themes and motives are gorgeous. The mix of old themes and new ones is lovely. The new fanfare is wonderful.

 

I must confess, I was still hoping for Kylo's theme to grow and turn into something… more. I always felt his theme was going to expand but I guess the movies never game him the chance (I'm not talking about TRoS, I haven't seen the movie).

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Just now, iamleyeti said:

I must confess, I was still hoping for Kylo's theme to grow and turn into something… more

 

It may not be a radical transformation like you're hoping for, but the interesting things he does with Kylo's theme in "Parents" and "Coming Together" on the FYC made me especially sad that those were left off of the OST.  There's no musical representation of that change on album.

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1 minute ago, Disco Stu said:

 

It may not be a radical transformation like you're hoping for, but the interesting things he does with Kylo's theme in "Parents" and "Coming Together" on the FYC made me especially sad that those were left off of the OST.  There's no musical representation of that change on album.

I should listen to the FYC just like I am listening to the official album: doing nothing else. Parents was absolutely gorgeous, probably my favorite track of the FYC. It is a bit disappointing to not see it here. But the tracklist is excellent… so… I don't know what I would have pushed out of the list.

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2 minutes ago, iamleyeti said:

I should listen to the FYC just like I am listening to the official album: doing nothing else. Parents was absolutely gorgeous, probably my favorite track of the FYC. It is a bit disappointing to not see it here. But the tracklist is excellent… so… I don't know what I would have pushed out of the list.

 

Two discs!

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Just now, Disco Stu said:

 

Two discs!

Unpopular opinion but I would have loved to see something similar to the double TPM album we got back in the days. It was far from being perfect, but I still love it.

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19 minutes ago, ocelot said:

First half of Farewell just ripped my heart to pieces :( Did it just give something away? I love the writing here so much. This is what I want from Star Wars!!!


Yeah, the two themes at the beginning sounded pretty melancholic. They’re beautiful, though. We’ll just have to see when we watch the film!

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I've seen on Film Music Reporter and some other place (Jon Burligame, I think?) that, despite the album cover saying just "Music By John Williams" as usual, he actually conducted the score as well - which didn't happened on the other two movies of the ST, which were co-conducted by Bill Ross. Can anyone check if this is true?

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1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

I love the transition from Luke & Leia to the new (trio?) theme in "Reunion" at 3:25.  It's beautiful.

 

 

And really "Finale" would be perfect if the Imperial March wasn't in the middle of it for no reason.

 

I LOOOOOVE the transition into the Imperial March, it was such an HONEST surprise that I felt like I haven't got in a Star Wars score in a long time.

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I also enjoyed the surprise of listening for the first time and not knowing what was going to show up in that track, but after thinking about it I'm not sure yet if what they went with was successful or not.  I need more listens, I've only listened to that track once so far.

 

I wonder if JW recorded a variety of different chunks of things for possible end credits use, and we can get a different medley on a future expanded edition

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I don’t mind the fanfare reprise at the end of Finale. I like it as Williams taking a nostalgic victory lap. The Imperial March and Rey’s theme concert pieces being smushed inbetween the new themes is much more problematic and awkward to me.  The Rey’s theme there did nothing for me. Nothing new about it.

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5 hours ago, Arpy said:

Already comments asking where Duel of the Fates is. 

 

I can't stand this current craze of idiots expecting trailer music to be on these albums! No, just because something's used in a trailer does not mean it's going to be in the film...

 

 

I don't think it's so much because people are expecting "trailer music" - Don Williams made mention of that theme appearing in the score during an interview a few months ago. Or seemed to make mention of it.

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9 minutes ago, Larry O said:

I don't think it's so much because people are expecting "trailer music" - Don Williams made mention of that theme appearing in the score during an interview a few months ago. Or seemed to make mention of it.

I guarantee you he meant the Emperor’s theme because he said «The Phantom theme» and that theme figures prominently in TPM

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

Check... how? Where?

 

Is Bill Ross' name on the IMDB page of the movie?

 

Also, the end credits have a part on which appears the people who worked on the music department of a movie: orchestrators, contractors, soloists, where it was recorded and, on most case, the conductors. If someone stays until the end of the credits, they can see if they spot something like "Conducted by John Williams and William Ross" on the credits.

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Whether that's what he meant or not, it was taken to mean Duel of the Fates as well. It's not just a matter of "trailer music on my soundtrack where is it" but people honestly hoping that when Don said something about major themes all getting their opportunity to appear in this score, that it meant Duel of the Fates too. 

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3 minutes ago, Larry O said:

Whether that's what he meant or not, it was taken to mean Duel of the Fates as well. It's not just a matter of "trailer music on my soundtrack where is it" but people honestly hoping that when Don said something about major themes all getting their opportunity to appear in this score, that it meant Duel of the Fates too. 

 

That's not his fault, it's the fault of the outlets that reported it as such.

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...I'm not trying to blame him for anything. I'm explaining why people are asking for it. It's not just "trailer music idiots" - people who enjoy the scores and were following score news had reason (however misguided/misunderstood it might have been) to wonder if it was present based on the interviews. That's not Don's fault. It's not anybody's fault, really. 

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I will take the Main Title's curtain call in the Finale over a Skywalker Symphony-type RoTS finale. Even though they are both over the top like a live JW encore (I wish). It brings me right back to that 1977 LP, track 1 which is a core memory (also from 1977 in my generation's case) and only a fitting "bow" on the package. If I had dared to imagine exactly what the end credits would sound like I wouldn't have guessed this, but I accept it gladly.

 

We got a huge batch of fantastic new themes, presentations of them and wonderfully contrasted moods and heartrending moments, and we are still expecting more from John. Through-composed 100% to the end of nine films, or what, we'll stop worshipping him? Hardly. We want him go back and basically redo the slam dunk at the end of ESB - in essence, as the "ideal" end credits - but we find fault that he went back to ANH's opening instead? Or the Imperial March as the silver medallist in the SW canon? I don't get it, but I understand there are many varieties of obsessive musical fandom for sure; this is just not my flavour. As far as I'm concerned, Finale's a non issue. And as Jay suggests, above, these suite components are likely done as separate takes, and they can and will be different in the film and in the (eventual and inevitable) expanded edition.

 

1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

Yeah I was hoping for a new full statement of Rey’s Theme. Really put an exclamation point on it.

Sure, but I feel like we got enough focus on Rey in TFA and especially right through the chimes that close out TLJ. Her music gets plenty of space, in fact, more space in the saga than any other character's theme that doesn't do double duty (e.g. Luke/Main, Ben/Force, Vader/Empire). John loves Daisy and will let never let us forget it.

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Battle of the Resistance... what to make of this cue? 

 

First things first, I love this track. But it's definitely not in the same vein as DotF or BotH, which one might have expected for a climactic battle in the last-one-forever chapter of a series like Star Wars. It seems quite like it's designed to follow the on-screen action rather than set a tone.

 

I was disappointed about that for about half a minute... and then decided to take it for what it is. And what a trove this is! So many lovely details, like the four brass chords at 0:55 that lead into Poe's theme (I've never heard JW write anything quite like it and I just love that kind of tonal teeing-up.)

 

There's a orchestrational clarity and leanness in this track, and the rest of the score, that's really grown on me. I think I noticed it for the first time in the Adventures of Han theme. The ability to hear different textures and instruments is almost chamber-music-like, but it's done with a 90+ piece orchestra. It's rather wonderful.

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4 minutes ago, Bayesian said:

Battle of the Resistance... what to make of this cue? 

 

First things first, I love this track. But it's definitely not in the same vein as DotF or BotH, which one might have expected for a climactic battle in the last-one-forever chapter of a series like Star Wars. It seems quite like it's designed to follow the on-screen action rather than set a tone.

 

I was disappointed about that for about half a minute... and then decided to take it for what it is. And what a trove this is! So many lovely details, like the four brass chords at 0:55 that lead into Poe's theme (I've never heard JW write anything quite like it and I just love that kind of tonal teeing-up.)

 

There's a orchestrational clarity and leanness in this track, and the rest of the score, that's really grown on me. I think I noticed it for the first time in the Adventures of Han theme. The ability to hear different textures and instruments is almost chamber-music-like, but it's done with a 90+ piece orchestra. It's rather wonderful.

 

The prequel movies are very different to the sequel trilogy. The prequels are space operas and like an opera the music is a character and plays such an integral part. The sequel films are more like traditional action movies and Williams has scored this accordingly imo. I would have loved to have heard one more DotF type thing from the master but i'm just not sure they have their place in these movies.

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