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The Rise of Skywalker OST Album Discussion


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On 12/26/2019 at 7:24 PM, MattyO said:

The Rise of Skywalker theme makes me sad Williams never got to close out the Harry Potter films.

 

My secret musical fantasy is for JW to have been given musical authorship over the Marvel Cinematic Universe, composing the scores for all the individual hero films, creating and developing themes to all of the characters-- Cap, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Widow, etc.-- and then weaving them all together in the various Avengers films.

 

It would be monumental task, and likely not something he'd have been interested in committing to at his age even if offered, but it's fun to imagine.

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Did we ever decide if the Finale was tracked from TFA or a new recording? I really don't understand the reuse either way. I wish it had started as the Force theme and then transitioned to Rey's theme (like in the TFA end credits suite) before the iris wipe into credits.

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Why the hell didn't they put Falcon Flight on the OST?! There was enough space left on the disc!!!:angry:

 

On 1/1/2020 at 3:01 AM, Bayesian said:

I’d love it if JW got the chance to write a score with a jazz flavor again. 

I'd love to see him go back to things like Artificial Intelligence, The Lost World, Minority Report, Munich, The Prisoner of Azkaban, Rosewood and War of the Worlds.

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It definitely lacked a nice big setpiece like the Battle of Crait, where he could just let loose for 7 to 8 minutes with orchestral bombast. It suffers from the same problem as TFA with lots of really short cues that don't get a chance to develop or build over several minutes. Lots of interesting fragments of various themes but just when something gets interesting it cuts to something else. Bloody JJ. 

 

39 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

Nice term. The Rise of Skywalker score literally suffocated in the film.

 

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10 hours ago, crumbs said:

It definitely lacked a nice big setpiece like the Battle of Crait, where he could just let loose for 7 to 8 minutes with orchestral bombast. It suffers from the same problem as TFA with lots of really short cues that don't get a chance to develop or build over several minutes. Lots of interesting fragments of various themes but just when something gets interesting it cuts to something else. Bloody JJ. 

 

 

I agree, however Battle of the Resistance is a brilliant piece on the OST, together with the unreleased Lando Arrives cue would've made a great action-packed package on the OST. 

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50 minutes ago, artguy360 said:

What are the noticeable differences between the performance of the Main Title in TFA vs TROS? I haven't spent enough time with TROS Fanfare yet to discern any major differences.

 

Mostly it just sounds fuller, larger, with a more balanced mix of instruments. The brass also sounds less "tight" if that makes sense, especially on the opening note. Just comparing the first 2 seconds of both versions gives a pretty good indication of the difference, the TROS version clearly "breathes" more and the recording sounds like a much bigger space, while the TFA recording sounds small and constrained. The microphones were incredibly close to the instruments on TFA's recording, which contributed to this sound. It's a shame we don't have a clear version of TLJ's opening note to compare further, considering that score's wetter mix (we do have the tail end of the crawl in pristine quality and it sounds great).

 

David Collins did an excellent analysis of the TFA recording back during the Rebel Force Radio podcasts and analysed why he thought that version sounded so off.

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That does fit remarkably well! And it's funny hearing the TROS cue right after the little trumpet fanfare that starts the chase (from ROTJ). They almost sound like complimentary ideas, as if the TROS melody is an extrapolation of the ROTJ one. 

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Precisely why I left it in, also the string ostinato opening is similar to the strings starting right before I started Speeder Chase.

 

 

 

 

But what if?

 

Eh, it's not gonna be good but worth a try.

 

...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, the part I intended is great, then it kinda doesn't fit for Luke and Vader, then HOLY SHIT how is this so perfect? It's like nearly every little trill and strike and gesture and change matches something onscreen perfectly, whereas in Speeder Chase it's more about half of the lots of points of possible musical interest accidentally perfectly syncing up with the picture (scout shooting at Leia + her speeder exploding). I'm highly impressed with my idiotic ideas today and these are great fun to do!

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7 hours ago, Holko said:

What if...?

No, no, surely it won't.

 

 

 

Well, let's check anyway.

...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy shit

 

Ha!  That worked remarkably well!  Thanks for making and sharing that!

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It’s just occurred to me that the “concert ending” of The Speeder Chase, after the mad trumpet section reminiscent of The Adventures of Han.... is really similar to the ending of The Adventures of Han suite itself... anyone else hearing this? 

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Is it just me, or is the OST order jumbled around more than usual?  I know its not too uncommon for the albums not to be in 100% film order, but I was surprised at how much I had to switch places when making a playlist.

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Ah.  I don't actually have TESB yet (I'm unsure of which release to pickup, so I'm just holding out hope for a future full release), so I didn't know about that.  Thanks for the info.

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On 12/19/2019 at 12:52 AM, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

There's a certain sound that JW achieves in this score that I also hear in TFA and ROTS that reminds me of Bill Conti's Masters of the Universe score. For example, you can hear it in Enter Lord Vader, Follow Me and immediately off the bat on this album in Journey to Exegol. It's a very badass testosterone-fueled masculinity. A bit Goldsmithian even. Williams is channeling something very raw here with just badass brass melodies and pounding percussion and it's so cool.

 

MOTU has historically been considered a SW ripoff or at least a score imitating that style of music, but later JW SW scores are actually closer to that feel than the original scores. The Speeder Chase could underscore He-Man fighting Skeletor's troops for the cosmic key.

 

This is a comparison only you could have made and I love you for it. I mean that sincerely! You have such a breadth of cultural knowledge, both popular and obscure, and it's always really enjoyable reading posts by you where you apply said knowledge to discussing film score with some depth because we end up getting posts like this from you that offer such a unique voice to the table. 

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https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=79873&expand=1#79873


Clemensen is going to give this a split rating. He usually splits rating when he does Music as written for the film and Music as heard on the album. 

 

I think he's going to give 5 stars to the music as written for the film and 4 stars to the music as heard on the album and give it an overall 4 stars.

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13 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=79873&expand=1#79873


Clemensen is going to give this a split rating. He usually splits rating when he does Music as written for the film and Music as heard on the album. 

 

I think he's going to give 5 stars to the music as written for the film and 4 stars to the music as heard on the album and give it an overall 4 stars.

 

Interesting, I've been looking forward to his review! I don't always agree with him, but they're always entertaining and on occasion introduce me to new aspects of the music I hadn't noticed. 

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He's all we have got right in terms of real legitimate soundtrack reviewers right? Has been on the job for over 20 years and his body of work is essentially a compendium of how to listen to and appreciate film music. I very much have time to listen to what he has to say.

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The music from the last Rise of Skywalker trailer, in my opinion, is the greatest 2+ minutes of music that has ever been written. It is unreal. Thank you John Williams. Thank you John Williams. Thank you John Williams. You have blessed us with your talent. Much love. 

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1 hour ago, TheUlyssesian said:

He's all we have got right in terms of real legitimate soundtrack reviewers right? Has been on the job for over 20 years and his body of work is essentially a compendium of how to listen to and appreciate film music. I very much have time to listen to what he has to say.

 

Well, there are some others, e.g. https://moviemusicuk.us/. But Filmtracks was the one I found first when I was just starting to get into film music, and it was really formative in shaping my love of film scores. 

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Does anybody else actually really enjoy the album segue into the "Rescue" material at 3:00 of "The Force Is with You"? I know it seemed a bit odd/jarring when I first listened to the OST, but I chalk a lot of that up to having spent a week prior hearing a clean open for that cue, on the FYC. But now, after spending more time with the OST album, I absolutely love hearing that rendition of the Victory Theme start up right after that triumphant rendition of the Force Theme. Anyone else like it too, or does it still feel weird?

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I don't enjoy that segue, I think it sounds bad. And in my head I know it's skipping past the destruction of the ship cue that I know JW recorded. I also think the clean opening of Rescue sounds really cool

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Yea, the tone and tempo change is too abrupt.


In a future release where we can get JW's unused destruction cue in between it will probably all flow nicely.

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Eh, JW arranged the OST edit the way he did, for a reason. Just because something chronologically occurs in-between two cues in a film, doesn't necessarily mean the optimal listening experience should be the exact same... I for one am glad we get OSTs, and not just complete chronological scores dumped into an album. It takes more thought to intentionally craft a listening experience, and I can respect that. Of course I think this OST is missing a lot of score highlights, and of course I do hope to eventually get releases of everything... but Williams' own OST arrangements are not without merit.

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Well that's just the thing, we two (so far) don't think it's anywhere near a positive listening experience boost at all. Just like (I think) most of JW's OST edits and reshuffles.

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I really like how Williams uses something very similar to the transitionary bridge moment in the Rise of Skywalker concert track during the Anthem of Evil segment of the end credits in order to segue into a more intense rendition of the theme. Don't think it's 100% identical but I still like the similarity. 

 

 

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I love how JW brings back that little Desperation-related action ostinato from TLJ at 1:23 of They Will Come, right before that big statement of the Resistance march. Depending on how you look at it, this could count as the only bit of thematic material original to TLJ that reprises in TROS, no?

 

EDIT: Just checked Frank's list and I see in the footnotes he counts it as an evolution of the Tension motif from TFA. :)

 

 

 

 

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