The most recent John Williams Star Wars expansions was over 2 decades ago...

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

Just something I realized right now. The most recent JW Star Wars expansion was the TPM Ultimate Edition in November 2000. There are young adult members of JWFan that were born after that point.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,528]

Well I do hope the next one won't wait another 2 decades...

It's crazy to think that one of the most beloved score ever take that much time to get a proper expansions. It's not like if they will lose money by releasing it.

[bespinGPT 8,911]

Yes and the most recent Bespin was 40 over years ago!!

[Edmilson 9,442]

 

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

1 hour ago, Bespin said:

Yes and the most recent Bespin was 40 over years ago!!

 

[Disco Stu 15,504]

More like....

 

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,528]

[bruce marshall 1,403]

"Some things don't deserve to be expanded"

" ' Deserves' got  nuthin' to do with it"

[Martinland 361]

On 5/15/2021 at 12:05 PM, Manakin Skywalker said:

most recent JW Star Wars expansion was the TPM Ultimate Edition

That's no moon, it's a score distortion.

[Arpy 4,162]

I expect it'll be another twenty years until Disney makes a move...

[Edmilson 9,442]

6 hours ago, Arpy said:

I expect it'll be another twenty years until Disney makes a move...

And then re-releases the OST albums once again!

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

[blondheim 1,160]

I don't doubt they're coming; it's just a matter of when. We are at the whim of businessmen, but I am sure that Williams has some personal interest in preserving this corner of his legacy.

[Jay 40,305]

Sony Music having the exclusive rights to release music from the first 6 films from 1999 through 2016 surely is the primary reason we didn't get Star Wars expansions in that window other than the 2000 TPM UE; The bigwigs running that company just don't get it

 

Disney Records owning the rights from 2017-> present seems more hopeful, especially on the Star Wars front, since Kathleen Kennedy has been supporting of expanded Williams albums in the past.  And Disney Records has already shown a willingness to spend money on hiring Shawn Murphy to oversee rebuilds of the original 6 OST albums and promote them with a lot of marketing.  Granted that isn't what we want either but its a step in the right direction.

 

I really think proper expansions overseen by Mike will happen eventually.  I just don't have a clue when

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,528]

28 minutes ago, Jay said:

I really think proper expansions overseen by Mike will happen eventually.  I just don't have a clue when

[Bounty95 572]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

I really think proper expansions overseen by Mike will happen eventually.  I just don't have a clue when

 

Are you referring to the first six or to all nine? 

[Jay 40,305]

I assume if Disney was going to pony up for anything they'd pony up for all 9, but who knows?  7-9 obviously have those crazy AFM union fees to pay that aren't a factor at all with 1-6

[crumbs 15,125]

Disney's large enough (and provide enough work for AFM musicians) that the AFM might be more open-minded about waivers or discounts on those ST sessions.

 

After all, their parent company paid for all those luxurious sessions in the first place. It's like biting the hand that feeds you by demanding exorbitant fees for something as "trivial" as soundtrack expansions.

 

I know, wishful thinking... knowing the AFM, they'd probably demand even more money from Disney because they're such a large label.

[Jay 40,305]

Yes you're probably right and Disney would probably work out a special deal with the AFM like Varese and Paramount did for Giacchino's Trek expansions

[blondheim 1,160]

An expanded box set of all nine scores, or even a trilogy at a time, are things I would buy immediately whatever the cost. I don't care if I have to sell my body.

[Jay 40,305]

After Solo Deluxe Edition they could always be digital only

We'll have to see what they do with Hunchback

[Holko 10,750]

18 minutes ago, Jay said:

After Solo Deluxe Edition they could always be digital only

We'll have to see what they do with Hunchback

oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no that's not an option.

[Jay 40,305]

Of course it is!

[blondheim 1,160]

I mean give me the music sure but both the Legacy Collection and Star Wars are sets I hope get a physical release.

[Holko 10,750]

They can't abandon those gorgeous Legacy books!!!

[Jurassic Shark 13,740]

Digital vinyl.

[Jay 40,305]

1 minute ago, blondheim said:

I mean give me the music sure but both the Legacy Collection and Star Wars are sets I hope get a physical release.

 

I hope so too

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

I hope it's physical as well, but honestly I kind of doubt it. And at this point I don't really care that much anyway, we've been waiting so long for some of this music I don't really care what form it's in. As long as we have the music in lossless quality, everything else it just a cherry on top.

[Jay 40,305]

The music has always been more important to me than the format it's sold to me on

[Brundlefly 2,399]

Sure, but the big sumptuous complete Star Wars hell-of-a-lot-CD set with a noble cardboard slipcase and fancy artwork might be the ever-returning wet dream of many for decades now.

[Holko 10,750]

It'd be absolutely ludicrous if I could own the definitive complete perfect edition of bloody Monsignor in a nice physical edition (which I do already), but not goddamn STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES to put next to my HP set. They even released the stupid demasters physically.

[Jurassic Shark 13,740]

12 minutes ago, Holko said:

STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES

 

I'm sure Shawn is working on these!

[rough cut 1,752]

Maybe it’ll stream on Apple Lossless.

[Jurassic Shark 13,740]

Is it too much to ask for to have it released on an oil based physical media?

[TownerFan 5,420]

45 minutes ago, Holko said:

It'd be absolutely ludicrous if I could own the definitive complete perfect edition of bloody Monsignor in a nice physical edition (which I do already), but not goddamn STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES to put next to my HP set. They even released the stupid demasters physically.

 

You have to understand that for huge corporate companies this might not be a priority in terms of what product they decide to spend their money on and from which they expect a net income. Physical release demand is agonizing, yet it's still not dead, so it works much better for niche products, in which consumers are much more ready to pony up a hefty amount of money for limited edition stuff. The Harry Potter boxset is certainly a good example that you can have a prestige product done by the right people and yet have it sold also to a broader audience than the usual soundtrack market niche.

 

I think the major hurdle for having fully restored and complete releases of both SW and Indy scores is that the current owners seems more oriented in putting all their efforts and resources over the new stuff the company is producing (new films, tv shows, animated series, theme park rides, etc.) rather than taking care of the legacy of those IPs, which is absolutely crucial in historic and cultural terms, but it's usually less profitable in the short term.

[GerateWohl 5,344]

Yes, if anything about the output from Disney is obvious then that everything they produce has to match some kind of template. Templates for stories, templates for soundtracks, templates for campaigns, templates for TV shows with a little visible ammount of individual look and classical references.

They would probably rather reboot star wars with the highschool musical cast than publishing the complete Star Wars score CD box.

[JoeinAR 1,953]

 

Life goes on quite well even without ever note of the Star Wars scores. 

[ChrisAfonso 204]

22 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Digital vinyl.

 

Hi-def lossless downloads with pristine crackles baked in?

[aj_vader 572]

I'm starting to think it's never going to happen and it's quite depressing how much I want it to happen. I actually want expanded/complete Williams' Star Wars Scores more than anything else... seriously. 

[Jurassic Shark 13,740]

23 minutes ago, ChrisAfonso said:

 

Hi-def lossless downloads with pristine crackles baked in?

 

Yes!

[aj_vader 572]

"The analogue material does not last forever and the longer you let this analogue material sit in the vault, the more likely it is to not play" - Shawn Murphy

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

Well it's a damn good thing he digitally preserved everything a few years ago. Hopefully the missing tapes were found as well.

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

Something I just thought about and brought up on Discord; I realized I could check if the Jabba the Hutt concert suite elements have been found by comparing the ending of Han Solo Returns with the 2016 scan of the vinyl master from 1983. Looks like it has been copy/pasted right into the 2018 set, indicating that either that suite is still missing or has been degraded to the point of being unusable.

[aj_vader 572]

I actually avoid listening to Return of the Jedi Special Edition, I can't bare the quality, it's awful. I just listen to the Anthology and the OST. Why am I saying this about the most beloved scores of all time!? 😡 arggghhh! 

[Richard P 4,375]

23 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

I hope it's physical as well, but honestly I kind of doubt it. And at this point I don't really care that much anyway, we've been waiting so long for some of this music I don't really care what form it's in. As long as we have the music in lossless quality, everything else it just a cherry on top.

 

Lossless is pretty much the only thing I care about now. My last soundtrack purchase, Varese's Dreamcatcher, I bought on CD solely because it was essentially the same price as a download and it would arrive real quick. I very nearly purchased it in flac from Qobuz.

 

I appreciate dedicated fans of JW wanting that nice feeling of an attractive box set for SW/Indy, but it feels to me like anything physical would be a nice-to-have, and that a comprehensive, great-sounding set should be the priority.

 

It does seem to me that more scores are now being released, now that all most of them have to do is cobble together some artwork from the nearest poster art.

 

I got a number of score releases recently that were over 2 1/2 hours long (video game, and a documentary series). They just released the music without any thought or worry of how they might fit on discs.

[Manakin Skywalker 5,510]

That's a really good point that I've thought about as well. For specific scores, take TPM and ROTJ for example; there's enough material to easily fill up 2 discs, plus more, however not quite enough to warrant a recording label paying for a third disc. If we get physical expansions for those two scores for example (and the unreleased material were to be present for ROTJ) the odds of us getting a third disc would be practically nonexistent, and that material would likely have to be omitted... again. In that case we'd still be missing material, and people would continue to complain until the next expansion arrives decades later. 

 

If it were digital only however, there's literally no limit to how much material could be included, and therefore we could get more music. IF that is the trade-off, then in those particular cases I say screw physical media... as long as the music is still in a lossless format.

 

As for the sequel trilogy, each of those films would need a third disc. But what are the odds that Disney would be willing to pay for that? Maybe not nonexistent given how much material there is, but probably still slim.

 

Would you rather have more music, or a plastic case with a Photoshopped cover and less music? 

 

And for those thinking about the liner notes: ever hear of a PDF? Many digital releases have them!

[Cerebral Cortex 3,358]

Technically the most recent John Williams Star Wars expansion was in 2019 when he wrote another score for the series. 

[crumbs 15,125]

And technically The Last Jedi got an expansion in the form of an isolated score.

 

Which is really 90% of the score, all things considered (just mixed around and filled with edits & loops!) 

[j39m 76]

2 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

And for those thinking about the liner notes: ever hear of a PDF? Many digital releases have them!

 

True enough, but Qobuz didn't include a digital booklet with the deluxe release of Solo 😭

OTOH, a direct-to-digital PDF is usually searchable, looks nice, and never rips or stains, which is always lovely.

 

38 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Which is really 90% of the score, all things considered (just mixed around and filled with edits & loops!) 

 

But where else am I going to get my half-dozen alternate sequencings for the battle over D'Qar and twenty different takes of The Long Goodbye from the Fathier chase?

[bruce marshall 1,403]

How long is that in dog years( see: MUTTS)

😄

 

" the most recent .. Star Wars expansion ...was two decades ago..."