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Who all performed on the Return of the Jedi source music?


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This isn't so much of a "question" per say as it is just a curious thought I had while watching some featurettes, since I'm sure no one else here knows. For example, we all know that John wrote Lapti Nek while Joseph wrote the lyrics (and sang in the English demo), Annie Arbogast converted the lyrics and sang them in the film version, and Joseph Williams allegedly wrote the other source cue. But I'm curious who actually performed in those pieces. A lot of them were synth, while there was also a drumkit, bass, what sounds like a saxophone, etc. (plus backup singers in the demo). Were they perhaps just some random musicians that Joe knew? Or maybe were there some well-known musicians in the mix that we just don't know about?

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1 minute ago, Thor said:

Wait, what? John Williams wrote the music of "Lapti Nek"? I thought that was all Joseph?

 

According to the documentary John wrote the underlying music while Joseph wrote the English lyrics.

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I recall having discovered Lapti Nek only three years ago when I watched the despesialized edition of RotJ, I find it so sad that they'd remplaced it by Jedi Rocks which sounds far less good (although I still do like it)

 

By the way does anyone here know who writes the source music on the Jabba's sail barge?

 

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9 hours ago, May the Force be with You said:

By the way does anyone here know who writes the source music on the Jabba's sail barge?

 

That's the other piece I mentioned. Allegedly Joseph Williams also wrote that.

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14 minutes ago, Thor said:

The quasi-baroque stuff? That's John, as far as I know.

 

That's a different piece (from when Jabba is first revealed), he's asking about the later unreleased Max Rebo / sail barge piece.

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Yeah the other one is Jabba's Baroque Recital and it has been already released. I was referring to the Max Rebo Band cues which are yet unreleased and might never been as Williams doesn't fancy much source music from what I understand

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It's one cue, just two different halves of it. From what I understand it was supposed to be on the '97 SE set (and also the cancelled 5th disc of the '93 Anthology) but the recording was missing, and might still be. There's a few other recordings that were allegedly lost as well including the unreleased Jabba the Hutt concert suite.

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I didn't know that it was planned to be on the '93 and '97 edition, so sad they lost it. :crymore:

How can they loose the recording of such a score. I mean I understand that one might lose his keys but a JW's Star Wars recording that's something that nobody should be able to lose.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/17/2021 at 12:24 PM, May the Force be with You said:

How can they loose the recording of such a score. I mean I understand that one might lose his keys but a JW's Star Wars recording that's something that nobody should be able to lose.

 

I think the story goes that Lucasfilm loaned the master tape with that cue to CBS for use in one their documentaries (not sure if it was "Classic Creatures" or "From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga") and they misplaced the tape.

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2 hours ago, JTWfan77 said:

I think the story goes that Lucasfilm loaned the master tape with that cue to CBS for use in one their documentaries (not sure if it was "Classic Creatures" or "From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga") and they misplaced the tape.

 

It all makes sense now... CBS owns Star Trek, so they stole the tape as an act of war against Star Wars!

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5 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

 

It all makes sense now... CBS owns Star Trek, so they stole the tape as an act of war against Star Wars!

This might turn into a standoff like the scene from Fanboys😂😂

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  • 3 months later...
20 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Does anyone have any additional information about this? I'd never heard of Ernie Fosselius' Star Wars involvement until just now.

 

No mention of any involvement with the music, but J.W. Rinzler's book on Return of the Jedi has this:

 

“The creator of Hardware Wars (1978), the first Star Wars parody/homage, Ernie Fosselius did the voices of the two rancor keepers. Per Burtt’s direction, he channeled Laurel and Hardy.”

 

Excerpt From: J.W. Rinzler. “The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Enhanced Edition).” Random House Publishing Group, 2013. Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-making-of-star-wars-return-of-the-jedi-enhanced-edition/id669041848

 

For what it's worth, Fosselius doesn't have any official credit for composing any of the source cues:

image.png

 

Looks like this is the source of this particular rumor, but in the same article it also credits "Jedi Rocks" to both John Williams and Jerry Hey: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-wars-the-changing-face-of-sy-snootles-the-max-rebo-band/

 

But I did find a reference to him working on arranging something for RotJ in this article https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-hardware-wars-creator-doesnt-love-that-last-jedi-tribute_n_5a673fdce4b0e56300739166:

 

"Fosselius said he wound up rearranging a John Williams piece in “Return of the Jedi,” too."

 

Then I found this WorldCat entry, which credits John Williams, Joseph Williams, and Ernie Fosselius as arrangers for Lapti Nek: https://www.worldcat.org/title/special-extended-dance-remix-of-lapti-nek-from-original-soundtrack-recording-of-star-wars-return-of-the-jedi/oclc/61464506

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On 17/05/2021 at 12:03 PM, Manakin Skywalker said:

It's one cue, just two different halves of it.


Is this a guess of yours, or is it mentioned somewhere in a film score magazine or liner notes? Definitely sounds like two different cues to me. The instrumentation of the two pieces seems to be a little different, for example. I hear an acoustic drum kit in the one performed at Jabba’s palace, whereas I hear some sort of drum machine in the one performed on the sail barge. Also, the synths used seem to be a little different.

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12 minutes ago, Jilal said:

Is this a guess of yours, or is it mentioned somewhere in a film score magazine or liner notes? Definitely sounds like two different cues to me. The instrumentation seems a little different to me, for example. I hear an acoustic drum kit in the one performed in Jabba’s palace, whereas I hear some sort of drum machine in the one performed on the sail barge. Also, the synths used seem to be a little different.

 

This was an old opinion of mine, I assumed just because they use the same melody they must be from the same cue. However I've come to realize when it comes to source cues in JW's scores, often there'll be a couple that utilize the same overall structure. Take "The Biker Hounds" and "Helicopter" from A.I. for example.

 

So I'm still a little on the fence, but am leaning more toward the opinion that they might be two separate cues, especially due to the different instrumentation. Also having a GEMA entry titled "Jabba Sail Barge Source" seems to poke a hole into my original belief.

 

I also had the same assumption about "Ewok Feast" and "Part of the Tribe" which have since leaked as two separate pieces.

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32 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

 

This was an old opinion of mine, I assumed just because they use the same melody they must be from the same cue. However I've come to realize when it comes to source cues in JW's scores, often there'll be a couple that utilize the same overall structure. Take "The Biker Hounds" and "Helicopter" from A.I. for example.

 

So I'm still a little on the fence, but am leaning more toward the opinion that they might be two separate cues, especially due to the different instrumentation. Also having a GEMA entry titled "Jabba Sail Barge Source" seems to poke a hole into my original belief.

 

I also had the same assumption about "Ewok Feast" and "Part of the Tribe" which have since leaked as two separate pieces.


By the way, the Jabba’s palace cue runs from start (13m10s) to finish (15m19s) here, which I guess supports my opinion.

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3 hours ago, Jilal said:

By the way, the Jabba’s palace cue runs from start (13m10s) to finish (15m19s) here, which I guess supports my opinion.

 

Yep that's partially the source I used for my own edit. They (both?) appear to be made to loop seamlessly. This one loops I believe once in FSWTJ, while the Sail Barge one loops I believe 3 times in the film.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 6 months later...

This seems like a good thread to hijack: Rinzler's Making of RotJ: "(...)January 7th [1982](...) Lucas had brought the shooting script; the temporary music soundtrack for Jabba's throne room sequence, which John Williams had recorded only three days before". Is this Baroque Recital? Or the unknown unheard unused unreleased Jabba source cue?

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2 hours ago, Holko said:

This seems like a good thread to hijack: Rinzler's Making of RotJ: "(...)January 7th [1982](...) Lucas had brought the shooting script; the temporary music soundtrack for Jabba's throne room sequence, which John Williams had recorded only three days before". Is this Baroque Recital? Or the unknown unheard unused unreleased Jabba source cue?

 

There's not really information to go on, but I assume so. I couldn't find any source for when/where Baroque was recorded.

 

On 24/09/2021 at 11:59 AM, BrotherSound said:

But I did find a reference to him working on arranging something for RotJ in this article https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-hardware-wars-creator-doesnt-love-that-last-jedi-tribute_n_5a673fdce4b0e56300739166:

 

"Fosselius said he wound up rearranging a John Williams piece in “Return of the Jedi,” too."

 

Then I found this WorldCat entry, which credits John Williams, Joseph Williams, and Ernie Fosselius as arrangers for Lapti Nek: https://www.worldcat.org/title/special-extended-dance-remix-of-lapti-nek-from-original-soundtrack-recording-of-star-wars-return-of-the-jedi/oclc/61464506

 

Since @Holko revived the thread, I might as well mention that I recently noticed that Ernie Fosselius was officially credited right in front of my nose this whole time, on the '93 Anthology set: mbid-0ba1f076-e890-47c9-a479-612e7af7b8ac-7716735587.jpg (469×1023) (archive.org)

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3 hours ago, Holko said:

This seems like a good thread to hijack: Rinzler's Making of RotJ: "(...)January 7th [1982](...) Lucas had brought the shooting script; the temporary music soundtrack for Jabba's throne room sequence, which John Williams had recorded only three days before". Is this Baroque Recital? Or the unknown unheard unused unreleased Jabba source cue?


I figured this referred to ‘Lapti Nek’, because wouldn’t it be the only Jabba’s palace music with enough synchronized action to require on-set playback?

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Yeah that'd make sense, he mentions a disco number sung by Joseph Williams later under a pic of Snootles. But... recorded by John?

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I'm sure he probably attended the recording since he was one of the writers...

 

or my original question in this thread was answered, and JW was the sole musician who played the drums, bass, saxophone, etc. :lol:

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