Craig Safan's THE LAST STARFIGHTER (1984) - 2022 Intrada remastered complete score

[Jay 37,346]

Remastered reissue of complete score by Craig Safan for landmark 1984 sci-fi tale with Lance Guest, Dan O'Herlihy, Robert Preston, Catherine Mary Stewart, directed by Nick Castle. World of Rylos, battles with evil Xur, his armies of Ko-Dan, heroic efforts of "the last starfighter" to conquer the enemy - all were fodder for pioneer computer-generated imagery back in 1984.

 

Surprise hit movie finds young Alex Rogan proving himself adept at video games in small town trailer park. Soon, mysterious visitor appears, whisks Alex to planet Rylos to fight conquering menace. Romance, an android "beta unit", vicious "hit beasts" and more add dimension to rewarding tale.

 

Craig Safan launches in brilliant major key fashion with dynamic fortissimo rhythmic motif for trombones, then adds trumpet fanfares, finally allows heroic main theme to take command. Both ideas play important roles throughout score. Propulsive action cues dominate with emphasis on aggressive low brass rhythms, sweeping lines for upper strings, zig zag material for woodwinds, synths. Brass parts throughout are commanding! Unusually crisp, punchy recording courtesy engineer Lyle Burbridge, acoustics of MGM Studios Scoring Stage 1 (known currently as Sony Pictures Scoring) and sizzling performance by 100 top L.A. session players.

 

Highlights abound but spotlights go to showstopping "Centauri Into Space", rousing "Death Blossom, Ultimate Weapon", powerful "Centauri Dies", exciting "Target Practice". Special mention is due "Record Breaker": Here, Safan ingeniously melds low-brow synth sound of video game seamlessly into powerful orchestral variants of his propulsive opening material as piece progresses. Clever!

 

March 1984 sessions were recorded onto 2" 24-track tape, then mixed down to both 1/2" three-channel, 1/4" two-channel stereo tape and preserved in pristine condition. All-new 2022 reissue produced from original Lyle Burbridge stereo mixes for the best, crispest audio to date. Entire score presented in picture sequence, courtesy both Warner Bros. & Universal. Craig Safan conducts. Intrada MAF series CD release is a must for all sci-fi, fantasy and eighties orchestral action score enthusiasts!

 

01. Main Title (2:31)
02. Alex Dreams (1:44)
03. Record Breaker (2:28)
04. Centauri Into Space (5:59)
05. Rylos (2:01)
06. Beta Transforms (0:44)
07. Gunstars (0:39)
08. Victory Or Death (0:54)
09. Zur (2:30)
10. Krill (4:25)
11. Slap (0:30)
12. Hit Beast (0:54)

13. Centauri Dies (6:53)
14. Target Practice (2:20)
15. Alex’s First Test (2:53)
16. Alex Decides (2:50)
17. Beta’s Sacrifice (3:47)
18. Good Luck Starfighter (0:44)
19. Death Blossom, Ultimate Weapon (4:46)
20. Big Victory March (2:15)
21. Alex Returns (3:28)
22. Into The Starscape (7:21)

Total Time: 63:59

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.12634/.f

[Jay 37,346]

Some more information from Roger about the new master

 

 

 

Last Starfighter will be back in stock. However, it's not the same. The packaging will be the same, the program will be the same, but the album number will be different. Under the theory that perfection is a journey, not a destination, we thought we could do a lot better. As you recall for the expanded release we sourced the multi-track masters rather than the 1/4" masters we used for the first edition. After careful examination, we decided the 1/4" has vastly superior sound. The brass is punchier and the recording crisper overall. The "new" source we had used previously was a bit...mushier. So we've reverted to the 1/4" masters and did a high res transfer to work from. It's never sounded better.

 

http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8906

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Never heard of it. The artwork is amazing though

[Jay 37,346]

It's one of my favorite scores

[crocodile 8,000]

Fun score. But does it really sound better? Like, really?

 

Karol

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Looking forward for the samples

[Jay 37,346]

The samples are available at the link in the main post

[Disco Stu 15,495]

The movie is great cheesy fun.  It's got that classic Amblin kids adventure feel (while not being an Amblin movie).

[bruce marshall 1,315]

19 minutes ago, crocodile said:

Fun score. But does it really sound better? Like, really?

 

Karol

Different, not better

[Thor 7,492]

Could never really get into this. I believe I had it on CD once, but it must have been for a very brief period of time. Or maybe it was just digital files that I then deleted after sampling it a few times, I can't remember. Always open to give it another chance, though, all these years later.

[Tallguy 3,383]

OMG the opening to Record Breaker is so wistful!

 

The Cincinnati Pops did a lovely suite of the Main and End Titles with the last scene of the film.

 

"The whole world, the whole UNIVERSE is gonna know about us!"

[ricsim88 244]

The Cincinnati pops recording is way more than enough for me.

[Tallguy 3,383]

6 minutes ago, ricsim88 said:

The Cincinnati pops recording is way more than enough for me.

 

It's not enough for me. But I can totally see how it would be.

[Andy 4,118]

The Main Theme is so versatile, it gets played differently a zillion times and never gets tiresome. Great, great score, performed with gusto.  You can really feel the love that went into this score. 
 

With its big ol goofy heart and sincerity, it’s irresistible. 
 

Safan had surprising chops for this. Too bad he didn’t get more high profile projects. 

[Tallguy 3,383]

3 hours ago, Andy said:

The Main Theme is so versatile, it gets played differently a zillion times and never gets tiresome. Great, great score, performed with gusto.  You can really feel the love that went into this score. 
 

With its big ol goofy heart and sincerity, it’s irresistible. 
 

Safan had surprising chops for this. Too bad he didn’t get more high profile projects. 

 

It's amazing for a "Star Wars wannabe" how much it doesn't sound like Star Wars. But it probably got lumped in that bucket AND it didn't do well at the box office.

 

Tron went for the "electronics" of it all. Starfighter went for the heart of it. (EDIT: I love Tron.)

[crocodile 8,000]

Probably my favourite cue from the score (titled Alex's First Test on the Intrada):

 

 

Karol

[Andy 4,118]

7 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

It's amazing for a "Star Wars wannabe" how much it doesn't sound like Star Wars. But it probably got lumped in that bucket AND it didn't do well at the box office.

 

Tron went for the "electronics" of it all. Starfighter went for the heart of it. (EDIT: I love Tron.)

 

I love them both too.  Wendy Carlos certainly went for the electronics, but the orchestral component of her score is essential to what makes it unique.  Somehow, her electronics sound less 80s than what you hear in Starfighter.  Could be the use of the pipe organ that gives it a more timeless feel.  But then you have the more bouncy grid music ostinato, so yeah Tron is really quite a concoction.

 

With it's perfect fifth, descending triplet and octave structure, you can definitely hear kinship between Luke's theme and Alex Rogan's theme.  But Alex's is somehow more wistful and sweet, Luke's more adventurous.

 

Nice example @crocodile

 

 

 

For anyone who cares about such things, I like to make my own playlists, and Last Starfighter's Main Title starts with a bang.  Not knowing how loud to turn it up before you press play can result in either shock or disappointment, so I like to put a small "prologue" at the beginning to set the tone, and be able to ready the volume level appropriately.  So my playlist begins with an edit from the last 60 seconds of "Centauri Dies", with a few extra seconds of silence edited onto the end before my Main Title explodes.  It works for me.  I like to title it "Lorimar Prologue", as though it might have played over the studio logo.  Here's the clip:

 

 

 

 

Then, after that,  Boom! da-da-da boom da-da boom da boom da-da-da boom ta-daaaa!

[Datameister 2,041]

This is cool! I'm not going to double-dip—the existing expansion sounds very good and money is tight—but I highly recommend this one for anyone who doesn't already own it.

[Jay 37,346]

56 minutes ago, Andy said:

 

 

Thats a fun idea

[Andy 4,118]

About 20 years ago, fresh into my career, I took an existing (rather dull) montage video we played daily and I edited in bits of the Kunzel version (I was young, and didn't worry about copyright as it was really a temp track until we could get royalty free music).

 

I'll never forget when it finished... the audience applauded.  It was sort of surreal.

[Jay 37,346]

Have any JWFanners bought and listened to this new remaster yet?

I'll be picking it up as soon as there's 3 or 4 titles at Intrada I want to get, to save on shipping, so I haven't heard it yet

[Omen II 1,235]

On 24/5/2022 at 5:04 PM, Jay said:

Have any JWFanners bought and listened to this new remaster yet?
 

Yes, I ordered it with SpaceCamp and it was delivered on Wednesday.  I do not have any of the previous iterations so I cannot give any useful comparisons in regard to the sound, but the recording is very nice and punchy to my layman’s ears.

[Jay 37,346]

Great! 

[crocodile 8,000]

I am curious to read some comments about the sound from people who have both. 

 

Karol

[Yavar Moradi 2,598]

8 hours ago, crocodile said:

I am curious to read some comments about the sound from people who have both. 

 

It came up in conversation with Intrada during our Matinee Soundtrack Spotlight recording several weeks ago. The Goldsmith Odyssey editor David Lichty happened to do a before/after comparison of one key cue, which you might find interesting. We are dropping the episode tomorrow night.

Yavar