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Do you skip the Fox Fanfare when you start listening to the Star Wars scores?


Edmilson

Fox Fanfare: skippable or not?  

79 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you skip the Fox fanfare when listening to SW albums/bootlegs?

    • Of course I do. The fanfare wasn't even composed by JW! I prefer initiating my SW listening sessions with the Main Title.
      19
    • Of course I don't. The fanfare is essential to the overall Star Wars listening experience.
      42
    • Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, depends of my humor.
      18


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I never listen to SW bootlegs anymore and won't until we get proper releases, but when we do, the Fox Fanfare must be on there, I'll copy it from the SEs if it's not.

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16 minutes ago, Holko said:

I never listen to SW bootlegs anymore and won't until we get proper releases, but when we do, the Fox Fanfare must be on there, I'll copy it from the SEs if it's not.

The SEs don't even have the correct version: for some reason they microedited out 1 second of the 1980 recording. The unmicroedited version that's used in the films is available either in the Anthology or the TPM Ultimate Edition

 

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I don't really like to edit, skip tracks or make playlists unless I absolutely have to. And since I only play the Arista box set whenever I want to play the original STAR WARS trilogy (been a few years since the last time, though), and only like to press 'play' and lean back, the Fox fanfare will always play.

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59 minutes ago, enderdrag64 said:

The SEs don't even have the correct version: for some reason they microedited out 1 second of the 1980 recording. The unmicroedited version that's used in the films is available either in the Anthology or the TPM Ultimate Edition

 

ugh

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2 hours ago, enderdrag64 said:

The SEs don't even have the correct version: for some reason they microedited out 1 second of the 1980 recording. The unmicroedited version that's used in the films is available either in the Anthology or the TPM Ultimate Edition

 

 

Really? I'm not able to compare at the moment - what was edited out?

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I'd agree - I skip it but not because John Williams didn't compose it. It's just not part of my limited SW world.

 

At one point I had Goldsmith's Universal fanfare in front of The Mummy. Not because he wrote it, but because it's a good studio logo theme.

 

I wish people would focus less on who wrote something, and more on (a) whether it works with the musical experience and (b) whether it's connected to the universe in some way.

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1 hour ago, BB-8 said:

Doesn't it depend on which edition you are playing.

 

Which ones actually have the Fox Fanfare? I can't recall any OST having it.

 

The 1997 RCA Victor versions of the OT, and the Phantom Menace Ultimate Edition have the Fox Fanfare. The Anthology also has it.

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25 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I don’t like poll options that put words in my mouth.  A simple Yes/No/Sometimes is preferred.  Leave the arguments for/against to the thread.

 

Good point. I voted 'don't', but don't necessarily think it's essential to the listening experience. 

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6 hours ago, enderdrag64 said:

The SEs don't even have the correct version: for some reason they microedited out 1 second of the 1980 recording. The unmicroedited version that's used in the films is available either in the Anthology or the TPM Ultimate Edition

 

 

Really?  How did I not know this!?

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2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

I don’t like poll options that put words in my mouth.  A simple Yes/No/Sometimes is preferred.  Leave the arguments for/against to the thread.

 

 

This.

 

THIS.

 

A 1000x THIS!!!!!!!!

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13 minutes ago, Andy said:

Princess Leia's Theme , Yoda's Theme , Luke and Leia , Anakin's Theme, Across the Stars, Battle of the Heroes,  Rey's Theme, Rebellion Reborn, Rise of Skywalker

 

That'd be one lengthy overture.:lol:

 

It would have been rather cool of Williams to compose an overture for the series as a whole. Alas...

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I don't skip it when an album starts with it.

 

But Is it a good idea to include the Fanfare on an expansion, that's the question...

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1 hour ago, Andy said:

Yes, just one concert piece per film playlist. :lol:

 

See, when I hear "overture" I think of something like Leonore 3 or Tannhauser overture where its an encapsulated telling of the entire story, with as many of the themes of the piece as a whole as can be made to fit into it.

 

Making such an overture of such a big cycle as Williams' work on Star Wars would be a massive task indeed!

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Perhaps “Prologue” is a better name for a concert suite played before the score proper. Whatever you call it, I think it’s a great idea! It might just make me listen to the Main Title more, since yes, I am one of those people who tends to skip it.

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1 hour ago, A. A. Ron said:

Perhaps “Prologue” is a better name for a concert suite played before the score proper. Whatever you call it, I think it’s a great idea! It might just make me listen to the Main Title more, since yes, I am one of those people who tends to skip it.

Prelude!!

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1 hour ago, Chen G. said:

See, when I hear "overture" I think of something like Leonore 3 or Tannhauser overture where its an encapsulated telling of the entire story, with as many of the themes of the piece as a whole as can be made to fit into it.

 

Not necessarily though, even in opera. I don't know when it became common to have the overture be a condensation of the story that follows, but look e.g. at Mozart's famous Figaro overture and it's really basically its own thing that just fits in with the rest of the opera.

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You're absolutely right, there are lots of different kinds of overtures: they can be short preludes to the first scene (almost every Verdi opera comes to mind), they can be summations of the work as a whole, they can be a summation of the coming act (Tristan) or of one facet of the work; and they can be hybrids insofar as they can sum-up a portion of the work and then segue directly into the first scene rather than have a concert ending.

 

Still, when I think "overture" I think primarily the Leonore 3 model.

 

12 minutes ago, Clockwork Angel said:

Prelude!!

 

Einleitung! :P

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Movies had overtures for forever, and very often they did serve the function of summing-up (at least insofar as they exposited the main tunes) either the movie or the segment up to intermission, after which the entr'acte music would serve as an overture for the remainder of the film.

 

Wiliams says he edited the track on the first Star Wars LP to segue from the opening titles to the closing credits to give it the feeling of an overture, although here he's talking less about it telling the story and more about a certain ABA overture structure, a-la Tannhauser. I think the Phantom Menace OST had the suites (Anakin's Theme and Duel of the Fates) at the top of the presentation for the same reason.

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12 minutes ago, Jay said:

Maybe it's not edited - maybe Williams recorded two different final notes at the sessions?

Perhaps this is possible. The waveforms don't exactly line up, but then again virtually none of the waveforms between the Anthology and the Special Edition line up (due to being different scans transfers with different mastering, presumably). When I was comparing them back and forth I don't remember hearing any performance differences but I definitely could have missed something. 

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2 minutes ago, enderdrag64 said:

Perhaps this is possible. The waveforms don't exactly line up, but then again virtually none of the waveforms between the Anthology and the Special Edition line up (due to being different scans with different mastering, presumably). When I was comparing them back and forth I don't remember hearing any performance differences but I definitely could have missed something. 

Transfers.

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8 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Vorabend!

 

Vorspiel!:lol:

 

The Phantom Menace would have made a decent Vorabend if it were 90 minutes long instead of 130 minutes...

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44 minutes ago, enderdrag64 said:

Perhaps this is possible. The waveforms don't exactly line up, but then again virtually none of the waveforms between the Anthology and the Special Edition line up (due to being different scans transfers with different mastering, presumably). When I was comparing them back and forth I don't remember hearing any performance differences but I definitely could have missed something. 

 

Is the shorter version used in the films?

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3 hours ago, enderdrag64 said:

 

 

image.png

 

Are you comparing apples to apples? The fanfare on Star Wars is different from what was in The Anthology. Which I presume is the Empire recording?

 

How does the SE of Empire stack up?

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