Michael Abels' THE ACOLYTE (2024)

[artguy360 1,889]

There's a lot of JW SW sound woven into the score. Nothing about the music has jumped out to me so far, but it's not bad. A very competent Star Wars scores, though lacking in musical highlights.

[DarthDementous 1,185]

5 hours ago, The Great Gonzales said:

Sounds like TLC/KOTCS

0:33 onwards really reminds me of the Sequel Trilogy

[GerateWohl 4,938]

Somehow the music just like almost every other aspect of the show, the dialogues, the flow of the action, the characters, the acting, the story, the outfits, the make-up, the editing, every single image that you see, is less than the sum of its parts.

 

Don't know how else to describe it.

 

And there are good parts.

 

[tomsmoviemadness 3,424]

During the fight between Kelnacca, Sol & Torbin, Williams' Kylo Ren theme is again used.

 

I'll be curioud what the connection is going to be, because Qimir wasn't anywhere near what happened this time. Or Qimir is a transformed mother Korril....

[GerateWohl 4,938]

21 minutes ago, JNHFan2000 said:

During the fight between Kelnacca, Sol & Torbin, Williams' Kylo Ren theme is again used.

 

I'll be curioud what the connection is going to be, because Qimir wasn't anywhere near what happened this time. Or Qimir is a transformed mother Korril....

Old Qimir will turn out to be Ben Solo's real father going to have an affair with Leia while Han is on his shift because she is jealous about Han's and Chewbacca's close relationship.

[Gabriel Bezerra 371]

 

[Jay 38,871]

I'm all caught up on the show now, and have heard lot of cool music in the show, especially in the second half of the season, that I eagerly await hearing on album.  I still haven't found time to listen to  he first album, but a lot of the lightsaber battles and chases in the second half of the season have had some cool music for sure.  I can't say I have picked up on any themes in the underscore that represent anything, just from watching the episodes 1 time each, though.

[thestat 402]

Catching up with the show - it is good and am happy to see it embrace 'woke' (ie anti-racist, anti-fascist) culture in such an explicit way. 

 

Abels' score continues to be very good - it could use a bit more thematic resonance but I guess this is the contemporary compositional environment and his team, including Moody are doing a great job. Still it's wonderful to hear such full orchestrations and dynamic composition in the barren streaming landscape full of thuds and empty repetitive nonsense.

[artguy360 1,889]

Are there any must-listen to tracks so far?

[tomsmoviemadness 3,424]

I think from Volume 1, if you want an idea of the score, you should listen to these.

 

The Prisoners Escape

An Acolyte

Combat In The Courtyard

Brendok

The Ascension Ceremony

Under The Bunta Tree

Dark Master Descends

 

It's a mix of the action material and the theme for the main characters.

[tomsmoviemadness 3,424]

I've really enjoyed Abels' music. It might not have the thematic memorability of Williams' scores, but I think the orchestrations and intricate action music are absolute standouts.

 

The music from the finale was really great. My favourite parts were the space chase (really excellent), the double fight scene in the middle of the episode and some of the more emotional dramatic stuff at the end.

 

During the latter part of the end credits there was an especially powerful and wonderful cue that I'm not sure was used in one of the episodes themselves. Can't wait to listen to the 2nd volume!

[crocodile 8,372]

The complete 94-track album is out in New Zealand and it is 3 hours and 48 minutes long!

 

 

Sadly, it contains two (!) versions of the horrid pop song.

 

Karol

[CGCJ 458]

New composer credited on the sountrack: Oscar Pan (credited as Zhi Pan), worked on episodes 6&7, although uncredited.

 

He's credited for the following tracks:

You're Going to Listen

The Cover-Up Begins

[Jay 38,871]

I have finished the season and enjoyed the score throughout.  Though I will say that I only ever really stood up and took notice of a cue I really wanted to hear outside the show during episodes 5 and 8.  Both had great action music!

 

Still, this is probably the only show besides Rings of Power that I actually watched and liked the score in in a very long time, since Alcatraz maybe.  I can't wait to check out the album; I still haven't checked out the Volume 1 album either!  Need more free time!

[Edmilson 8,545]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

Still, this is probably the only show besides Rings of Power that I actually watched and liked the score in in a very long time, since Alcatraz maybe.

Have you heard Abel Korzeniowski's Penny Dreadful? For me it's the greatest TV score (as in, episodic series, not counting minisseries or TV movies) of the last decade. Of course, you have to like both sides of Korzeniowski (both his darker music and his more romantic material) to enjoy it.

 

Christopher Lennertz's Lost in Space was also pretty fun. In some places he was channeling John Williams prequel energy!

[Jay 38,871]

I've never seen either of those shows

[Yavar Moradi 2,885]

If you love Rings of Power you should also try other McCreary like Outlander. Were it not for RoP I think that might well deserve being called his magnum opus. Foundation is also fantastic, both in and out of show context.

 

I second the recommendation for Penny Dreadful. It's hard to say since RoP is ongoing, but I think it might rival McCreary's work on that as my favorite TV scoring of the past decade.

 

Yavar

[Jay 38,871]

I'm talking about shows I watched and noticed the score while watching, not albums that I might like whether or not I've even seen the show.  I've never seen Outlander either, well, I watched the first couple episodes with my wife then said it wasn't for me and she watched the rest without me.

 

And I forgot to mention Mandalorian!  THAT's a recent show where I couldn't wait to get the album after I saw each episode.

[enderdrag64 806]

36 minutes ago, Jay said:

I'm talking about shows I watched and noticed the score while watching, not albums that I might like whether or not I've even seen the show. 

Last time I noticed the score while watching a show was probably Netflix's live action One Piece adaptation last year

[Bespin 8,660]

I noticed the score in the show, yes, and that's the face I made during a sabre duel:

[CGCJ 458]

I've gone through the Volume 2 soundtrack release and updated my spreadsheet.

 

Episode 5 is missing 00:01-01:00 Recap (00:59) - Unsure if tracked.
Episode 6 is missing 00:01-01:00 Recap (00:59) - Unsure if tracked.
Episode 7 is missing 00:01-01:05 Recap (01:04), 20:12-02:54 (00:42), & 27:05-27:43 (00:38) - Unsure if tracked.
Episode 8 is missing 00:01-01:15 Recap (01:14), 04:10-05:52 (01:42), 07:25-08:08 (00:43), 09:03-10:53 (01:50), 19:22-21:05 (01:43), 29:45-31:03 (02:18), 37:23-38:01 (00:38), & 44:29-44:51 (00:22).

 

Most of those for episode 8 seem tracked as I recognise some of them from earlier episodes.

 

There was also one thing I wasn't able to locate:
00:00-00:34 Have You Told Me Everything

[Jay 38,871]

So this score has a bit of an unusual release pattern.

 

 

First there was the Vol 1 OST album with 45 tracks

 

Then the single release of Power of Two on its own

 

Then the Vol 2 OST album with 48 tracks, which has the same cover as the volume 1 OST just with different text on it

 

Then finally a combined OST album with 94 tracks, because it opens with The Power of Two, then has all the tracks from both Volumes afterwards

 

I hope this isn't the start of a new trend...

[crumbs 14,669]

53 minutes ago, Jay said:

I hope this isn't the start of a new trend...

 

Personally I'd take this newer trend of multiple releases with different music, over the previous trend of reissuing OST masters with no new material over and over again...

 

If only Disney milked the JW scores with multiple releases!

[Gabriel Bezerra 371]

Is this complete album available to buy?

[Tydirium 1,231]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

So this score has a bit of an unusual release pattern.

 

 

First there was the Vol 1 OST album with 45 tracks

 

Then the single release of Power of Two on its own

 

Then the Vol 2 OST album with 48 tracks, which has the same cover as the volume 1 OST just with different text on it

 

Then finally a combined OST album with 94 tracks, because it opens with The Power of Two, then has all the tracks from both Volumes afterwards

 

I hope this isn't the start of a new trend...

 

Volumes 1 & 2 are streaming only. The full album is the one you can purchase.

 

Just now, Gabriel Bezerra said:

Is this complete album available to buy?

 

Yes.

[Gabriel Bezerra 371]

1 minute ago, Tydirium said:

Yes

Ah, that makes sense then.

 

I remember Picard Season 1 and Perry Mason had multiple relases and then a complete release at the end and the people who bought all albums were justifiably angry.

[Manakin Skywalker 5,166]

Here's the number of tracks each of the composers is credited on:

 

Cameron Moody (41)
Robert Scott Wallace (29)
Miguel Bezanilla (27)
Orlando Perez Rosso (12)
Pablo Croissier (3)
Zhi Pan (2)

[artguy360 1,889]

The use of choir in the final episode did not work for me. I assume the music was recorded with a real choir but something about the mix or the way the choir came into the music had a strangely fake sound to it. I'll listen again on the album.

[Jay 38,871]

I was able to listen to the entire 4 hour album yesterday while working.  I liked it a lot!  Plenty of Prequel-style scoring which always sounded fun, and was never overused, just sprinkled in.  Fun action music, and I liked the choir near the end of the album.  One thing I didn't like was the appearances of the Power Of Two/Many within the score tracks.  I started listening to the main song since its track#1 on the final album but quickly skipped it because I just don't like it, and didn't like how it showed up towards the end of the album twice in score tracks.  I get that it's because they put it in the end credits of two episodes, but I didn't like that while watching the show either.  It was a decent enough short source piece for the actual scene in the one episode, but isnt good enough to be turned into a pop song like they did with it.  Oh well.

[crocodile 8,372]

Not sure if it's of any use to anyone but here goes...

 

I created a 2-hour playlist for myself. I like the sheer majority on the albums but it's a bit of a slog to sit through 3 hours and 48 minutes. The idea was to have varied selection from all of the episodes but, at the same time, give the music much faster pace of a Star Wars feature film score. That means a lot of the important sequences are covered but some might be missing. I also kept some minor cues because they offer some tonal variety. As you can see, I kept a lot of the majority of material from episodes 1, 5 and 8 intact but the other material is significantly truncated.

 

If you have any suggestion as to how to improve it in terms of thematic inclusion and pacing, I would be most grateful for any suggestions. I can spot 3-4 themes running through but might have missed some. It would be nice to have as comprehensive, but still efficient, version of this music for more casual listening. 😀

 

1. A Lone Assassin (2:06)
2. The Noodle Shop Fight (4:13)
3. Meet Osha (1:23)
4. Meknek Spacewalk (1:17)
5. The Prisoners Escape (3:41)
6. Finding Osha (3:54)
7. An Acolyte (1:18)
8. The Temple on Olega (3:40)
9. Teacher and Student (2:21)
10. Combat in the Courtyard (1:54)
11. Khofar Credits (1:21)
12. Brendok (2:18)
13. Mother Aniseya (2:15)
14. The Ascension Ceremony (3:48)
15. The Fire (3:54)
16. Under the Bunta Tree (1:30)
17. Forest Trek (2:33)
18. Bazil’s Theme (1:46)
19. A Tracker (1:13)
20. Multicolored Lightsaber Battle (3:05)
21. You Are No Jedi / You Are Under Arrest (3:15)
22. Dual-Wielding Duel (2:43)
23. Battle in Red Green & Blue (2:37)
24. A Horrifying Reveal (3:09)
25. I’ve Accepted My Darkness (1:40)
26. Two Sisters / Two Stories (4:14)
27. The Lagoon (3:46)
28. Bazil & Pip Strike Back (1:26)
29. This Is Who You Are (3:26)
30. A Ship Departs / A Ship Arrives (1:31)
31. Luxuriously Dark (1:25)
32. A Noble Mission (2:23)
33. Those Girls Are the Proof (1:43)
34. A Tragic Mistake (2:50)
35. Kelnacca Attacks (4:23)
36. Another Asteroid Field (1:36)
37. Memories Among the Ruins (3:29)
38. A Great Team (2:09)
39. Double Duel (2:49)
40. Explanation / Confession (2:06)
41. Atonement / Transformation (3:15)
42. Pursuing the Twins (2:43)
43. Rapprochement / Farewell (4:06)
44. Deceptive Elegy (2:03)
45. The Acolyte / Homage to a Master (1:51)
46. The Power of Many / End Title (3:17)

 

Total: 1 hour 59 minutes and 34 seconds.

 

Karol

[Jay 38,871]

Awesome, I was hoping someone would do that.

[The Great Gonzales 6,057]

Anybody else reminded of Holst's Neptune around 0:21 of Meknek Spacewalk?

[thestat 402]

If the Holst reference is not intentional, I will eat my shorts.

[DarthDementous 1,185]

Other neat bits of musical continuity I noticed

The music when Darth Plagueis shows up is low throat singing, recalling the persistent deep throat tones in Palpatine's Seduction. Not sure what track it's in on the album but I definitely heard it

Battle in Red Green & Blue has parts that feel like call-forwards to the action music that plays during the duel between Palpatine and the Jedi Masters. Given we're seeing a bunch of Jedi go up against a Sith, this is likely very intentional and is a nice thread between the two scenes

 

[crocodile 8,372]

The Sith cello motif almost feels like an echo of the cello (viola?) trio in that ROTS opera scene as well. At least in the sense it has the similar antique vibe that precedes neoromantic music that otherwise dominates Williams' scores. And the story reference to manipulation the Force to create life and the brief appearance of the ancient Sith (I assume) are not lost on me either. It might be coincidence, of course, but still a neat one.

 

Karol

[CGCJ 458]

Some cue information courtesy of GEMA:

Spoiler

Lost / Found
Death of Indara/Title Card - Miguel Bezanilla
Epilogue: An Acolyte / Credits - Robert Wallace
101 End Credits Suite Pt1 - Cameron Moody

 

Revenge / Justice
Mae Attacks Torbin / Mae Escapes - Miguel Bezanilla
102 End Credits - Robert Wallace
102 End Credits Suite Pt1 - Cameron Moody
102 End Credits Suite Pt2 - Miguel Bezanilla
102 End Credits Suite Pt3 - Cameron Moody

 

Destiny
Sol Spies / Title Card - Cameron Moody
I Want You to Stay Special - Cameron Moody
Ascension Prelude - Pablo Croissier
Mae Ascends / Osha is Reluctant - Pablo Croissier
103 End Credits Suite Pt1 - Cameron Moody
103 End Credits Suite Pt2 - Orlando Perez Rosso
103 End Credits Suite Pt3 - Pablo Croissier

 

Day
Risked Life to Help You / Title Card - Miguel Bezanilla
104 End Credits - Robert Wallace
104 End Credits Suite Pt 1 - Robert Wallace
104 End Credits Suite Pt 2 - Miguel Bezanilla

 

Night
Multicolored Lightsaber Battle / Title Card - Miguel Bezanilla
What Extraordinary Beings We Are - Robert Wallace
105 End Credits Suite Pt1 - Cameron Moody
105 End Credits Suite Pt2 - Miguel Bezanilla
105 End Credits Suite Pt3 - Robert Wallace

 

Choice
Sol Follows Twins, Sees Koril / Title Card - Miguel Bezanilla

 

Unsorted
Intro Cards / Fight - Miguel Bezanilla
Four Jedi Arrive - Orlando Perez Rosso

 

I've updated my spreadsheet to include these.

 

Still no information on any cues solely credited to Michael Abels...