Soundtrack Review: Revenge of the Sith

Composed and Conducted by: John Williams

The conclusion to the misguided prequel trilogy is probably my favorite of the bunch. While the script still sucks and the acting still suffers from poor direction and lack of real sets in lieu of a blue screen, Revenge of the Sith focuses a lot on battles, which happen to be the one of the prequel trilogy’s only constant strengths. John Williams delivers a large epic score and the end result, while very good, seems to have missed the mark in a couple of areas.

Soundtrack Review: Attack of the Clones

Three years after the disappointment of Phantom Menace, many fans still found their expectations building for Attack of the Clones. It’s about as bad as its predecessor, some would say worse. While there is no child Anakin or Jar Jar, there is still unmemorable characters and too much politics. Also added to the mix is a whiny Anakin Skywalker who spends a good chunk of the film engaged in the worst love story of modern cinema. But also like Phantom Menace, a bright spot is John Williams’ score.

However, Williams did show a troubling trend of holding back on new themes, even though the score is still a thematic one.

Anakin and Padme: Showcased in “Across the Stars”, this sweeping love theme has been accused of deriving too much from Williams’ Hook theme. There’s a similarity, but it’s only one part of the theme, maybe a couple seconds. This lovely theme dominates the soundtrack, just as the cringeworthy romance between Anakin and Padme does. Though it is a love theme, it does swell up fairly often to show that this romance will have ramifications across the entire galaxy.

Soundtrack Review: The Phantom Menace

The long-awaited prequels started to hit theaters in 1999 and immediately fans were hit with great disappointment. The charm of the original trilogy is missing from Phantom Menace, which suffers from a confusing and boring plot about trade and taxation, Jar Jar Binks, and characters that are just not interesting. The question for the next several reviews is: did John Williams new scores fail to live up to the originals as well?

First here are the new themes that Williams created.

Anakin: This innocent theme is for the child version of Anakin, only resurfacing once in the next two installments. It’s pretty good, and the best part is that the end references a piece of Vader’s theme without sounding villainous. It gets its own concert arrangement.

Darth Maul: Darth Maul gets a whispery Sanskrit chant which can actually get pretty creepy.

Duel of the Fates: The most popular theme from prequels, this is a mix of racing notes and grand choral chanting in Sanskrit. It appears in the final act of the film, with the choral bombast occurring during the lightsaber duel. Actually, the prequels were noted for using much more choir. The original trilogy had the low male voices for the Emperor and that was about it.

Jar Jar Binks: This is a goofy, comedic motif which is okay, but I’m not excited when it comes on. It does suffer from being associated with such an awful character. It is appropriately introduced in “Jar Jar’s Introduction”.

Qui-Gon Jinn: Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon gets a very noble theme which doesn’t appear too much, and not even on the original album release.

Shmi: Shmi has her own little motif. It’s mot notable appearance is in “Anakin is Free” on the two-disc set.

Trade Federation: The Trade Federation gets its own military march, showcased in “Droid Invasion”. It doesn’t appear a lot, but when it does it’s pretty awesome. It’s kind of sad that such an awesome theme accompanies the worst foot soldiers of Star Wars.

People were curious which themes would return from the original trilogy. The Main Theme graces the opening crawl and end credits per tradition, but otherwise gets just one brief statement in “Panaka and the Queen’s Protectors”. The Force theme appears much more often, as it’s a concept very much at the forefront of the prequels. Yoda and Darth Vader’s themes are referenced in “The High Council Meeting”. The Emperor’s theme appears too in scenes with Darth Sidious, who obviously is Palpatine in Sith guise.

One-Disc Release

The Phantom Menace soundtrack was released with over seventy minutes of score. Williams decided to release in what is a called a concert suite form. Basically, the music is not arranged as it is in the film and in many places two or three cues are spliced together. For some listeners this can get frustrating, wondering why the Trade Federation theme bookends the music from the fish chase scene or bits of Sanskrit chanting appears to slow down action cues. I find some of the edits to be a little annoying, as it makes the presentation feel jumbled at times, but in general this is a good listening experience. The only missing highlight is “Anakin is Free”.

Things kick off with the opening crawl and some stately music from the arrival on Coruscant scene, though it’s incorrectly titled “Arrival at Naboo”. Following are the concert arrangements of Duel of the Fates and Anakin’s Theme. Track five, “Sith Spacecraft and Droid Battle”, is an interesting highlight. It starts with sinister chanting and ominous percussion before breaking out into all-out action. If you listen closely you can hear that it’s a variation on Darth Vader’s theme!

The standout moments of the next few tracks are the pompous “Flag Parade” and the sinister “He is the Chosen One”. There’s not much else of note until track thirteen, “Panaka and the Queen’s Protectors”. This is rousing heroic piece which suddenly slows down towards the end with some slow percussion before picking up again for the finale.

After the aforementioned “Droid Invasion” is “Qui-Gon’s Noble End”, which kicks off with action music from a way earlier scene. After some haunting usage of Darth Maul’s motif a tragic rendition of Duel of the Fates breaks out. “Funeral” showcases yet another Sanskrit choir, this one a very mournful tune which would make a return for the ending of Revenge of the Sith.

The last track is “Augie’s Municipal Band”, which is actually an upbeat and happy version of the Emperor’s theme! This is largely accomplished by changing the last note to make it more uplifting, as well as children chanting in lieu of a sinister male chorus. The end credits is basically tracks 2 and 3 pasted together.

Overall, Phantom Menace, like most John Williams scores, has a lot of great music. But there’s actually quite a bit I don’t find interesting. Queen Amidala and Naboo Palace” isn’t terrible, but it’s not a track you’re going to go back to a lot. A lot of the action tracks not from the last act don’t have much in the way of references to themes and motifs, something which was always a great strength in the original trilogy. I think another problem that I have personally is that my impressions of a film can reflect on its score. When I hear music from Empire Strikes Back, I think about that movie’s wonderful moments. When I listen to this soundtrack, I think of a lot of bad and underwhelming moments. I just can’t get the same thrill I do with the original scores.

So does John Williams disappoint? He does maybe a little bit, but his music is still one of the few genuinely great things about the prequels,

Rating: 8/10

Two-Disc Ultimate Edition

Just a year later the Phantom Menace received a two-disc release, and is the only prequel score to have gotten one. It’s completely in chronological order and if there’s any music you wanted on the original release that wasn’t there, it’s here. “Anakin is Free” is the best one. It starts with Qui-Gon’s theme before a few minutes of amazing emotional music and then a statement of the Force theme. One little cue I really like is “Darth Sidious and Dart Maul”, which kicks off with an evil fanfare before going into the Emperor’s theme.

Listening to this album can actually be a little jarring during the final battle sequences, as they were re-edited in post production, meaning the music goes all over the place. Many of the tracks are also really short, making it hard to keep up with what track you’re on.

I think I actually prefer the original release. Some of the concert arrangements flow much better.

Rating: 7/10

Track Listing for One-Disc Release

1. Main Title and the Arrival at Naboo (2:55) 6/10
2. Duel of the Fates (4:14) 10/10
3. Anakin’s Theme (3:05) 10/10
4. Jar Jar’s Introduction and the Swim to Otoh Gunga (5:07) 6/10
5. The Sith Spacecraft and the Droid Battle (2:37) 8/10
6. The Trip to the Naboo Temple and the Audience with Boss Nass (4:07) 5/10
7. The Arrival at Tatooine and the Flag Parade (4:04) 7/10
8. He is the Chosen One (3:53) 8/10
9. Anakin Defeats Sebulba (4:24) 7/10
10. Passage through the Planet Core (4:40) 6/10
11. Watto’s Deal and Kids at Play (4:57) 6/10
12. Panaka and the Queen’s Protectors (3:24) 8/10
13. Queen Amidala and the Naboo Palace (4:51) 4/10
14. The Droid Invasion and the Appearance of Darth Maul (5:14) 7/10
15. Qui-Gon’s Noble End (3:48) 8/10
16. The High Council Meeting and Qui-Gon’s Funeral (3:09) 8/10
17. Augie’s Great Municipal Band and End Credits (9:37) 8/10

Soundtrack Review: Shadows of the Empire

Composed and conducted by: Joel McNeely

In the mid-1990s, Star Wars fandom was experiencing a large revival, with hundreds of new action figures, many new video games, and a whole new expanded universe in the form of novels and comics. George Lucas, who by now had become the marketing-obsessed man who would torment us with an inferior prequel trilogy, decided to pick a book and treat it like a movie. This would mean for a written novel there would be toys, a video game, a comic book adaptation, a making-of book, and, most unusually, a soundtrack!

That’s right. A soundtrack would be created for a movie that didn’t exist. Unfortunately, instead of choosing the superb Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn, Lucas picked Shadows of the Empire, which takes place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I guess the the fact that Darth Vader was still alive in said novel probably helped it. The multimedia event would ensure that this book became one of the most highly praised among fans, particularly nostalgic ones that played the video game. Actually, the novel is pretty decent, with a good story, but some issues when it comes to how it is written.

Joel McNeely, who had scored the Young Indiana Jones series, was chosen to do the soundtrack. He found himself with virtually no limitations, other than the amount of music he could create (around fifty minutes). The result is a surprisingly eclectic, although fairly thematically driven score.

John Williams’ themes would only grace three of the tracks, but new ones would be created. The first track is completely credited to John Williams, as it is the famous Main Title and a re-orchestrated section of the carbon-freezing music from Empire Strikes Back. The only original material here is a slowly descending motif that bridges these two pieces together. The same motif crops up in a couple of other places.

The new material goes full force with “The Battle of Gall”. The first half features the descending motif in its longest appearance, followed by a brief action outburst, some jaunty battle preparation music, and a Rebel hymn. The second half is exciting, but doesn’t match up to Williams, especially since it lacks the battling themes of the maestro’s cinematic scores.

“Imperial City” is one of the best tracks on the whole album. The cue is for a scene that would never be put into a movie due to its length. As we approach the city planet of Coruscant, things start off quietly with light piano music, the planet just a tiny speck. As we start to get into the clouds, some fanfares break out, and when the city is revealed in all its glory the music becomes an Olympic-style fanfare. The music somewhat subsides for a bit, but breaks out into more fanfares at the end before trailing off the way it began. This is a fantastic cue, although it is very hard to hear the opening notes.

“Beggar Canyon Chase” is more Indiana Jonesesque than Star Wars, but does end heroically with what is, according to the liner notes, supposed to be a “brief iteration of Dash’s theme”.  As far as I can tell, no such theme exists anywhere else on the album. “Southern Underground” gives us a new recurring theme, but what it is for I have no idea.

McNeely’s crowning achievement is his new master villain theme for the horny, reptilian Prince Xizor, showcased in track six. There’s a lot of dissonance here to represent his criminal and two-sided character, but it’s all worth it for the last minute and a half, a full percussion-backed march of evil which presents his theme three times. This is the most obvious and popular of McNeely’s Star Wars themes, in large part thanks to its presence in the video game’s final levels.

“The Seduction of Princess Leia” is an interesting waltz that I think deviates a little too much from the Star Wars style. “Night Skies” is a dramatic cue that obviously deserves a spot among my highlight cues. It features Xizor and Vader’s themes as they contemplate their schemes. The best moment however is supposed to occur when Vader reaches out to Luke Skywalker, prompting a grand version of the Force theme which surpasses even Williams’ “Light of the Force”.

After the underwhelming “Into the Sewers”, McNeely lets loose with a ten-minute finale which features most of his new themes. It’s full of choral crescendos, which seems to give a hint at the more prevalent use of choir in the prequel trilogy, and some bold statements of Xizor’s theme. The most interesting part is when Xizor and Vader’s themes actually weave around each other, with the dark lord’s fanfare winning out in the end. The Rebel hymn and a brief reiteration of “The Imperial City” give the album a grand satisfactory closing.

Personally, I would have liked it if more money was invested into this project, if only to create an actual end credits suite which is customary for Star Wars films. Some editing software could create such a track using the usual closing credits opening, “Southern Underground”, and the finale of “Xizor’s Theme”.

Shadows of the Empire is a unique soundtrack, and is actually quite good although McNeely really should have used his themes more often. I actually find this album almost as good as the prequel scores, which likewise could have used some of their new themes more. Surprisingly, this soundtrack is still easily available online, so listen to the music samples to make sure you want it and then buy it.

Rating: 7/10

Track Listing

1. Main Theme from Star Wars and Leia’s Nightmare (3:41) 6/10
2. The Battle of Gall (7:59) 7/10
3. Imperial City (8:02) 8/10
4. Beggar’s Canyon Chase (2:56) 6/10
5. The Southern Underground (1:48) 6/10
6. Xizor’s Theme (4:35) 8/10
7. The Seduction of Princess Leia (3:38) 7/10
8. Night Skies (4:17) 10/10
9. Into the Sewers (2:55) 5/10
10. The Destruction of Xizor’s Palace (10:44) 8/10

Soundtrack Review: Return of the Jedi

The third installment of the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi is in my opinion the weakest of the three, showing some troubling signs for the future prequel trilogy. We are treated with laughable characters such as Jabba the Hutt, cutesy antics by the Ewoks, and some rushed plot twists. However, while the music too is down a notch, John Williams still delivers an amazing score and a fitting end for the series musically. Here I will review the original record album and the two-disc set, since those are the two versions I’ve listened to. But first, the themes.

Emperor: This is my favorite of the ROTJ themes, an evil piece that stands out because it often uses a choir (unusual in the original trilogy). It perfectly captures the dark evil of the Sith and is featured heavily in “The Emperor’s Throne Room”. This theme is one of the reasons why the Luke-Vader-Emperor scenes in the film were so strong and moody.

Soundtrack Review: Empire Strikes Back

Here it is, my all-time favorite musical score ever composed for film! Not only does it accompany my favorite Star Wars movie, it also has the greatest assembly of themes and motifs. For its time The Empire Strikes Back was a surprisingly dark film for an action-adventure and the music by legend John Williams follows suit, especially in the second half. Following are the new additions in what is the greatest assembly of themes ever devised by John Williams.

Soundtrack Review: Star Wars

Everyone’s excited for the new Star Wars movie. As a soundtrack fan, I’m really looking forward to John Williams’ next musical installment. In anticipation I’m reviewing all six Star Wars movie scores, as well as an interesting entry from the expanded Universe

I don’t really need to say much about the start of the Star Wars franchise, since it’s pretty much common knowledge. It’s also commonly accepted that John Williams made grand, orchestral soundtracks popular again with his amazing well-known score for A New Hope, perhaps the most consistently entertaining and easy-to-listen-to entry in the Star Wars music saga.