I want all of John Williams's Star Wars music. What exactly should I buy?

I would like the complete scores of all five movies. That is, the scores before they were cut into the movies. Could any kind SW music experts tell me if I'm looking at the right CDs?

For the 1977 SW I'm looking at this CD.

For ESB I'm looking at this CD.

For ROTJ I'm looking at this CD.

For TPM I'm looking at this CD.

For AOTC I'm looking at this CD. But why does this score look a lot shorter than the other four?

There's also this CD that supposedly has the complete scores of the original trilogy, but it looks like they shuffled the scores of the three movies all together!

Am I on the right track? Point out my mistakes, and please show me what I should be buying if the above CDs aren't what I need. Thanks!

 

The CDs you linked to for each individual Star Wars CD are the ones I and most other music lovers here have.

Get them, you're on exactly the right track.

 

Though for AOTC, ya might want to hold off and see if they do an "Ultimate Edition" and see how that is -- that's what I did. The AOTC soundtrack thus far is only a one-discer.




Rick McCallum loves you!

 

Well if you really want the complete, pre-edit, versions you're going to have to keep looking. Actually, you're going to have to start praying because they're not available. All of those, with the exception of AOTC, are the soundtrack as it appeared in the film. Some of them have alternate cuts or extra material, but none of them are everything JW wrote for each film.

 

You're depressing me, Ultimate.

I can't speak for the other four soundtracks, but I remember back in the late 1970s I had a Star Wars music album. (It was, I think, a double album.) I listened to that thing a million times. I can remember that there was quite a bit of music on it that wasn't in the movie. For example, Princess Leia's theme was a soft, gentle (even sad) piece that played uninterrupted for several minutes (which never happened in the movie).

Now, that CD I'm looking at has Princess Leia's theme on it, which I'm guessing is what I remember hearing on my long-gone album of 25 years ago.

Ultimate, are you saying that this CD simply has the music from the SW movie played right in order? In other words, if one were to delete the voices and sound effects while playing the movie, would the result be identical to this CD?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that that is not the case. Can anyone either confirm or disconfirm Ultimate's information?

 

Ultimate is right. I own everything on your list except the AOTC soundtrack and the last item.

 

Binary: The TPM soundtrack is like that: exactly as it appears in the movie, music editing and everything. The general consensus seems to be that it's worth it, even though some of the cuts (especially at the end) can get annoying. The AOTC is the basic soundtrack, which means that it's not all the music, and some things are in odd places (for example, the Kamino entrance music is in the Opening Titles/Ambush on Coruscant track). But it is designed to flow together, so it's not like it's jarring (unless you have the tracks as they appear in the movie memorized). The OT:SE soundtracks are mostly just the music in the OT, but I believe without all the edits and more as Williams composed them. They also have concert suites, like a separate version of Princess Leia's theme, for example.

 

But the entering Kamino song, oh excuse me, TRACK is the same as the entering Coruscant track. In fact, almost all the entering tracks are the same. Its a good track though. Kinda eerie.

 

The ANH, ESB and ROTJ scores present the material as it was recorded by JW, not necessarily as it is heard in the film. The TPM UE presents the material as it was edited to fit the film, not as it was composed and recorded by JW. The original release of TPM's soundtrack, the single disc version, actually contains cues as written by JW that are not heard in that form on the UE, as well as pieces that are not heard in the film at all, so are therefore completely absent from the UE.

As for AOTC's soundtrack, the list is shorter because it's a single-disc release, while the others are all two discs. Every soundtrack release since ROTJ has initially been one disc (ANH and ESB were initially double LP releases; the initial CD version of ANH was two discs, a direct port of the LP, while the CD version of ESB was one disc, with material from the LP missing).

 

As far as the last one you have listed, that is the anthology box set. That was put out pre Special Edition, and has more music than the original releases, but not as much as the ones you have listed (as stated by the others, they are full music from the actual movies). The anthology also has a fourth disc which contains music that was not originally released. I would recommend the anthology to start, as it also has concert versions and cues that are uncut (somewhat, at least). It sounds like that might be closer to what you are looking for (plus, it has the yub-yub song!)

 

dehrian, I have a quick question. I have versions of the ESB and ROTJ LPs, are they exactly the same as their vinyl counterparts? I know that ESB was a double LP, but I recall that the ESB cassette was one of those 45 minute per side deals...

 

I have a question about your question:

I have versions of the ESB and ROTJ LPs, are they exactly the same as their vinyl counterparts?

Vinyl and LP are the same format. Do you perhaps mean "cassette"?

 

The OT CDs you linked too have pretty much all the music in the OT, plus quite a bit that was cut (including an alternate version of Binary Sunset!). The only thing I think is not on them is the yub-Yub song. Unless you really like that song, I'd say go for those OT CDs.

 

The 1993 Anthology box set contains just about all of the pre-Special Edition music, including Lapti Nek and the Ewok Yub-Yub song. Binary, you should be able to find this set at a nice discounted price if you look hard enough. Getting this set is about the only way you will have "all" of the Star Wars music available on CD right now. There are 4 discs in the set. The ANH disc is a copy of the double LP set that came out in 1977. The ESB is the same, though the tracks are arranged differently. I remember my favorite track, "The Asteroid Field" was the first track on Side 2 of one of the albums. The 4th disc contains music from all 3 of the movies mixed in together. Hope this helps ya out!

 

Substitute "LP" for "cassette" in that sentence.

My bad

 

The original ROTJ LP and cassette were the same, but the original ESB cassette was, I believe, slightly condensed from the LP. But I can't recall exactly which tracks were missing.

There is, however, music on the original ESB LP that did not appear in the movie, and is not available on the SE CD. It's a very small fragment, but it does exist.

 

I remember that too, but most of it seemed to be transitions between cues.

 

There is an awful lot of complicated history that you can get into if you are motivated, but in a nutshell, here is what I'd recommend....

There is only one ATTACK OF THE CLONES CD and although there is a lot of unreleased music it is very good representation of the score, provided, however, that you buy it at Target. Their edition contains a bonus track, "On the Conveyor Belt," a major action cue which is not available anywhere else.

The 2-CD Ultimate Edition of THE PHANTOM MENACE reflects ALL the music as it is heard in the final edited film, but this is DRASTICALLY different from what John Williams originally composed. The earlier single-CD release contains the "purer" (or in some cases, "more pure") versions of several of the major cues for the film, so this is a case where you may really need both... since what you said you want is the "complete scores BEFORE they were cut for the films." However, if that is truly your goal, then you should know that a lot of music composed for the film but not on either release was used on computer games, and several motivated Williams fans have extracted those pieces of music and assembled their own versions, resulting in a more accurate and complete version of the score.

The "Special Edition" 2-CD sets of STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and RETURN OF THE JEDI are the way to go for those scores. They present everything Williams composed in their original unedited form and following the chronology of the stories, plus alternates. All you will be missing is "Lapti Nek" and the "Ewok Celebration" (both replaced in the Special Edition) and one short 1:00 alternate. The 4-CD Arista box set anthology has those, but overall it is incomplet, and it is a mish-mash when it comes to sequencing, It also contains some bad edits, and, in the case of STAR WARS, a lot of incorrect takes complete with bum notes.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

my suggestion would be just to download them. for downloading i suggest either winmx or kazaa. it's cheap, and the qaulity of the music is the same as a real cd.

 

You might as well buy them. They aren't that expensive, make nice collection pieces, and in the case of the anthology have some good reading too...

 

Nice thread, I'm very impressed with everyones knowledge of Star Wars music.
My Star Wars CD collection consists of the Anthology boxset, ROTJ SE, TPM soundtrack, TPM Ultimate Edition & AOTC soundtrack.
Am I the only one here who thinks the UE is fantastic? I would love it if they released UEs for each film.
I do have a question, is there anywhere that you can get the music that Max Rebo plays on the sail barge as this seems to be the only piece of music unavailable anywhere. (EDIT: from the OT).
Also could someone post links to the thread listing all the themes, & a thread listing all the scores John Williams has ever written (If there is such a thread) for me? Thanks!

 

"my suggestion would be just to download them. for downloading i suggest either winmx or kazaa. it's cheap, and the qaulity of the music is the same as a real cd."

Absolute rubbish. Unless you're listening to music on a very basic set of desktop computer speakers, there is a world of a difference between an mp3 rip (usually around 128 kbps) and the actual CD itself. Especially on the TPM UE CDs, the sound is absolutely crisp and clear and ripping it to mp3 just robs it of it's ooomph.

 

I'm embarrased to exhibit my ignorance, but what are UE's?
Thanks.

 

Ultimate Edition. They are basically the audio track of the movie without the dialog or the sound effects, and give the music as it appears in the movie.

 

Thanks Tenor. It is all becoming clear...