**OFFICIAL** Shadows of the Empire Soundtrack Discussion

I just saw this CD at Borders, and I wanted to see what the fans thought of it. Looks like the majority of the people like it, so Borders, here I come!

 

I love SOTE! Xizor's theme totally rocks. I remember first hearing it playing the Shadows video game, and instantly fell in love with it. It's so malevolent and sinister at the start with the choir and everything, and then it just kicks off into that rousing, slightly Middle Eastern-style march. It goes so well with his personality, too. Right up there with Darth's theme. Yah, there, I said it.
I also like The Seduction of Leia, The Southern Underground, and the Sewer music. My only gripe is that there should have been an "Ending Credits" style montage of several different themes, like in the movies. Does anyone have any ideas about what themes would show up in a Shadows End Title? Her's my idea:

SW Main Theme (Obviously), then...
Beggars Canyon Chase; which slows down into..
Imperial City; which morphs into...
The Emperor's Theme; followed by...
Xizor's theme;
Then cap it all off with the last part of the Destruction of Xizor's Palace.
Or, maybe just finish it with a very grand version of Xizor's theme, to emphasize that the bad guys were the stars this time around.

What do you think of my choices? And let's hear some of yours!

 

I'm getting this CD for my b-day in a few days... I can't wait. I've heard bits and pieces of it on the SOTE video game that I own (PC), and it's great, but I really have wanted the entire thing for years. I can't wait.

 

hey, finally somebody else who likes Southern Underground. I always loved it, it was one of my favorite tracks.

 

LOL, that (and Cocktails In The Cantina) was part of my massive Barnes & Noble order last week...

...but they didn't arrive this week with most of the shipment. (Sixteen dvds, though. )

 

Yup, somebody else *does* like the Southern Underground! Now, how bout those ending credits ideas?

 

Shadows is alright, but I mainly only like a few of the tracks. The Destruction of Xizor's Palace is probably the best, but it seems to...let you down, it's not long enough, and the parts where you think the music should reach a high peak just...don't. Could've been better, but it's still fun.

But no, Williams is much, much better. His music carries emotion, whereas McNeely's doesn't.

 

For the record, I absolutely love the Beggar's Canyon Chase music (which I listen to from the SOTE video game), and I cannot wait to have it on CD.



I've only heard like 3 or 4 tracks of this CD, so I cannot wait to get the entire thing.

I really wanna hear this "Night Skies"!

 

Yah, you really do need to hear "Night Skies". That's another good one - not my favourite, but very good. just wait till you hear waltzing Xizor and Leia....

 

I always thought Xizor's music was the worst. I dunno, the action music in this is great, but most of the slow stuff is ripped from reality or the other SW movies.

Not all, though, Shadows is overall a pretty good CD, but to even compare it to the SW saga is pretty out there, IMO.

 

yeah, it's a bit unSWy in parts....

 

I just wish there had been an end credits mix.

 

I agree, there should have been an end Credits track.
Here's an idea, why don't we make one?
What we could do is put up a list of all the themes that would have been used in a Shadows movie (both John Williams and Joel McNeely) and everyone interested can vote on what should be included.
Once we get a proper list sorted and agreed on, someone on this message board must know how to write music. They could compose it on like MIDI or something. That will have to do, I suppose, unless one of you guys has been appointed conductor of your local symphony orchestra....?

So, what do you think?

 

Um . . . Dash's theme. Xizor's theme.

 

New review on Soundtrack.net:

McNeely presents his take on the Star Wars universe with an orchestral cohesion that is more than welcome. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a hidden gem: to listen to it with an open mind is to secretly wish Joel McNeely had been in George Lucas' radar when he started dreaming of Trade Federations and droid armies.

Click the link for the rest.

 

We could edit together some themes for an end credits. The difficult part would be the actual transition to the end credits, I don't think any of us have any original music up our sleeve that transitions with the fanfare.

 

I'm actually working on an end credits suite. I'm making probably two versions at the moment: v1, using the end of "The Destruction of Xizor's Palace" for the pre-credits music and the end of the end credits, and v2, where I will just use "The Rebel Fleet," and maybe a v3 with a mix of the end of DoXP and TRF for pre-credits music. In each version, the ESB end credits would start the end credits themselves (with the title theme and Rebel Fanfare), and the end of "The Destruction of Xizor's Palace" would be the end of the credits. Would anyone be interested in hosting them once they're finished?

 

I have a friend who *might* host them. But I'd love to hear 'em!

 

Same here. I would love to listen to them.

SotE is great.

 

Cool! The thing I'm really having trouble with is the sequence of themes between the credits intro and the end of the credits. I was thinking Xizor's Theme first (or perhaps Beggar's Canyon Chase, but I'm not sure about that). I've already experimented with Xizor's Theme first, using the ESB end credits mixed with the ANH end credits. The ESB Rebel fanfare goes by too fast, so I combined ANH and ESB and then made the transition with the calm lead-up to Leia's theme, and inserted Xizor's theme there, starting with the drums in the middle (a la the SotE game loop). Does anyone have any suggestions for the sequence, or at least, what would go between Xizor's Theme and the end credits finale?

 

Just read through the page, and I'm gonna start off by trying darth_sidious1's sequence (it's good, by the way! Looks like it'll be fun!) . I'm still open to other ideas for sequences, though, if anyone's got some.

First off, what should I use the Emperor's theme from? I only have TPM right now, but I should be ordering ROTJ tonight. Any suggestions there?

Also, I had an idea. Can anyone tell me how SOTE ends, or if anyone has read the book, do you have any ideas on how it would/should end in a movie? I have a thought for the segue to the end credits, but it's based on the end of the video game (it involves Dash's theme).

Also, I'm wondering how much of Imperial City to use. It's about the size of an End Credits suite itself. Of course, if we want, it can be mammoth--there's no end credits for us to have to match the time of--but if we want a normal size suite, we'd have to use only a section/sections, and fortunately there are some good spots where we could cut/blend into either another section of Imperial City or the Emperor's Theme.

 

I always thought Xizor's music was the worst. I dunno, the action music in this is great, but most of the slow stuff is ripped from reality or the other SW movies.

Like what? I'm not hearing "reality" (?) or sections from Williams's scores in the "slow stuff," except for the first track.

 

What I meant by "reality" was that there was nothing sci-fi or fantasy about the music. Star Wars music, to me, has always had a distinct sound, and a lot of SOTE sounds like music you'd hear in an everyday movie.

However, the action tracks, especially the finale, are fantastic.

 

I felt Shadows was rather the opposite of what you'd hear in the average movie. It's strong classical, not new-age and synthesized like too many film scores these days.

 

Yeah. I listened to "Imperial City" today, and I realized how much more it sounded like a classical piece than a film score, just in the sound of it. I can't put my finger on it, but I like the sound of it. "The Southern Underground" (I love it too) also particularly has that feel to me--not that the whole album doesn't or anything. Good stuff.