The Force Awakens Soundtrack

Listened to the soundtrack twice by itself and can totally see most of the scenes they relate to in the movie in my mind's eye. .

 

The film has a soundtrack?!



I mean I remember one piece from the film- rey's theme and the end scene music.

The rest was all too generic and drowned out by the sound effects. (though they worked incredibly well in some scenes and bad in others.)


It's the editing that killed it. I hope someone- or I may do an edit with the effects turned down and the music turned up.

 

I think it might be the weakest score in the saga, but it's John Williams, so of course it's still very good. The Jedi Steps and Rey's Theme were the two that stood out to me.

 

Rey's Theme, the Intro styood out for me. I haven't heard Jedi Steps yet. I'm waiting until I see the movie, then ill listen to jedi steps

 

I listened to the entirety today, on Spotify.

3/5 for a Star Wars film
4.5/5 for a film in general

The Good:
-Repeating cues so that they had variety but still remained familiar.
-The fast-paced songs were usually great.
-Most of the songs were very visual. You could tell by the themes and cues who was doing what, the mood of the scene, the action or lack thereof.
-What little there was of tie-ins to the rest of the Saga's soundtracks - good choices.
-Follow Me, Rey's Theme, The Abduction, Han and Leia, I Can Fly Anything, Kylo Arrives at the Battle, Torn Apart, That Girl With the Staff. These tracks all had at least some semblance of SW and felt pretty strong. Quite memorable for the most part.

The Bad:
-The rest of the songs were pretty bland.
-Too quick. Not enough depth in 90% of the soundtrack. It felt rushed in many cases.
-Some songs just...clashed. The brass was out of touch with the strings at about 2:20 in The Ways of The Force, for example.
-Snoke - entirely felt like a Emperor's Throne Room wannabe. (I want a new character to have his own theme, please!)

Honestly, it did not feel cohesive at all. There were "WOW" moments in almost every song, but unfortunately, it felt like it fell apart soon after each wow moment. There did not seem to be any long term plan of including these cues and building a story like I feel happened in every other JW soundtrack. It's unfortunate. I think if the cues had been a little less "bam bam bam" and a little more drawn out, it would have been loads better. They needed to meld into each other a lot more and that didn't happen.

My worst criticism? It sounds like Star Trek meets Memoirs of a Geisha, not Star Wars.
That's not really a criticism though. I love John Williams, I love this soundtrack, but the majority doesn't feel like Star Wars to me. It feels more "general sci-fi" and Rey's themes just have the feeling of the song Confluence. I feel like there wasn't enough percussion and brass together, (and where the heck is the oboe? ) which is maybe why.

I love it. But that's why it doesn't get a 5 star rating from me.

 

who do you think made the best new 'good side' theme, John Williams with March of the Resistance, or Gordy Haab with the Rebels theme for the Battlefront video game? Examples of the latter:

 

"The March of the Resistance" hands down.

 

I really enjoyed, The Scavenger, Jedi Steps and Finale, March of the Resistance, Torn Apart, Scherzo for X- Wings, and Han and Leia.

Snoke reminded me a lot of EP III opera scene as previously stated around the boards but it's so true. The rest were good listening tunes during a cold drive into work with Star Wars themes occasionally mixed in.

 

Loved the new soundtrack! Definitely hoping they'll release a proper extended soundtrack sooner than later.

 

I LOVED march of the resistance, jedi steps, Scherzo for X-Wings, (That one had a hint of the intro song from the original X-Wing game!), Rey's Theme/The scavenger, the opening track (Attack on Jakku?), and a few others. I think we don't think it's great yet because we aren't familiar with the themes. Once we listen to them a bit more we'll like them a lot more.

 

Maybe I'm going crazy, but did anyone hear the SW theme from the MNF trailer? The one that begins 1:20 into it when the Falcon goes into hyperspace?

 

I'm loving the score. It grows quickly with each listen. I think the newer material is more subtle and mature than previous scores, but this is a nice continuation of the musical legacy. I dig the extensive use of the Force theme, my favorite of the saga.

 

Thanks, Saga Fan, for the list!

I prefer listening to the music in chronological order, and I think one track is out of order, like Darkspine suggested.

Spoiler

Track 17, Snoke, plays during Snoke's first scene, which is earlier in the film. But I'm having trouble figuring out where it should go. Isn't it the scene, when Snoke says the droid is with Kylo's father, "Han...Solo," or am I mistaken?

 

Dunno about anyone else but I absolutely LOVE the violin version of Binary Sunset when

Spoiler

Rey uses the force to catch the light saber when it flies past Kylo Ren!

it almost brought a tear to my eye when I was watching the movie and definitely gave me chills.

 

The Scavenger, Rey's Theme & Jedi Steps are my favourites in the whole soundtrack, though the whole thing is beatifully made anyway. Diffenatley feels & sounds like Star Wars. Take a bow John Williams!

 

I'm on my sixth listen now since picking up the soundtrack on Friday. Watching the film Thursday night, I felt a little underwhelmed by the score, with nothing really standing out besides the OT themes. But I saw it in a smaller theater with my eight-year-old nephew sitting next to me. Today I went again, alone this time, and saw it in a big theater after listening to the soundtrack a few times.

I definitely like the score, it's a typical well-done JW score. I understand the major criticism that it lacks an overt, "hummable" new theme, and have to agree. "Rey's Theme" is excellent, but it's more subtle. "March Of The Resistance" reminds me of the Sunday Night Football theme. Listening to the soundtrack, I also hear a lot of non-thematic score mimics the PT scores, and in a few places the OT. But that's not a bad thing necessarily.

We heard very well-done and appropriate reprises of OT themes. I'd love to hear some bolder uses as well. How about Yoda's Theme, like in the escape from Cloud City? While most of the PT themes don't really fit, I don't see why a little DOTF wouldn't work in a choice spot, probably with none of the vocal parts (too "Sithy").

But this is an very well-done score. Folks who are disappointed are probably expecting an Imperial March-caliber new theme or two in every film.

 

It really does grow. I can't wait to hear Rey's Theme developed and reprised over the course of this trilogy.

 

Has anyone noticed that there are subtle hints of the Imperial March in "The Jedi Steps and Finale"? It's not obvious, just hinted at in the low brass...kind of like during the film version of Padme's Funeral from Episode III...it's a counterpoint to the main melody.


Or maybe I'm just hearing things.

Overall, though, I agree that this score is probably more of an acquired taste than any of JW's previous SW scores. I initially thought it was pretty weak, but now that I've listened to it 5 or 6 times I like it a LOT better.

 

I really like the part at 0:51 in the trailer (the one posted above). I think next film after Kylo Ren will get a theme kind of similar to that. Or at least something really cool. The soundtrack is missing his theme or really a dark theme in general.

 

The film's version of the soundtrack is up!

http://waltdisneystudiosawards.com/#/star-wars/music

 

So, is the full soundtrack to the film?

Is it different to the other version?

 

Probably not the full soundtrack, but I can't say for certain. And yes, its different to the soundtrack that's available for purchase. On the website, I noticed the track "Snoke" has an intro, and "Attack on Jakku" is split into two tracks, and "Follow Me and The Falcon" is one track. New tracks: "Lunchtime," "Finn's Trek," "You Got A Name," and some tracks have alternate titles.

 

I really liked Snoke's theme. Eerily similar to the theme of another Star Wars villain

 

I have only seen the film once and have not listened to the soundtrack on its own yet but the music seemed like a big letdown. It seemed like the music was drowned out too much or just had really no presence. My mind might change, but my initial impression is that the music is below par for a Star Wars film.

 

I'm not finding any soundtrack at that link. It's just a promo page for awards judges.

Edit: Nevermind, I see where it's supposed to load now...my browser's just not cooperating.