20 years of Revenge of the Sith

Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith has been one of my favorite soundtracks since 2005. I bought the CD set that also came with a DVD called Star Wars A Musical Journey which is very cool and hosted by Ian.
The 6 panel booklet folds out into a poster of Vader, Kenobi, Anakin, and Grievous.
GL writes a paragraph for JW. There is even a mini 4 page booklet advertising the novels Labyrinth of Evil and ROTS, the other 5 films' soundtracks, the OT CD boxset, and ROTS for PS2 and Xbox.
Sheev is on the CD and Vader is on the DVD.

They put a lot of attention and care into the packaging and presentation of this soundtrack release and it's appreciated.
Don't make 'em like they used to.

There was a time where I listened to this CD every night quietly before sleep for a couple weeks. It's really intense, beautiful music. I like all the tracks. Anakin's Dream is really cool as is Padmé's Ruminations. Battle of the Heroes of course stands out. The whole soundtrack is brilliant, epic, and intense. Reminds me a bit of Wagner's Ring Cycle with all the heavy themes and leitmotifs for characters. Epic material no doubt.

ROTS soundtrack is my favorite of the PT, although I love TPM soundtrack as well. And AOTC is obviously great too, but that's how I rank them personally, 3, 1, 2.

I'm glad I still got me CD and DVD set of this masterful classic work of art.

 

I think I rank it second of the PT scores. Nothing’s ever going to knock TPM if it’s perch as my favourite score of the Saga, but ROTS is no slouch either. So much grand, operatic music, some the best action music in cinema, and some haunting choral work. Anakin’s Betrayal is Williams at his peak, tragic and sweeping and mournful, the reprise on Mustafar is also excellent. The full opening battle cue with its pulse pounding war drums is a thing of beauty. Grievous gets a few fun action pieces, very bouncy and evoking the cyborg’s twitch tendencies and fondness for escapes. Meanwhile we get some of the eeriest backing tracks for Palaptine’s slow temptations over Anakin, coming to a head during the painful transformation into Vader and the dramatic re-use of Qui-Gon’s funeral dirge.

There’s thankfully far less tracking than AOTC, which suffered somewhat by its third act being mostly recycled tracks from TPM. While there is still some amount of repeated cues, they’re spread out more sparingly and all the big sequences are covered by exciting new material.

I sometimes consider my favourite track of all Enter Lord Vader, with the incredible buildup to Vader’s arrival on Mustafar. Not the album mix, mind, which removed some instrumentation, it’s the full version that really packs the most punch:


I recommend any fan of the soundtrack check out Film Score Media, as they’ve done by far the best job of presenting the complete score, sourced from various video games.

 

For me, I think it's #1. Especially with the unreleased music. Anakin's Betrayal, Battle of the Heroes and even tracks like Padmé's Ruminations and the Immolation Scene are serious highlights, not just of the film but of the trilogy and even the Saga. Incredible work.

 

Phantom Menace will always be my favorite SW soundtrack.

I love RotS soundtrack, Battle of Heroes is my 2nd favorite SW song, after Duel of the Fates. In all honesty, those two soundtracks are my favorites over all. I love all the soundtracks, but Episode 1 & 3 have a special place in my heart.

 

I voted for 2nd to put it behind TPM, primarily because of the magnitude of new themes in TPM.

Remember buying this right when it came out, well ahead of the movie release. I chose certain tracks to listen to before May 19 that I thought wouldn't spoil anything. I ended up having an entire structure to the movie in my imagination due only to the track names. Vader shows up halfway into the movie and duels Mace!

Favorite track is Star Wars and The Revenge of the Sith, largely for the epic battle music throughout, but there has always been something about how this is the only score where the end of the main theme doesn't fade out, it shifts into a higher gear!

 

Just bought my tickets for this Friday. I will go watch my favorite SW movie in the theaters for the first time in 20 years.
I cannot tell you how excited I am. Even though I have watched it at least 20 times throughout these years.

Since you guys are talking about the soundtracks, ROTS is also my favorite SW soundtrack, and that's a high bar.

Padme's Ruminations, Anakin's Dark Deeds, Battle Of The Heroes, are all legendary tracks.
This soundtrack is the only soundtrack that can bring tears to my eyes. Thank you John Williams for all the feels!

 

I'm with you both, but that doesn't diminish the Revenge of the Sith score in any way. I reckon it's pretty much as close to perfect as is artistically possible. Which just underscores John Williams' genius across the entire saga, but particularly the prequels. I mean, how could he even get close to surpassing himself after The Phantom Menace...? And yet, he did. Twice.

The soundtrack album was the first bit of merchandise I got back in 2005, followed shortly by the PS2 game a couple days later.

Obviously I agree with everybody else's highlights, but shout-out to the underrated track 'Anakin's Dream', which tells you everything you need to know about Anakin's tragic downfall with its callbacks to 'Across the Stars' and a dark, foreboding version of the Force theme.

 

@Happy Sando. That's a great point about that track. I definitely neglect it, but it tells so many different stories.

Such an absolute banger of a soundtrack.

This is probably tied for first with me on the album. Sure it's a rip, and the themes are from TPM, but their arrangement and use in the movie is spectacular. Actually, I usually listen to this landing from a flight:


And putting ROTS' score behind TPM is a mere technicality really. Why'd everyone make me choose?!

 

So great to see ROTS on the big screen again. I wound up seeing it twice. The music was one of the highlights. I am reminded yet again of how much great music is not officially released, and even how much was never released in other ways that people might have been able to listen to. Unfortunately, I was also reminded of how many times they tracked in cues from TPM. I just don't get doing this when you have John Williams right there.

 

I really liked the military sounding drums in the soundtrack. They gave a great 'war' atmosphere, especially in the opening scene.

 

Loved seeing this in a theater again. Even with all its imperfections, it remains my favorite Star Wars film because its peaks are so high, especially in the back half.