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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2014 - 12:11 PM
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By: |
Chris Avis
(Member)
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Heaven help me, I'm actually looking forward to Star Wars Episode VII and, of course, its music. It seems self-evident that we'll end up with something a lot closer to the prequel scores than the original trilogy from Williams and so I recently revisited the prequel scores which I hadn't played in a few years with fresh ears, both in their original album form and the more complete fan edits incorporating snippets of Williams music sourced from video games. Here are a few observations:
The Phantom Menace
I vividly remember being fairly disappointed in TPM when it came out, (I vastly preferred The Mummy which arrived at the same time) outside of Duel of the Fates. I think a large part of that was due to me not being used to the different sound of the new trilogy and the fact that the original TPM album is probably the weakest of the trilogy in terms of hearing the score in its best light.
In hindsight, it's pretty clear that Williams is really putting in a major effort with this score. The different planets all have their own distinct sounds and the Naboo and Coruscant material has a nicely different tone to the original trilogy scores. The score has, I think, the best subtle integration of original trilogy themes without being as obvious as in the later scores. And, probably most significantly, the action music seems to really strive to tell a cohesive musical story whose beats you can follow with the music, something which is much more lacking in the following scores. The Phantom Menace is the score that seems to most benefit from a chronological re-ordering, especially in the final Battle of Naboo cues where you can notice these really neat thematic touches such as the weaving of Duel of the Fates all throughout the final battle scenes.
Anakin's theme is another lovely piece and I really enjoy all the variations Williams puts in through in the score. I was always somewhat disappointed that he didn't really develop it too much in the prequels aside from some very minor uses in both Clones and Sith.
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I really can't stand the sound of the prequel scores, and by that I mean the recording itself. It's so....glossy and fake, which of course is in keeping with the visuals, whereas Star Wars and Empire sounded almost gritty in comparison.
Most of this is going to be negative, I guess.
The Phantom Menace has great action material (most of which was left off the album), and the "Duel Of The Fates" theme has only been cheapened by the film being as bad as it is and the reuse of the material wholesale (purposeful as it was, it sounded lazy when Burtt and Lucas just "hit play" on TPM CD for the big battle in Sith). The dialogue scenes are somehow made even more banal and lifeless by the constantly-going-but-saying-nothing music, and it seems like Williams used ALL of it for the original album. "Anakin's Theme" doesn't play like it did in that month leading up to the film, and I've never liked the "Trade Federation" theme (or whatever it is), sounding like leftover Last Crusade material.
Attack Of The Clones has that ONE fantastic Star Wars-sounding cue for "Jango's Escape," but outside of that, I'm not really a fan. The guitars weren't half as bad as the horribly out-of-place Crouching Tiger percussion (also used in that year's Minority Report). The love theme reminds me too much of Hook to really get into it. Also, the movie is somehow even worse than The Phantom Menace.
Revenge Of The Sith, while still being weak as a Star Wars score, is the best of the bunch by far and one of Williams' best scores of that decade. The typical 2000s Williams action music is on display, but there are some great thematic moments and rhythms (check that "General Grievous" cue), as well as some genuine feeling behind Anakin's decline (the "Enter Lord Vader" cue especially is just fantastic and adds so much weight to that last section of the film).
I'm hoping that Abrams can somehow get Williams back to a more analog (or just better-miked) sound.
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I really can't stand the sound of the prequel scores, and by that I mean the recording itself. It's so....glossy and fake, which of course is in keeping with the visuals, whereas Star Wars and Empire sounded almost gritty in comparison.
I HATE the muffled recordings of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith BUT The Phantom Menace sounds FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. It's one of Shawn Murphy's finest recordings!
-Erik-
Of the three of them, I guess I can agree that TPM sounds the best (man, that quick blast of pod race music--left off the album--is so awesome). I just like the Sith score much more as a whole, in that it's not weighed down on the album by all that dialogue scoring.
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You can clearly hear that John Williams is giving his A game for TPM. Coming back to Star Wars was a big deal and he knew it. He poured a lot of effort into a film that was boring, without much narrative and overly talky. And as a thanks his efforts were hacked to bits.
The two others are more John Williams on auto pilot. Still very accomplished. But not as much hard work went into them.
Parts of ROTS are actually quite lazy.
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You can clearly hear that John Williams is giving his A game for TPM. Coming back to Star Wars was a big deal and he knew it. He poured a lot of effort into a film that was boring, without much narrative and overly talky. And as a thanks his efforts were hacked to bits.
The two others are more John Williams on auto pilot. Still very accomplished. But not as much hard work went into them.
Parts of ROTS are actually quite lazy.
I'm no fan of the Reader's Digest versions of the Empire music that pop up in "Anakin vs. Obi-Wan," but I think there's way more good stuff (on the album) than bad (in the film).
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Word from the beginning on Episode VII was that Kennedy, Abrams & Co. were going for a more-analogue, less-CGI look akin to the original movie and EMPIRE.
I suspect John Williams will follow that lead in returning to a pace-and-leitmotif approach. If the producers really live up to the promise of an old-school look and feel.
Heaven knows someone has got to lead Hollywood back from its CGI-induced torpor. It might as well be the franchise that led it there in the first place.
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)