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I have often found that once the yen for unreleased music has been satisfied by a complete release, I often look back at the original albums with a renewed appreciation for what they did accomplish with the restrictions that they had. When films have a complicated post-production process, there can be a lot of music generated (some of which gets used in the film, some that does not) that has to be somehow organized into a program that would fit on one or two LPs.
Thus, I like both the album of Star Wars and Empire distinct from their full scores for reasons other than just nostalgia (although I will admit that does play a certain role). Produced in an era where this much music meant that about every twenty minutes or so there had to be either a side flip or platter change, that meant two major highlights (end of one side, beginning of the other) spread out fairly evenly. It keeps the listening experience much more consistent than listening to the full scores. On the other hand, the full scores have all of those little moments, additional motifs, and structural details that the albums can't. They can do slow burns and build-ups that wouldn't fit on an album, and include the kind of tour de force that the “Battle of Hoth” sequence represents.
As has been discussed, the single LP release of Jedi stands out because it does not have anywhere near the running time required to decently represent that score. Disc 3 of the Arista box set is probably the closest we'll have to what a double LP of Jedi might have sounded like, but who really knows what sort of combinations Williams might have come up with, which might easily have included alternates or different takes.
I am pretty satisfied with the current remasters of the original albums and hope that they do get released on CD someday. But yes, the true end to this journey for me would be all three scores, preserved complete on CD, properly indexed, with a detailed, dynamic, state-of-the-art remaster.
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Posted: |
Jan 9, 2017 - 6:33 AM
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By: |
John-73
(Member)
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It would be a dream come true to see Mr Malone & Mr Matessino being given the reigns for a Star Wars set project. Two people who still recognise the vital importance of keeping the full dynamic range intact, and not mastering purely for in-car or cheap earbud, mp3 use. It worries me that what happened in the more mainstream music mastering world could seep more & more into the soundtrack one. I hope we never see the day when soundtrack releases are hopelessly brick-walled, and the subtle nuances, dynamics, tonal colours & excitement of a full orchestra are badly compromised.
As there's so many films now I think a complete set would likely be financially prohibitive to most, myself included. Perhaps staggered releases of Trilogy sets would be more apt, with all the trimmings & extras. And the original album programs must absolutely be included. Shawn Murphy & Sony did a great job with the re-released original albums last year, though in cleaning up Star Wars a *little* sparkle & ambience was lost, compared to mint condition releases of the original album. Still slight room for improvement with the album masters in a future release. The sweeping widescreen, panoramic sound, dynamic punch & sparkle of the original recordings is vital to preserve.
Fingers crossed! This is certainly the ideal year for such releases, and those master tapes for the original films are not getting any younger...
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