[Eirik Myhr]

I’ve listened to the next three releases, and it’s time for some possibly controversial opinions!

2018 | John Powell — Solo
I took this as an opportunity to finally listen to the Extended Version which was released some years ago. I knew I *liked* this score a bit, but it took me completely by surprise how much I enjoyed it now. I really like Powell’s take here. The more «exotic» instruments and percussion he brings to the table feels like a perfect fit for Star Wars. In a way it is kind of reminiscent of what Kiner tried to do in the first Clone Wars movie, but Powell’s themes and orchestrations feel more sophisticated and «tasteful». Interestingly, when I listened to this album on Qobuz, «The Adventures of Han» by John Williams which usually opens the album, was not present. I actually didn’t mind that. Williams’ orchestration style is very different and much more traditional than Powell’s approach, so it never really «fitted» this album for me. Jumping straight in to «Meet Han» kind of felt right. I love the «love theme» for Han and Qi’Ra (in tracks like «Han’s Closet», and with a truly beautifully bittersweet rendition near the end of «Dryden’s Long, Long Fight») which pops out throughout the album. There are so many highlights, and as far as I can tell , a lot of them don’t appear on the original album (hard to do a direct comparison as the track names are quite different). The «evil» two-note chromatic motif which also pops out throughout (like in the beginning of «Trust No One») is so simple but oh so effective.

I could probably do without the Kessel Run «cut and paste Williams action music» track, but it’s fun to hear Powell’s characteristic percussion added to the mix. I also don’t like when composers quote Duel of the Fates as «Maul’s theme» when Maul appears, because it was never Maul’s theme, but a theme played in pivotal moments in Anakin’s life (Dave Filoni explains this very well in a clip somewhere, what «Duel of the fates» actually means).

But all in all – I want more Powell Star Wars!
Yes, I probably rank this score higher than both THE LAST JEDI and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (and Giacchino’s ROGUE ONE isn’t even part of the competition).

2019 | John Williams — Galaxy’s Edge Symphonic Suite
A nice little mini-suite single track from Williams, not really a lot so say about it. It’s nice. Nothing to write home about. It’s on the same level as his THE LAST JEDI score, I guess. Decent, but nowhere near the awesomeness of his prequel days.

2019 | Various — Galaxy’s Edge: Oga’s Cantina: R3X’s Playlist #1
This took me COMPLETELY BY SURPRISE. I LOVE THIS!!! I guess this the music played in-universe at Oga’s Cantina in the Galaxy’s Edge attraction (never been there, and probably never will) – source music from an actual location you can visit. AND IT’S SO GOOD! Almost every single track makes me smile, giggle and/or dance. I don’t know how this was concieved exactly, but the idea I get from looking at the different tracks’ credits on Qobuz, is that they were made by different composers and producers, which were all given the same brief: Take your inspiration from in-universe acts like The Max Rebo Band, but in a more current music production landscape. Every song brings something new to the table, and the production quality is STELLAR. There are lots of hilarious vocals (in Huttese or similar sounding languages). It’s like a Eurovision hit parade of different musical genres which would all exist in the Star Wars universe! You have disco and funk, you have swing jazz (The Modal Nodes make a reappearance with a «sequel» song to their original Cantina Band hit), you even have prog rock. Impossibly out there «jazz fusion» solos on some weird keyboard instrument might suddenly appear in the middle of an electronic track. Did I say the vocals are all hilarious?

I will die on this hill: This is the best Star Wars music release since REVENGE OF THE SITH.

Next up is Goransson’s THE MANDALORIAN season 1 releases, but I will take a short break and listen to some other stuff in the meantime.