[Eirik Myhr]

I haven’t been around here that much, but as some of you already know, Star Wars and John Williams was what got me into film music in the first place. The Original Trilogy was a big part of my childhood and the Prequel Trilogy a big part of my young adult years. Like many others, I’ve listened to every track from Star Wars Episodes I–VI to death, and I love them all to death.

Now, as we all know, the last 10 years have seen an explosion in new Star Wars content. I have watched nearly everything, and I love nearly everything (yes, even the sequels, though I still have a few problems with The Rise of Skywalker). I have also read a fair share of the canon books.

I don’t think many of the newer soundtracks exist on CD – except for the movies – which is a shame. But as it happens, I am also a subscriber to one of these modern streaming services (no, not Spotify, as they support ICE, love Trump, push their own AI shit and make life harder for artists and composers every stinking day).

So I thought, why not make a nifty little spreadsheet with all official Star Wars soundtrack releases that I know of, sort them chronologically, and actually listen to them all? The project will probably take many months, probably years, since my time listening to music alone is pretty much non-existent. Most of my time discovering new music these days, is through my headphones while doing the dishes or the laundry, or cleaning the house – which has to happen quite often, since we have a three year old kid rampaging around. 😅 But that’s the way it is.

So here is the list of albums, EP’s or even singles, at least what I could find on my streaming service of choice (Qobuz).
NOTE 1: I skip single releases when there is also an album, and I skip «compilation» albums as long as there is a more complete version in existence.
NOTE 2: Some of the dates are album release dates, while some of them are project release dates. I was mainly concerned with getting the production order right, and within the actual production/releae year.
NOTE 3: If anyone knows of a soundtrack release of the first Knights of the Old Republic (PC game) and not just the sequel, tell me!

25.05.1977 | John Williams — Episode IV: A New Hope
21.05.1980 | John Williams — Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
25.05.1983 | John Williams — Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
23.04.1996 | Joel McNeely — Shadows of the Empire
19.05.1999 | John Williams — Episode I: The Phantom Menace
16.05.2002 | John Williams — Episode II: Attack of the Clones
06.12.2004 | Mark Griskey — Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
19.05.2005 | John Williams — Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
11.08.2008 | Kevin Kiner — The Clone Wars (Movie)
01.01.2014 | Kevin Kiner — The Clone Wars – Seasons 1–6
02.03.2015 | Kevin Kiner — Rebels – Season One
17.11.2015 | Gordy Haab — Battlefront
18.12.2015 | John Williams — Episode VII: The Force Awakens
30.03.2016 | Kevin Kiner — Rebels – Season Two
16.12.2016 | Michael Giacchino — Rogue One
25.03.2017 | Kevin Kiner — Rebels – Season Three
17.11.2017 | Gordy Haab — Battlefront II
15.12.2017 | John Williams — Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
05.03.2018 | Kevin Kiner — Rebels – Season Four
25.05.2018 | John Powell — Solo
03.05.2019 | John Williams — Galaxy’s Edge Symphonic Suite
06.09.2019 | Various — Oga’s Cantina: R3X’s Playlist #1
11.11.2019 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian – Chapter 1
14.11.2019 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian – Chapter 2
21.11.2019 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian – Chapter 3
28.11.2019 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian – Chapter 4
05.12.2019 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian – Chapter 5
12.12.2019 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian – Chapter 6
17.12.2019 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian – Chapter 7
20.12.2019 | John Williams — Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
26.12.2019 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian – Chapter 8
13.03.2020 | Kevin Kiner — The Clone Wars – The Final Season (Episodes 1-4)
13.03.2020 | Kevin Kiner — The Clone Wars – The Final Season (Episodes 5-8)
03.05.2020 | Kevin Kiner — The Clone Wars – The Final Season (Episodes 9-12)
21.08.2020 | Stephen Barton, G. Haab — Jedi: Fallen Order
11.09.2020 | Gordy Haab — Jedi Temple Challenge
02.10.2020 | Gordy Haab — Squadrons
19.11.2020 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian – Season 2 Vol. 1 (Chapters 9-12)
17.12.2020 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian – Season 2 Vol. 2 (Chapters 13-16)
18.12.2020 | Omar Miller, M. Krämer — LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special
25.06.2021 | Kevin Kiner — The Bad Batch – Vol. 1 (Episodes 1-8)
20.08.2021 | Kevin Kiner — The Bad Batch – Vol. 2 (Episodes 9-16)
01.10.2021 | Michael Krämer — LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales
15.10.2021 | Keiji Inai — Visions Vol. 1.1 – The Duel
15.10.2021 | Yoshiaki Dewa, Nonpe — Visions Vol. 1.2 – Tatooine Rhapsody
15.10.2021 | Michiru Oshima — Visions Vol. 1.3 – THE TWINS
15.10.2021 | Kevin Penkin — Visions Vol. 1.4 – The Village Bride
15.10.2021 | Nobuko Toda, K. Jinnouchi — Visions Vol. 1.5 – The Ninth Jedi
15.10.2021 | A-Bee, Keiichiro Shibuya — Visions Vol. 1.6 – T0-B1
15.10.2021 | Michiru Oshima — Visions Vol. 1.7 – The Elder
15.10.2021 | Yoshiaki Dewa — Visions Vol. 1.8 – Lop & Ochō
15.10.2021 | U-Zhaan — Visions Vol. 1.9 – AKAKIRI
03.12.2021 | B. McCreary, J. Trapanese — Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge
21.01.2022 | J. Shirley, L. Goransson — The Book of Boba Fett – Vol. 1 (Chapters 1-4)
11.02.2022 | J. Shirley, L. Goransson — The Book of Boba Fett – Vol. 2 (Chapters 5-7)
27.06.2022 | Natalie Holt, William Ross — Obi-Wan Kenobi
05.08.2022 | Various — LEGO Star Wars: Summer Vacation
21.10.2022 | Nicholas Britell — Andor – Vol. 1 (Episodes 1-4)
26.10.2022 | Kevin Kiner — Tales of the Jedi
04.11.2022 | Nicholas Britell — Andor – Vol. 2 (Episodes 5-8)
09.12.2022 | Nicholas Britell — Andor – Vol. 3 (Episodes 9-12)
03.02.2023 | S.M. Smith, M.D. Parsons — Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi’s Return
17.02.2023 | Kevin Kiner — The Bad Batch – Season 2 Vol. 1 (Episodes 1-8)
29.03.2023 | J. Shirley, L. Goransson — The Mandalorian – Season 3 Vol. 1 (Chapters 17-20)
07.04.2023 | Various — Galaxy’s Edge Oga’s Cantina: R3X’s Playlist #2
07.04.2023 | Kevin Kiner — The Bad Batch – Season 2 Vol. 2 (Episodes 9-16)
21.04.2023 | J. Shirley, L. Goransson — The Mandalorian – Season 3 Vol. 2 (Chapters 21-24)
28.04.2023 | Stephen Barton, G. Haab — Jedi: Survivor
28.04.2023 | Various — Jedi: Survivor: Sounds from the Galactic Skylanes
04.05.2023 | Various — Galactic Starcruiser
04.05.2023 | Dan Levy — Visions Vol. 2.1 – Sith
04.05.2023 | Leo Pearson — Visions Vol. 2.2 – Screecher’s Reach
04.05.2023 | Andrés Walker, P. Portius — Visions Vol. 2.3 – In the Stars
04.05.2023 | Jean-Marc Petsas — Visions Vol. 2.4 – I Am Your Mother
04.05.2023 | J.Y. Gyu, L. Byung-Hoon — Visions Vol. 2.5 – Journey to the Dark Head
04.05.2023 | Olivier Derivière — Visions Vol. 2.6 – The Spy Dancer
04.05.2023 | Sneha Khanwalkar — Visions Vol. 2.7 – The Bandits of Golak
04.05.2023 | Oneohtrix Point Never — Visions Vol. 2.8 – The Pit
04.05.2023 | Markus Wormstorm — Visions Vol. 2.9 – Aau’s Song
15.09.2023 | Kevin Kiner — Ahsoka – Vol. 1 (Episodes 1-4)
06.10.2023 | Kevin Kiner — Ahsoka – Vol. 2 (Episodes 5-8)
29.03.2024 | Kevin Kiner — The Bad Batch – The Final Season Vol. 1 (Episodes 1-8)
03.05.2024 | K. Kiner, S. Kiner, D. Kiner — The Bad Batch – The Final Season Vol. 2 (Episodes 9-15)
10.05.2024 | K. Kiner, S. Kiner, D. Kiner — Tales of the Empire
07.06.2024 | Gordy Haab — Hunters
21.06.2024 | Michael Abels — The Acolyte – Vol. 1 (Episodes 1-4)
29.06.2024 | Michael Abels — The Acolyte – Vol. 2 (Episodes 5-8)
30.08.2024 | Wilbert Roget II — Outlaws
30.08.2024 | Cody Matthew Johnson — Outlaws: Songs from the Underworld
13.09.2024 | Michael Krämer — LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy
17.01.2025 | Mick Giacchino — Skeleton Crew
25.04.2025 | Brandon Roberts — Andor – Season 2 Vol. 1 (Episodes 1-3)
02.05.2025 | Brandon Roberts, N. Britell — Andor – Season 2 Vol. 2 (Episodes 4-6)
09.05.2025 | Brandon Roberts — Andor – Season 2 Vol. 3 (Episodes 7-9)
09.05.2025 | K. Kiner, S. Kiner, D. Kiner — Tales of the Underworld
16.05.2025 | Brandon Roberts — Andor – Season 2 Vol. 4 (Episodes 10-12)
16.05.2025 | W. Roget II, C.M. Johnson — Outlaws: Wild Card & A Pirate’s Fortune
19.09.2025 | Michael Krämer, R. Prado — LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past
31.10.2025 | Keiji Inai — Visions Vol. 3.1 – The Duel: Payback
31.10.2025 | Towa Tei — Visions Vol. 3.2 – The Song of Four Wings
31.10.2025 | Yugo Kanno — Visions Vol. 3.3 – The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope
31.10.2025 | Taisei Iwasaki, L. Forssell — Visions Vol. 3.4 – The Bounty Hunters
31.10.2025 | Ohmama Takashi — Visions Vol. 3.5 – Yuko’s Treasure
31.10.2025 | Kevin Penkin — Visions Vol. 3.6 – The Lost Ones
31.10.2025 | Michiru Oshima — Visions Vol. 3.7 – The Smuggler
31.10.2025 | Shuji Katayama — Visions Vol. 3.8 – The Bird of Paradise
04.05.2026 | K. Kiner, S. Kiner, D. Kiner — Maul: Shadow Lord
15.05.2026 | Ludwig Goransson — The Mandalorian and Grogu

For my own listening project, I decided to skip the era of Episodes I–VI this time, which I already pretty much know inside and out. Instead I started from 2008 and Kevin Kiner’s THE CLONE WARS (movie).

I’ll be back with some thoughts from each of the scores as I plough through them 😀

[Nicolai P. Zwar]

Holy cow, that’s quite a list. I didn’t even know there was that much STAR WARS content. 🙂

[Malte Müller]

Wow, huge, I know/have a bunch of Star Wars game soundtracks but this is a huge list.

You are missing some old LucasArts game soundtracks like DARK FORCES, X-WING and TIE FIGHTER, ROGUE SQUADRON and “remix scores” like FORCE COMMANDER or DEMOLITION 😉

NOTE 3: If anyone knows of a soundtrack release of the first Knights of the Old Republic (PC game) and not just the sequel, tell me!

I looked as I though I had a rip or something but that was THE OLD REPUBLIC only.

[Malte Müller]

I looked as I though I had a rip or something but that was THE OLD REPUBLIC only.

I don’t know of an official release but I do have an of course inofficial 74 min mp3 rip of it actually (was filed in another place).

[Eirik Myhr]

2008 | Kevin Kiner — The Clone Wars (Movie)

It’s fairly obvious that Lucas and his padawan Dave Filoni wanted to go a purposefully different direction with the first SW animated movie, coming only three years after REVENGE OF THE SITH and what we thought at the time to be the end of the SW cinematic saga. The John Williams-inspired style is mixed with ethnic music inspirations, industrial hard rock, and synthetic elements. I think it works quite well, and the score is at times pretty entertaining to listen to. Most of the orchestral stuff is certainly performed by a real orchestra, with some exceptions near the end of the album which sound a bit more sample-based.
Some favourite tracks: Battle of Christophsis, Obi-Wan to the Rescue, Sneaking Under the Shield, B’omarr Monastery, Battle of Teth, The Jedi Council, General Loathsom / Ahsoka, Scaling the Cliff, Escape from the Monastery, Courtyard Fight.

2014 | Kevin Kiner — The Clone Wars – Seasons 1–6

A single, hour-long album compiles musical highlights from The Clone Wars seasons 1 through 6, but suprisingly, I found it less musically interesting than the album from The Clone Wars movie – even though I LOVE the series itself (much more so than the pilot movie). It is also obvious that the budget is not on the same level as the movie – some (but not all) of the music is quite obviously based on sample libraries, but it still sounds quite good (and hey, I know all about budget restraints leading to this sort of thing, as a composer myself). It is less forgiving that Kiner often quotes Williams’ Force Theme while getting one of the notes wrong! Musically there is really only one standout track here: the quite beautiful «Ahsoka Leaves».

2015 | Kevin Kiner — Rebels – Season One

REBELS started out as what seemed like a corporate commissioned «retro Star Wars» animated show, but gradually through the seasons grew into one of the most original, most lovable, most mythical and lore-heavy Star Wars stories told to date. In my humble opinion! Disappointingly, the score for Season 1 is suffering greatly to the fact that Kiner appears to have been instructed to reuse Williams’ music especially from A New Hope (maybe because the new Disney execs didn’t want anything to resemble the Prequel Trilogy at this point). So what we have here is largely a mishmash of Williams’ own cues, re-recorded for quite cheap-sounding sample libraries, while often getting the notes wrong. It’s quite a travesty. And a big shame that the bosses couldn’t trust Kiner to come up with his own music that told the ACTUAL story, instead of reusing Williams’ themes in scenes they were never meant for. A gross example of this practice is listening to a 3 minute track called «Ezra’s theme» which has 30 seconds of a new theme at first, while transforming into a bad copy of «Luke meets Obi-Wan» from Episode IV for one minute, then 30 seconds of the Force Theme (again with the same wrong note), and then the last minute is actually Princess Leia’s theme! I only blame Kiner for the wrong notes, I highly doubt that he wanted to do this instead of creating his own musical universe. And it is a real shame, since the show itself is fantastic. Luckly, it gets gradually better through the show’s four seasons.
Two OK tracks: Passed the Test, Familiar Pilot. And the main Rebels Theme is allright.

2015 | Gordy Haab — Battlefront

Now this sounds much more expensive – interesting that video games get all the big money now! Gordy Haab has obviously studied John Williams’ orchestrational style very closely, and there is obviously a real orchestra here. It is all expertly composed and flawlessly executed. HOWEVER, it is all style and no substance. It’s like listening to 13 tracks of pure Williams battle music, but everything is in «full power», there are no themes and no soul. The music shifts and turns constantly, from one chaotic scenario to the next, and I simply can’t find anything to hang on to. It quickly gets exhausting. There is one exception: The beautiful track «Approach to Landing Pad 13».

2015 | John Williams — Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Listening to Williams’ own Episode VII score quickly becomes a huge relief after the clever but all in all quite soulless BATTLEFRONT. This score has grown on me over the years. At first I was put off by the lack of more themes that were fully played out. Kylo Ren and The First Order only have short motifs and never full themes, for instance. But you have Rey’s Theme, which is very beautiful, and the Restistance march is kind of cool. It still can’t touch Williams’ own Prequel Trilogy scores, which I believe to be his highest musical achievement in the world of Star Wars.
Anyway, quite a LOT of highlights here for me: The Scavenger, Rey Meets BB-8, Rey’s Theme, The Girl with the Staff, Finn’s Confession, Maz’s Councel, The Starkiller, The Abduction, Han and Leia, March of the Resistance, Torn Apart, Farewell and The Trip, The Jedi Steps.

2016 | Kevin Kiner — Rebels – Season Two

It is equally interesting to jump right into Kiner’s second season of REBELS after enjoying Williams’ Episode VII. Kiner is still playing around in the soundscape of the original trilogy, but he has been given a bit more trust to do his own thing. Like in «Journey Into the Star Cluster» where he delves into neoclassical territory with a string quartet – very cool!! And the ending montage which ends the season is totally epic.
Track highlights: Twin Moons, Journey Into the Star Cluster, Pergill in Hyperspace, The Great Pergill, Where the Sun Sails and the Moon Walks, It’s Over Now.

2016 | Michael Giacchino — Rogue One

Unlike Thor, I quite like Michael Giacchino, and especially his work with Pixar. But I don’t think he was necessarily the right fit for Star Wars. Again, ROGUE ONE is a movie that I absolutely love, so the fact that the music could have been a lot better, kind of hurts. What I *do* like, is that the orchestra SOUNDS a lot like Episode IV era orchestra – the mix sounds as dry as it did back in 1977! What I *don’t* like is that Giacchino delivers some themes that sound quite bland, to be honest. And since the purpose of this film is to actually play right into Episode IV, he should be allowed to use the actual Williams themes for stuff like the Rebellion, Vader and the Empire, instead of composing «sound-alikes»… So this is actually the exact opposite problem as in REBELS, funnily enough! Having said that, his Empire theme is actually quite cool. And I also like that he cites the «extinct» Imperial theme from Episode IV (which was later replaced by The Imperial March in Episode V).
Track highlights: Star-Dust, Cargo Shuttle SW-0608, Your Father Would Be Proud, The Imperial Suite

2017 | Kevin Kiner — Rebels – Season Three

A mammoth 71 track album clocking in at over two hours, Kiner keeps developing more of his own voice into REBELS, as he should have been allowed to from the beginning. I like Thrawn’s motif on the church organ, and Sabine’s new theme when we delve deeper into her Mandalorian backstory is also nice. The amount of tracks is a bit overwhelming, and it’s hard to get an overview of any kind of album structure. I guess it has to be viewed more as documentation.
Track highlights: Ezra Suspended, Try Again, My Real Name is Sabine, Ambushing the Imperials, Thrawn’s Deductions, Mart Sato, Fighting Sister Sabine, Entrance to Underground, Convincing Sabine, Mandalorian Vambraces, Mon Mothma’s Speech, Kanan Implores Bendu, Sato’s Choice, Orbital Bombardment

That’s where I’m at now. I’d love to hear your thoughts on some of these, if you have them. 😀

[Thor Joachim Haga]

That is indeed an impressive endeavour, Eirik, although more focussed than my current crazy one.

I was about to mention the LucasArts scores, but Malte beat me to it.

I understand the desire to focus on the “pure” scores, but if you’re up for some extra bonus listening, there are a couple of interesting, strange interpretations, like the Terry Trotter jazz versions, or the John Rose church organ versions. Or Meco remixes.

Then there’s Bernstein’s EWOK scores, don’t know if you count them since they’re not released commercially on CD.

Finally, although you omit compilations (I understand, as there are endless variants out there), there are at least two that are fresh and interesting, the Koijan and the Skywalker Sound one.

[Eirik Myhr]

You are missing some old LucasArts game soundtracks like DARK FORCES, X-WING and TIE FIGHTER, ROGUE SQUADRON and “remix scores” like FORCE COMMANDER or DEMOLITION 😉

I know, and I grew up with many of those games – I especially love TIE FIGHTER! However, I only listed actual official soundtrack releases. The music for those games were never released (as far as I know).

[Eirik Myhr]

That is indeed an impressive endeavour, Eirik, although more focussed than my current crazy one.

Haha, that is absolutely crazy, and I love it!!! I stumble into projects like this on a regular basis, but perhaps on a scale that is at least *possible* to accomplish. 😀

We’ll see how far I manage to go with this – so far it’s been fun, but it might also get bored and give up, if I have to listen to many scores like BATTLEFRONT… I can’t wait to get to the ANDOR scores – both seasons contained lots of musical moments that I loved (not to mention that the series itself is the best thing ever with the Star Wars name on it, IMHO). I also remember Kiner’s score for AHSOKA to be quite interesting and different. But yeah, we’ll see if I manage to get that far. 😀

[GerateWohl]

Wow. That list made me think, that probably Kevin Kiner is the composer who has written the biggest amount of Star Wars music and not John Williams, or?

[Malte Müller]

Then there’s Bernstein’s EWOK scores, don’t know if you count them since they’re not released commercially on CD.

I was about to mention those. LP would count as an official release, right?

I know, and I grew up with many of those games – I especially love TIE FIGHTER! However, I only listed actual official soundtrack releases. The music for those games were never released (as far as I know).

Of course many of the game score have none but they are of course mostly “out there” anyway. Someone named “laserschwert” even re-did them with an orchestral library so it sounds a bit better. Free downloads on bandcamp:

– TIE Fighter
– X-Wing

There is also one by I think someone else for DARK FORCES but I have no link for that right now.

[Thor Joachim Haga]

Wow. That list made me think, that probably Kevin Kiner is the composer who has written the biggest amount of Star Wars music and not John Williams, or?

Probably. It’s been weird to follow Kiner’s career. We chatted a bit 20+ years ago, via e-mail. Back then, he worked on stuff like BLACK SCORPION and THE VISITOR (with a wonderful David Arnold theme), but nothing big time. Then we lost contact. But little did I know that he would go on to be the go-to composer for STAR WARS stuff, especially many of the Filoni spinoffs. I must admit I haven’t checked out some of the things Eirik talked about above, but maybe I should. It’s probably more interesting than the things I’ve heard from Holt, Göransson, Giacchino et.al.

[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

Wow! Indeed an impressive and illuminating list, Eirik – thanks! I’m intimately familiar with the music from the live action movies, somewhat familiar with the music in the live action TV shows, but I know next to nothing about the music in the animated shows or the computer games. I look forward to hints about things worth checking out in your updates here. 🙂

It’s fascinating that during the last six or seven years, there have been about six times as many STAR WARS music releases as there were during the first 40 years of STAR WARS history. 😮 Of course, this says something about how huge the STAR WARS franchise has become and the amount of content that’s being produced these days.

[Malte Müller]

There are/were also some Star Wars fan films that had official releases or even free downloads. Some rather known names:

• Gordy Haab & Kyle Newmaster: Ryan vs Dorkman 2 (digital release only I think, should be everywhere)
• George Shaw: Way To The Rebellion (released by Moviescore Media, digital release everywhere, not sure if there was a CD)

An some basically unknown ones:

• Mark Peter Royce: Regrets of the Past: https://musitecture.bandcamp.com/album/regrets-of-the-past-original-score (free bandcamp download)
• Vincent Lee: Darth Maul Apprentice (free Soundcloud download)
• Andrew Gerlicher: Han Solo – A Smuggler’s Trade (Soundcloud streaming only)

I had a list with some others but so far all links are dead already…

[GerateWohl]

Darth Maul Apprentice is probably the best Star Wars fan film ever.

[Eirik Myhr]

2017 | Gordy Haab — Battlefront II

I actually played this game’s story mode, and it was very good indeed, taking place right after Return of the Jedi and then with an epilogue part set right before The Force Awakens. Listening to the soundtrack in itself though, it is the same kind of Williams-pastiche as the first Battlefront by Gordy Haab – very impressive sounding, but rather exhausting to listen to, and lacking of memorable themes. There are some highlights though, like «Go. Survive. Live!», and the bonus track «Ma Kapar» by Raney Shockne, a Mancini-esque source music track with what sounds like Tatooine lyrics (or some other SW language). But all in all, style over substance, again.

2017 | John Williams — Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

I actually love Rian Johnsons’s Star Wars film, certainly the most interesting film of the sequels for me, and it’s got some of the highlight moments of the entire saga for me, Luke’s final holo-confrontation with Kylo Ren being one of them. It’s a bit sad then, that this is ends up being the first Williams SW score that I still find a bit disappointing. Williams ends up cutting and pasting his existing themes together, with not much new material to present. The main «new» theme is probably the «Fun with Finn and Rose» theme, which is a bit daft, to be honest.

Anyway, a fair share of tracks contain interesting parts, but it is all so fragmented (interestingly enough, kind of the same problem I have with Gordy Haab’s SW videogame scores). Many tracks contain interesting parts that last for half a minute, and then turn into something else entirely, or a reprise of some other theme without really bringing anything new. «Canto Bight» is fun, though. There are some good tracks with bizarre orchestral textures like «The Cave». The last four tracks is where I find the score finally picks up and becomes interesting, though. The sad version of the Luke and Leia theme in «The Spark», before finally entering a great buildup towards Luke’s scene with Kylo, and Luke’s final scenes in «The Last Jedi» and «Peace and Purpose» are hauntingly beautiful. But all in all, the most original film of the sequels had deserved a more unhinged and original John Williams, rather than the copy-and-paste-fest like this largely ends up being.

And I can’t really blame John Williams. From what I read previously, there was no spotting session – the almost religious ritual Williams relies so heavily on to get to work on his scores. If that is true, my guess is that it’s a «generational» clash of working styles at play here, and he had to deal with a lot of temp tracks consisting of bits and pieces of his own music, and try to make sense of it all, without any real opportunity to get creative. Still kind of a shame.

[GerateWohl]

Of all nine Skywalker movies THE LAST JEDI has the most use of the force theme. I believe it would have been better had Williams written another emotional melodic theme for this movie that he could have used in those scenes where he more or less overused the force theme. By the way something that also REVENGE OF THE SITH suffers from.

Episode 4 had Leia’s theme and Ben’s theme.
Episode 5 had Yoda’s theme and Han Solo and the Princess
Episode 6 had Luke and Leia
Episode 1 had Anakin’s theme
Episode 2 had Across the Stars
Episode 3 nothing (but they played Leia’s theme in the end credits)
Episode 7 had Rey’s Theme
Episode 8 had Rose’s Theme, but in a way it was just half a theme. There was something missing.
Episode 9 had two half themes: Friendship and Rebellion, but this score really was a mess, like the movie. Nothing made sense.

[Eirik Myhr]

Agree about your THE LAST JEDI comments, it sort of lacks a grand theme that should be there, but isn’t.

Interestingly though, I regard REVENGE OF THE SITH as maybe my favourite of all the SW scores, on par with THE PHANTOM MENACE. There was a new main «suite» theme for REVENGE, «Battle of the Heroes». But for me, the real highlights of REVENGE are «Anakin’s Betrayal», «The Immolation Scene», «Anakin’s Dark Deeds» (especially the second half), and parts of «Anakin’s Dream». These are not themes that are used elsewhere, but each of them are so, SO strong, and IMHO better than all of Williams’ sequel music combined.

You left out some important main themes from some of the episodes – Episode IV of course had all the foundations including the main SW theme as well. Episode V also had The Imperial March (a bit important, that one). Episode VI also had the Parade of the Ewoks theme / The Forest Battle, and also The Emperor’s Theme. Episode I had Duel of the Fates in addition to Anakin’s theme. Episode VII also had March of the Resistance in addition to Rey’s theme. And of course all the films (even the sequels) have a lot of repeating smaller motifs as well, in addition to the bigger «suite» themes. 🙂

[GerateWohl]

You are right about the left off themes. I tried just to refer to these “romantic” lyrical themes. Of course there are many many more. In revenge I agree. There is much great music. Even though I am not a big fan of Battle of Heroes. But the General Grievious chase music is great, too. Revenge is great with action setpieces and – let’s call it – funeral music. 🙂

[Eirik Myhr]

Ah, I see! Then your list is pretty much on point. 😀
And Battle of the Heroes is not my favourite theme to listen to either. I’m much more fond of the REVENGE tracks I listed above. 🙂

[Thor Joachim Haga]

“Battle of the Heroes” was always a poor man’s “Duel of the Fates”.

[Eirik Myhr]

Haha, yes, JW even refers to it as a «tragedy» Duel of the Fates. To be fair, it works very well in the movie conveying the tragedy of Anakin. It’s just not as enjoyable to listen to in itself. Contrary to Across the Stars, Anakin’s Theme, and indeed Duel of the Fates…

[Malte Müller]

Anyway, a fair share of tracks contain interesting parts, but it is all so fragmented (interestingly enough, kind of the same problem I have with Gordy Haab’s SW videogame scores).

Video games scores are by construction often very fragmented due to the requirements of being able to change depending on the action (that you of course know). THere was some video I think from Olivier Deriviere that got into detail here. Quite faszinating how they work with layer that can be added and removed depending of the action. I think on video games album curation today is a totally different work level even to film scores.

But for me, the real highlights of REVENGE are «Anakin’s Betrayal», «The Immolation Scene», «Anakin’s Dark Deeds»

But the General Grievious chase music is great, too.

Those are my favorites of that score, too.

“Battle of the Heroes” was always a poor man’s “Duel of the Fates”.

How fitting for poor Anakin 😉

[Sophie]

Are we talkin’ Revenge of the Sith? My least favorite Star Wars ost. Like Azkaban, I find it lumpy and disjointed. It was made on a very scene-by-scene basis, with instrumentation and style seemingly changing at will. 2005 also marked the year the steller sound we had become accustomed to began changing.

Someone once called TPM “noodly,” which I almost threw hands for, but if you want to hear JW noodle, for real, for 7 straight minutes, just listen to the opening track with the horns, trombones, and trumpets passing around non-material like co-workers after the world’s most unnecessary group meeting.

[Thor Joachim Haga]

I never felt the prequel scores were as “noodly” as the sequel scores (which were pretty much in line with Williams’ more motivic writing post-2005). More than the setpiece-oriented OT, for sure, but still with plenty of self-contained highlights.

[Malte Müller]

Like Azkaban, I find it lumpy and disjointed.

Interestingly I would nearly say that Azkaban is even favorite Williams Potter score.

[Eirik Myhr]

Isn’t it great that we can disagree? 😁 I find John Williams’ prequel scores overall to be his greatest work in the Star Wars universe. I can’t say they are more *important* than the original trilogy scores, but I just prefer them from a personal standpoint. I am always one for emotional strings and woodwind passages rather than bombastic brass fanfares. There is also something about Williams’ harmonic qualities in the 2000s which I just find a bit more interesting than his work in the 70’s and 80’s. It’s a more «mature» tonal language. The melodies are perhaps less «direct» and a lot of the harmonic language, chord progressions etc., have more of a «question mark» over them, an ambivalence. There are more complex feelings and more layers within the music. I don’t know exactly how to describe it. I just find this an incredibly interesting period for Williams, and the SW prequels are a great example of that.

Which is why I skipped both the originals and the prequels entirely for this listening project, and dived straight into post-2005 territory, and for me, mostly unknown territory 😀

[GerateWohl]

Maybe that is the right point to drop, that I wish Williams had used rather the force theme for the opening crawl of the prequels than Luke’s theme, maybe in the style of Throne Room. Would have made more sense musically. I would have embraced that.

[Malte Müller]

But since only “we” know that the Star Wars main theme is actually Luke’s them, it probably would not have been wise 😉

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