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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Star Wars: A New Hope (John Williams)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the 1997 "Special Edition" albums over all others
because they feature the best combination of outstanding packaging and a
complete presentation of John Williams' classic, iconic, and
revolutionary space opera music.
Avoid it... on the 1986 to 1993 albums because of poorer, archival sound quality and incomplete presentations, as well as the 2004, 2007, 2016, and 2018 re-pressings that are identical to prior albums in contents but without the superior packaging.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Star Wars: A New Hope: (John Williams) Commonly
considered one of the greatest films of all time, Star Wars
launched the space opera craze of the 1980's and unintentionally spawned
the culture of blockbuster sequels that has endured in the decades
since. Its budget of $11 million was nursed by concept creator and
director George Lucas to allow for the special effects wizardry of
Industrial Light & Magic to dazzle audiences with visuals of a variety
never seen before. More important to the film's success than the
awe-inspiring effects of spacecraft in battle, however, are its affably
quirky characters and a compelling storyline. A farm boy on a desert
planet accidentally owns a silly pair of droids that carry the secrets
to destroying the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of an evil
Galactic Empire, and with the help of a old master of magic (otherwise
known as a Jedi Knight, one of a group that inspired Earthlings to make
"Jedi" an actual, state-recognized religion in several countries by
appearing as a common enough answer on census forms), he joins a
rebellion and initiates the downfall of the Empire. The tagline "a long
time ago in a galaxy far, far away" became engrained in pop culture so
thoroughly that Lucas developed the concept into a fuller franchise of
six films of a reportedly nine-part arc, initially breaking the box
office records set by Jaws after just six months and eventually
earning billions of dollars and encouraging the filmmaker to improve
upon the renamed Star Wars: A New Hope (and his other entries in
the original trilogy to follow) by modernizing the special effects and
adding new scenes to the classic. Not only was a saga born, but
orchestral film music experienced a rebirth in 1977 as a result as well.
Lucas had originally intended for the movie to be tracked with his
favorite symphonic classical pieces, including a few Golden Age film
scores, but buddy Steven Spielberg convinced him to hire John Williams
for the job based on the composer's ability to write
classically-inclined music for foreign environments and, of course, his
recent success on Jaws. Little did anyone know that the maestro
was in the early years of the most productive period in his career, and
no single orchestral score has had more of an influence on the history
of movies and their music than what Williams conjured for the original
Star Wars.
At a time when the Silver Age of film music had emphasized (and rewarded) smaller orchestras and pop style genres of music in film, it was feared by long-time film score collectors that the glory days of Ben-Hur and Lawrence of Arabia had forever passed. Ironically, Williams had been a part of that "modernizing" trend of music for films when he, in the first ten years of his career, was known as "Johnny Williams" and earned significant respect and awards recognition for his jazz and musical works. But throughout the 1970's, Williams began a film score renaissance, shifting perceptions of greatness back in the direction of large orchestras and sweeping themes. His disaster scores of the early 70's often combined his orchestral and pop influences together, as heard popularly in The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, and in 1975, Williams' Jaws won him his first dramatic score Oscar and, for film buffs, ushered in that renaissance for good. It wasn't until his trio of famous adventure/fantasy scores in the late 1970's, though, that the public fully embraced the move. With Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Superman revealed to audiences within a year's time, Williams cemented broadly thematic orchestral works as the must-have sound for studios of Hollywood's Bronze Age (largely consisting of the 1980's in the last years of the pre-digital era). Williams' Star Wars alone would become the most popular soundtrack of all time, selling many millions of copies and mirroring the film in its cult following. Perhaps baffling to collectors today, the title theme of Star Wars was so popular on the charts that a disco dance version of it was pressed onto a wildly embraced LP record and heard frequently in clubs for an entire year after the film's release. It may seem elementary by post-2000 standards of film music composition, but the use of a prominent title theme and the constant development several leitmotifs in 1977 was a refreshingly bold move back to the Wagnerian influence of Hollywood's Golden Age. The existence of so many memorable themes and their masterful placement throughout the film for individual characters and settings was a somewhat novel concept at the time. Lucas encouraged Williams to seek inspiration in classic movie scores by everyone from Erich Wolfgang Korngold to Alessandro Cicognini, some of which influencing Williams' finished score enough for trained ears to detect. A common thread for Williams in all of his Star Wars scores, and especially prominent in the original trilogy, is his concentration of the soundtracks' melodic cores around three central themes, each usually informing the concert suites that he arranged from these ideas. A bit different in these regards is Star Wars, however, with the main theme and that of Princess Leia sharing the focus while the third major idea, that of the "Force," factors significantly in this score (and becomes more of a complete, overarching identity in all six films, even more so than the title theme) despite never receiving its own concert arrangement by Williams outside of its attachment to the first score's famous "Throne Room" finale that was often performed alongside the official end credits suite. The main theme for the franchise opens each of the films in overture form and serves the heroic action element throughout, though originally it was deemed lead character Luke Skywalker's dedicated theme. It explodes in bursts of immense energy as the film approaches its climax and establishes itself as a familiar bookend when it opens all of the end credits sequences in the six films. After five takes on the first day of recording sessions for the 1977 original, Williams and Lucas combined three of them to form the "Main Titles" that listeners are so familiar with today, the melody largely considered the most widely recognized film score theme of all time. The theme for Princess Leia is the lush, romantic interlude to the fanfare in the end credits and receives its own major arrangement. Williams is dedicated to referencing her theme whenever she is relevant, including an introduction during the initial attack sequence, longing performances when her recording is seen by Luke, and a surprisingly robust rendition upon Ben Kenobi's death and the escape from the Death Star. The theme for the Force is also well placed in the entirety of Star Wars, sprinkled throughout the scenes featuring Kenobi but most famously accompanying two of the film's most poignant scenes: first, the binary sunset vista as Luke contemplates his future and then at the conclusion, when he uses solely the Force to continue his attack on the Death Star. The aforementioned "The Throne Room" cue translates the theme into a stately, optimistic march, though this usage has always seemed slightly out of place as a reference to the rebel celebration rather anything truly unique to the Force (the choice makes a little more sense if you think of it from the perspective that Williams must have had when tackling the movie as a single entity and not part of a larger franchise). The secondary motifs in Star Wars are a curious bunch, because most of them are not touched upon again the subsequent movies. The most intriguing of these is a belligerent, stomping identity for the Death Star itself, the theme that represented the evil Empire before the "Imperial March" took over in the next film. The idea sadly disappears completely in the sequels, not even hinted in Return of the Jedi for the second Death Star. The firing mechanism with that battle station enjoys its own motif, a crescendo of rhythmic ensemble hits anticipating the blasts. Likewise, the stormtroopers chasing around in the corridors are treated to an extension of this material. The various creatures of the desert world of Tatooine are afforded sparse rhythmic material that is among the score's weakest. Only when the Jawa crawler is afforded a grim, full ensemble motif does this material really impress, though it strays awfully close to the villains' theme in tone. The anthem of nobility that extends out of the Force theme in "The Throne Room" likely qualifies as its own self-contained theme for the Rebel Alliance as well, though its only subsequent reference would come as an awkward application to the end titles of Revenge of the Sith. Williams' ability to shift between these themes, in their various states of volume and completeness, is what truly captured audiences at the time. For people discovering the original Star Wars scores today, it may be the dominant memorability of each individual theme that causes such fan attachment, but if you consider A New Hope as a whole and appreciate its lesser-known cues, you'll hear the real reason why the score was such a success. A cue like "Tales of a Jedi Knight/Learn about the Force" contains so many of the themes in magical, conversational context that you realize that Williams' music for the series doesn't require bombast for the same effective utilization of the Wagnerian concepts. This is not to say, however, that bold statements of theme in Star Wars aren't worthy of their place in history. The "Imperial Attack" and "TIE Fighter Attack" cues are both immensely satisfying in how they punctuate the adrenaline rush of their scenes, the latter resolving with incredible relief as the last enemy fighter explodes. The final battle cue transitions from suspense to action with a tremendous sense of anticipation, its rhythmic propulsion vital to the scene. And, of course, no discussion of the various facets of Star Wars sound be complete without the two "Cantina Band" source pieces for the exotic Tatooine bar, both of which highly obnoxious in their otherworldly jazz but perfectly tailored to the oddly configured creatures in the room. Overall, A New Hope really defines the original parameters of the space opera score. It has been imitated so often since that its general sound may seem overwrought and overexposed for listeners discovering it for the first time. But it remains among the most important scores in the history of cinema, and any serious collector of Digital Age film music needs to forgive the archival quality of the London Symphony Orchestra's recording in order to appreciate the composition. One of the few debates that persist about the actual content of the A New Hope score is related to the "Special Edition" of the classic trilogy that was released in 1997 as part of the much hyped 20th anniversary celebration of the saga. With new music recorded freshly for Return of the Jedi and cues shifted slightly for additional scenes in the first two films, many fans wondered why Lucas decided against the belated but perhaps appropriate insertion of the Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back in place of the short and singular Death Star theme heard throughout A New Hope (or alluded to after the gong hit when Vader is first introduced). With that march heard in some form or another in all of the other five films as a representation of Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire, its obvious absence from A New Hope remains the score's sole lingering question or abnormality. Aside from this debate, the only notable issue surrounding the A New Hope score in the Digital Era is the history of the music on album. A person could easily ramble on for days about the people and technicalities behind all of these albums; every time you think you've purchased the definitive and final version of any of the classic trilogy of scores, it seems that you can wait a few years and be treated to yet another mass re-release to consumers. While the existence of all of the music from the classic trilogy of Star Wars on album is taken for granted today, the first fifteen years were quite lean for fans of Williams and the concept. In fact, it would take a full twenty years before the entire finished products (with every available cue released) finally reached fans in time for the Special Editions in theatres. Regarding each of the various releases of the score, much of the information that follows is relevant to not only this score, but the others in the classic trilogy as well, so you'll encounter very similar accounts in the Filmtracks reviews of those scores. After their initial, separate releases on LP records and their equivalent CDs, the editions of the scores on subsequent discs have always been released as a trilogy, despite your ability to usually buy them separately upon each update of all three. The first release of A New Hope on CD was by Polydor in 1986, a very early CD with sparse packaging, and it was identical in contents and packaging to the LP release. Of the roughly 88 minutes of music that was finalized for the film, about 75 minutes exist on this album (A New Hope had far less music recorded than the other scores in the saga). The only substantial alternative source for music from this score (and the others in the saga before 1993) was the Charles Gerhardt re-recording of 33 minutes of it with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. For years, Gerhardt and the NPO had recorded famous film scores from mostly the Golden Age of Hollywood, but as a few of their final collaborations, Gerhardt recorded the three classic Star Wars scores near the times of their release. In this case, the 33 minutes from A New Hope was recorded in December of 1977 and released on LP record at that time. A CD version from RCA was remastered and released in 1989. The original Polydor release of the actual recording suffers terribly from the muted sound quality that often plagued scores of the 1970's, but the Gerhardt recording (mixed into Dolby Surround for the CD) had outstanding sound quality for its age and remains to this day one of the best recordings of the highlights of A New Hope (and a suite from Close Encounters of the Third Kind) of all time. Their performance of "The Throne Room" is not to be missed, and luckily the CD long remained a rather easy used-bin find at many major stores. When 20th Century Fox finally commissioned the ultimate Star Wars trilogy set in 1993, the resulting "Anthology" was considered a godsend by fans. While mostly doing significant justice to the two sequel scores, the Anthology of 1993 did offer another ten minutes of music from A New Hope (but far less than what was still missing). Produced by some of the biggest names in film score production, the set and its additional music were certainly welcomed with great anticipation. There were, however, problems with the presentation of that music, despite the best intentions of the producers. The Anthology put as much music as possible from each film on an individual CD but then pressed additional unreleased cues on a fourth CD that spanned all three. Thus, to get cues such as "Destruction of Alderaan" and "A Hive of Villainy" in the age before digitization, you had to insert the fourth CD separately to enjoy them. Add on a large, custom-sized package and hard-to-read individual CD covers within, and you had some ill-received fan protests. The Anthology is looked upon with fondness by many Star Wars fans today simply because it filled a major void in their collections at the time. Not long after, however, the 1993 Anthology was rendered outdated by the massive, highly advertised RCA Special Edition releases of 1997. In January of that year, George Lucas had announced the production of The Phantom Menace and revealed newly enhanced versions of the original three films for a 20th anniversary theatrical release. For A New Hope in particular, no physical changes resulted for the score despite some unrealized expectations that the "Imperial March" would retroactively be inserted into the picture. On album, fans were treated to double-CD releases of each Star Wars score in film order with alternate cues and extensive attention to detail in the mixing and arrangement. Digitally remastered in 1996 (separately from 35mm magnetic and 16-track analog elements), the true vibrant scope of the original recordings was finally starting to be heard outside of the film. Including the fifteen minutes of alternate takes of the "Main Title," a total of 106 minutes of music on this Special Edition made it the definitive release. Those alternates are tucked into the last track on the first CD for some reason (here and on the 2004 releases) rather than receiving their own tracks. Extensive notes and pictorials grace both the 1993 and 1997 releases, and the list of recorded takes on the latter is of particular interest. Later in 1997, these albums were re-packaged by RCA and offered in slimline packages adorned by the Special Edition poster art, but these fell out of print about five years later. In 2004, the Sony Classical label, which had been releasing the prequel scores, acquired the rights to the classic trilogy's scores and reissued the 1997 releases with new artwork. These 2004 albums offer Sony's Direct Stream Digital remastering, and while this technique does provide some minimal extra clarity on high-end stereo systems, casual listeners will notice no significant difference. Those who owned the Special Edition albums and didn't require slightly improved sound had no reason to seek the 2004 ones, which lack the fantastic notes and pictorials presented in the 1993 or 1997 albums. The same presentation was re-pressed in 2016 by Sony as the "Ultimate Soundtrack Collection." More basic re-issues dribbled out with Sony's various 2007 releases (the "Corellian Edition" compilation and "30th Anniversary Collector's Edition"), both of which redundant, unnecessary, and irritatingly packaged. Upon Disney's ownership of the franchise's rights, its label nonsensically remastered only the original 1986 album presentation in 2018. Still, owning this classic score is a must for any film score enthusiast, and with its outstanding packaging and complete presentation of music, the 1997 Special Edition album (the original full version bound in black booklets) continues to be the best A New Hope product available. The Force is strong with this one...
TRACK LISTINGS:
1986 Polydor/2016 Sony Albums:
Total Time: 74:54
1989 RCA Gerhardt Album: Total Time: 54:18
1993 Fox Anthology Album: Total Time: 85:36
* Contains previously unreleased material ** Previously unreleased music *** Composed by Alfred Newman (1954) 1997 RCA Special Edition: Total Time: 105:45
* Previously unreleased ** Contains previously unreleased material 2004/2016 Sony Classical Albums: Total Time: 105:45
2007 Sony Corellian Edition: Total Time: 54:57
2007 Sony 30th Ann. Edition: Total Time: 105:45
(total time only reflects unique material from Star Wars: A New Hope) 2018 Disney Album: Total Time: 74:58
NOTES & QUOTES:
The 2016 Sony set included a bonus CD featuring audio interviews with Harrison Ford and John Williams, the "Star Wars: A Musical Journey" DVD (a one-hour special highlighting select musical themes alongside key sequences from the films), a fold-out poster, and three collectible stickers for your children to decorate toilets. It does not, however, feature the same notation about the scores as earlier releases. The same quality of notation is also missing from the 2018 Disney album. Its promotional materials state, "The soundtracks were reconstructed from new hi-resolution (24/192) transfers supervised by Shawn Murphy and Skywalker Sound." A sample of the colorful 1997 RCA Special Edition CDs is seen here. (Each of the three 2-CD sets for the trilogy has a different pattern on the CDs.)
Copyright ©
1997-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Star Wars: A New Hope are Copyright © 1986, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2004, 2007, 2016, 2018, Polydor/Polygram, RCA Victor (Gerhardt), 20th Century Fox (Anthology), RCA Victor (Special Edition), RCA Victor (S.E. Re-Pressing), Sony Classical (Individual and Set), Sony Classical (Corellian Edition), Sony Classical (30th Ann. Edition), Sony Classical (Ultimate Collection), Walt Disney Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 1/14/97 and last updated 11/26/23. |
