Customer Reviews

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As always, John williams brings masterful composing to the Star Wars movie screen. The sweeping and spine-tingling score will leave you breathless and stick with you for years.

It starts out a little slow, but of course all the classic themes are present. The action picks up at track 7 (Dsic 1) The Pit of Carkoon/Sail Barge Assault. The moving track 8 will announce the arrival of the infamous emperor with deep male voices and dark themes, then we are swept back to Degobah for Luke's final meeting with Yoda in slow trumpets proclaiming Yoda's news and final announcement to Luke, finally we meet Obi Wan once again, whose conversation with Luke reveals stunning news with the trumpet theme of Skywalker and the warm, comforting violins. Comical additions such as Jabba's baroque recital and Jedi Rocks close the first disc with a slower pace, almost as if it were intermission.

Disc 2 opens with the playful Parade of Ewoks, a new theme created to portray the cute but deadly inhabitants of Endor, played on flutes, trumpets, and a variety of other instruments. Next we are introduced to the change in Luke and Leia's relationship with a slow flute and violin piece showing how strong their bond has become.

Track 3, Brother and Sister, Father and Son, finds the Skywalker theme as Luke tells Leia a wonderful secret, which transitions into their new theme. The Emperor's throne room conveys the serious danger of our heros in deep male voices and sweeping music. The three battle pieces are, of course, wonderful, but by far the best part is the piece matching when the rebels prepare to charge the Death Star in a great instrumental piece.

Last is the calm after the storm, the two tracks that are by far my favorite from this soundtrack. First is track 9, Leia's News/Light of the Force, in which we begin with a sweet, grand piece with Leia's theme and Luke & Leia's theme mingling in.
Next comes possibly the most moving piece of music created by John Williams as a lone trumpet breaks from the silence, playing the Skywalker theme, and it culminates in a tremendous and shattering climax, which settles back into the trumpet skywalker theme, as if in final send of, as Luke watches the man he had feared, redeemed, finally at peace.

Lastly, except for the extra tracks, we finish with the Ewoke celebration on endor, an amazing and wonderful piece of pure joy and revelation as we close upon our heros, all having found what they were looking for in the end, and see the final gathering of old friends.


Without a doubt, this is a must-have for soundtrack afficionados!

First of all, I would like to point out that I do not own this exact soundtrack but the older collecters edition. I am writing the review on here because the reviews for the other soundtrack are for the movie, not the score. I highly doubt that there is any difference in the music though.

John Williams' final installment to the Star Wars soundtracks is just as good as the previous ones. The epic fleet music to the Emperor music is fantastic. This score is a bit darker than its predecessors but that's a good thing considering the story involved. There is a lot of great music in here that should please just about anyone.

This soundtrack CD is probably one of the best John Williams has ever had and the best among all the star wars CD soundtracks of the classic ones. The songs are much more fun and lively. John Williams knows how to translate the music so well that it can blend in perfectly with the movie.

The compositions are really magnificent and the dynamics are really great. These are really among the unique ones. Very special indeed.

Some of the great songs are Jedi rocks (The part in the movie where Jabba The Hut is entertained by the new cantina band. The song is very lively and can really make your mood a lot better. Another one is the Victory Celebration (The last part where the death star was destroyed and they went to Endor to Celebrate.) The song really captured the mood of celebration. I loved it.

Kirstie Mabitad

RotJ, is the best of all six of the Star Wars scores on cd. It has all the great themes from the first two movies, but the new themes especially the theme for Luke and Leia make this the ultimate Star Wars soundtrack. The action cues are excellent, especially Into the Trap which combines new music with a fast nostalgic rendition of the Star Wars theme. Williams maturity by this score is incredible. The struggle Luke fights with himself to reject the dark side is played out beautifully. The only problem I have with the score is the Ewok theme, which I don't like on because I don't like the Ewoks, but that does NOT make this score any less of a great score. This is truly the best of the Star Wars scores past and present.

Due to either digital noise reduction to remove analogue tape hiss or because of the loudness wars this soundtrack has all its highs in the audio stream clipped right off. The lows and middle are still there but the high frequency stuff is gone. The arista records release and the original cd release and lp album are unaffected the only ones who are ruined are the 1997 and 2004 releases and the limited edition boxset of all three by sony.

The mastering in 1997 has to be at fault. I'm not saying its the mastering technicians fault its possible he was ordered by Lucasfilms to remove the hiss from the master tapes and then we get what we have ruined releases missing all clarity. You end up with a lot of missing material but the only way now to have an unruined score isto get the arista anthology box.

You don't even need a high end setup to detect the difference though it certainly will make things clearer. IF you put both releases through a program with a sound graph you will be able to physically see what is missing.

Prior to the emergence of the prequel trilogy, this particular Star Wars score is probably the darkest of the saga. From the moment the opening titles end, an eerie mood is set, and Darth Vader's Imperial March is almost immediately the focus of our attention. Now this soundtrack does take a little while to pick up the pace, but when it does, it's magic. There are a lot of dark themes in this soundtrack that tend to give the film a more sinister overtone, and it is this characterisitc that sets it apart from the other Star Wars scores.

For example, this is the first Star Wars score in which Williams has employed a choir (For the most part, he sticks to the male voices). With that said, what Williams created with the Emperor's theme is something that suits that character to a tee. Even if you don't know what the Emperor looks like, this spooky motif will immediately have you conjuring up images of something truly evil and sinister. But what really fascinated me about this theme is the way it competed with Vader's theme for dominance of the score, almost as if Vader himself were trying to rise above his master's influence. Other darker moments of the score include the Rancor's music (a classic monster track if there ever was one), the underscore of the Battle of Endor, and of course the final duel between Luke and Vader.

In the three tracks listed The Battle of Endor, the music cues underscoring the lightsaber duel only confirms what I said earlier in terms of the Emperor's theme becoming more dominant and more sinister. I noticed that whenever Luke ended up getting the short end of the stick, it was the Emperor's theme that accompanied these momentary defeats, not Vader's. However, Williams did introduce a new theme for the final sequencce of the lightsaber duel (the only point it was ever used), that does not exhibit a typical action scene romp, but is rather characterized by a moving strings motif augmented by chorus to illustrate the tragedy of this confrontation. It is at the point where the Emperor is zapping Luke to a crisp with his force lightning that the Emperor's theme has now reached its ultimate climax. The buildup or orchestra and chorus only better serves to illustrate the Emperor's raging desire to destroy Luke. And when Vader intervenes and destroys the Emperor, Luke's theme re-emerges almost as an exhausted victory cry.

The music that follows had me at my gut. At the point where Vader has finally found peace and redemption, the Imperial March theme is recited by a lonely harp above a sustained low strings note. This music now makes you pity a character you had once come to fear and associate with pure evil. This is followed shortly by the most movong rendition of Luke's theme as he lays his father to rest on a burning pyre. The tragic mood is quickly lightened by the newly-composed Victory Celebration that brings the film's revival to a fitting close.

Overall, although this does not top his first Star Wars score, Williams still delivers something special to our ears. This is definitely a must-have for any Williams collection, as it shows a more contrasting side to the saga's musical narrative. This is definitely a darker score - and I am not complaining!

This is the final installment in the Star Wars Saga. He did a great job remixing all these songs this 2 Disc Set is great for any Star Wars Fan!

Thanks Again, John Williams!

Perhaps my least favorite of the original soundtracks, it's still a classic. If you are a fan of the original Star Wars movies, you can't miss owning this CD.

I bought this for a Star Wars birthday party for my 7-year-old son and our whole family really enjoys listening to this. If you're a Star Wars fan, I'd recommend adding this to your music collection.

The music is excellent, the case has a 3-D cover, and the regular cover behind the 3-D one folds out into a great poster, which has pictures on the back of it. This soundtrack has two disks and contains the the song "Jedi Rock" from Jabba's palace and the celebration song at the end of the movie. "Luke and Leia's theme is beautiful, while the action music makes you feel like you are right there in the movie. I think that every Star Wars fan should own this item.