Customer Reviews

Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire [Enhanced CD]

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In 1996, even as the 20th Anniversary Special Edition of the Star Wars Trilogy was being prepped for release in early 1997 and pre-production planning for Episode I was starting, Lucasfilm gathered several authors, artists, and representatives from Hasbro and other licensees to discuss a huge multimedia project that was, in short, everything but the full-fledged filmed version of a Star Wars movie. The talented science-fiction writer Steve Perry was hired to write an original novel for Bantam Spectra that would be the core of the project called Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.

The novel would be a stand-alone Expanded Universe novel, the first of the Bantam Spectra series to depict events within the Trilogy's timespan, i.e., between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. All the other products, ranging from Hasbro's Kenner Star Wars action figures to Nintendo 64 cartridges, would use Perry's novel as a starting point and expand the story somewhat, sticking to the essentials of the story of the Falleen crime lord Prince Xizor's scheme to avenge his family's death after a bio-warfare experiment directed by Darth Vader results in a lab accident, forcing the Empire to sterilize part of Xizor's homeworld by Star Destroyer bombardment. Xizor plans to bring Vader down in the most painful manner -- by killing the young Jedi Knight-in-training named Luke Skywalker, the most dangerous threat to Emperor Palpatine...and Vader's son.

Because Lucasfilm's directive was "Everything but the movie," one of the more interesting aspects of the Shadows of the Empire project was the commisioning of composer Joel McNeeley, who had already worked for Lucasfilm as the composer for the wonderful but short-lived "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," a stint that earned McNeeley an Emmy for the score of "Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920." (McNeeley has also written music for many feature films, including 1994's Terminal Velocity and 1996's Flipper)

McNeeley's task to compose music for a Star Wars adventure -- even if it was literary rather than cinematic -- was daunting. John Williams' scores for the existing Trilogy are masterpieces of symphonic music and are immediately recognizable. How could McNeeley compose a score of his own that would build upon Williams' material yet be able to stand on its own?

McNeeley's approach was simple. Instead of following slavishly in Williams' footsteps, he'd use a few existing motifs to set the scene by borrowing Main Theme from Star Wars and grafting music from the Han-Leia farewell scene in Bespin's carbon freeze chamber (track 1, "Main Theme and Leia's Nightmare), then break away on his own as much as possible. And this he accomplished brilliantly, as listeners of this album will discover when they hear "The Battle of Gall" (track 2), "Beggar's Canyon Chase" (track 4), "Xizor's Theme" (track 6), or "The Seduction of Princess Leia" (track 7), a wonderful piece that starts out, as the title implies, with sensual undertones in a waltz-like movement with almost Max Steiner-like romantic phrasings that end abruptly with a shift to dark thematic material.

Obviously, this being a Star Wars story that is set while Vader is still alive and still in the thrall of the Dark Side, McNeeley can't totally leave out existing material by Williams. In addition to the mood-setting first track, McNeeley borrows two key Star Wars motifs in track 8, "Night Skies," which features both The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) and Ben's/The Force Theme in a scene set on Coruscant's Imperial City as the Dark Lord senses his son's presence somewhere in the sprawling city-planet.

For the Varese Sarabande Digital recording of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire McNeeley teamed up with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus, an acclaimed ensemble of over 150 musicians. Acclaimed record producer Robert Townson, a fan of film scores and John Williams' Star Wars scores, helmed the project.

Key Tracks: Top 5 Must-Hear Cues from Shadows of the Empire
(Track Number, Cue Title)
1. Main Theme from Star Wars & Leia's Nightmare
2. The Battle of Gall
3. Imperial City
7. The Seduction of Princess Leia
10. The Destruction of Xizor's Palace

This is simply a fantastic CD. It is full of unique, memorable themes and songs, and definitely worth buying. At about an hour in length, it's also twice as long as most film soundtracks released these days. If you simply want a rehash of John Williams' music, don't look here. As Joel McNeely, the composer, says, "The significant contributions of John Williams' brilliant scores have affected nearly everyone who has experienced these films. For a composer of film music to enter into this domain is to tread on hallowed ground. Therefore, rather than tread lightly, I have wandered elsewhere." McNeely's style is unmistakeably his own, and is very good.

From the subtle, ethereal Night Skies and Leia's Nightmare, to the bold Imperial City to the fast paced Beggar's Canyon Chase and wonderful Battle of Gall to the absolutely amazing, choiral, powerful Destruction of Xizor's Palace, these are ten unforgettable, extremely memorable tracks. I often find myself humming them to myself, even when I haven't listened to the CD for a while.

In addition to the great music, this is an "Enhanced CD," which can be explored on your computer. Of course, it is several years old and may not work or autoplay on all systems, but it's a good look at the world of the Star Wars Expanded Universe up through 1995.

This is definitely a CD worth getting. Highly Recommended.

I always liked this soundtrack. But until I heard the Phantom Menace soundtrack I felt that the choral work seemed out of place in the Star Wars universe with the exception of the Emperor's theme from Jedi. Don't get me wrong, I loved the strong vocals, they just seemed not Star Warsish. Then Williams came out with the music for the Phantom Menace and chorals now had a happy and very welcome home in the SW universe! McNeely's work is actually almost like a predecessor to TPM in a way. The music seems similar. I especially like track 10 - Destruction of Xizor's Palace with it's powerful climax and SUPERB variation of Vader's theme! I have heard his theme used as a march, fanfare, intro, close, and even played sad and soft (see Darth Vader's death on the RotJ soundtrack), but until now I had never heard it as pure battle music. A treat to be sure. A new theme found it's way into Star Wars in this soundtrack: Xizor's theme. Although the actual Williams-like theme doesn't appear until the end of the track (with the first part being more of a trip inside Xizor's mind) when it hits it is truly remarkable. It is also used throught the score after it's intro. Although McNeely mainly stays clear from thematic material, he makes exceptional use of the Force theme in track 8. It takes us back to Binary Sunset (ANH)and Light of the Force [Alternate] (RotJ). Beggar's Canyon Chase is another enjoyable and fast-paced peice. It perfectly complements a fast paced chase through the infamous Tatooine canyon (think of the pod race scene in TPM)! The Seduction of Princess Leia introduces another idea entirely new to SW - a waltz. It is a very welcome addition :) The Battle of Gall is remenicient of the Battle of Endor from RotJ in that it covers multiple scenes in one track. Although the battle itself isn't scored, the events leading up to it are. The only thing I would change about this CD is that I would give the new character Dash Rendar a more prmoinent theme. It only makes a short cameo in Beggar's Canyon Chase. It's so small that until I read the liner notes I mistook it for a heroic cresendo. In all, an enjoyable CD. If you don't like the fact that it doesn't seem like SW enough, then just enjoy it as it's own thing because this really is enjoyable listening!

What a strange idea for an album... a symphonic work in the vein of a film score, but based on a novel rather than a film. Stranger yet, it's based on a novel that is a spinoff from a popular series of movies that in and of themselves helped redefine the way people think of film scores. John Williams's "Star Wars" scores (for the original trilogy, at least) are as iconic as film scores get, so for Joel McNeely to have dared to write major new material for that universe was a bold idea, indeed.

In my opinion, it pays off.

I'd like to talk about two things, first off being the actual music. It would be not only difficult but stupid to write a "Star Wars" score -- be it for a film, a book, or anything else -- that did not utilize Williams's music to some extent. And so we have the main theme, which is the first half of track one; the other half, representing a scene in the novel in which Leia dreams of Han's carbon freezing, is a reprise of the score to that scene in "The Empire Strikes Back." Elsewhere, the Imperial March pops up in "Night Skies," along with the Force Theme (or Luke's Theme, I guess you could call it). Otherwise, McNeely does the right thing, which is to focus on his own music and to use it to represent the "Star Wars" universe in his own way. His best work is track six, "Xizor's Theme" (that's pronounced Shee-zor, by the way), which is a brutal and ominous theme for the book's new villain, a criminal underlord who has his eye on Darth Vader's position as right-hand-man to the Emperor. This theme is somewhat reminsicent of James Horner's music for "Aliens," in terms of instrumentation and intensity; in my opinion, it is only a bit less good than some of the themes Williams has written for "Star Wars" movies thus far. McNeely also has composed a theme for the Rebel Alliance, the Alliance Battle Hymn, which puts in several appearances but can be most prominently heard in the final track, "The Destruction of Xixor's Palace." Another standout is "Imperial City," an eight-minute piece representative of Coruscant, the Imperial seat, that begins gently but gradually grows into something both majestic and tinged with underlying hints of the evil that lives in this place. It's a marvelous piece, probably better than the music Williams wrote for the planet Coruscant as depicted in the prequels. All of the other tracks are good, as well, to one extent or another.

In my opinion, though, the greatest achievement of this album is the manner in which the music is reminiscent of a film score in general, and a "Star Wars" score in particular. Bear in mind, film scores are, with the very occasional exception, written in a manner that very precisely follows a pre-existing set of visuals. That McNeely manages to take the story of a novel and use scenes from it to create music that replicate the sound and timing we have come to expect from film music means that, in some sense, he had to have made a movie of the story in his head! That's sort of an amazing accomplishment, in my opinion, and it gives this musical work the status of not just good music, but also a sort of statement on the very nature of what film music is.

Even more impressive, McNeely managed to keep intact the very familiar "Star Wars" sound without either stealing from its primary composer or slavishly imitating him. As such, this score manages to be a genuinely important contribution to te admittedly small canon of original "Star Wars" music. Personally, I would happily welcome more such works from McNeely.

I recommend this album to "Star Wars" fans without hesitation.

My first encounter with Joel McNeely's "soundtrack" to Shadows of the Empire was in the N64 game that used themes from both this album and the classic trilogy scores. After discovering the existence of this CD, I quickly bought it and was not dissapointed at all. Although McNeely did not try to emulate John Willaims beyond the use of a few sound cues (and wisely so), the music still feels like Star Wars. Even with his own style distinct from Williams', McNeely's music fits into the universe as if it were always there. In fact, even listening to the soundtrack now I will occassionally think to myself "I could have sworn THAT was in the movies!" My apologies to Star Wars buffs and Williams fans, but I have always felt this score maintains the feel of the original trilogy more than Williams' compositions for the prequels. And perhaps that's how it should be - after all, "Shadows of the Empire" takes place in the midst of Episodes IV-VI, while the prequels are years removed in the timeline.

My only complaint is that McNeely doesn't weave the traditional Star Wars "end credits" theme into the last track. I would have loved to hear him reprise his earlier themes in one finale. But I guess with this being a novel and not a film, McNeely made a creative decision to leave that out. All in all this is a wonderful CD, and one of my favorites in my collection.

I first learned of this book after having played the N64 game, and then ordered the book. I read through it and was very impressed, at the back of the book was an offer for the soundtrack, I figured it was the soundtrack for the game as well which is very good. I ordered and it and lo and behold it was the game soundtrack also. It was spectacular. If you like star wars, or good classical music: get this.

When I first heard of Varese Sarabande Records' plans to have Joel McNeely compose an orchestral score based on the popular Star Wars spin-off novel, "Shadows of the Empire", I was very eager, if somewhat curious, for its release. Having someone other than John Williams compose a score for the Star Wars franchise - albeit for a book and not a film - seemed almost sacrilegious. The idea of composing a score for a book was itself quite intriguing. However, after listening to "Shadows of the Empire" for the first time, I found myself wishing Joel McNeely would compose the score for the first Star Wars prequel!

Joel McNeely's style is distinctly different than John Williams. It often lacks the "kick" of Williams' music, but that in no way diminishes the quality. Having a new flavor in the burgeoning body of Star Wars music is actually a pleasant deviation. McNeely's score still does what made the original so effective - culling its style and color from the grandest orchestral works in the history of sound. Elements from composers like Gustav Holst, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, and Igor Stravinsky are prominent throughout "Shadows of the Empire". But this is not a completely derivative piece; Joel McNeely infuses a great deal of his own rich style. No London Symphony Orchestra? No problem. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is every bit as good.

"Shadows of the Empire" opens with a stirring rendition of John Williams' immortal Star Wars theme, and only gets better. From the riveting brass passages of "The Battle of Gall", to the rhythmic, bombastic ethnic percussion of "Xizor's Theme", to the twisted, subterranean sounds of "Into the Sewers" (you can almost smell the rancid stench!), to the epic choral motifs of "The Destruction of Xizor's Palace", Joel McNeely's score electrifies its listener. And it does it with almost no use of synthesizer. "Beggars Canyon Chase" is a particularly rousing cue. After listening to "Shadows of the Empire", you will find yourself wishing Joel McNeely had scored more. This CD is not only for those who have read the novel. It is not only for Star Wars fans. It is for lovers of excellent music.

This soundtrack, drawn from the themes that typify John Williams' music for the Star Wars cycle, goes far beyond. It open the door to Williams' use choral motifs so effectively in Star Wars Episode One's Duel of the Fates.

McNeely follows Williams' habit of drawing upon the compositions of Shostokovich and other Russian composers of the late 19th and early- to mid-20th century. In particular, the distinctive waltz theme in The Seduction of Leia is drawn directly from Aram Khachaturian's Masquerade: Waltz & Mazurka. This is a well-established tradition, enjoyed by most of the film composers of the last 50 years.

A welcome addition to the Star Wars canon!

There are three composers who can claim to have written compelling and memorable music for the best-selling, most popular science-fiction franchise ever.

John Williams not only composed for the greatest movie of all time, but he created a sense of wonder and amazement by encompassing all kinds of emotions. He accomplished that feat "SIX TIMES!", and started it all.

Jeremy Soule - I had to give this man credit for writing 90 minutes of original music for each of the two "Knights of the Old Republic" video games. Instead of recycling Williams' greatest work, he wrote and conducted his own. Props to you, Jeremy.

Joel McNeely - I knew of his work on re-recording "The Batman Trilogy" with his Royal Scottish Orchestra, but that was it. Prior to that compilation, he wrote the music for the best "Star Wars" book ever written: "Shadows of the Empire." McNeely creates an audio experience that complements the novel's text perfectly.

THE SCORE
1) Main Title / Leia's Nightmare
---McNeely appropriately opens this experience with John Williams' "Star Wars Theme" and "Carbonite Freezing" tracks (from "Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back") to convey the terror that Leia suffers every night. There isn't very much original music here, but this is McNeely's nod of respect and inspiration to John Williams. It's a pleasant nostalgic 4 minutes.

2) The Battle of Gall
---This track opens very quietly, and then builds at a gradual pace. The CD booklet says that this composition is supposed to convey the Rebel Alliance's planning, and eventual outer-space conflict. Indeed there is an unsettling sense of urgency during the opening minutes, and also the intensity of the battle. This is not just noise that is usually played during high-octane moments like this in movies; this is real music.

3) Imperial City
---Genuine poetry-in-motion. We hear the solemn, distant chimes of the empty outer space. And then are lured into the corrupt, but equally vibrant, Imperial City on Coruscant. I think I'm supposed to be overwhelmed by this track's power, but then I felt somewhat inspired. That contrast of emotions is what propels this composition. Excellent piece of music, and easily my favorite track.

4) Beggar's Canyon Chase
---The intensity of this piece never lets up. This is when mercenary thugs are on their way to assassinate Luke Skywalker, while he's alone training on Tatooine. But to aid his defense is the brash Dash Rendar. Rendar's role in the novel is so well-drawn, and this piece reflects his physique and courage so convincingly. The ending moments conclude with a gladiator-esque celebration with powerful trumpets.

5) The Southern Underground
---I honestly would not have guessed that this is the part of the story when Leia and Chewbacca were on a covert operation. This 2-minute piece doesn't draw much out of me. It's not annoying, but it feels like dead air.

6) Xizor's Theme
---To begin, McNeely conducts a slithering, chameleonic beat. It's almost as if Xizor's deceit were being revealed to us in deadly whispers. But then the animalistic rage, ego, and lust within him bursts out in an authoritative finish. The transition is a little jarring, but very effective. I think "Xizor's Theme" is similar to the "Imperial March" --- comprised of excellent pieces of music, but listening to all 4 minutes is a bit strange.

7) The Seduction of Princess Leia
---As the booklet says, this one plays out like a waltz or ballet. The joys of being seduced by a strong warrior have a subtle reluctance in this piece of music. It plays out a little melodramatic, but then again, this is a romantic piece. I'm not sure the novel's descriptions match the faster pace, but still an awesome track.

8) Night Skies
---This composition has a haunting presence. This is the part where Luke Skywalker, Xizor, and Darth Vader are alone within their respective lairs and reflecting. A stronger bond between Vader and Luke is conveyed when "A New Hope" strikes a brief, but touching, chord. The choral finish is very spooky, because of its foreshadowing --- these three fates are is going to end tragically.

9) Into the Sewers
---Truly terrifying. First the quiet bass instruments almost dare us to continue embarking on our journey. But you won't want to stop, and venture even further into the mysterious piece. The unsettling mood never lets up, until we are shocked with a loud crescendo of terror and danger. Do not listen to this one in the dark!

10) The Destruction of Xizor's Palace
---The final battle begins now, as the Rebels rescue Leia and Chewbacca, and then resume in an outerspace showdown against Xizor's fleet. When I hear this piece, I think of Dash Rendar, because McNeely ultimately conducts his heroic sacrifice, not to mention his honorary aftermath. This composition expertly handles all sorts of subjects. The outerspace combat, Rendar's sacrifice, and the optimistic resolution --- it's all marvellously conveyed. But the real strength of this piece is the final minute, where McNeely composes a coda that serves two purposes. First, he gives a sense of closure to the story. However, his overpowering finale puts a picture in my mind that shows him saying, "This has been a wonderful journey, and I'm proud to have shared in it."

Joel McNeely probably meant to simply be a spoke on the wheel, but he reinvented the wheel in my mind. He has earned the right to compose "Star Wars"; I eagerly await more of his work to please my ears.
I recommend this CD not only because of its music, but the extra CD-enchanced features are a nice touch for PC users. "Star Wars" fans will defintely dig this, but anybody who appreciates and enjoys theatrical classicism should give this a listen. Buy this immediately!

When I first got the Shadows of The Empire music, I thought that it was going to sound like something totally different from Star Wars. I was totally wrong: Joel Mcneely's score was very familiar to the music of Star Wars and sometimes better. A difference between the two is that SOTE is darker, resembling the style used in The Empire Strikes Back. Beggars Canyon Chase, Battle Of Gall, and Destruction of Xizor's Palace, are simply the best, using the orchestra to its fullest. The Seduction Of Princess Leia introduces to the music of Star Wars a waltz, almost resembling the waltz in Batman. Strict John Williams fans might not like Joel Mcneely's style for Star Wars but, for anyone else, this is a great pick.