Customer Reviews

The Star Wars Trilogy: Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back/Return Of The Jedi (Re-recording)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first bought this album in 1992, I was new to film music collecting and figured that it would satisfy my interest in Star Wars music. It didn't. I eventually ended up buying all of the original trilogy scores and the Arista box set when that came out in 1993. The point I'm making here is that this album was a good buy when it first came out but is now totally obsolete. The cues "Darth Vader's Death" and "Fight with the Tie Fighters" have since been released. The performances are all really good and the concert arrangements are effective, but there is a ton of awesome music from the original trilogy that didn't make it onto this collection. You might consider buying it only for two reasons: 1) you have only the most superficial interest in Star Wars music 2) you like listening to different interpretations by orchestras other than the LSO. Otherwise, it's hardly worth it. In my opinion, it's much better to buy the RCA special editions or the Arista box set.

All of the music on this album is the motion pictures SCORE, but isn't the motion picture SOUNDTRACK performed by the London Symphony Orchestra for the actual motion picture. Mentioning SOUNDTRACK in your description of this album, even when you also refer to it elsewhere as from the motion picture SCORE, is confusing and misleading. Nevertheless,it is a fairly faithful reproduction of the original score.

A good collection of the best songs of each movie from the original Star Wars trilogy. A good album for Star Wars fans who don't have all the other Star Wars CDs.

This CD only contains a small selection of the terrific music in the original Star Wars trilogy, but it has many wonderful pieces of music, superbly recorded. There is a limit to what can be put on one CD, but the recording could have contained at least another 20 minutes of music. But it is still a fantastic CD.

Highlights include:
The stirring Fox Fanfare opening
The main Star Wars theme [which is Luke's theme]
Princess Leia's theme
The Imperial March
Jabba the Hut's theme, which is a weird sliding tuba solo.

If you only want one CD of Star Wars music, this one is well worth having.

This score of the classic trilogy's music is a passable overview of some outstanding music. Although the amazing Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) is included, I am left wondering why Luke Skywalker's and Ben's themes were not. The bottom line is that this is an ok choice if you don't want to spend nearly $100 for the 3 movie soundtracks. However, I now plan on buying the soundtracks for the prequels as they are released, rather than just a summary.

This CD is very good, with the best of Episodes IV, V, & VI, but it is missing some of the essential songs from each of the movies. I have this along with the full versions for each movie, and I suggest you get those. This CD just doesn't do justice to all the music of Star Wars. Don't take me wrong, it is a very good CD but it lacks some of my favorite songs. If you want one good CD, get this, otherwise get the full soundtracks.

This CD (originally released on Vinyl in 83) covers most of the major themes from the Original star wars trilogy. Side A was star wars and the empire strikes back and Side B was Return of the Jedi. Varujan Kojian and the Utah Symphony Orchestra perform some of the best versions of concert arragements from the original trilogy. This is a million times better than the CD by the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra. This recording was done with the blessing of Mr. Williams and Lucasfilm. I can't think of any single disc star wars compilation better than this one.

One of the most underrated dynamics of the Star Wars experience is the music. The music for Star Wars is powerful, surprisingly catchy and most importantly for you, it stands on its own -theater not necessary. I have all three of the 'Special Edition' packs that come with two discs for each movie. They're complete with fancy packaging and a fat booklet. The packs are gorgeous, but if I were to make a compilation of the best songs from the six discs, this Varujan Kojian disc would pretty much be it. If you're a fanatic and therefore you can not live without every score and you're actually going to read 15 pages of material for each movie, you will want the six disc set but be ready to surrender around $75.00 for all three packs. On the other hand, if you just want the greatest hits from the Trilogy, this is all you need. I have all of the media described above and while I adore the 'Special Edition' packs, I am surprised at how often I put in this Star Wars Trilogy CD. You may have the same experience!

I must admit I have listened to this CD hundreds of times;
and, even if the lawn mower is on outside, the computer game is playing music, the tv is on and the cd is playing lightly upstairs, I can hear the clarinet crack on the 2nd track about 4:18 into the work. If you're really paying attention you can hear something drop or maybe the conductor hit the stand during Asteriod Field. I dare you to hear for yourself. I guarantee once you hear it you WILL always hear it. Then it becomes annoying, unless you're trying to help others hear it too... hence this review :) The cd is certainly a good listen - and varied. Asteroid Field is incredibly dynamic and my personal all time favorite Star Wars piece. (It's just fun to pretend to conduct, you'll hear why) Although some tunes really draw out (still good for background music), the classics are well represented and the Fox theme at the beginning gets you ready for the show with gusto. If you don't enjoy it, you probably don't like most intense movie scores.

This CD is a conglomeration of the majority of the most famous themes from the original Star Wars trilogy. I first picked this CD up way back before the official soundtracks were released on CD in 1997, because it had most of the things I wanted at the time. Since, I have come to appreciate the film score in its entirety, but I still listen to this occasionally. The audio quality is excellent for such an old recording (it was originally released on vinyl in '83), and in many cases is better than the film versions. Here, the presentation of John Williams' work is more like a concert suite than a movie soundtrack, more deliberate and, in some cases, more grand and sweeping. In particular, the motif at the very beginning of the first film, when the rebel ship is overtaken by the Star Destroyer, sounds much less muddy and much more menacing on this recording than the film soundtrack. "Fight With TIE Fighters" is the same way. A soundtrack for a film trilogy cannot really be condensed onto a single disc and include all of the important themes, but what is here is excellent. I recommend this to anybody who is interested in a slightly different take on the music from the films, and also those who might prefer having most of the famous, important themes all on one disc. It's well worth picking up even for people who already own the official soundtracks.