Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best of the Trilogy, November 8, 1998
By A Customer
RotJ is definitely the best soundtrack of the Star Wars Trilogy, and one of Williams' best ever. This is basically a compillation of the best themes from the previous films and then some new ones as well (The Emperor's Theme with it's impressive male chorus comes to mind). I can't even begin to touch on the best tracks because there are so many. I must mention however, that the scene where Darth Vader dies is just one of many examples of Williams' brilliance. The music is simply the theme of the Imperial March, but played in an incredible bittersweet way. In short, if you can only buy one of the trilogy's sountracks, make it this one.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Williams, August 6, 1998
By A Customer
John Williams delivers another excellent rendition of Star Wars music. It's Emperor's Theme is haunting and beautiful at the same time. Also, the music is darker (Jabba's Palace scenes) to show the conflict in the characters, and he achieves their feelings very well. This is a must buy for any Star Wars fan. Get it!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Five stars, but could still be better., September 4, 2007
Reviewing the RCA/Victor 1997 "Special Edition" soundtrack of Return of the Jedi, one finds that it is the best soundtrack for the 1997 edition of the film, and perhaps the best soundtrack for Jedi overall. It gets five stars for the music, four for musical presentation, and five for packaging.
Nearly all of the music from the film is presented here, including some concert suites and diagetic Ewok music. However, a lot of the 1983 music is missing, including every version of Lapti Nek (there are at least three extant), every version of the Ewok song (two?), Jabba's suite, and all the original music from Max Rebo's Band (one or two cues). In their place, one finds the listenable Victory Celebration and the terrible Jedi Rocks. Some of the missing cues are available in the earlier Anthology set, some you may be able to find through gray market channels.
Those with good ears may be disappointed by the sonics of this album. The engineers who mastered it were not working for the best elements, so the 1983 music sounds muffled in places. I have read that better sources have been discovered, but Sony has no intention of remastering this soundtrack.
The packaging and liner notes push this set up to five stars. There is an outer slipcase with an embossed foil Star Wars Special Edition logo and a track listing on the back. Inside is a small hardcover book, with the discs placed in envelopes glued to the inside cover. The disc is laser-etched to depict an X-wing engaging a TIE Fighter in front of the Death Star. The booklet, which is about 30 pages, contains recording information, a brief history of the original recording and the Special Edition, and commentary on all 27 tracks by Michael Matessino. My slipcover has become damaged in the last 10 years--back before MP3, we had to loan physical CDs to our friends, and some of our friends were not very careful with them--but the whole thing remains a very classy-looking affair. Let us hope Sony gives us a re-release that treats the music with just as much class.
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Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
~ John Williams
See all 15 tracks on this disc
by London Symphony Orchestra 
