Star Wars: The Clone Wars [SOUNDTRACK]

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 12, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: SONY CLASSICS
• ASIN: B001BWQAN2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,173 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Soundtrack to the all-new animated Star Wars feature film. Composer Kevin Kiner has created a dynamic score for CLONE WARS which builds upon the classic themes created by John Williams. Contains an exclusive fold-out poster!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Astounding Musical Achievement!, August 12, 2008

By	Colby Fairbourn "Colbster901" (UT) - See all my reviews

Star Wars is and always will be legend. The idea of good vs. evil will always be entertaining to the human mind, and Star Wars has it all. Action, romance, humor, personal struggles, and wonderful storytelling. But for me, the biggest thing that Star Wars has is music. Music is what makes Star Wars legendary.

John Williams is one of the best and well known composers of all time. He has scored the music to several of the biggest and most iconic films we will ever see. He gave life to Indiana Jones, he brought magic to Harry Potter, pulled emotion from us when Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side, and made Dinosaurs come to life in a Jurrassic Park.

So why didn't John Williams compose the music to Star Wars: The Clone Wars? Well, I don't know, but in a way I'm glad he didn't. Its always fun and can be exciting to hear something old become new. That is exactly what Kevin Kiner has done with the new music of the Star Wars universe. And I absolutely adore it.

The theme everybody knows by heart is probably the most perfect music we might ever listen to on Earth. It seems like it was not only created, but born, a living creature that breathes and thinks. So, and as expected, the Star Wars theme makes an appearance in The Clone Wars. But not as we've heard it in the past.

With so much pressure pushed on Kevin Kiner to create a wonderful, breathtaking experience that meets all the requirements of John William's music, I believe he has done a superb job. He has taken the original theme and made it his own, adding triumphant violins and sort of a "cool" beat into the mix. But the biggest change of all is the way the notes hit your ears. Kiner has mixed the music up a bit so that they're still the same notes we're used to hearing, just in a different pattern or sort of way. It is trully amazing and adds a refreshing feeling to the entire album.

Speaking of the entire album, you're in for a great surprise. There is alot of electric guitar, like in "Obi Wan to the Rescue". There is sort of a weird, tribal theme that has a fun feeling to it, which is in the Jabba the Hut songs. Over all, the music is very different than all the other Star Wars music we're used to hearing. It has a different feel to it, and that's a good thing because the movie is different as well: its animated.

That doesn't mean the music isn't intense, emotional, or suspenseful!
In the end, my favorite music is the recreation of the main theme, which is heard in the beginning and the end of the soundtrack.

If you're a Star Wars fan, buy this music. You won't be dissapointed and it is fun to hear something you're used to hearing, only in a different way.

If you're not a Star Wars fan, or in this case if you're not into John William's music, I would still recomend it because it IS a totally new take on the Star Wars franchise, and I believe you'll enjoy the new take on the "old" theme.

Kudos to Kevin Kiner for putting a smile on my face.

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars No clone here, only a middling score, August 12, 2008

By	ShriDurga (Japan) - See all my reviews

Kevin Kiner's composing credits at the Internet Movie Database include 67 scores, most of them for American television. I've seen a few episodes of some of these programs, though I can't say that I ever remember hearing of Kevin Kiner until his name was announced as the composer for the new Star Wars animated feature, The Clone Wars. And in fact I suppose that's true for most Star Wars fans, and the general public, as well. The composer doesn't maintain a web presence, but perhaps he's too busy. In a recent interview he noted recording 400 minutes of music for the new animated Clone Wars television series.

Kevin Kiner, if you will, is a skilled craftsman, a technician who can on demand compose, conduct, perform, and produce the music required in the high pressure world of weekly television serials. He may show flashes of brilliance now and then, but very few of those moments seem to have been captured in the soundtrack to the Clone Wars feature.

Not having seen the film, I can't say how well the score compliments the story, though judging from the music itself I'd say the film is not likely to have many moments of quiet reflection. What's most immediately noticeable is how well Kiner's work blends in with John Williams' oeuvre. Surely this was intentional, to make viewers feel at home in a well-known universe, while preserving and then building on Williams' and Lucas' musical traditions. Within the first half a minute, you know right away that something old is being presented wrapped as something new, the familiar opening theme on brass, but with a staccato punch, the rhythm accentuated by powerful percussion.

Besides Luke's Theme there are only a couple of moments where it appears Kiner quotes directly from Williams. But these moments are so short they could be dismissed as coincidence, making this Kiner's work entirely, a score built on classical orchestral themes but including as well voices until now not a part of the Star Wars universe, including synthesizer, electric guitar, erhu (2-stringed Chinese violin), duduk (Armenian flute), oud (Arab lute), and taiko (Japanese drum). Kiner uses them sparingly, giving each their moment but not letting any run loose to dominate the score.

Perhaps the most unusual thing about this as a Star Wars soundtrack are the number of cues, 32, more than any of the individual scores for the previous six films. Eight are less than one minute in length, six less than two minutes, nine less than three. That leaves only nine cues longer than three minutes. Compare that with Williams' most recent Star Wars score, Revenge of the Sith, with 15 cues, only two under three minutes. Typically cues for television programs are shorter than for film, and as the decision to begin The Clone Wars animated series with a full-length feature came rather late in the development process, it seems likely that Kiner was writing for television, rather than the cinema. What we get on this CD are aural vignettes, not fully developed themes. And so far, none of them seem to be stand out compositions, no Luke's Theme, no Imperial March, no Duel of Fates, Across the Stars, or Battle of the Heroes.

But not everyone gets to be John Williams. On the other hand, it took Williams a number of years before he hit his stride. (Who remembers his score for I Passed for White?) Perhaps Kiner's about to hit his and we can look forward to more memorable cues from the new Clone Wars animated television series.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Different, but great!, September 12, 2008

A Kid's Review

I'm a big fan of John Williams, and when I heard this, I knew I would be in for a few surprises. They were great surprises! Although this is different from what Star Wars fans have heard before, there are still traces of the original scores in this music, along with a few new surprises! I love this soundtrack, and reccommend it to other Star Wars fans!