SPECULATION THE LAST JEDI SOUNDTRACK

I was considering that it could be a placeholder number and so didn’t post it (saw it earlier when I pre-ordered), but it’s possible.

20 does seem about right (RO had 21; TFA had 23), especially given the length of the film (confirmed to be 2h 30mins).

 

Did you actually ask that?!? j/k

 

The score for TFA was relatively disappointing (considering the greatness that came before it). Even the prequels had (much) better scores. I wonder TLJ will be another letdown..

 

Man, I’m sorry you feel that way.

I think that TFA’s score had the most layers of any SW score to date, which is the best and worst thing about it, in my opinion: the depth is there if you listen and hunt for it, but at surface level, only a few of the pieces really stand out and grab you the same way that prequel pieces such as Duel of the Fates, Across the Stars and Battle of the Heroes could.

 

Depth doesn't play a factor if nothing resonates, regardless if it's 'character driven' or not. Nuance isn't Star Wars' strong suite, for that matter. Sadly, the end result was a tonally flat, by-the-numbers score that lacked anything overly robust and fresh. Suffice to say, some people are so far beyond disillusioned by having their childhood 'raped' by Lucas that they can't find anything good to say about Williams' vibrant, multifaceted prequel score. I'll take the 'Duel of the Fates' ANY DAY over anything in 'The Force Awakens'.

 

FFTY. Bringing up arguments of me or anyone else not appreciating the Prequels is cheap. Do I dislike the Prequels' scores? God forbid. They are wonderful, just like their sound design and art direction. However, I still prefer what Williams did with TFA. It's not as "robust," and that's exactly why I appreciate it. Not everything has to be. It's like arguing which art period is better - classicism or baroque. Each one had a specific purpose to achieve and did what it was supposed to do.

 

+1 on TFA being one of the better soundtracks, Rey's theme in particular is a beautiful piece.

TLJ's has a lot to prove, how do you score such an incredibly bleak and morally ambiguous Star Wars like Episode 8? A real challenge, but I wager the brand is up to the task. This is the kind of Star Wars film many yearn to see, a darker, ominous entry that reshapes the moral framework of Star Wars itself. The soundtrack has to match and that's no easy feat.

Wooden nickel opinion, I don't actually know for sure how dark TLJ will be, it just certainly seems that way based on all marketing material we've seen so far.

 

What I noticed about the TFA's score compared with the trailer, especially the first teaser, is that it had the same "sound". The Star Wars theme in that teaser was exactly how it sounded during the opening crawl.

Now with TLJ's music in the trailers, it does sound slightly different as though it has a darker edge to it. Maybe John is taking the same approach with these scores as he did with the OT's: each score had its own unique sound quality. For the theme, you can easily tell which film it's from just from the sound of it.

 

So excited for the soundtrack!

 

TFA score is not as epic as the PT soundtracks and I think thats intentional, there is no point trying to fight with the already established bombastic and nostalgic peices of music that will come up in the ST. so I think what JW did with TFA score was actaully perfect. the more a-tonal and dischordent parts of Kylo Rens theme and Torn Apart added a more brittle sounding ominous theme that we'd rarely got from the empire stuff. and Reys theme is beautiful, its a really great subtle affair.
and thats the thing, the epic blocks are already in place I think, the new score in TFA is kinda more like JW is vibrating in place, adding flavour and texures that we havent seen before, but hes not seemingly trying to compete with his own epic score, he's working around it and I think thats the right thing to do.

 

I agree, and I wonder if the prequels score was intentionally made the most epic - after all, the prequels are telling the history / legends for the OT, so it makes sense that they strived for something epic and mythological. The soundtrack frames the battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan as a legendary event, whereas Luke's clash with Vader and the Emperor comes off as much more human and personal.

I personally came to love TFA score because of the subtlety and characterisation - especially Rey's theme (leitmotif) got me right away when she slides from the star destroyer.
But even though I love a lot of TFA tracks, it's true that I rarely am able to croon any of them. There just isn't any simple melody that would stuck in your head like The Imperial March or The Force Theme.

So here's to hope that JW will evolve some themes to land better or introduce some new memorable ones in TLJ

 

I’m more than aware that Michael Giacchino, not John Williams, composed the pieces found in Rogue One.

However, you will find that I was responding to @Darth Klaugott ’s comment that, where he stated that Star Wars soundtracks always start with “Main Title”.

“The problem with this is that SW Soundtrack always starts with "Main Title"”.

As I pointed out when responding to this: Revenge of the Sith’s doesn’t - it has Star Wars instead, hence my point still stands - and neither does Rogue One’s - which, whilst not composed by John Williams, still by all means come under the banner of being a Star Wars soundtrack.

So I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to get at?

 

No worries

 

Amazon.com now also has it available for pre-order with 20 (currently untitled) tracks as well:

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Original-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B077BCZYWM

Google Play says that it is 1:17:49 long and 20 tracks as well:

https://play.google.com/store/music...i_Original_Mot?id=Bp2bclzvtj7hgqd7lakoi6lffbq

 

I’ll take any number of tracks from John Williams, but 20 is a nice round number. I like it.

Regarding the length, comparing this to the initial OSTs for all of the past live-action Star Wars films, this would be the longest soundtrack, just edging out TFA, which came in at 1:17:08. I find it particularly interesting that the soundtrack in total is only some 41 seconds longer, given that we already know that the film is approximately 15 minutes longer than TFA was.

This is likely a result of John Williams being involved much earlier in the process than usual, meaning that the score could have been refined from a longer version; adversely, we could be getting a few scenes with less music, which wouldn’t be surprising if events such as flashbacks/Force visions are to have a recurring presence in the film.

 

Let's guess the titles

1. Reylo Theme
2. The Porgs
3. My, baby girl...
4. Kylo's Tantrum

In all seriousness I'm looking forward to the release of the tracks. Maybe releases the week of or before?