Album Review: 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'

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On Friday, December 15, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures released Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the eighth Episode in the Skywalker Saga and the ninth live-action film in the space-fantasy franchise created 40 years ago by George Lucas. 

 Starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Laura Dern, and Andy Serkis, The Last Jedi is the second film of a Sequel Trilogy set 30 years after the Rebel Alliance's victory over the evil Galactic Empire. It has, so far, gotten good reviews and earned $494.6 million in its first week of wide theatrical release. 

 On the same day, Walt Disney Records also dropped Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on compact disc and digital download. Composed and conducted by John Williams (with an assist at the podium by William Ross), Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the eighth score composed by the current dean of modern American film scoring for the long-running Star Wars series.

 Like its 2015 forerunner, Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, this album is a one-disc "greatest hits" selection of themes and cues that account for roughly half the music from the actual soundtrack; The Last Jedi album's running time is one hour, 17 minutes, and 49 seconds, while the film is two hours and 32 minutes long.

Following the tradition established in 1977's Star Wars soundtrack album, The Last Jedi begins with Maestro Williams' familiar Star Wars: Main Title theme (the motif most closely associated with the Skywalker family in general and Luke Skywalker particularly), then cuts away to a second cue, Escape, that features both the march for the Resistance and the dark, brooding cue that represents Kylo Ren, the Jedi apprentice formerly known as Ben Solo who is now the leader of the First Order's fearsome Knights of Ren.

As he did in the score for The Force Awakens, Williams (in his role as composer) weaves a tapestry that blends classic themes from the Classic Trilogy (Luke's Theme, Princess Leia's Theme,The Imperial March, Yoda's Theme, and The Force Theme) with newer ones created for the Sequel Trilogy (The Resistance March, Kylo Ren's Theme, and Rey's Theme). In the cue Ach To Island, for instance, we hear the mysterious melody Williams composed for the "Jedi Steps" sequence at the end of The Force Awakens and the classic "The Force/Ben's Theme" that is used in all three Trilogies (Prequel, Classic, and Sequel).

Because General Leia Organa has a prominent (if rather bittersweet) role in The Last Jedi, expect to hear Princess Leia's Theme sprinkled throughout relevant tracks. Though its organic to the film's narrative and not intended as a posthumous musical tribute, Leia's theme serves as a requiem in honor of the late Carrie Fisher, who died in December of 2016 after the film ended its photography stage and went into post-production.

 I have not seen The Last Jedi enough times to analyze the album vis a vis the film's actual content. Suffice it to say that Composer Williams is still the musical Jedi Master of Star Wars, even if his age (85) and health no longer allow him to travel to Great Britain to record scores with the London Symphony. The music presented in this album is written and performed in the 19th Century Romantic era style that George Lucas and his creative heirs, J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson, have chosen to enhance the visuals of their space-faring adventures set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away."


Musically speaking, the only criticism I have about this Star Wars album is the same peeve that I have about most of the Star Wars soundtracks - except the 1997 Special Edition Star Wars Trilogy albums produced by RCA Victor and its subsequent rereleases by Sony Classical: It's not the complete score.

To be fair to John Williams as a producer, the recording industry is a profit-based business where costs, risks, and potential gains/losses must take precedence. Producing complete score albums is not a trivial pursuit; it's expensive and can sometimes even be a huge gamble. When fans criticized Sony Classical for releasing an underwhelming one-disc original soundtrack album for Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the label responded by releasing a two-disc Ultimate Edition with Williams' complete score.

The music was great. How could it not be? But the packaging was unimaginative and the label did not even include liner notes. As a result, sales of the 2001 two-disc album were less than stellar, and no Ultimate Editions were issued for Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith.

 Mitchell Leib, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures' executive in charge of music and soundtracks, probably knows this, so he and Williams have taken the safe route and created "greatest hits" offerings from both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi  in their one-disc Star Wars albums.

 The other criticism I have concerns the packaging.

Although I prefer the new and less expensive digi-book album packaging (the older CD plastic"jewel boxes" tend to crack, and placing the liner notes booklet back into their slot is a pain), I'm not impressed by The Last Jedi's illustrated booklet.

Okay, it has lots of cool photos and a really nice poster illustration of Daisy Ridley as Rey, plus track listing, a roster of the orchestra, and the usual credits for people involved in the album's production and all that stuff. But (like The Force Awakens) it has no liner notes or even a note from the composer.

Worse, unlike its precursor, The Last Jedi doesn't have a preface written by the movie's director, Rian Johnson. At least The Force Awakens had a nice ode to John Williams written by co-writer/producer/director J.J. Abrams.

When all is said and done, though, these are minor quibbles. Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack may not be the soundtrack album you were hoping for, but it's still pretty good. The music (which includes an excerpt of Ary Barroso's "Aquarela Do Brasil" in the track Canto Bight) is glorious, chock full of themes for the forces of good and evil that fight those furious star wars in that galaxy far, far away.  



Track Listing:
  1. Main Title and Escape
  2. Ahch-To Island
  3. Revisiting Snoke
  4. The Supremacy
  5. Fun with Finn and Rose
  6. Old Friends
  7. The Rebellion is Reborn
  8. Lesson One
  9. Canto Bight
  10. Who Are You?
  11. The Fathiers
  12. The Cave
  13. The Sacred Jedi Texts
  14. A New Alliance
  15. "Chrome Dome"
  16. The Battle of Crait
  17. The Spark
  18. The Last Jedi
  19. Peace and Purpose
  20. Finale

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