Music Album Review: 'Solo: A Star Wars Story - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'

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On May 25, 2018, Walt Disney Motion Pictures released director Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, the second Star Wars Anthology film produced by Lucasfilm and the 11th feature film in the franchise set “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”

On the same day, Walt Disney Records dropped Solo: A Star Wars Story – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, a 20-track selection of themes and action cues from the first of what might just be a series of films that chronicle the adventures of Han Solo before his involvement with the Rebel Alliance.


Since Solo: A Star Wars Story is set 13-10 years before Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope, composer John Powell doesn’t begin his score with John Williams’ Star Wars Main Title theme. He did, however, collaborate with Maestro Williams, who composed and conducted the first track on the soundtrack album, The Adventures of Han.

Although this Williams theme is not the same one that music score fans fondly remember as Han Solo and the Princess, it is a cue that fits the energetic and adventurous pirate and scoundrel played by Alden Ehrenreich and blends rather nicely with the main musical canon of the Star Wars saga.

Like Michael Giacchino’s score for 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Powell quotes various themes from the Original Trilogy, most notably The Rebel Fanfare heard in all the Saga films and Rogue One; The Asteroid Field from The Empire Strikes Back; The Imperial March (heard, for the first time, as the in-universe anthem of the Galactic Empire) from The Empire Strikes Back; and, oddly enough, the Star Wars main theme as part of an action cue.    

Powell, who has composed scores for many films – including Antz, Shrek, Chicken Run, and United 93, acquits himself well as a Star Wars composer in Solo: A Star Wars Story. His score was recorded with two different ensembles – one in London, the other in Los Angeles – and features a slightly different sensibility from the other live-action films’ music. Powell tends to use more percussion instruments – including piano – than either Williams or Giacchino, which fits the caper-underworld vibe of director Ron Howard’s space fantasy adventure. 


Oddly enough, the soundtrack album ends on the rather short (1 minute, 45 seconds) cue Dice & Roll, which underscores a key scene in the Han Solo canon. In the film, Powell follows the precedent set by both Williams and Giacchino with an end credits medley that includes the Star Wars main theme, the Rebel Fanfare, and themes from Solo: A Star Wars Story. In Solo: A Star Wars Story - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Powell, wearing his album producer hat, chooses to end the music almost abruptly. 


Overall, Solo: A Star Wars Story - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is an enjoyable album, with exciting cues that take listeners from the crime-ridden streets of Han’s home world of Corellia and into the far reaches of space aboard the legendary Millennium Falcon. However, like Mitchell Leib’s previous Walt Disney Records Star Wars offerings, the soundtrack is more of a “Greatest Hits” selection than a comprehensive record with the complete score.  





All tracks composed and conducted by John Powell unless otherwise stated.

  1. "The Adventures of Han" (composed and conducted by John Williams)
  2. "Meet Han"
  3. "Corellia Chase"
  4. "Spaceport"
  5. "Flying with Chewie"
  6. "Train Heist"
  7. "Marauders Arrive"
  8. "Chicken in the Pot"
  9. "Is This Seat Taken?"
  10. "L3 & Millennium Falcon"
  11. "Lando's Closet"
  12. "Mine Mission"
  13. "Break Out"
  14. "The Good Guy"
  15. "Reminiscence Therapy"
  16. "Into the Maw"
  17. "Savareen Stand-Off"
  18. "Good Thing You Were Listening"
  19. "Testing Allegiance"
  20. "Dice & Roll"


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