A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

(C) 1980 RSO Records and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) In 1985, after buying out the disco label RSO Records, British record company Polydor acquired the entire RSO catalog, which included the original two-record soundtrack for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, which featured selections from the score composed and conducted by John Williams.  Polydor, through its PolyGram Records arm, had also acquired the rights to Williams' 1977 soundtrack from Star Wars, which had been released by the now-defunct 20th Century Records, a division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. So when Polydor released the Star Wars soundtrack on the then-still new compact disc (CD) format from the analog recordings, the resulting album was a relatively faithful replica of its best-selling vinyl precursor. (The only differences between the long-play [LP] album and the 2-CD edition, other than format, were that the liner notes from the LP were not included and the 1977 gatefold's photos were present

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 11 th 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

Pros:  The music, particularly the sequencing and newly released tracks; the liner notes. Cons:  The flimsy Slimline packaging. OVERTURE Many of us who go to movies, whether we consciously are aware of it or not, know that one of the key elements of a film's success is its musical score. While visuals -- whether it be the vast vistas of the West in a Clint Eastwood movie or the soft curves of a beautiful woman undressing for a love scene -- are what call attention to the audience's eyes, it's the soundtrack -- dialogue, sound effects, and the musical score -- that captures the mind and enhances the emotional impact of whatever it is we are watching. This is just as true in the early 21st Century as it was in the days of the silent movies 100 years ago, when Charlie Chaplin's comedic antics and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.'s adventures were accompanied by live pianists at the ritzier movie palaces of the day. Although there have been many acclaimed compose

Pros:  One of the best, if not THE best, scores ever written for film Cons:  The confounded Slimline package! OVERTURE: With the unexpected success of  Star Wars  and its Academy Award-winning score, director George Lucas and composer John Williams were confronted by the question posed to most artists when their creations earn nearly-legendary status: How can you top  this ? After all,  Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  (as the first film in the classic Trilogy would soon be renamed) was, in the late 1970s, the top-grossing film of all time, having edged out Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster  Jaws  in total earnings by the end of 1978. Many fans (including this writer) had seen it at least three or four times at the theaters. (There are many people that saw it dozens of times, even hundreds...and this was before the VCR Revolution of the 1980s took hold!) Kids, and some adults, bought dozens of Kenner's "action figures." Novelizations and pu

(C) 2007 Sony Classical and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On November 7, 2007, Sony Classical's Masterworks label released The Music of Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition, an eight-CD box set that reissued the three Special Edition soundtracks from Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi in their full glory. In addition, the collection includes Star Wars: The Corellian Edition, a 2005 compilation of Star Wars' greatest hits from the six movies then in existence. (Lucasfilm was still an independent company and the Sequel Trilogy was something that existed only in the imaginations of a few hopeful fans.) Sony Classical Masterworks' concept? Repackage the CDs as replicas of the 1977, 1980, and 1983 original LP albums. (C) 2007 Sony Classical and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) And to complement the 434 minutes of composer-conductor John Williams' scores for the Original Trilogy, Sony also packed a CD-ROM which contains "digital fi