Attack Of The Clones soundtrack.....Masterpiece (so far)

[ak]

Hello,

Well, I read, through various contacts (sort of) that the Episode II soundtrack was available to download at Audiogalaxy, so this is where I went (I must state that I will absolutely be buying the soundtrack, and my downloading of the themes will not stop me from doing this) and finally got a listen at just two tracks thus far - They take a while to download on my bloody 56k modem.

Impressions? Well, the new love theme sounds too much like Williams' Hook theme in my opinion, but he's expanded on it in a much more epic scale, and I can honeslty say it's by far one of the most sweeping, impressive tracks in a very, very long time.

And the other track i've managed to get thus far is the Count Dooku/Yoda battle theme, which, in all honesty, isn't a patch on Duel Of The Fates from Episode I, but it is rather outstanding.

If anyone has managed to hear anything, please - Bring forth your opinions.

Of course, I know my above statements aren't even a good review, but that's first impressions.

Added Notes: The inclusion of the Imperial March was what surprised me - The theme is no longer masked by gentle strings - It's really full on. Bloody marvellous.
Also - On hearing the love theme more during the typing of this topic, I've noticed similarities between this and The Mummy theme, well - It sounds like it belongs to that kind of film.


All in all, John Williams has managed some more masterful themes, which , together as a soundtrack, should merit the term masterpiece.

[This message has been edited by ak (edited 03-26-2002).]

[LordKaruku]

I'm very much looking forward to this score. I was a bit disappointed by the Episode One music -- it was mostly bland filler, with a few exceptions like Duel of the Fates. But I was disappointed the few new themes were unmemorable, and he didn't use hardly any of the themes written for the earlier movies, which creates a musical inconsistency, IMO. Especially compared with the score to A New Hope, every note of which is genius and which I would put on par with the greatest operas ever written, TPM disappoints.

So anyway, rambling aside... I've heard good things about this new score. I'm curious, ak, how you think it compares to the original trilogy's music and the score to Phantom Menace?

[ak]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by LordKaruku:
So anyway, rambling aside... I've heard good things about this new score. I'm curious, ak, how you think it compares to the original trilogy's music and the score to Phantom Menace?</font>

I'm hoping to listen to some more tracks. One apparently includes some heavier choir work from Duel Of The Fates. Like that seen in the Forbidden Love trailer of Anakin speeding through Tatooine. (The title of this track is called something like Return To Tatooine - Something like it.

Thus far, it sounds much better than TPM score - More full of life, which definately has a more epic edge.
As for comparing it to the final trilgoy soundtracks - It's definately more reminiscent at this stage of my hearing it. Like I said before - The use of The Imperial March is brilliant - Really full-on, and quite surprising (I thought they'd leave it till Episode III till it got full on).
But i'd definately need to hear the whole album to give a great indication of its brilliance next to the others in the series.

I'm really looking forward to buying the soundtrack now.....



[This message has been edited by ak (edited 03-26-2002).]

[Moviebuff_Mike]

Im downloading the songs right now, and I've got to say. It's very unique, and I'll definitely get this when it comes out in stores on April 23.

[HM Murdock]

I'll get the soundtrack when it comes out but I will regret it later on. Every SW soundtrack that I have bought (I have them all including the rare Shadows of the Empire disk) has been rereleased with more stuff on it. Take Episode 1 for example. I bought the soundtrack the day it came out and a couple of months later...a f*cking 'ultimate' edition comes out with two discs!
Lucas does this all the time but I fall for it all the time. Personally I can't wait those extra months for an 'ultimate' edition so I will buy both the bloody editions in the end. But I bet that an episode 2 'ultimate' soundtrack will be released

[noisy_brut]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by LordKaruku:
and he didn't use hardly any of the themes written for the earlier movies, which creates a musical inconsistency, IMO. </font>

Can anyone name all the themes from earlier movies that were used in Phantom?

I know I heard the "Force" theme - the one from A New Hope when Luke was looking at the sunset a few times.

Anakin's theme is a variation of the Imperial March.

The choral line during the final parade celebration is the Emporer's Theme.

I don't think I ever heard Yoda's theme.

I heard the Star Wars fanfare a few times during fights.

[The Heart Collector]

"Across The Stars" RULES YOU! RULES... YOU!


Man, this is a great soundtrack. I have it all now. in an hour i'll say what I thought about the whole thing.


EDIT
So, anyway, I downloaded the whole thing. It's pretty good. I'm kinda disappointed that there's no great "action music" for this one, like Duel Of The Fates in Ep. I. Lucas had said that the movie was more of a romance, though, and with that in mind, the Love Theme (Across The Stars) is great and will become one of those classic Star Wars tunes.

I liked the fact that this one uses the themes from the older ones in a more notable way. For instance, the Imperial March is pretty obvious in a few parts, most notably in the Tusken Camp (and seeing as the music is a little up-tempo there, I guess that IS an action scene). The Luke theme is also around. I think Duel Of The Fates was also in one of the songs. Anyway, this is a very solid score, but nothing terribly amazing.

[This message has been edited by The Heart Collector (edited 03-27-2002).]

[ak]

I enjoyed the inclusion of Duel Of The Fates, albeit a bit too brief for my liking.
It's used in the Return To Tatooine theme, and just as it gets exciting, it's gone. Perhaps it will work wonderfully in the film, but it was just a little frustrating on its own.

So far, i've got a lot of the themes, and, yes Across The Stars is a brilliant piece of music, and one that I've been listening to all day, along with the Confrontation theme, which, I must say, I thought would be a lot more epic cause of Yoda's presence.

I'm slightly bothered, just like you Heart Collector, that there is no major action theme, but we can be sure the most epic score shall come from Episode III. That I have no doubts about.

[LordKaruku]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by noisy_brut:
Can anyone name all the themes from earlier movies that were used in Phantom?

I know I heard the "Force" theme - the one from A New Hope when Luke was looking at the sunset a few times.

Anakin's theme is a variation of the Imperial March.

The choral line during the final parade celebration is the Emporer's Theme.

I don't think I ever heard Yoda's theme.

I heard the Star Wars fanfare a few times during fights.</font>

I think that's about it. And to be honest, some of those are pretty sketchy. The Anakin Imperial March thing is really only 4 shared notes at the end. And the parade choral line is also very subtle. As far as on-the-surface comparisons, (besides of course the opening and closing fanfares), there are very very few moments containing the themes from the earlier films.

I have downloaded and listened to "Across the Stars", and while it's not overwhelming, it sounds great, very mature, but with a definite "Star Wars" feel. I'm going to wait until the movie comes out before listening to any more (I like to hear the soundtrack in the context of the movie for the first time), but I'm very confident in William's work on this one now.

[James Logan]

I don't want to download the soundtrack like you Schmoes did, because I want to buy the CD when it comes out, sit down in my room and discover it like I did with TPM.
But your comments are starting to make me REAL impatient... http://www.joblo.com/ubb/tongue.gif

I trust John Williams will deliver another great work with AOTC. He always did, and even those of you who didn't like TPM can't say the music was bad -- because it wasn't. So...I'll just wait and see.

[Scorchlord]

I downloaded 2 song of it from Kazaa, one claiming to be "Across the STars" (only plays about halfway through), and if it is, then i'm extremely disappointed. The songs are boring and monotonous, lacking in great technique and just a constant repeating of the central theme...there's very little tone color and it just doesn't captivate me.

I hope these are bogus copies of the songs, because as a musician myself, I wouldn't be caught dead playing these.

[ak]

I've just thought about this, and it's quite interesting.

The Imperial March theme doesn't play in A New Hope cause it wasn't written as a piece of music until The Empire Strikes Back.

This leaves a bit of an inconsistency, as Episode II, and no doubt Episode III will include the theme. Then we leap over one episode until we hear it again.

Perhaps I'm just reading into it too much, but it is quite a problem.....



[This message has been edited by ak (edited 03-28-2002).]