John Williams – “Star Wars: a New Hope” – [Rca Victor/ Bmg]

Sir Cumference   2/6/2012   CD, Soundtrack

If, like me, you were around when Star Wars first came out you probably picked up the 2 LP soundtrack release. You may have even played it to death (or was that just me?) so a CD release was something of interest. In 1993 the first 3 films were released in a CD set with a bonus disc covering all three films – though that was essentially a rerelease of the original LP set.

What we have here is the 1997 release that coincided with the “Special Edition” release of the film. Say what you like about Lucas’ reengineering of the original films, he never messed with the music (something he apparently felt was perfect about the first film) and all the original cues are presented here as they were heard in and in the same order as in the film. Only 75 of the full 88 minutes of the score was released in 1977, here we get 93 minutes of material here (including some alternate takes, plus an extra 12 minutes of the main titles session as a secret bonus track at the end of disc 1 – so we really get 105 minutes).

All great stuff, and just in time to remind people about what a great series the originals were – as they get ready to see the inferior prequels in gimmicky 3-D.