[.ca] Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

From Amazon.com:
The Star Wars cycle, George Lucas's stellar pop parable cum merchandising blitzkrieg, has long since made history as an unparalleled cinematic-cultural-marketing phenomena; somewhere Billy Jack should be in one envious, ass-kickin' mood. Phantom Menace, easily the most eagerly anticipated film of the '90s, returns to the saga's roots and allows Lucas to flesh out the history of some of the fable's core characters and conjure up a dazzling new cast of cohorts, antagonists, and alien realms for them to interact with and in. Thus, all composer John Williams had to do was essentially reinvent the world's most popular wheel. The film-scoring legend has admirably risen to that daunting challenge, delivering an inventive score whose dynamics should surprise and delight even the most ardent SW fanatic. The Main Title and a few oh-so-sparing bars of a familiar Jedi theme are all that remains from the original trilogy's lexicon, Williams having evolved the saga's musical language, stylistic reach, and orchestral palette with masterful subtlety. The composer's most ambitious surprise is the welcome addition of strong choral elements, which he uses in ways both majestic ("Duel of the Fates") and menacing ("Passage Through the Planet's Core"). And though the film revolves around a young boy (Anakin Skywalker, who will grow to be both corrupted and redeemed as Darth Vader), the only flirtation with cloying sentimentality comes with the innocently loping "Jar Jar's Introduction." In the tradition of the Cantina and Max Rebo's Band of the previous trilogy, Williams and Lucas close out this musical installment with "Augie's Municipal Band," a Carnivale-esque romp that segues grandly into the composer's swelling title music. Williams may be the master of a grand scoring tradition, but Phantom Menace is gratifying evidence that he seldom plays it safe--even when the Force is with him. --Jerry McCulley

Vintage John Williams:
I bet John Williams loves doing Star Wars music. Here is a man who is one of the greatest composers alive. He's got the Oscars and the nominations to prove he's no fluke. Not to mention the record sales. When Williams is asked to do a Star Wars film the music is already basicly in place. The music of Star Wars is fantastic. This soundtrack contains most of your favorite songs from the early films and has a couple of new ones that I think Williams and Star Wars fans will enjoy. "Duel of Fates" is the best track on the soundtrack. Williams has really outdone himself with this song. I love the chorus in the background. They add a different demension to the song. The trumpets are absolutely fantastic. I play the trumpet and this is a trumpet players dream. The melodoy to the song is great and I have to give props to the London Symphony Orchestra. This is a good album. I don't think it's as good as the early films or episode II, but I'm glad I own it. Fans of Star Wars will enjoy it, so will fans of John Williams. People who like classical music will also get a kick out of this one. You'll like it. Trust me.

Good for starters, but Ultimate Edition is better:
This soundtrack album, first released in May of 1999 a few weeks before the release of Episode I, can best be called an appetizer for what followed. Not just to the film itself, mind you, but also to Sony's subsequent 2000 2-CD Ultimate Edition soundtrack. While this double-dipping marketing technique is not without precedent, it does highlight this album's weaknesses, even though these, too, are not without precedent in Star Wars soundtracks' history. Although the quality of the music is, as always, good and the London Symphony Orchestra's performance is brilliant, I found the music track names to be inaccurate and misleading. For instance, Arrival at Naboo, the music that follows the familiar Star Wars main title on Track 1 is NOT from that sequence at the start of the film. Rather, that cue is heard when Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Queen Amidala, and Anakin Skywalker arrive at Coruscant. Call me nit-picky, but I find such mislabeling to be rather annoying. The one virtue that saves this somewhat disappointing "soundtrack" is the rendition of the two central new themes introduced in The Phantom Menace: Duel of the Fates and Anakin's Theme. It also serves as a good collector's item, but if you want the best recording from The Phantom Menace, do yourself a favor...save a few bucks and spend them on the more pricey (but more complete) Ultimate Edition.

George Luca$- Evil Bad Man:
The release of this soundtrack is proof positive that luca$ has been relegated to a plaid-wearing toy salesman. Released 2 months before the highly-anticipated movie's release, i went to my local music store to buy it. I was a big fan of star wars at the time, and had been devotedly avoiding any press or previews from episode 1, wishing to preserve a certain ignorance for episode 1. After plopping down the $20 on the soundtrack- i read the track listing on the way to my car. Did anyone else notice how almost every track name is a total spoiler? You don't release a soundtrack 2 months before possibly the most anticipated movie of all time and ruin the 'plot' with the Soundtrack. There ISNT a worse business move that could possibly exist. That utter act of disrespect to george luca$' fans is exactly the reason every man woman and child in america should boycott that wanna be rancher. Thanks George lucas for ruining star wars. and for being so money hungry and inconsiderate that you ruined it for a once-true-fan before the lousy movie even came out.

First Impression of The Phantom Menace:
I managed to buy and listen to the soundtrack before I saw the movie. If anything, I thought this might give me an idea of the flavor of the film. Alas, my prediction proved to be correct. Aside from "Duel of the Fates," which is the kick-butt music heard during the lightsaber duel, the soundtrack was very subdued. Slow. I really expected a lot of high-speed action music, with violins flying up and down the scale or rapid drumbeats. Alas, I heard a lot of slow, sonorous drum beating and long, drawn-out, sentimental violin pieces. There was also a plot moment that is given away in the soundtrack if (like me) you happen to buy the CD before seeing the movie: the death of Qui-Gon. I sort of expected it, anyway, because we all know that Obi-wan Kenobi was Anakin's trainer, not Qui-Gon. Sorry if I blew a story moment for some people. That's just something I noticed. When I saw the movie (read my review for my "take" on that), I was only slightly surprised that the film was a drag. This soundtrack was too tame and too soft for a Star Wars soundtrack, and Phantom Menace is too slow to be a Star Wars film. I'm listening to the CD as I write this, to make sure I'm giving the soundtrack a fair shake. Track 12 is pretty nimble, but also slows down rather quickly. There were no pieces here that were particularly memorable, except for "Duel of the Fates," nothing to stick in the skull like "Darth Vader's Theme" or the music heard during the chase through the asteroids in Empire Strikes Back. The only other bit of color in the soundtrack was "Augie's Great Municipal Band," which mixes calypso police whistles with a digeree-doo (sp?) and children's voices singing glossolalia in the background. Intriguing, and typical of Williams' great efforts at conjuring up interesting "alien" music using unusual instruments. And when you get right down to it, I still missed hearing the Star Wars key signature, which only appears only once, during track 11, around 2:33.

At least the music's good:
The music is the best thing about the "Star Wars" prequels because John Williams succeeds where George Lucas has failed abysmally. Rather than jettisoning his old work in some obsessive pursuit of innovation, Williams moves forward while reworking key elements of the original scores to create the thematic connections Lucas's plodding writing cannot possibly secure. He doesn't just duplicate his work from the original trilogy - he transposes aspects of it into an entirely new register, both musically and emotionally. "Anakin's Theme" adapts the old Imperial March into a new key, in a neat foreshadowing of Anakin's fate. While "Duel of the Fates" is not only a chilling backdrop to a lightsaber battle; its choral references to 'Carmina Burana' and other German masterworks help activate latent fears about the evils of our own time. Williams really knows what he's doing here - he seems to be the only member of the prequel crew who does. The result is music which is beautiful, intelligent and stunningly effective. If only he wrote screenplays, too...

• Star Wars Main Title and the Arrival at Naboo
• Duel of the Fates
• Anakin's Theme
• Jar Jar's Introduction and the Swim to Otoh Gunga
• The Sith Spacecraft and the Droid Battle
• The Trip to the Naboo Temple and the Audience with Boss Nass
• The Arrival at Tatooine and the Flag Parade
• He is the Chosen One
• Anakin Defeats Sebulba
• Passage Through the Planet Core
• Watto's Deal and Kids at Play
• Panaka and the Queen's Protectors
• Queen Amidala and the Naboo Palace
• The Droid Invasion and The Appearance of Darth Maul
• Qui-Gon's Noble End
• The High Council Meeting and Qui-Gon's Funeral
• Augie's Municipal Band and End Credits