Glen here...
...with a quick heads-up regarding an article to be posted to AICN later today. Said article will feature Ain It Cool News perennial ROBOGEEK's review of John William's score to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Initially, I'd intended to offer-up my own extensive review, but after listening to the score, I found myself at an uncharacteristic loss for words. Robo, on the other hand, had a lot to say about the music. So, as soon as he transmits his review, I'll be more than happy to turn the limelight over to him. Keep checking back throughout the day, the new posting will be made quite obvious.
So what did I think? In short: I found the score solid as a whole, with a few brilliant moments spread throughout. After hearing it five times however, my personal sense of the score suggests that William's Phantom Menace music lacks the classic "oomph" of his scores for Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. That's not to say SW: TPM doesn't have some mighty cool elements incorporated into its structure, but...in my humble opinion...the whole of the score is not as impressive as many of its individual parts.
For example, one track ("The Sith Spacecraft & The Droid Battle") is addictively propulsive, the main thematic running through it being a series of high-speed, repeated staccatos punctuated by the four note downbeat of "The Imperial March" (a theme featured in the later films...or previous films...however that works now.). In other words, there's actually an action motif in The Phantom Menace which is (more or less) the "Imperial March" - but it is so souped up and high-octane it's almost impossible to tell what it is. But once you "catch" what Williams is doing with this track, it will most likely become one of your favorite selections on the album.
Another moment of inspiration is William's occasional (but subtle) incorporation of the same "Imperial March" downbeat into the theme for young Anakin Skywalker - the lad who will one day become Darth Vader. Anakin's theme is sweet, moving, heartbreaking. So complicated it's a bit hard to hum, certain passages the string-heavy movement is closed by the downbeat from the same "Imperial March" - very subtle, very simple, very powerful.
Perhaps the most surprising bit of arrangement and orchestration comes in the score's final moments: instead of the huge, swelling, rising-to-the-finish fanfare which closed out the previous Star Wars scores (the very end of the end credit music), this closing music tapers off into nothingness as "The Imperial March" downbeat quietly repeats itself several times - almost like a fading heartbeat. So, The Phantom Menace's closing music doesn't swell to a finish - instead it moves into sadness and darkness. This structural change is an agreeable (and intelligent) shift of convention, and serves as a lovely melodic foreshadowing of then darkness to come in succeeding films.
Other original-trilogy themes making a reprise in SW: TPM are the Jedi music (the chilling theme played most heavily throughout A New Hope), and the Emperor's music (the gothic, wailing choral music featured in Return of the Jedi) makes a re-vamped appearance with a new, very haunting arrangement.
So, my thoughts about this score are generally positive. I wish I could say this was a "through the roof" score, but I honestly can not. There is some decidedly mediocre and unspectacular stuff in many tracks on the album. But parts of this score are amazing and brilliant, and that factor...in itself...will likely guarantee The Phantom Menace "high interest" amongst consumers when the score hits stores Tuesday, May 4.
As a brief side note - the TRACK TITLES for this album contain a few, very pointed SPOILERS. So, if you wish to remain pure until the film's May 19 opening, AVOID THE TRACK TITLES OF THIS SCORE!!!
Be sure to check later today for ROBOGEEK'S mega review - it oughta be really insightful and informative. Special thanks to THE NOTORIOUS B.O.Z. for floating us a copy of this score after Sony refused to respond to many messages geared towards attaining a review copy of the music for this site.
More on this when ROBO's review arrives...
