Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. 20th Century Fox Fanfare
2. Main Title/Rebel Blockade Runner
3. Imperial Attack
4. Dune Sea of Tatooine/Jawa Sandcrawler
5. Moisture Farm
6. Hologram/Binary Sunset
7. Landspeeder Searck/Attack of the Sand People
8. Tales of a Jedi Knight/Learn About the Force
9. Burning Homestead
10. Mos Eisley Spaceport
11. Cantina Band
12. Cantina Band #2
13. Binary Sunset [Alternate Take][*]

Disc 2:

1. Princess Leia's Theme
2. Millennium Falcon/Imperial Cruiser Pursuit
3. Destruction of Alderaan
4. Death Star/The Stormtroopers
5. Wookiee Prisoner/Detention Block Ambush
6. Shootout in the Cell Bay/Dianoga
7. Trash Compactor
8. Tractor Beam/Chasm Crossfire
9. Ben Kenobi's Death/Tie Fighter Attack
10. Batte of Yavin: Launch from the Fourth Moon/X-Wings Draw Fire/Use ...
11. Throne Roon/End Title

Disc 3:

1. 20th Century Fox Fanfare
2. Main Title/The Ice Planet Hoth
3. Wampa's Lair/Vision of Obi-Wan/Snowspeeders Take Flight
4. Imperial Probe/Aboard the Executor
5. Battle of Hoth: Ion Cannon/Imperial Walkers/Beneath the ...
6. Asteroid Field
7. Arrival on Dagobah
8. Luke's Nocturnal Visitor
9. Han Solo and the Princess
10. Jedi Master Revealed/Mynock Cave
11. Training of a Jedi Knight/The Magic Tree

Disc 4:

1. Yoda's Theme
2. Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)
3. Yoda's Theme
4. Attacking a Star Destroyer
5. Yoda and the Force
6. Imperial Starfleet Deployed/City in the Clouds
7. Lando's Palace
8. Betrayal at Bespin
9. Deal With the Dark Lord
10. Carbon Freeze/Darth Vader's Trap/Departure of Boba Fett
11. Clash of Lightsabers
12. Rescue from Cloud City/Hyperspace
13. Rebel Fleet/End Title

Disc 5:

1. 20th Century Fox Fanfare
2. Main Title: Approaching the Death Star/Tatooine Rendezvous
3. Droids Are Captured
4. Bounty for a Wookiee
5. Han Solo Returns
6. Luke Confronts Jabba/Den of the Rancor/Sarlocc Sentence
7. Pit of Carkoon/Sail Barge Assault
8. Emperor Arrives/The Death of Yoda/Obi-Wan's Revelation
9. Alliance Assembly
10. Shuttle Tydirium Approaches Endor
11. Speeder Bike Chase/Land of the Ewoks
12. Levitation/Threepio's Bedtime Story
13. Jabba's Baroque Recital
14. Jedi Rocks
15. Sail Barge Assault [Alternate Take][*]

Disc 6:

1. Parade of the Ewoks
2. Luke and Leia
3. Brother and Sister/Father and Son/Fleet Enters Hyperspace/Heroic Ewok
4. Emperor's Throne Room
5. Battle of Endor: Into the Trap/Forest Ambush/Scout Walker Scramble
6. Lightsaber/The Ewok Battle
7. Battle of Endor 2: Leia Is Wounded - The Duel Begins/Overtaking ...
8. Endor 3: Superstructure Chase/Darth Vader's Death/The Main Reactor
9. Leia's News/Light of the Force
10. Victory Celebration/End Title
11. Ewok Feast/Part of the Tribe
12. Forest Battle (Concert Suite) [*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9051 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2004-09-21
• Number of discs: 6
• Formats: Box set, Soundtrack
• Dimensions: .81 pounds

Amazon.com
Given that it's largely credited with reinventing Hollywood--or at least fostering its overweening box office expectations--it's hard to imagine that the genesis of George Lucas' sprawling, multi-billion dollar Star Wars franchise was once considered a risky studio proposition at best. But Lucas himself has wisely singled out the robust, retro-romantic music of composer John Williams as the unlikely artistic linchpin that holds all of the saga's disparate dramatic, thematic and technical elements firmly together. Boxed together here then are three of the most successful and influential film scores of modern Hollywood, work that draws as much on Williams' masterful sense of classical music history as it does his own well-studied melodic and arranging instincts. Each of the three double-disc collections here contains all of the music written for Star Wars: A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (and even Alfred Newman's intyroductory "Fox Fanfare"), newly upgraded via Direct Stream Digital remastering that adds stunning new presence and clarity to Williams' rousing, epochal scores. Each chapter also features a lenticular 3-D cover and newly designed fold-out film poster, as well as encoded disc features allowing online access to elaborate new Star Wars screen savers; the ultimate musical compendium of the original Star Wars triptych. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

The Star Wars Trilogy's scores return in spectacular box set
Say what you will about the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set, but one undeniable fact is that one thing that has not changed is the enduring appeal of John Williams' classic scores for the 1977-83 trio of films that pitted Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Obi-Wan Kenobi against the forces of the evil Empire and the Jedi-turned-Sith Lord, Darth Vader.

To mark the release of the 2004 DVD set, Sony Classical has revamped and reissued the 1997 Special Edition soundtracks and created a beautiful box set that complements the packaging of the Widescreen Edition DVDs. In an elegant silver and black slipcover, the three slimline 2-CD jewel cases include holographic cover art that matches that on the DVD cases, a collectible poster/track list, and the scores on newly remastered Digital Stream Discs (which have improved sound quality and clarity, especially on top-of-the-line stereos) , as well as exclusive screensavers accessible through Sony Classical's Star Wars web page.

As expected, John Williams' music for A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi is brilliantly performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. With 74 tracks and over six hours of music, this six-CD set is arguably the most complete collection of original soundtrack material yet released.

If you own the 1997 RCA Victor Special Edition soundtracks, however, there is no new unreleased material here. Indeed, track sequences and titles are identical, and there are no detailed program notes.

Still, the box set is reasonably priced; it's actually cheaper than buying each soundtrack album separately, so if your older CDs are getting worn out or you just want these CDs for their extra features, then it's certainly worth considering.

Good remastering, but blatant repackaging
This reissue of the original Star Wars Trilogy soundtracks was released to coincide with the DVD debut of the original films. However, there is really little to gain in this reissue over the RCA special edition releases. Of course, the music is presented with all the integrity it needs, with every note of the score in a seamless chronological presentation, so that's one basic requirement cleared for this reissue. Plus, it has been remastered with Sony DSD technology, which greatly improves the sound. So what's wrong? Well, I'm sure that many collectors miss the in-depth booklets from the 1997 reissues with a comprehensive and lucid soundtrack annotation and full-colour photo stills from the three films. This would mean that those who listen to the music might not be able to follow what happens. At least the music is presented in chronological order, which is a tremendous asset. In its place we get a fold-out poster for a CD insert, which is in itself as useless as the 3-D covers. Also, the Enhanced CD features are perhaps junk, because the screensavers and book covers are not entirely necessary on soundtrack reissues. They are merely a marketing gimmick so that fans can spend more money, despite the fan requests. But even though these two gripes are subjective, this can't stop many fans from enjoying the music in all its glory and integrity. And perhaps, with the release of Revenge of the Sith, Sony, George Lucas and John Williams might allow the entire unedited scores for all six films to be released in a seamless chronological presentation, with extensive booklet notes. Maybe that will give the STAR WARS soundtracks some integrity than this skimpy reissue does, and maybe we will be able to see the Ewok Celebration finale from Return of the Jedi, as well as Lapti Nek, restored.

Star Wars Trilogy Sound Track Boxed Set
I personally have found the trilogy boxed set to be of generally high quality. The CD's are basically the same as the 1997 Special Edition releases. Their pictures are different and they are said to contain extras such as screen savers, but so far I have been quite unsuccessful in discovering them. The CD's themselves are much the same in quality as well. There is little noticeable improvement over the 1997 releases, except that you can, in some places, hear less background noise and hissing. I personally enjoy all the extra music and alternate takes. For those who merely want some of the music without all the extras and alternate takes the 1993 boxed set release would be a better purchase. The three CDs as a set, all told, have a total running time of just under six hours, which provides plenty of listening time. However, there is one rather annoying problem. The cases for the CD's are rather flimsy, so I would strongly advise putting the CD's themselves in another place to conserve the cases, which have some neat pictures on them. On the whole, this was worth its cost in my mind. For those who already have the 1997 releases and don't care about packaging or screen savers this set would be a pointless purchase. However, for someone such as I who wishes to buy the whole lot for a cheaper price this is just the thing.