Sony Classical has a spotty history when it comes to pleasing film-music fans.  I can think of several releases that have annoyed, frustrated, and angered collectors in the past 2 years, not the least of which was the original one-disc release of the score to THE PHANTOM MENACE in May 1999.  Heavily edited and resequenced, it painted an unfairly dreary picture of John Williams' music, which in the film had a vitality and shine that was lost on the album.

When it was discovered that videogame CD-ROMS from Lucasarts contained extractable music files with unreleased cues from the film, eager fans (myself included) began compiling their own "Special Edition" CDs that strove to present the score in chronological fashion while also attempting to reflect John Williams' original intentions for the pieces hacked up in the film's penultimate reel.  Inevitably, copies of these fan-made CDs made their way into the hands of bootleggers who marketed them as "promos" containing "the complete score".

Late in the summer of 2000, rumors began circulating that Sony Classical was planning on releasing the complete score to TPM.  This was confirmed by an official announcement in October that the release, slated for November 14, would contain EVERY NOTE OF MUSIC John Williams COMPOSED for TPM.  There was immediate speculation about what exactly this meant.  Based on a preliminary tracklist, it appeared that the album clung pretty steadfastly to the running order of the film, leading many to guess that the album was essentially the equivalent of a "rip" from an isolated score track on a DVD.

Well, that's what it turned out to be.  Almost.

In fact, it is not EVERY NOTE JW COMPOSED for TPM, but it IS every note, PLUS SOME, that appeared in the final film (with one exception).  While this is not ideal, it isn't the end of the world either.  For the most part, it's a listenable collection.  If I had to chose one over the other, I would take the UE before the OST any day, as incomplete as it is.  Too many great moments of music where left off the OST for me to recommend it over the UE, and while there is music only available on the OST, none of it appears in the actual film.

There are a few curious anomolies on the UE, the most talked about being the fact that the Naboo Parade and End Credits are not the versions that appeared in the film.  Instead they are identical to the OST.  While some have really flipped their lid over this, I just can't get that worked up over it.  I don't like either version enough to be offended by the "travesty" that is the album version, and I don't like the movie version enough to petition Sony for it's release.  I'm much to busy focusing on the minute details of the rest of the score to get wound up over The Naboo Main Street Electrical Parade.  As for the film edits made in "Duel of the Fates" during the credits, at least this way we get the full concert version on the UE.  (On my own homemade collections, I always left the "Duel of the Fates" complete in the credits anyways.)

There are some other curious divergences on the UE.  One is the "Arrival at Tatooine".  In the film, the music dials out under the landing of the Queen's ship in the desert, and fades back in after Qui-Gon heads out for Mos Espa.  On the UE, the music is presented intact, no fade out, which I was pleasently surprised to hear.  Also, "Desert Winds" is advertised as unheard in the movie, but in fact, some piece of source music can be heard in the exact moment this piece occures on the UE, and it sure sounds like "Desert Winds".  Oh well, at least they gave it to us, even if it isn't exactly what they said it was.

What really gets fans in a twist is the music for THE BATTLE OF NABOO.  But more on that later.

First, here's a little history behind the movie:

THE HISTORY

After wrapping up shooting in the fall 1997, George Lucas began the long process of post production on THE PHANTOM MENACE.  Sometime around the fall of 1998, he invited a bunch of his friends and fellow filmmakers up to his Skywalker Ranch to watch his edit of TPM (Version 1, we'll call it).  After the screening, there was discussion among everyone about how to streamline the storytelling of the final Battle scenes.  Lucas took the notes to heart and recut the movie to reflect these peoples' views.  We'll call this Version 2.

In October 1998, Lucas and Williams sat down and spotted the film for music, using Version 2.  (Video from these spotting sessions was included in Lynne's Diary Part 12 at www.starwars.com, and also on a "60 Minutes" piece that aired in March of 1999.)  Williams went off and began composing his score for the film, tackling first the scenes on Tatooine, and completing his goal of two-minutes-a-day in order to be ready for the London recording session in February 1999.

In the meantime, George Lucas began having second thoughts about the changes he had made to create Version 2.  Sometime in January 1999 (I think) he went back and made Version 3, which was essentially the best of Version 1 mixed with the best of Version 2.  Lucas talked with Williams about the changes and it was decided to deal to with them in the following manner:  Williams would receive new videotapes of Version 3 and would stop writing to Version 2.  However, with the amount of music he needed to finish, there wasn't time to go back an rewrite what he'd already composed for Version 2.  So Ken Wannberg, Williams' music editor, would go through what JW composed for Ver 2 and "conform" it to Ver 3, making notes about what changes Williams would have to make at the recording session to accomodate the new picture.  In some cases, Wannberg suggested Williams compose little "bridge" pieces to connect two cues which now didn't quite fit together.

February 1999, London:  Williams records the score to TPM.  By this time, Lucas has refined his edit even further, creating Version 4, which is subtly different but not a major reworking as Versions 2 and 3 had been.  Williams records as many cues to Ver 4 as he can, but some are recorded using Version 3 as a reference with the understanding that Wannberg will edit the music to fit the new picture once they get back to Skywalker Ranch.  It is during these sessions that Lucas hears the concert version of "Duel of the Fates", and is reportedly tremendously excited, claiming that Williams has managed to score the ending of Episode III before Lucas has even written it!  During these recording sessions, Shawn Murphy makes rough mixes of all the cues.  Copies of these mixes are sent to Lucasarts for use in two high-profile games they are preparing for May 1999, THE PHANTOM MENACE and RACER.

Everyone returns to Skywalker Ranch in March 1999 to prepare for the final mix of the film.  Even now, Lucas is revising the film, asking ILM to add shots, take shots out, extend and truncate scenes, and even resequencing shots to create Version 5.  Wannberg is busily conforming the music, some of which, remember, was written for Version 2(!), to the most recent picture while Williams is taking a well-deserved rest and doing press for the film.  He is also compiling his preferred choices for inclusion on the OST, to be released in May 1999 on Sony Classical.

Late in March 1999, the film mixing sessions begin.  Also known as dubbing, or "the dub", these sessions takes about 3 or 4 weeks and during this time the proper balance of dialogue, effects and music are created.  [For more on the technical aspects of mixing a film, check out this message I posted at JOHN WILLIAMS CENTRAL.]  During the dub, many decisions have to be made because this is the last chance to change anything before the film is released in theaters.  Often, directors and producers will alter sound effects or music once they see everything together.  Such was the case with TPM.  Besides little edits made by Wannberg to accomdate picture tweaks, such as repeating ("looping") a measure or removing a single phrase, whole cues may be omitted or replaced.  Someone decided that Williams original music for the Podrace didn't work and so it was replaced with music from the "Escape from Naboo" and music from (I suspect) the final battle.  During the opening burst of swordplay, music for the Nemoidians on the bridge of their ship was tracked with underscore from the scene where Qui-Gon tells the Battledroid he's taking everyone to Coruscant.  This kind of thing happens all the time in movies - look at THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and you'll see music moved all over the place.  Same with JEDI.  And with the use of digital editing gear these days, it's rare that a score makes into a film unedited!

Here is where Lucas's deep fondness for "Duel of the Fates" began to corrupt William's original intentions.  According to Wannberg, during these sessions, Lucas kept replacing every piece of music for the Jedi/Sith sword fight with "DOTF".  As a result, JW's intended cues were discarded and Wannberg had to find pieces of DOTF that would fit both the drama and the timing of the scenes, the result being a looped, choppy presentation of the music.  In the actual film, where laser guns and lightsabers are making all sorts of noise, it's not quite so terrible, but as a listening experience on the UE, it's a little clunky.

Once the mixing of the film was over, engineer Shawn Murphy, along with Wannberg and Williams, made the album master for Sony's OST, remixing from the recording session masters and including many cues in a form closer to how Williams wrote them, and not as Lucas cut them in the film.  But in typical Williams style, he resequenced the music a great deal, used cues more than once, and shuffled things around to create a more "listenable" album.  The masters were sent off to Sony, and a copy was also sent to Lucasarts in case they needed any of this stuff for the upcoming games.

On May 4, 1999, the OST was released.  The videogames were on shelves on May 19, the same day as the film opens in theaters.  Thus began the events that lead to the release of the UE earlier this week.

THE REVIEW:

So what do I think of the UE?  Well, I was dissappointed it was not a definitive presentation of Williams' original conception of the score, as RCA/Victor endeavored to do with the original trilogy scores in 1997.  I think Sony Classical is guilty more of ignorance than duplicity in advertising the cd as containing every note Williams composed for the film.  I honestly believe they thought they were giving us what we wanted.  We're a finicky bunch, us John Williams fans, and we vacilate between what we want from score to score.  As much as we DON'T want the film version of THE BATTLE OF NABOO, we DO want the film version of "Augie's Lonely Hearts Club Band"!  So, I can't hate Sony completely for releasing this disc.

I DO suspect that Lucas may be planning on including an isolated score track on the eventual DVD and perhaps this disc was released to prevent bootlegged "rips" from cutting into the market.  And I'm also confident that someday, the entire score will be rereleased in a more definitive version, a la RCA/Victor, perhaps when all 3 of the prequels are complete.  I guess it gives me something to look forward to.

Technically, the disc is great - clean sound, nice loud mastering.  The edits, as I said, can be jarring, but that's not necessarily Sony's fault.  The packaging is attractive - I know I'm not the only one who thought the blue Maul cover was actually pretty cool.  I know the digipack has annoyed some collectors, but it's doesn't bother me.

And I suppose some sort of disclaimer is in order:  for me, the UE is really a tool to create my own Super-Ultimate Edition CD, which mixes the best of the UE with the best of the OST and the videogame files.  So that obviously colors my review.  I'm a pretty hardcore collector of Williams and Star Wars and I would have bought this thing even if it only had 2 minutes of new music.  So you may not agree with me if you are a casual collector, or don't look forward to editing your own version of the music.  As some have said on the JOHN WILLIAMS CENTRAL messageboard, this cd will rarely be played once I burn my own version.

So is it worth the $30?  I think so.  If you're a "stars" kinda person, I give it 4 out of 5 - it loses a point for the clunky edits during the BATTLE cues on disc 2, but its pristine sound quality and otherwise anal-retentive completeness go a long way for me.  I'm a happy camper this week.