I know what a lot of you are thinking:
"But Bernard, I have the Anthology!"
or even worse
"But Bernard, I have the Special Edition! Why do I need this?"
Quick and simple answer is: You do.
I know most of you probably aren't as musically literate as I am or know John Williams perhaps as well, but I'll try to explain.
The Anthology is an amazing release. Every-time I have doubts, I go back to it. It was really well done and I have to say was an exceptionally well put together set. (It single handedly saved the ship :-p )
It still has its problems however.
Empire Strikes Back has a few errors. Three or four of the tracks have their channels flipped. What I mean by that is that the Left And Right channels are swapped.
Under normal circumstances, you hear the violins in the left channel and the cello/bass in the right (string wise). With the channels flipped, you hear the opposite...
Now a lot of people are like "Oh... well... whatever" but please, realize, the invention of Stereo and surround sound were done BECAUSE of this! To preserve this balance...
Back when music was recorded in mono (which wasn't too many years ago and actually as many of you know, Star Wars did have a mono-mix), music had no definition.
Since the creation of the symphonic orchestra, there have been specific places for instruments to sit based upon hundreds of years of tradition and study. The orchestral sound is best balanced the way it is intended to be heard and the way the instruments are intended to be seated.
I actually got a CD recently that's a re-release of an old John Williams LP. It's called "Rythms in Motion." In the insert for CD, replicated from the original in the LP, it says how "It seems like stereo was invented for John Williams, not the other way around!"
One of the amazing aspects of Williams music is his unique ability to master stereo sound. From instruments handing off melodic lines across the spectrum, to the use of mixed sounds from both sides of the sound field, he is a master.
Now, the Anthology errors are few and simple to fix... The Special Edition errors are many and impossible to fix.
On the Special Edition, there were only two music editors. Whats interesting is while listening to the score one day, I noticed on Main Title that this French horn solo was in the wrong channel and I nearly shit a brick!
I stopped. Played it again. Heard it again... was so confused I went as far as to pop in the DVD to make sure it wasn't like that in the film!
In sooth it wasn't. I did a little research and found that one of the editors... in EVERY SINGLE CUE HE EDITED... Flipped the Horn Channels.
Now, unlike the anthology error with the left/right channels being swapped... when individual instrument channels are flipped... there's nothing I can do.I don't have the masters (obviously) and I can't go back and isolate a single instrument in a down mixed release such as these.
So the problem becomes "What do you do?"
Well, I've done what I can. I've replaced almost everything with the Anthology... and fixed the errors on the anthology.
Another interesting problem with the Special Edition is it's lack of sound field. For example, if you listen to "Imperial Walkers" in the cue "Battle of Hoth" on the SE, and listen to the same cue on the Anthology... you will no doubt hear the difference.
This is that infamous cue that starts out with the really low, metallic, baning piano parts. If you listen to the SE, you may only think there is a single piano! The irony is John Williams says in his liner notes for this cue "The more pianos the better!"
And in the SE it sounds like a single piano... because they narrowed the mix to the point where you only hear a single piano in the center...instead of one on each side!
So yea... If I haven't convinced you yet, let me also explain that neither set truly sounds the best they can. Both have a very dead sound and could use some nice re-mastering so I have done that as well.
Anyways, the set is coming along really well. I'm actually to the Imperial Walkers cue right now. heh
Anyways, this is the cue list so far:
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back Complete Re-mastered
Disc 1 (1:08:51)
01) 20th Century Fox Fanfare - [0:27]
02) Main Title - [1:40]
03) Probe Droid (Original) - Echo Base - [6:33]
04) Wampa's Ice Lair - [3:35]
05) Visions of Obi-Wan - [3:34]
06) Snowspeeder's Take Flight - [1:51]
07) Aboard the Executor - [3:14]
08) Attack Positions - [2:11]
09) Ion Cannon - [1:56]
10) Imperial Walkers - [9:41]
11) Beneath the AT-AT - [4:18]
12) Escape in the Millennium Falcon - [3:06]
13) The Asteroid Field - [4:21]
14) Arrival at Dagobah - [3:38]
15) Setting up Camp - [1:21]
16) Luke's Nocturnal Visitor - [2:39]
17) Hans Solo and the Princes - [3:32]
18) Jedi Master Revealed - Mynock Cave - [5:48]
19) Training of a Jedi Knight - [1:43]
20) The Magic Tree - [3:38]
Disc 2 ( )
# Probe Droid (Film Alternate) * - [1:19]
# Imperial March - [2:59]
# Yoda's Theme - [3:25]
* Denotes uncorrectable flipped channels
Anyways, this set is coming along really quickly. I should probably be finished by tomorrow and have it all uploaded and ready to be downloaded by then. I'll keep you all up to date.