Lest anyone not understand, here is the 1977/97 change comparison : https://picasaweb.google.com/102542760950977079734/StarWarsSpecialEditionChangesHD#5514976103623090866
The source for 77 is GOUT and the source for 97 is 2004, so colors, black-levels, etc are probably inaccurate everywhere, but you can at least see that, yes, it really is supposed to be pretty dark.
(Side note: When I saw the film at The Senator, I didn't know to look for the bad matte, and I never noticed it)