darth_ender said:

While I'm not in total agreement, I see where HotRod is coming from. I've been listening to the Radio Dramas which uses the original JW music. It amazes me how easily I recognize the part of the film the song originally played in, regardless of the fact that it is simply a reprise of an oft-repeated theme. It's surprising not only how iconic the main themes are, but also how memorable and individualized each background piece seems to be.

I can't say the same for the PT, though to give JW the benefit of a doubt I'll admit that I've not seen it nearly as many times.

I agree. I even feel that ROTJ even had a lot more "filler" or "incidental" music that, even when I hear it today, doesn't stir scene memory for me. For Ep IV and V I can listen to the scores and remember/recite lines like crazy.

I still think it was mostly Lucas that butchered the scores to Ep I and II--maybe even III; I don't think Williams composed crap that couldn't be used; I think Lucas couldn't stop changing the film and it would have been too expensive to get Williams to rewrite music and/or adjust cues to fit the new scenes, plus re-recording the orchestra would have been costly or time consuming--even with today's digital music editing abilities.