Ahhh ops on my part, seems that if I had flipped through the rest of the magazine I would have come to the realization earlier that the above quote was not in reference to the AC issues but to an article a few pages later, in this issue of Rocket's Blast. (they didn't indent a new paragraph so I thought the one statement referred to the previous magazine but the writer was actually alluding to the magazine in hand) So here's the article, quickly OCR'd and general proof-read. Turned out less about temp tracks and more just a general article on the music of SW. but it's from 1977 so here it is for shits'n'giggles:
Rocket's Blast Comicollector
#139
1977
by Mark Burbey
THE MUSIC OF STAR WARS
As big a phenomenon as the film STAR WARS is to the
movie industry, the incredible specially-tailored music
by John Williams is just as important a work within the
world of film music.
Further, the music is part of what makes the movie
work. From the beginning, it excites the senses, put-
ing the viewer into the proper mood to fully
appreciate the overwhelming atmosphere of an epic ad-
venture. It also provides much of the heartfelt emo-
tional content to scenes where director George Lucas
didn't allow his actors to really let go.
For soundtrack collectors, the double-record set is
pretty much a dream come true. There are other double-
record film scores on the market, such as the delightful
NEW YORK, NEW YORK and the dreadful TOMMY al bums, but
none to my knowledge that feature four entire sides of
background and incidental music.
John Williams, the genius who composed the music for
STAR WARS is very well known among music aficionados.
His most recent scores have been for BLACK SUNDAY, JAWS
and THE MISSOURI BREAKS, and before that came such films
as THE TOWERING INFERNO, EARTHQUAKE and THE EIGER SANC-
TION among others.
Williams first learned of the STAR WARS project when
Steven Spielberg (who was completing JAWS at the time)
introduced him to George Lucas. Interestingly enough,
the first piece of music Lucas and Williams discussed
was that involving the cantina band at Mos Eisley.
Near the beginning, Lucas had the idea of possibly
using traditional classical pieces of music throughout
the film, but fortunately this was not done. Had they
done this, I believe it would have hindered the flow of
the story considerably. First, anyone in the audience
who was familiar with classical music would take his
mind off the film momentarily to think, "Oh, that's a
piece by Dvorak." (Parts of the Gustav Holst master-
piece THE PLANETS were used in the terrible THE MAN WHO
EELL TO EARTH, and it didn't sound like film music, but
Just like some classic music stuck into the film.) And
secondly, John Williams made a good point and said,
even though this technique worked well in 2001, "...'it
doesn't take a piece_of melodic material, develop it
and relate it to a character all the way through the
film.
The music for STAR WARS is unique in several ways.
The orchestra John Williams had the good fortune to
work with was The London Symphony Orchestra. Working
with a full sized orchestra is quite often a rarity in
the soundtrack business, and normally the scores are
played by a group of musicians much smaller than a true
orchestra. But since they were working in England.
Williams had four orchestras to choose from, and he
chose The London Symphony Orchestra because he was
friends with the orchestra's regular conductor, Andre
Previn. If one were to compare the music, say, for
JAWS to that from STAR WARS, the difference in tonal
depth and the richness provided the music by a large
orchestra would be immediately obvious. It‘s a shame
that it's not always feasible for a large orchestra to
record a film's music, because The London Symphony
orchestra's glorious brass and incredible string sec-
tions demonstrate what a marvelous difference can be
made merely by increasing the number of instruments.
The music has other distinctions.
Whenever a certain piece of music is repeated in the
film, it is arranged and played in a way that makes 11;
sound different than it did the time before.
As opposed to other great soundtracks, such as those
by Bernard Herrmann which are often somber and moody,
the STAR WARS music is almost constantly at a peak
energy level, and even when it's not, the melodies are
always very clear and characteristic of what is happen-
ing in the film. After seeing STAR WARS seven times
and playing the record innumerable times, many parts_of
the movie pop into my head the moment I hear a certain
passage of the music, such as the scene where C-BPO and
R2-D2 blast away from the Imperial ship in an escape
pod, Ben‘s death and Luke screaming “N0!", the SCEHG
with Luke and Han posing as stormtroopers with Chewbacca
as their "prisoner", and the ultimate destruction of the
Death Star.
The music, because of its clarity and distinct melo-
dies, is highly listenable when heard apart from the
film. Even the most classic of film scores have passa-
ges made up of banging drums, screaming violins, and
belching tubas forcing out their uttermost lowest notes
that might have sounded great in the movie when they
accented a certain scene, but when played alone are not
at all pleasing to the ear. The STAR WARS music, on
the other hand, is a fulfilling and immensely enjoyable
listening experience from beginning to end. Each selec-
tion is either exciting, soothing, sad, pretty, or
moody, but never brash or offensive.
In listening to the STAR WARS soundtrack, some of the
music reminds me of other works I've heard. Not that
Williams plagiarized, of course, but due to the clashing
horns and flutes and the use of tuned logs, steel plates
and slap sticks, the music for the scene where Luke is
attacked by one of the sandpeople is reminiscent of some
of the Jerry Goldsmith scores, particularly PLANET OF
THE APES. Some of the moodier passages, however so
slightly, smack vaguely of Bernard Herrmann, and some
of the more adventurous swashbuckling passages sound a
little like Herrmann's Sinbad and Jason scores at times.
The music heard in the desert scenes and in the sequence
where R2-D2 is captured by the Jawas is very much like
something Igor Stravinsky might do, as are some of the
rhythmic patterns. I was surprised to notice that much
of the STAR WARS music was very similar to much of the
music composed by Samuel Barber some forty years ago.
Pieces like MEDEA'S MEDITATION AND DANCE OF VENGENCE
Op. 23 A and THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL overture could have
fit quite well in STAR WARS as they are just as adven-
turous and romantic and often manipulate the horn and
string sections in very much the same way that Williams
does. And anyone who has heard THE PLANETS by Gustav
Holst will surely agree that the "Imperial Attack"
music sounds a lot like MARS, THE BRINGER 0F WAR,
Finally, as is only logical, STAR WARS resembles in
sound John Williams' own past film scores, particu-
larly JAWS and THE TOWERING INFERNO. Still, his STAR
WARS soundtrack, thus far in his career, is his
crowning achievement and an incredibly original and
creative work.
As hot a property as STAR WARS is, it is only natural
that among the various incarnations and merchandising
gimmicks springing up everywhere, that there should be
other musicians doing their versions of the JOHN WILLIAMS
music. PEOPLE magazine reported that a disco version of
the title theme was in the works; I believe this is
probably the record (besides the edited Williams' ver-
sion) currently being heard on the Top 40 stations.
Of the four or five different albums currently on
the market boasting of containing STAR WARS music, I
have purchased two of them and listened to them very
carefully. One is good, the other is dreadful.
The good one is called MUSIC FROM OTHER GALAXIES AND
PLANETS by Don Ellis & Survival. This record features
only two selections from the film, the rest being
original material. Ellis takes the title theme and
Princess Leia's theme and turns than into very enjoy-
able Jazz pieces. The entire album, these two cuts
included, have the combined influences and sounds of
popular jazz, the Johnny Carson band, soundtrack music
and Broadway music. With the STAR`WARS music, Ellis
manages to retain the energy of the title theme and the
romanticism of Princess Leia's theme, if perhaps on
somewhat less of an epic scale. Anyone who likes good
music should like the original material as well, some
of which uses science fiction themes.
The bad record offers six pieces from the score,
performed by the Electric Moog Orchestra, whoever they
are. The album retails for $2.99, but unless you are a
masochistic curiosity seeker, I would not recommend
buying it. Some of the film's most exciting music was
chosen, but due to the lack of talent on the part of
the musicians, it comes off sounding incredibly unin-
spired. one wonders if "The Electric Moog Orchestra"
is not someone who got a moog for Christmas and decided
to make this album. It is possible that John Williams'
sheet music was used but time signatures are totally
ignored and the music is totally devoid of feeling or
emotion of any kind. The "Imperial Attack" piece is
reduced to a shlock-rock number complete with a "camp
Quitar" reminiscent of those old Batman theme recordings
of a decade ago. Star Wars Corporation has already made
millions from this picture, so it's a mystery to me why
the few thousand more dollars that will be made on this
lousy album should precede the good taste of not allow-
ing it to be made.
In a way, the score for STAR WARS is the epitome of
all film music, in that it combines all the marvelous
properties of classical and film music. William Goldman
wrote a book called THE PRINCESS BRIDE which is a "re-
writing" of a book he supposedly recalled from child-
hood, and he refers to it as the "good parts" version,
meaning that he left in all the parts his father glossed
over when he read it to him as a child. This is essen-
tially what the music for STAR WARS is - an original
work utilizing all the best and most exciting qualities
of classical and film music.
