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This article written by:  ldkendal@unix.amherst.edu (Lukas Kendall)

I know many people are interested in the music of John Williams
largely because of his Star Wars scores, which is great. As I posted
earlier, I publish a newsletter all about film music, called FILM
SCORE MONTHLY, and there's something about Williams in just about
every issue. Please e-mail me for more info on my newsletter.

And now, here is a list of all the Star Wars related music CDs, not
including the abysmal compilation CDs which have a theme or two from
Star Wars and sound awful, and not including the many identical
foreign pressings.

STAR WARS: 
Original soundtrack, 2 CDs, Polydor 800 096-2. This is it, 80 minutes
of music straight from the film soundtrack, the same as the original
double LP and tape.

Star Wars/Close Encounters: 
Conducted by Zubin Mehta. London "Cinema Gala" 417 846-2. A
rerecording of a 30 minute Star Wars suite (concert versions --
different from those heard in the film) plus a 13 minute suite of
music to Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Star Wars/Close Encounters: 
Conducted by Charles Gerhardt. RCA Classic Film Scores series,
2698-2-RG. Similar to the above, but better, with more music.  Again,
these are concert arrangements of the scores, so with have different
endings, for example, than the arrangements in the films.

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: 
Original soundtrack, Polydor 825 298-2: As we've all learned the hard
way, this is only half the music on the original double LP. The
boneheads at Polydor issued a "1 LP" version of the initial 2 LP
release some time in the '80s, and when it came time to issue a CD,
they chose to issue the 1 LP version, with half the music as only the
double LP. Fortunately, the 2 LP version, with some 80 minutes of
score, can be found on the cassette release. Unless, you're a
completist, don't bother buying this CD--the sound is bad, and the
sequencing is absurd, with the main title found on track six.

Re-recording, conducted by Charles Gerhardt, Varese Sarabande VCD
47204, recently reissued as VSD 5353. This is definitely the CD to buy
from Empire, a re-recording of 45 minutes of music--as with the
SW/CE3K CDs, these are concert arrangements and differ slightly from
the arrangements in the film.  Some music is included here which
cannot be found on the Polydor CD, or even the original double
LP/cassette, such as a concert arrangment of Han & Leia's theme and
some music for Hoth which wasn't used in the film. If you're looking
to pick up music from Empire, buy this CD and the Polydor tape to get
the most music from the film.

RETURN OF THE JEDI:
Original soundtrack, Polydor 811 767-2: For reasons as yet unknown,
only a single LP soundtrack was ever issued of Jedi, unlike the
previous films. This CD is a good buy--the sound isn't that good, but
it is the original soundtrack after all.

Re-recording, conducted by Charles Gerhardt, RCA RCD 14748, recently
reissued with new label number. A better sounding recording of music
from the film, with some music not on the original soundtrack, such as
the music for the fight in the Rancor pit, and some extra Ewok fight
music. No Emperor music here, though, unlike on the original
soundtrack from Polydor.

TRILOGY CDs:
The Star Wars Trilogy, conducted by Varujan Kojian, Varese Sarabande
VCD 47201.  For my money, better than the Williams conducted Trilogy
CD, the main reason being that included here are two tracks from Jedi,
unavailable on the Jedi CDs. These are Fight with Tie Fighters and
Darth Vader's Death. Otherwise, a solidly conducted CD of music from
the three films (three SW cuts, three ESB cuts, 7 ROTJ cuts).

John Williams Conducts John Williams: The Star Wars Trilogy: This is
the more recent Trilogy CD out on Sony SK 45947. Nice packaging, but
no new material that can't be found elsewhere, and I think Williams
takes his own compositions a bit slow.

All of these CDs should be in print--if you can't find them at your
local record store, you can mail order them from Footlight Records
(212-533-1572) and/or Intrada (415-776-1333), two reliable soundtrack
dealers.