Star Wars (soundtrack)


Star Wars is the soundtrack album to the 1977 film Star Wars, composed and conducted by John Williams and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Williams' score for Star Wars was recorded over eight sessions at Anvil Studios in Denham, England on March 5, 8–12, 15 and 16, 1977. The score was orchestrated by Williams's frequent associate Herbert W. Spencer, who also later orchestrated the scores for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The score was recorded by engineer Eric Tomlinson and edited by Kenneth Wannberg, and the scoring sessions were produced by Star Wars director George Lucas and supervised by Lionel Newman, head of 20th Century Fox's music department.
The soundtrack album was released by 20th Century Records as a double-LP record in the United States in June 1977. The album's main title peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, with a disco version of the film's theme by Meco becoming a number one single hit in the United States in October 1977. The soundtrack album itself went on to become certified Gold and Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and won numerous accolades including Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, and Grammy Awards in the categories of best film score and soundtrack album. In 2004, it was preserved by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry, calling it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2005, the American Film Institute named the original Star Wars soundtrack as the most memorable score of all time for an American film.
In 2016, the album was re-released by Sony Classical Records on vinyl, CD, and digital formats alongside Williams' other Star Wars soundtracks. The vinyl release is pressed on 180g vinyl, and features the original 20th Century Records logo. Unlike all of Sony Classical's previous releases, however, the vinyl version is a remastered version of the original 1977 release, not the Special Edition. Walt Disney Records remastered and reissued the soundtrack on vinyl LP on December 1, 2017, and on CD and digital formats on May 4, 2018.

Original 1977 release

The original 1977 release of the soundtrack, entitled Star Wars - Original Soundtrack, included a poster of a painting by science fiction artist John Berkey, depicting the final battle over the Death Star from the film's end. The album was released as a double LP which was formatted for an autochanger record player; one disc had sides one and four with the other having sides two and three. This allowed a person to stack sides one and two on the player, then flip the stack over for sides three and four, allowing the listener to have over half an hour of uninterrupted music before they needed to flip the discs over.

Track listing

First release on LP by 20th Century Records. For the original soundtrack, Williams selected 75 minutes of music out of the 88 minute score. To provide musical variety, it did not follow the film's chronological order.
This track listing is also shared by Sony Classical's LP release in 2016, and Walt Disney Records' LP and CD releases in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Total Time: 74:58

Personnel

1st Violins
Neville Taweel, Robin Studt, Irvine Arditti, B. Thomas, Stanley Castle, Sydney Colter, Dennis Gaines, Robert Retallick, C. Reuben, Norman Freeman, Max Weber, Robin Brightman, Brian Gaulton
2nd Violins
Warwick Hill, Neil Watson, Samuel Artis, William Brown, Thomas Cook, Terry Morton, Jack Steadman, Donald Stewart, Thomas Swift, David Williams, R. Clark, G. Creese, D. Llewellyn
Violas
Alexander Taylor, Brian Clarke, Peter Norriss, Patrick Hooley, Michael Mitchell, David Hume,William Sumpton, Patrick Vermont, William Krasnik, Eric Cuthbertson
Cellos
Douglas Cummings, Maurice Meulien, Ray Adams, Jack Long, Ken Law, Douglas Powrie, Francis Saunders, Clive Gillinson, Tom Storer, K. Glossop
Double Basses
Bruce Mollinson, Arthur Griffiths, John Cooper, Gerald Newson, Pashanko Dimitroff, Goelson Neal
Flutes
Richard Taylor, Lowry Sanders, Francis Nolan
Oboes
Roger Lord, Anthony Camden
Clarinets
J. Brymer, Ronald Moore, R. Jowitt
Bassoons
Robert Bourton, Peter Francis
Horns
David Cripps, John Rooke, Anthony Chidell, Graham Warren, James Quaife, James Brown, S. Reading, J. Butterworth
Trumpets
Maurice Murphy, William Lang, Norman Archibald, R. Izen
Trombones
D. Wick, Eric Crees, Frank Mathison
Tuba
J. Fletcher, Steven Wick
Timpani
Kurt-Hans Goedicke
Percussion
Michael Frye, Ray Northcott
Harp
Renata Sheffel-Stein, J. Marson
Piano/Celeste
Robert Noble, M. Round

Subsequent releases

Release history

1986 release

First release on CD by Polydor Records in 1986. It is identical in content and packaging to the LP release.
Disc one
  1. "Main Title" – 5:21
  2. "Imperial Attack" – 6:16
  3. "Princess Leia's Theme" – 4:22
  4. "The Desert and the Robot Auction" – 2:52
  5. "Ben's Death and TIE Fighter Attack" – 3:46
  6. "The Little People Work" – 4:01
  7. "Rescue of the Princess" – 4:46
  8. "Inner City" – 4:13
  9. "Cantina Band" – 2:45
Disc two
  1. "The Land of the Sandpeople" – 2:49
  2. "Mouse Robot and Blasting Off" – 4:01
  3. "The Return Home" – 2:45
  4. "The Walls Converge" – 4:32
  5. "The Princess Appears" – 4:03
  6. "The Last Battle" – 12:06
  7. "The Throne Room and End Title" – 5:27

    ''Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology''

In 1993, 20th Century Fox Film Scores released a four-CD box set containing music from the original Star Wars trilogy. This release marked the first time that the complete contents of the original double-LP releases of the scores from the first two films became available on CD. Disc one in the set was devoted to Star Wars, with further tracks on disc four.
Since every cue is recorded several times, usually with varying orchestral differences, the final decisions on what takes of cues are used and/or how they are edited to create the tracks was decided by the music editor Kenneth Wannberg. In the time between the original LP release and the Anthology's release, this breakdown was lost. Because of this, many takes of cues used on the Anthology are not the same. This is most obvious on the cue "The Throne Room". Also, the tracks were re-arranged to better follow their chronological order in the film.
The alternate version of the Star Wars Main Title can be heard in the end credits for Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, and is included in the film's soundtrack.

1997 and 2004 Special Edition reissues

The 1997 release includes the complete film score, including expanded and unreleased tracks.

2017 and 2018 Disney reissues

reissued the original 1977 soundtrack album in digital formats and streaming services on January 1, 2017, and on LP record on December 1, 2017, to coincide with the film's fortieth anniversary that same year. The LP reissue featured a remastered soundtrack, hand-etched hologram art, and a 48-page book containing production photographs, liner notes, and essays on John Williams and the music of Star Wars.
Disney released a newly-remastered edition of the original 1977 album program on CD, digital download, and streaming services on May 4, 2018. This remaster was newly assembled by Shawn Murphy and Skywalker Sound from the highest-quality master tapes available, rather than sourced from the existing 1977 album masters. On these reissues, the final track is presented at the correct speed and pitch, having been sped up slightly on the original LP, CD, and 2016 Sony releases.

Accolades

Original recording log

The score for Star Wars was recorded over the span of eight days in the month of March 1977. The 1997 Special Edition soundtrack release by RCA Victor included a detailed look at the recording log for all the cues in the film.
Recorded TakeCue TitleSelected TakeFilm Order
1-7Chasm Crossfire5, 731
8-10The Death Star1023
11-15Ben Kenobi's Death13, 1532
16-20Main Title18, 19, 201
21-23The Hologram228

Recorded TakesCue TitleSelected TakesFilm Order
56-58Learn About The Force 5815
59-63Burning Homestead62, 6316
64-67Wookiee Prisoner6725
68-72Learn About The Force 7214

Recorded TakesCue TitleSelected TakesFilm Order
83-86X-Wings Draw Fire85, 8635
87-92Landspeeder Search9210
93-94Tales Of A Jedi Knight N/AN/A
95-97Tie Fighter Attack95, 9733
98-105The Trash Compactor101, 10229
106-109Tales Of A Jedi Knight 10913
110-114The Stormtroopers11424
115-116Dianoga11628
117-122Tales Of A Jedi Knight 12212
123-126The Moisture Farm 1267

Recorded TakesCue TitleSelected TakesFilm Order
176-180Use The Force178, 18036
181-185Mos Eisley Spaceport184, 18517
186-188Jawa Sandcrawler186, 187, 1885
189-197The Moisture Farm 194, 1976
198-202Binary Sunset 2029