danielnrg
05-05-2018, 04:23 AM
I know a lot of you wanted ultimate edition scores for Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. I do too. We obviously haven't gotten that, but we do have new music in the ROTS remastered soundtrack that released today.
I can confirm through listening to the album that they used a different recording than they used for the original 2005 release for AT LEAST one song. That song is Anakin's Dark Deeds. Give that song a listen if you have a streaming subscription or have the CD. I guarantee that anyone who has familiarity with the original soundtrack release will recognize that this is a different recording. I am not saying they re-recorded it for this album, but it is an alternate. You may have even heard it in complete score fan collections, and I have this version in my The Force Unleashed music files. 100% different from the original release.
There are other songs that I am 99% sure are different recordings, but cannot be completely sure. The songs I think are different are Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (the first track), Palpatine's Teachings, and Anakin vs Obi-Wan. For the first track, I noticed that the heavy percussion used in the film version appears to show up at around 1:15 (after the opening title crawl music). Comparing this track with the 2005 version, this is one I am very confident is a new recording. The old version sounds nothing like this, and this version actually sounds a lot closer to Boys Into Battle which can be created by editing files from The Old Republic. It doesn't sound exactly like that version, but it is most likely not the 2005 version. The 2005 version does not have such heavy drums, and the drums that are used are not done in constant rhythm like they are in this new version.
EDIT: Listening to the song further, I have more evidence that this song is a different recording. At 1:54 (better to start at 1:50) there is a horn hit in the 2005 version that is absent in the remaster.
For Palpatine's Teachings, aside from the vocals hitting so much clearer (which could be the remaster), the song starts with a clearly audible, full inhale by the male choir. It is the very first thing you hear when playing the song. Compared to the 2005 version, you only hear the tail end of the inhale, and it is much quieter. Not much difference other than that, aside from the immediately apparent clarity of the vocals.
For Anakin vs Obi-Wan, it again sounds closer to the film version with heavy percussion at 0:35. This is not as easy to determine if it is a different recording as the first track, as listening to the 2005 version it appears the drums may be present, but significantly quieter. They could have re-mixed the track to make the already-present bass drums louder.
So there we have it. There is at least one piece of previously-unreleased music in this new remaster. Personally I always liked the alternate version of Anakin's Dark Deeds better than what was heard in the film or original album (both are different), so this is a major plus for me. After hearing Anakin vs Obi-Wan and the first track, I thought maybe Enter Lord Vader may have been changed to the film version, but unfortunately this is not the case. Still, I am extremely happy and surprised not only at the new music, but also the clarity and quality of this remaster compared to the original release. I had no idea soundtracks that came out less than 20 years ago could be improved so noticeably.
Let me know what you think of the new remaster for the prequels, as well as the different recordings used in the ROTS remaster. I will quickly touch on the OT remasters. The long story short is that ANH and TESB are either worse than previous releases or downright abhorrent. No track on either album is better than the Anthology, and therefore that remains my release of choice. The Battle In The Snow in particular is worse than anything on the ANH or TESB Special Edition releases, and may be almost as bad if not worse than the ROTJ Special Edition release. I really don't know what the hell they were thinking. The one exception to this is The Imperial March. I can definitively say that, in my opinion, this is the best-sounding version of this track from any release. Very well done. On another positive note, the ROTJ remaster was exceptionally well-done. I frequently found myself enjoying tracks on that album more than the Anthology, and the tracks appear to have more clarity. It would appear that the quality issues of the Special Edition releases (ROTJ sounding the worst, TESB being second, and ANH being somewhat passable) have simply been reversed for this time around. I don't know how I feel about that. I will say that I strongly recommend not purchasing the ANH and TESB remasters (if you're buying them outright instead of streaming).
Well, that's it for me. I am currently feeling a mix of strong positive and negative emotions in response to these remastered albums as a whole. Let me know what you think.
I can confirm through listening to the album that they used a different recording than they used for the original 2005 release for AT LEAST one song. That song is Anakin's Dark Deeds. Give that song a listen if you have a streaming subscription or have the CD. I guarantee that anyone who has familiarity with the original soundtrack release will recognize that this is a different recording. I am not saying they re-recorded it for this album, but it is an alternate. You may have even heard it in complete score fan collections, and I have this version in my The Force Unleashed music files. 100% different from the original release.
There are other songs that I am 99% sure are different recordings, but cannot be completely sure. The songs I think are different are Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (the first track), Palpatine's Teachings, and Anakin vs Obi-Wan. For the first track, I noticed that the heavy percussion used in the film version appears to show up at around 1:15 (after the opening title crawl music). Comparing this track with the 2005 version, this is one I am very confident is a new recording. The old version sounds nothing like this, and this version actually sounds a lot closer to Boys Into Battle which can be created by editing files from The Old Republic. It doesn't sound exactly like that version, but it is most likely not the 2005 version. The 2005 version does not have such heavy drums, and the drums that are used are not done in constant rhythm like they are in this new version.
EDIT: Listening to the song further, I have more evidence that this song is a different recording. At 1:54 (better to start at 1:50) there is a horn hit in the 2005 version that is absent in the remaster.
For Palpatine's Teachings, aside from the vocals hitting so much clearer (which could be the remaster), the song starts with a clearly audible, full inhale by the male choir. It is the very first thing you hear when playing the song. Compared to the 2005 version, you only hear the tail end of the inhale, and it is much quieter. Not much difference other than that, aside from the immediately apparent clarity of the vocals.
For Anakin vs Obi-Wan, it again sounds closer to the film version with heavy percussion at 0:35. This is not as easy to determine if it is a different recording as the first track, as listening to the 2005 version it appears the drums may be present, but significantly quieter. They could have re-mixed the track to make the already-present bass drums louder.
So there we have it. There is at least one piece of previously-unreleased music in this new remaster. Personally I always liked the alternate version of Anakin's Dark Deeds better than what was heard in the film or original album (both are different), so this is a major plus for me. After hearing Anakin vs Obi-Wan and the first track, I thought maybe Enter Lord Vader may have been changed to the film version, but unfortunately this is not the case. Still, I am extremely happy and surprised not only at the new music, but also the clarity and quality of this remaster compared to the original release. I had no idea soundtracks that came out less than 20 years ago could be improved so noticeably.
Let me know what you think of the new remaster for the prequels, as well as the different recordings used in the ROTS remaster. I will quickly touch on the OT remasters. The long story short is that ANH and TESB are either worse than previous releases or downright abhorrent. No track on either album is better than the Anthology, and therefore that remains my release of choice. The Battle In The Snow in particular is worse than anything on the ANH or TESB Special Edition releases, and may be almost as bad if not worse than the ROTJ Special Edition release. I really don't know what the hell they were thinking. The one exception to this is The Imperial March. I can definitively say that, in my opinion, this is the best-sounding version of this track from any release. Very well done. On another positive note, the ROTJ remaster was exceptionally well-done. I frequently found myself enjoying tracks on that album more than the Anthology, and the tracks appear to have more clarity. It would appear that the quality issues of the Special Edition releases (ROTJ sounding the worst, TESB being second, and ANH being somewhat passable) have simply been reversed for this time around. I don't know how I feel about that. I will say that I strongly recommend not purchasing the ANH and TESB remasters (if you're buying them outright instead of streaming).
Well, that's it for me. I am currently feeling a mix of strong positive and negative emotions in response to these remastered albums as a whole. Let me know what you think.
