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, Herbert W. Spencer, Alexander Courage, Angela Morley, Arthur Morton and Albert Woodbury. Spencer 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 hit single in the United States in October 1977. The soundtrack album itself peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in September 1977, and became the best-selling symphonic album of all time; it was certified Gold and Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and won numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and Grammy Awards in the categories of Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special and Best Instrumental Composition. It was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. 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.
The Star Wars soundtrack saw subsequent reissues since its initial release. 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.

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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.

Personnel

1st Violins: Neville Taweel, Richard Studt, Irvine Arditti, Brian Thomas, Stanley Castle, Sydney Colter, Dennis Gaines, Charles Beldom, 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, Geoffrey Creese, D. Llewellyn, Harry Nathan
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: Jack Brymer, Ronald Moore, Roy Jowitt
Bassoons: Robert Bourton, Peter Francis
Horns: David Cripps, John Rooke, Anthony Chidell, Graham Warren, James Quaife, James Brown, S. Reading, J. Butterworth, Terry Johns
Trumpets: Maurice Murphy, William Lang, Norman Archibald, R. Izen
Trombones: Dennis 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/Celesta: Robert Noble, M. Round

Subsequent releases

1986 release

First release on CD by Polydor Records in 1986. It is identical in content and packaging to the LP release.
Disc one

"Main Title" – 5:21
"Imperial Attack" – 6:16
"Princess Leia's Theme" – 4:22
"The Desert and the Robot Auction" – 2:52
"Ben's Death and TIE Fighter Attack" – 3:46
"The Little People Work" – 4:01
"Rescue of the Princess" – 4:46
"Inner City" – 4:13
"Cantina Band" – 2:45

Disc two

"The Land of the Sandpeople" – 2:49
"Mouse Robot and Blasting Off" – 4:01
"The Return Home" – 2:45
"The Walls Converge" – 4:32
"The Princess Appears" – 4:03
"The Last Battle" – 12:06
"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 and 2004 releases include the complete film score, including expanded and unreleased tracks.

2017 and 2018 Disney reissues

Walt Disney Records 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.

Compilations and re-recordings (Selection)

Tracks of the soundtrack appear on various Best of Compilations and rerecordings by John Williams.

1983: The Star Wars Trilogy
1990/2001: ''John Williams Conducts The Star Wars Trilogy''

Accolades

Recording Information

Cue list

R1P2 Star Wars
R1P3 Imperial Attack Pt. II
R1P4-R2P1 Imperial Attack
R2P2 The Desert
R2P2 The Little People
R2P3N The Little People
R2P3 More Little People
R2P5R More Little People
R2P4 R-2
R2P4R R-2
R3P1 The Princess Appears
R3P1R The Princess Appears
R3P2 Lost R2
R3P2R Lost R2
R3P2N
R3P3 The Sand Speeder
R3P3R The Land of the Sand People
R3P4-R4P1 The Sandman Attacks
R3P4-R4P1R Land of Sand People Pt. II
R4P2 Obi-Wan Kenobi
R4P2A The Force
R4P3 The Princess Reappears
R4P4 A Home Destroyed
R4P4R The Return Home
R5P1 A Hive of Villainy
R5P1R A Hive of Villainy
R5P4-R6P1 Monkey Band
R5P6 The Inner City
R5P6R The Inner City
R6P1 Blasting Away
R6P5N The Destruction of Alderon
R7P1N Is It a Bird?
R7P1 The Hatch Opens
R7P2N The Hatch Opens
R7P2 The Mouse Robot
R8P2N More Rescue
R8P2 The Rescue
R8P2R The Rescue
R8P3 The Water Snake
R8P3R The Water Snake
R8P4 The Walls Converge
R9P1 Ben Creeps Around
R9P2 The Swashbucklers
R9P3-R10P1 Ben's Death
R10P2 The Fighters Attack
R10P3-R11P1 Standing By
R11P2 Approaching the Target
R11P2R The Last Battle Pt. II
R12P1
R12P2 The Throne Room and End Title
R12P2X
The Princess Theme

''*Original cue number/title before revisions''

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 Take	Cue Title	Selected Take	Film Order
1-7	Chasm Crossfire	5, 7	31
8-10	The Death Star	10	23
11-15	Ben Kenobi's Death	13, 15	32
16-20	Main Title	18, 19, 20	1
21-23	The Hologram	22	8

Recorded Takes	Cue Title	Selected Takes	Film Order
56-58	Learn About The Force	58	15
59-63	Burning Homestead	62, 63	16
64-67	Wookiee Prisoner	67	25
68-72	Learn About The Force	72	14

Recorded Takes	Cue Title	Selected Takes	Film Order
83-86	X-Wings Draw Fire	85, 86	35
87-92	Landspeeder Search	92	10
93-94	Tales Of A Jedi Knight	N/A	N/A
95-97	Tie Fighter Attack	95, 97	33
98-105	The Trash Compactor	101, 102	29
106-109	Tales Of A Jedi Knight	109	13
110-114	The Stormtroopers	114	24
115-116	Dianoga	116	28
117-122	Tales Of A Jedi Knight	122	12
123-126	The Moisture Farm	126	7

Recorded Takes	Cue Title	Selected Takes	Film Order
176-180	Use The Force	178, 180	36
181-185	Mos Eisley Spaceport	184, 185	17
186-188	Jawa Sandcrawler	186, 187, 188	5
189-197	The Moisture Farm	194, 197	6
198-202	Binary Sunset	202	9