In hindsight, Star Wars was a hugely popular and successful movie series. Everything about it went skyrocketing in popularity since the first Star Wars movie was released in 1977. Although the original trilogy is very dated viewing today, the fact remains that these films are great treasures of Western culture. This was made more alive by composer John William’s musical scores for these films. This album release is the last in the original film series that John Williams did a score for. Let’s take a listen to this album, and hear how it sounds today.

Main Title (The Story Continues) launches straight back into the original theme music on the title credits of the movie. This sounds majestic and glorious, and is instantly listenable and recognisable to this very day. Not bad for a piece of music that is many decades old by this point, it does sound pretty and dramatic. It eventually enters into the music of the opening scene of the film, and it maintains its moodiness and energy throughout. A good listen, even if not thinking too hard about the original film, it does work wonders here. A very good listening experience, there is darkness and tension throughout the second half of this instrumental piece. John Williams sure could accurately show the world how Star Wars could sound, and does a marvellous job here. A great and awesomely dark instrumental piece of music that fits the film perfectly, it finishes off with some intense melodies of the dark side of the force. Mint.

Into The Trap launches into a good midtempo piece with horns galore. This sounds really quite interesting and adds some flavour and class to the overall listening experience. These pieces of music are very timeless indeed, and the music present sounds interesting, diverse and consistent. With a knack for the right melodies, John Williams sure makes Star Wars come alive. Towards the end of this piece, it builds up with a frenetic nature and sound. A really great effort to hear, and this builds up to a noisy conclusion, before finishing nicely. Great.

Luke and Leia is the music to the cutscene early on in the movie. This sounds very pretty, mellow and lovely listening here. This is another stunning piece of orchestral music by John Williams. A really awesome and decent listen if you like film soundtracks. All in all, this does sound nice and mellow, and reflects the relationship between the two main characters in this film. When it does build up near the middle, it does so subtly and majestically. The second half of this piece sounds a bit more tragic, keeping in line with the plot of the film. Again, this works well, even if you aren’t hugely into Star Wars per se. This eventually builds up to a noisy crescendo towards the end of this piece, and we have a nice conclusion to hear. Excellent music to enjoy from this film, it fades out softly.

Parade Of The Ewoks sounds very quirky from the start. It perfectly illustrates the section of the film where the Rebel forces meet these interesting creatures. An oddity in the original Star Wars setting, this does work very all the same. Some fast paced violins and string sections are present here, adding to the overall ambience of this section of the movie and music. This is a good example of John Williams doing something musically that is slightly different. Still, this does work well. A nice listen in the back catalogue of the music here. Great to listen to throughout. Interesting and suspenseful listening. It ends abruptly.

Han Solo Returns (At The Court Of Jabba The Hutt) begins with dark, eerie and foreboding melodies that match the film perfectly for this particular section. This tune is very dark and unsettling indeed, pointing to the power of music here. This dark orchestration is great for Star Wars fans out there, and it sounds very chaotic indeed. A great addition to the film soundtrack, John Williams really makes the Star Wars films come alive. The second half has some brighter sounds to it, before launching into a rather quirky sounding song area. There are some muted horns here, too, which definitely sound different, and eventually solo on their own. A good, interesting yet weird piece of music, this eventually wraps up with some subtle instrumentation, before concluding. Excellent.

Lapti Nek (Jabba’s Palace Band) begins with a bang of sorts, launching quickly into a weird, Michael Jackson sounding tune that is weird and somewhat catchy. It is the sort of music that Disco aliens on LSD would enjoy. It is very, very weird sounding as a result. A good take on popular music trends of the time, this is rather odd all the same. A good listen, but definitely not great, and very unusual to hear as well. Strange music indeed, it is less than three minutes long, however.

The Forest Battle begins with some more sensible and normal (for Star Wars) sounds of orchestration galore. This is, again, fairly dark and foreboding sounding. The music illuminates the story of the Star Wars films perfectly, and just sounds really interesting and quite monumental as well. An intense listening experience, John Williams makes these songs come very much alive to this very day. The second half has some more racing melodies and sounds that still sound awesome at this moment. Another brilliant addition to the Star Wars back catalogue of music, it certainly is an interesting listening experience to hear. At the end, the whole thing gets loud and chaotic in various ways, before concluding. An excellent listen.

Rebel Briefing begins with some lovely string sections that exude emotion very well. This does sound very decent for what it is, although this is very much neo-classical music for a film score. Still, it sounds great. Some reoccurring melodies from earlier in the original Star Wars trilogy are here, which add some flavour and nostalgia to this listen. Nonetheless, this is another good listen, and it works well at what it is. It builds up with intense orchestration towards the end, and finishes quite nicely and gently. Great.

The Emperor is dark and bleak sounding from the start, as it relates to one of the villains of the movie series. This does sound very dark and discordant as a result, which it is supposed to be. The instrumentation present is varying and deep. Soon enough, some horns enter this piece and this tune gets really rather dark and in some ways so, even scary to hear. A genuinely great listening experience, especially if you have seen the movies before. If you have never watched the original Star Wars movies, you really should do so. Nonetheless, this is a dark, freaky and animated listen that changes towards the end with some strings and other melodies to boot. Scary, all right.

The Return Of The Jedi begins with some partial horn playing in the right channel and some suspenseful strings in the left channel. Soon enough, this piece launches into a glorious tune that is typical of John Williams to deliver. This continues along nicely, and best represents the light side of the force here. In any case, this is a great listening experience that sounds very decent as a suspenseful and decent movie based instrumental. The multiple sections and layers of instrumentation do make this a winner. All in all, this is a great fit for the struggles of those Rebel forces in the Star Wars films. It still sounds as great today as it did back in 1983, which says quite a lot. In any case, this music is perfect for the Star Wars franchise. It gets intensely emotional towards the end, and makes some great melodicism for people to hear. A bit long just on its own, but perfect for the Star Wars films. It ends with some sustained notes after five minutes in length.

Ewok Celebration and Finale begins with some Ewok sounds and chanting, along with some interesting percussion. This is pretty weird, and it is totally unnecessary on this release to have here. Regardless, it is okay, just not really phenomenally great here. In any case, it’s not exactly something you regularly want to hear. Very, very weird. Eventually some strings build up, and the Star Wars theme eventually enters. This is played as the credits roll on at the end of the film. This sounds happy, glorious and decent as per usual. A nice way to finish off the original Star Wars trilogy, this does sound very deep and decent musically. A really great listening experience, this sounds very different after a while with an alternate musical section that differs from your usual Star Wars film finish. Both the films and music are legendary, and this is proof of that. There are many musical progressions throughout, which are different and interesting to hear, although it is mostly string section dominated. A very decent listen, supercharged with emotional energy, the melodies here are unforgettably awesome. A great and wonderful musical way to end the original Star Wars trilogy, this is very good for what it is. Obviously George Lucas had the right set of brains to pick out John Williams to compose music for the Star Wars trilogies, and nobody else could have made such wonderful music for that. This tune wraps up with a positive sounding instrumental, eventually concluding in a grand way. Brilliant.

This is a good listening experience that makes sense to hear if you are a huge Star Wars fan, or even just a casual listener who needs a hit of nostalgia. The music for the Star Wars films is highly original, and very unforgettable to hear. That itself speaks volumes of the music alone. Should you listen to this album? Yes, if you are a real Star Wars nerd, but even not so, you can enjoy this very much anyway if you aren’t heavily obsessed with the franchise. Interestingly, some of the songs were replaced on later issues of this album by both George Lucas and John Williams. This album is best left alone though, which is where it shines brightest.

A great music score for a decent film.

7/10