| Star Wars (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
| Type: | soundtrack |
| Artist: | John Williams |
| Cover: | StarWarsOST.jpg |
| Caption: | Cover of the original 1977 release |
| Released: | June 1977 |
| Recorded: | March 5–16, 1977 |
| Studio: | Anvil Studios, Denham |
| Genre: | Classical |
| Length: | 74:58 |
| Label: | 20th Century |
| Prev Title: | Black Sunday |
| Prev Year: | 1977 |
| Next Title: | Close Encounters of the Third Kind |
| Next Year: | 1977 |
Star Wars (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 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;[1] 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 (for the "Main Title"). 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.[2]
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.
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.[3] 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.[4]
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.
| Title | U.S. release date | Label | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Wars–Original Soundtrack | June 1977 | 20th Century | Double-LP |
| 1986 | Polydor | CD | |
| Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology | 1993 | Arista | |
| Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope Special Edition: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | 1997 | RCA Victor | Double CD |
| Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | 2004 | Sony Classical | |
| The Music of Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition[5] | November 6, 2007 | CD | |
| Star Wars: The Ultimate Soundtrack Collection[6] | January 8, 2016 | CD, LP, digital | |
| Star Wars: A New Hope–40th Anniversary Box Set | December 1, 2017 | Walt Disney | Remastered 3-LP |
| Star Wars: A New Hope (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | May 4, 2018 | Remastered CD, digital |
First release on CD by Polydor Records in 1986. It is identical in content and packaging to the LP release.
Disc one
Disc two
| Star Wars Trilogy – The Original Soundtrack Anthology: "Star Wars" | |
| Type: | Film |
| Artist: | John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra |
| Released: | 1993 |
| Genre: | Classical |
| Label: | Arista |
| Producer: | Nick Redman |
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.
The 1997 and 2004 releases include the complete film score, including expanded and unreleased tracks.
| Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
| Type: | Film |
| Artist: | John Williams |
| Released: | 2004 |
| Recorded: | 1977 |
| Length: | 1:45:09 |
| Label: | Sony Classical |
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.[7]
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.[8] On these reissues, the final track ("The Throne Room and End Title") is presented at the correct speed and pitch, having been sped up slightly on the original LP, CD, and 2016 Sony releases.
Tracks of the soundtrack appear on various Best of Compilations and rerecordings by John Williams.
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.
| 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 |
| 24-27 | Shootout In The Cell Bay | 26, 27 | 27 | |
| 28-40 | Princess Leia's Theme | 33, 40 | N/A | |
| 41-50 | Imperial Attack (Part 1) | 44, 50 | 2 | |
| 51-53 | The Tractor Beam | 53 | 30 | |
| 54-55 | Binary Sunset (Alternate) | N/A | N/A |
| 56-58 | Learn About The Force (Part 2) | 58 | 15 | |
| 59-63 | Burning Homestead | 62, 63 | 16 | |
| 64-67 | Wookiee Prisoner | 67 | 25 | |
| 68-72 | Learn About The Force (Part 1) | 72 | 14 |
| 73-80 | Cantina Band | 76 | 18 | |
| 81-82 | Cantina Band #2 | 81 | 19 |
| 83-86 | X-Wings Draw Fire | 85, 86 | 35 | |
| 87-92 | Landspeeder Search | 92 | 10 | |
| 93-94 | Tales Of A Jedi Knight (Part 2) | 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 (Part 2) | 109 | 13 | |
| 110-114 | The Stormtroopers | 114 | 24 | |
| 115-116 | Dianoga | 116 | 28 | |
| 117-122 | Tales Of A Jedi Knight (Part 1) | 122 | 12 | |
| 123-126 | The Moisture Farm (Part 2) | 126 | 7 |
| 127-133 | The Throne Room | 132, 133 | 37 | |
| 134-143 | End Title | 136, 137, 142, 143 | 38 | |
| 144-149 | Dune Sea Of Tatooine | 149 | 4 | |
| 150-154 | Detention Block Ambush | 153, 154 | 26 | |
| 155-162 | Launch From The Fourth Moon | 162 | 34 | |
| 163-167 | Imperial Attack (Part 2) | 165, 167 | 3 | |
| 168-172 | Destruction Of Alderaan | 172 | 22 | |
| 173-175 | The Millennium Falcon | 175 | 20 |
| 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 (Part 1) | 194, 197 | 6 | |
| 198-202 | Binary Sunset (Revised) | 202 | 9 |
| 203-209 | Imperial Cruiser Pursuit | 205, 206, 209 | 21 | |
| 210-214 | Attack Of The Sand People | 213, 214 | 11 | |
| 215-219 | End Title (Crossover) | 219 | 38 |