Soundtrack Review: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
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This is a review of the motion picture score for Star Wars: The Clone Wars by Kevin Kiner.
“If you must have it in your collection because it’s Star Wars, then fine, but if you love the music of Star Wars, then go listen to John Williams excellent scores instead”
I grew up with the Star Wars movies and although I prefer Star Trek, I’ve always been excited when a new Star Wars movie comes along. I wasn’t so excited when this movie was announced, but I am of course curious. First of all, it’s not directed by Steven Spielberg and it’s not live action and the score is not composed by John Williams. That’s a lot of ands but as a soundtrack geek I listen to practically everything that comes my way. The composer this time is Kevin Kiner, which is a pretty unknown composer to most, and perhaps a surprising choice for this movie.
Track List
- A Galaxy Divided (Album Version)
- Admiral Yularen
- Battle Of Christophsis
- Meet Ahsoka
- Obi-Wan To The Rescue
- Sneaking Under The Shield
- Jabba’s Palace
- Anakin Vs. Dooku
- Landing On Teth
- Destroying The Shield
- B’omarr Monastery
- Battle Strategy (Album Version)
- The Shield
- Battle Of Teth
- Jedi Don’t Run!
- Obi-Wan’s Negotiation
- The Jedi Council
- Ahsoka (Album Version)
- Jabba’s Chamber Dance
- Ziro Surrounded
- Scaling The Cliff
- Ziro’s Nightclub Band
- Seedy City Swing
- Escape From The Monastery
- Infiltrating Ziro’s Lair
- Courtyard Fight
- Dunes Of Tatooine
- Rough Landing
- Padm‚ Imprisoned
- Dooku Speaks With Jabba
- Fight To The End
- End Credits
Lots Of Music
There’s a lot of music in this album which is a good thing. The music has always been a big part of Star Wars to me and this is no exception. You get about 1 hour and 7 minutes of new Star Wars music, but is it any good? It starts off pretty good with an interesting track called “A Galaxy Divided” which turns out to be the best track on the album even though it’s only 1 minute and 13 seconds short. The End Title is good too. You can hear a little of the famous Star Wars the main title in there, but why isn’t the main title here in its entirety? In all the Star Wars movies, it’s a very important theme which just “needs” to be there in my opinion. It’s like having Indiana Jones without the Raiders March.
I Miss John Williams
The music isn’t bad by all means, but to me it’s not Star Wars. For example you have a track called “Obi-Wan To The Rescue” which sounds more like music from the videogame Quake. Speaking of videogames, I feel that this is more of a videogame score than a motion picture score. It’s too light and I’m sad to say, isn’t Star Wars the way I know it. My expectations weren’t high with Kevin Kiner as composer and I wasn’t disappointed. If you must have it in your collection because it’s Star Wars, then fine, but if you love the music of Star Wars, then go listen to John Williams excellent scores instead. Listen to Star Wars: The Clone Wars by Kevin Kiner below:
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Comments
Hmm, interesting. Haven’t heard that one yet. Then again I haven’t heard any Star Wars game scores. Time to brush up the old collection. Thanks for the tip!
[Reply]
Hi Jorn, you know that Spielberg never directed any Star Wars movies ;-).
“The Clone Wars” is not a new Star Wars movie but the pilot of the new series that found its way to the big screen.
Tobiass last blog post..Mein FFF-Programm für Hamburg
[Reply]
Hi Tobias. I know that, but even pilot movies, TV movies, TV series, direct-to-dvd movies and regular movies has to go under the scrutiny of Soundtrackgeek 
[Reply]
I’ve been listening to a promo score of The Force Unleashed. Mark Griskey’s score for TFU is the score that should have been released on cd. I’d compare it to the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack that was released for its respective game. They both have their own unique themes that intertwine with John Williams music quite nicely. I can only hope Lucasarts releases the full cd for download sometime in the future.
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