Soundtrack Review: Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Posted by Jon Blough

August 16, 2009

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This is a review of the motion picture score Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back by John Williams.

“The darkest, densest, and most rewarding musical segment of the trilogy.”

You’ll see footage of LeBron getting dunked on before you hear this nugget in the mainstream media, but I’m going to tell you anyways: A New Hope (SW4) is not the greatest score ever because it isn’t even the best Star Wars score (nor John Williams’ best score). The champion is the darker and richer score for The Empire Strikes Back. As with my SW4 review, it is impossible to briefly summarize the entire score, thus I’ll stick to just a few areas and avoid excessive technicalities. And yes, as I said before, I know that’s what I should be doing anyways.

New Themes

First, the new themes are all superb, meshing well with the previous motifs yet all standing on their own strong ground. Standing front and center is the simple but robustly effective Imperial March. It hits the ground running only two minutes into the score and never lets up, incurring a varied personality both drivingly, epically grand (“The Imperial Probe/Aboard the Executor, “The Asteroid Field”) and more sinisterly applied to the underscore (“Deal With The Dark Lord”). The striking brass and bed of frenetically swirling strings of its use in “The Clash of Lightsabers” make perhaps the most mammoth, menacing highlight. Such diverse presentation prevents it from ever outstaying its welcome. Also classic is the love theme for Han and Leia, certainly the composer’s finest love theme. It retains a Golden Age sweep throughout and gives the end credits a superb emotional heft. An additional joy is the major theme for Yoda, a light, whimsical melody that proves enchanting throughout, though its triumphant use in “Yoda and the Force” and action variants in the “Carbon Freeze/Darth Vader’s Trap/Departure of Boba Fett” are additional highlights. Its bridge is a more bouncy motif that enhances the quirky nature of the character, especially with its jubilant use in the end credits as well as working in tandem with the other Yoda theme in “Luke’s Nocturnal Visitor”. Another quirky motif for the droids is a bit more comedic and downbeat, especially to open “Arrival on Dagobah”, while Lando’s motif makes for quite the upbeat, regal procession.

No Rehash

The second area of praise is Williams’ application of previous themes. Unlike most sequel scores of today, nothing EVER feels like rehash (e.g. the title theme feeling a bit defeated on woodwinds in “The Wampa’s Lair”), thus always remaining tremendously engaging and exciting even after the dozens of listens I’ve given the album. “Main Title/The Ice Planet Hoth” is a stunning master class of a thematic tapestry, weaving the imperial march, the new love theme, and the droid motif in with the title theme and Leia’s theme for 8 minutes of scoring brilliance. As you’d expect, I could write a whole review on this, and hopefully mentioning two cues will suffice.

The third area of praise is the action, which transcends beyond its strong base from the last score to an addictive plane few scores achieve with such consistency. The clear favorite is the nearly 15-minute goliath-sized “The Battle of Hoth” that uses pounding piano hits and an aggressive brass motif to intelligently convey the giant steps of the AT-ATs. For such a blunt, epic, and occasionally harsh lengthy action cue it remains tremendously engaging because it organizes it ruckus in a very cohesive and thematic fashion, rather than just creating action music for the sake of needing adrenaline like so many lesser action scores do. The final interplay of the love theme and the Imperial March builds to a fantastically exciting close. Also worth highlighting here are the soaring “The Asteroid Field” and the fantastic brass work on the love theme in “The Clash of Lightsabers”
Conclusion

Lastly, it retains three qualities of its predecessor that keep it timeless. First, the pristine recording quality remains, bringing out the at times expansive orchestrations. Second, the score also excels absent its themes, like the soaring final 2 minutes of the third cue and the otherworldly effect from “City in the Clouds.” Third, the score builds up momentum and purpose as it reaches its climax, with the final four cues (clocking in at over 30 minutes!) closing better than any other score I’ve heard. They combine claustrophobic suspense, vibrant action (the above highlight of “The Clash of Lightsabers” leads into a rhythmic pulse-raiser with the driving strings of “Rescue From Cloud City”), and a somewhat defeated emotional tilt (the sense of loss in the Force theme in that previous cue is laudable) for the most engaging section of any album…EVER. Featuring the best end credits section of any Star Wars score feels like extra candy at that point. While A New Hope receives the most mainstream accolades, it is The Empire Strikes Back that proves the densest and most rewarding musical segment of the trilogy.

Album Situation: 1997 and 2004 albums are virtually identical. Only an idiot would seek out the incomplete previous incarnations.

2-Disc Album (124:21)
Disc One
1. 20th Century Fox Fanfare (0:21)
2. Main Title/Ice Planet Hoth (8:08)
3. The Wampa’s Lair/Vision of Obi-Wan/Snowspeeders Take Flight (8:48)
4. The Imperial Probe/Aboard the Executor (4:24)
5. The Battle of Hoth (14:48)
6. The Asteroid Field (4:15)
7. Arrival on Dagobah (4:52)
8. Luke’s Nocturnal Visitor (2:35)
9. Han Solo and the Princess (3:26)
10. Jedi Master Revealed/Mynock Cave (5:44)
11. The Training of a Jedi knight/The Magic Tree (5:15)

Disc Two
1. Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme) (3:02)
2. Yoda’s Theme (3:29)
3. Attacking a Star Destroyer (3:04)
4. Yoda and the Force (4:02)
5. Imperial Starfleet Deployed/City in the Clouds (6:03)
6. Lando’s Palace (3:53)
7. Betrayal at Bespin (3:46)
8. Deal with the Dark Lord (2:36)
9. Carbon Freeze/Darth Vader’s Trap/Departure of Boba Fett (11:50)
10. The Clash of Lightsabers (4:17)
11. Rescue from Cloud City/Hyperspace (9:08)
12. The Rebel Fleet/End Title (6:26)

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