Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

There was also a plot moment that is given away in the soundtrack if (like me) you happen to buy the CD before seeing the movie: the death of Qui-Gon. I sort of expected it, anyway, because we all know that Obi-wan Kenobi was Anakin's trainer, not Qui-Gon. Sorry if I blew a story moment for some people. That's just something I noticed.

When I saw the movie (read my review for my "take" on that), I was only slightly surprised that the film was a drag. This soundtrack was too tame and too soft for a Star Wars soundtrack, and Phantom Menace is too slow to be a Star Wars film. I'm listening to the CD as I write this, to make sure I'm giving the soundtrack a fair shake. Track 12 is pretty nimble, but also slows down rather quickly. There were no pieces here that were particularly memorable, except for "Duel of the Fates," nothing to stick in the skull like "Darth Vader's Theme" or the music heard during the chase through the asteroids in Empire Strikes Back.

The only other bit of color in the soundtrack was "Augie's Great Municipal Band," which mixes calypso police whistles with a digeree-doo (sp?) and children's voices singing glossolalia in the background. Intriguing, and typical of Williams' great efforts at conjuring up interesting "alien" music using unusual instruments.

And when you get right down to it, I still missed hearing the Star Wars key signature, which only appears only once, during track 11, around 2:33.


George Luca$- Evil Bad Man   December 15, 2003
Christopher Nesi (NJ- USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

The release of this soundtrack is proof positive that luca$ has been relegated to a plaid-wearing toy salesman. Released 2 months before the highly-anticipated movie's release, i went to my local music store to buy it. I was a big fan of star wars at the time, and had been devotedly avoiding any press or previews from episode 1, wishing to preserve a certain ignorance for episode 1. After plopping down the $20 on the soundtrack- i read the track listing on the way to my car. Did anyone else notice how almost every track name is a total spoiler? You don't release a soundtrack 2 months before possibly the most anticipated movie of all time and ruin the 'plot' with the Soundtrack. There ISNT a worse business move that could possibly exist. That utter act of disrespect to george luca$' fans is exactly the reason every man woman and child in america should boycott that wanna be rancher. Thanks George lucas for ruining star wars. and for being so money hungry and inconsiderate that you ruined it for a once-true-fan before the lousy movie even came out.


Vintage John Williams   November 17, 2003
Matthew Edmundson (Winter Haven, Florida United States)
I bet John Williams loves doing Star Wars music. Here is a man who is one of the greatest composers alive. He's got the Oscars and the nominations to prove he's no fluke. Not to mention the record sales. When Williams is asked to do a Star Wars film the music is already basicly in place.

The music of Star Wars is fantastic. This soundtrack contains most of your favorite songs from the early films and has a couple of new ones that I think Williams and Star Wars fans will enjoy.

"Duel of Fates" is the best track on the soundtrack. Williams has really outdone himself with this song. I love the chorus in the background. They add a different demension to the song. The trumpets are absolutely fantastic. I play the trumpet and this is a trumpet players dream. The melodoy to the song is great and I have to give props to the London Symphony Orchestra.

This is a good album. I don't think it's as good as the early films or episode II, but I'm glad I own it. Fans of Star Wars will enjoy it, so will fans of John Williams. People who like classical music will also get a kick out of this one. You'll like it. Trust me.


Good for starters, but Ultimate Edition is better   September 21, 2003
Alex Diaz-Granados (Miami, FL United States)
This soundtrack album, first released in May of 1999 a few weeks before the release of Episode I, can best be called an appetizer for what followed. Not just to the film itself, mind you, but also to Sony's subsequent 2000 2-CD Ultimate Edition soundtrack.

While this double-dipping marketing technique is not without precedent, it does highlight this album's weaknesses, even though these, too, are not without precedent in Star Wars soundtracks' history.

Although the quality of the music is, as always, good and the London Symphony Orchestra's performance is brilliant, I found the music track names to be inaccurate and misleading. For instance, Arrival at Naboo, the music that follows the familiar Star Wars main title on Track 1 is NOT from that sequence at the start of the film. Rather, that cue is heard when Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Queen Amidala, and Anakin Skywalker arrive at Coruscant. Call me nit-picky, but I find such mislabeling to be rather annoying.

The one virtue that saves this somewhat disappointing "soundtrack" is the rendition of the two central new themes introduced in The Phantom Menace: Duel of the Fates and Anakin's Theme. It also serves as a good collector's item, but if you want the best recording from The Phantom Menace, do yourself a favor...save a few bucks and spend them on the more pricey (but more complete) Ultimate Edition.


At least the music's good   November 13, 2002
Steven Reynolds (Sydney, Australia)
The music is the best thing about the "Star Wars" prequels because John Williams succeeds where George Lucas has failed abysmally. Rather than jettisoning his old work in some obsessive pursuit of innovation, Williams moves forward while reworking key elements of the original scores to create the thematic connections Lucas's plodding writing cannot possibly secure. He doesn't just duplicate his work from the original trilogy - he transposes aspects of it into an entirely new register, both musically and emotionally. "Anakin's Theme" adapts the old Imperial March into a new key, in a neat foreshadowing of Anakin's fate. While "Duel of the Fates" is not only a chilling backdrop to a lightsaber battle; its choral references to 'Carmina Burana' and other German masterworks help activate latent fears about the evils of our own time. Williams really knows what he's doing here - he seems to be the only member of the prequel crew who does. The result is music which is beautiful, intelligent and stunningly effective. If only he wrote screenplays, too...