All tracks from The Last Jedi soundtrack now exist on Disney's YouTube page

Unfortunately I think this is the blandest Star Wars soundtrack, and possibly Williams worst, of them all...

The Canto Bight track is a hoot. Listen for the quote from the song "Brazil." Rian Johnson has said before that he's a huge Terry Gilliam fan.

Also love the finale, which is a really cool suite of themes from the past and present of the series.
Much of the soundtrack is just sort of... there. It works, but doesn't kick me in the earnuts.

I’m not sure if Williams just didn’t feel inspired enough by the film... or that he agreed to do it with the understanding he’d have less time to develop the score (which backs into the other conversation about speeding up the rate of production).

I don't know where you're getting this "rushed production" narrative from. Not only is it untrue, it's a completely irrelevant factor as it relates to the final product. We aren't talking about a 9 month production here - we're talking 2.5-3 years. Ultimately, it doesn't matter - Crystal Skull was 19 years after Last Crusade, did that help Lucas crack a better story? Civil War was 2 years after Winter Soldier, and 1 year after Age of Ultron and is arguably Marvel's best film..

Second, Williams had just as much time to compose this score as he has for any previous Star Wars film. I believe he actually started scoring TLJ earlier than he did any of the other films, which means more time to smooth things over during the editing process. In the film, this score contained no noticeable "harsh" edits or borrowing from other films' tracks, which is something AOTC, ROTS and TFA all suffered from because the score hadn't been updated after the editing process.

As for TLJ's score, I actually felt better about it leaving the theatre than I did TFA's. I have grown to really appreciate TFA's score, but it'll take time before I soak in TLJ's. Give it a chance. It might be better than you originally thought.

Please provide evidence that Williams started scoring TLJ earlier in production than any other Star Wars film. I’d be interested in seeing that. As for the rest, citing a couple of examples isn’t a very robust defence. Going by that logic, each and every incremental reduction in production would produce something better. That is typically not the case. And I certainly don’t think the new Star Wars films, or Marvels output, supports the notion that a constantly in motion production line equates to quality cinema. It certainly equates to more money though. Common sense should tell you that when development is based primarily on the fastest route to market, often the impact is to the development process itself. I also think Civil War is weak, and is not a great example of quality filmmaking (certainly not one I’d cite)... but that’s just my opinion.

Personally speaking, I’m sure the score won’t grow on me to the extent that I’d reverse my opinion, but it’s possible. I’ve listened to enough music, and enough new SW scores, to distinguish between the ones I believe have more value/merit. I’ve played the score for TLJ half a dozen times and I think it’s by far the weakest and most pedestrian SW OST. And I don’t believe this view is particular to me. As much as I love Williams, and as much as it pains me to say it, it really is one of his weakest.

Well, he certainly didn't start scoring it any later than the original movie in 1977:

"John 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."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_(soundtrack)

https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2017/02/ ... s-roundup/

February 2017

http://comicbook.com/starwars/2017/05/2 ... ams-score/

May 2017

I think that's enough time to score a movie.

Irrespective of the top of my head big budget blockbuster examples I gave, I still believe your thesis that less time to produce a movie = lower quality of movie is baseless. Most movies that are released don't have the benefit of 1.5 years of production, let alone the extra year or so that big budget films are afforded. I think you're grasping for excuses as to why the film's quality didn't measure up to your expectation. Your opinion is your opinion though.

Back to the score, we'll agree to disagree. AOTC is Williams' SW low point for me, irrespective of "Across the Stars" being a solid theme. That's followed closely by ROTS, which is totally confused musically. Neither of those films know how to use new or existing Star Wars motifs and place them in the movie properly.

Anyway, at this point in his life I'm just happy John Williams is making new music.

Neither of those links point to Williams having more time to develop the score for TFA than the other films, unless I’ve missed something. Also, I think you’re conflating the duration of a task (in this example developing and executing a score) with the additional effort involved as a consequence of increased frequency. The duration of that task may be similar, but the time in between is shortened. It’s the frequency that constrains development, in this situation, even though duration may be relative.

Again, there’s not much I can say if you believe the scores for ROTS and AOTC to be inferior to TLJ. From a musical/arrangement perspective, ROTS and AOTC are far more sophisticated IMO (everything from notation to orchestration), they rely much less on using older themes and motifs i.e there’s more original material, and are more dense (certainly ROTS) in terms of ideas and musical vocabulary. Indeed, ROTS is semi-operatic score and and very Wagnerian. AOTC, which I’d agree isn’t the best, still contains Across the Stars (one of the most played SW pieces), Zam the Assassin, Love Pledge/The Arena (large parts of which were used to good effect in ROTS for the Jedi purge), the Kamino and Count Dooku themes which I’d argue are much better pieces of music/cues than anything in TLJ. Indeed, TLJ is the first time I’ve ever come out of a Star Wars film not being able to hum at least one new motif. For me it’s on par with his score for Jurrasic Park: The Lost World. Which again, was quite an unsophisticated piece.

Anyway, I’m not here to bash your likes and dislikes, I’m glad you think it’s one of the better ones, I’m just giving my musical opinion of it... and yes, I’m glad Williams is still able to contribute. I’d be interested to know if you think the score for TLJ is inferior/superior to TFA.