Star Wars / Return Of The Jedi = スター・ウォーズ / ジェダイの帰還 - Soundtrack LP

Walt Disney Records (2021, Reissue)

The final of the three Japanese reissues of the original Star Wars soundtracks is Return of the Jedi.  That makes sense, since it was the third movie.  There's not a ton to say about this one that I haven't said about the other two as far as sound quality goes.  It sounds great, best I've heard - but it's not like I've heard many versions of this.

What I will say is that the difference between the full score versions of the soundtracks and these reissues of the 80s versions is most noticeable with Return of the Jedi.  It's only a single LP so it contains the least amount of actual music of the three.  But, I will also say that in two very specific ways, it's actually better.  The full score CDs are scores of the special edition versions of the movies that came out in the 90s.  It's really not noticeable at all for Star Wars or Empire.  But for Jedi, it cuts two key things; The original versions of "Lapti Nek" from Jabba's palace and the Ewok's "Yub Nub" from the end of the movie. 

On this version of the soundtrack, both of those original songs are here for your listening pleasure.  The fact that they were removed from the special editions is a travesty, but alas, this many years later it's hard to care that much anymore.  Especially since I have bootleg versions of the original cuts anyway.  This is however, the one instance were I wouldn't call for a straight up vinyl issue of the full score CD.  Grab what they need from there, but keep the Ewoks and Sy Snoodles intact please.

Star Wars / The Empire Strikes Back = スター・ウォーズ / 帝国の逆襲 - Soundtrack 2xLP

Walt Disney Records (2021, Reissue)

Last week we had Star Wars, this week we have the Japanese reissue of the Empire Strikes Back soundtrack.  A lot of what I have to say about this record echos things that I wrote last week.  I still don't understand why these soundtracks are being reissued as is.  The versions where the entire score is played in order are so much better and it seems crazy to me that there's no vinyl version of any of them.

As far as the three soundtracks go, I find Empire to be the least distracting when it comes to out of order songs.  The vinyl sounds great, but like I've said, I'm no audiophile so I have no idea if it's appreciably better than any other version.

Once again, the main draw for me is the artwork, which is fantastic.  I think it's the best of the three Japanese reissues and it is far, far superior to the original US artwork, which was just the picture of Vader's helmet from the advanced poster artwork.  Again, happy to have a nice version of this on vinyl, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that just having it as something to collect drove the acquisition more than a desire to listen to it repeatedly.  Plus, I got it for Christmas, which is even better.

Star Wars = スター・ウォーズ / 新たなる希望 - Soundtrack 2xLP

Walt Disney Records (2021, Reissue)

Keeping with soundtracks for a few more Fridays, today let's start talking about the somewhat recently released reissues of the Star Wars soundtracks in Japan.  First up is Star Wars, and no, I'm not going to call it anything but Star Wars. I don't think it's super necessary to talk about the specifics of John Williams score.  Chances are the melody from one of his compositions is already playing in your head while you read this.  So I'm going to focus more on the records themselves.  

This is a double LP set with the same track list and order from the original soundtrack release back in the 70s.  That's all well and good, but at this point in my life, I'm much more used to listening to the special edition soundtracks that came out in the late 90s on CD.  Those have the score in actual film order, where these soundtracks just sort of have random pieces playing at random times.  I never understood why it was originally released that way back then, and it makes even less sense to me that we can't get a proper vinyl release of that version now. The sound quality is very nice.  There's a lot of historical talk about how Japanese versions of records often sound better.  I don't know that I can really hear a discernible difference, but I'm just a dumb guy and I don't have a particularly well trained ear.  But, this does sound great.  

For me, the major draw is the artwork and obi strip.  There's something about the way those visuals just make me feel and I love the way they look.  Imported, these records are kind of overpriced.  I've seen them sell from fifty to a hundred dollars a pop.  Luckily, I got mine for Christmas.  Very happy to have them, but I would have had a difficult time pulling the trigger and buying them myself.