'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' Gets A Deluxe Version Soundtrack
Star Wars music fans have a new way to listen to the music of 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. On February 14th, 2022, Mondo released a four-LP expanded edition soundtrack, scored by Academy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino. Temporarily taking over the Star Wars composer helm from John Williams for the spin-off film, Giacchino has many iconic pieces in his repertoire, including Up, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, War for the Planet of the Apes, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the upcoming movies The Batman, Jurassic World: Dominion, and Thor: Love and Thunder.
“Rogue One was an almost five-week whirlwind of writing, recording, and mixing, but I couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about the adventure and will always look back on those days with fond memories,” the composer commented on his experience of working on the film. “As with all the film scores I compose, my goal was to serve the story and the emotions of the film, but I think it was my 10-year-old brain who had the most fun composing for this next and exciting set of Star Wars characters and the worlds they inhabit.”
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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, directed by Gareth Edwards, was the first of two Star Wars spin-offs (so far) and has become a fan favorite. Finally, there was a deliberate and gritty approach to a piece of Star Wars lore fans have wondered about for a long long time: how the rebels secured the knowledge of the flaw in the Death Star’s design that allowed Luke Skywalker to destroy it so easily (Easy? You call that easy?) Tense and emotional, Rogue One brought the war in Star Wars. Giacchino’s unique score, which combines the magic of John Williams’ soundtrack for the original trilogy with flourishes that are identifiably pure Giacchino, contributed to the excitement of watching Rogue One.
The soundtrack’s release celebrated the film’s recent fifth anniversary in December 2021. The set includes all-new original artwork by John Powell and new liner notes written by Giacchino, with the score pressed on 180-gram black vinyl. The collection also has over an hour of unreleased music from the film and recording sessions, a total of 57 tracks.
“It’s no secret that we at Mondo love working with composer Michael Giacchino, and we are thrilled to be releasing a 4 LP set for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with our friends at Walt Disney Records,” said Spencer Hickman, Mondo Music Creative Director. “A firm fan-favorite bridging the gap between old and new Star Wars, Michael’s score is phenomenal, featuring nods to John William’s classic Star Wars scores whilst firmly being its own thing.”
The Rogue One soundtrack has a distinct sound compared to the sweeping, adventurous, and romantic sounds of John Williams. In contrast, by its nature, Rogue One is full of tension and gravitas, which is felt throughout its score. From its opening punctuation in “He’s Here For Us” to the emotional strings in “Your Father Would Be Proud,” Giacchino deftly hits all the right notes. And there is no better example of Dies Irae than in “The Master Switch.” On the other hand, there certainly is no cantina song or “Lapti Nek” in this soundtrack. Everything is quite heavy.
The expanded Rogue One soundtrack is also available digitally on all major digital music platforms like Apple Music and Spotify. Rogue One was directed by Gareth Edwards and starred Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, and Jiang Wen. Luna will reprise the role of Cassian Andor for the upcoming Disney+ series Andor, which is scheduled to premiere later this year.
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