Of Empires, Returns, and Shadows: Music and Reading in my Life

Saying I like the soundtrack to The Empire Strikes Back is an understatement. I used to listen to it when I was younger while I would read, preferring to read with some form of music in my ears than silence. Doing homework? It was the only thing that helped me focus long enough to finish my assignments, because I knew it so well that it was no longer a distraction. When I received the two-disc collector's edition that had the ENTIRE FILM SCORE which replaced my measly single-disc, 12-track edition (which I loved, don't get me wrong), I was ecstatic. Eyes closed, hours would fly by as I noted specific themes. The AT-AT battle, the asteroid field, the double-bassoon of Boba Fett... all of it was familiar to me. I couldn't fall asleep listening to it, though. I'd always stay awake until the final chords of the credits ended.



For whatever reason, I grew apart from it. Started listening to other things, different soundtracks, random things, whatever. But I had some work to do the other night and gave it a spin for old-times sake. I'd just wanted to hear the part before the credits, but decided to spin all of it for old-times' sake.


Bliss. An excellent collection of music. It complemented the films so well, I know exactly what is happening at a particular point in the songs. Hell, it might be a stretch, but I could probably quote the dialogue to match up with the music. That's how much I listened to the score and watched the movie. All the feelings came back, and though I hated the work I was doing, I was still in a good mood. I even finished my work quickly just to sit in silence and listen to the rest of it. I noticed a few tracks out of place and fixed them so it would be perfect as it went through. I was not about to have scenes missing in my score.


Today, I decided to spin Return of the Jedi as well, as I read. While not as good as Empire, it has its moments. Familiar themes are there, and the sense of darkness is conveyed even more throughout (though I did skip that bullshit rock song that Lucas added to Jabba's palace. What the fuck, dude). As it wrapped up, I wrinkled my brow in confusion. The ending celebration song was different, and has been for years, but I realized it might be better than the old song. So what the Hell, man? You tone down ewoks partying and add a god-damn abomination of a song to the beginning? That doesn't even begin to average out. Still, all-in-all, a decent album.


Finally, on a whim, I decided to spin "Shadows of the Empire." Not many books get albums written for them. I recognize tracks from this from the N64 game, which I played over and over, because I didn't have Mario 64 for some reason. I only had this one. It's not a bad album, with some interesting parts and recognizable themes, but it just feels... off. Like the music for the Star Wars prequels. It just doesn't feel as good. Still Star Wars? Probably. But its like a warped mirror-image of them. Like a copy made by a dark force that doesn't understand humanity. But that's the prequels. Shadows is just a pale imitation.


Ah, Star Wars. Can I admit that they were my first foray into Science-Fiction? Hell, reading as a whole? I was a voracious reader at a young age, reading whatever I could get my grimy little hands on. Finding Dracula at a book fair at an irresponsibly young age was, and still is, one of my treasured finds. 1984 was equally devoured a year later. While others were reading Roald Dahl (who I wish I could remember more of), I was delving into things that might have seemed a little... difficult for young minds. Burnout was imminent. Burnout was inevitable. Within only two years of finding Dracula, I just had no interest anymore. I still read, but didn't get much out of books. I would pick up a book, read through it, and discard it, not remembering much about it after I was through with it. I just used them to pass the time, not learning, not enjoying. These were things I just didn't get from books.

What youngster wouldn't grab this?

I cannot recall when, sometime in the 7th grade I think, but a good friend of mine at the time (though, we barely talk anymore), told me about the Star Wars books. I'd been a fan of the films, sure, but my passion for them was rather low, given that we only owned some VHS copies of them at the time, recorded off of HBO more than likely. But he had piqued my interest. "There was more that happened after the second Death Star blew up." Was there, now? He allowed me a borrow of The Truce at Bakura (I think). Then when I would finish one, he would let me borrow another. And another. Soon, I was up to two or three at at time, reading with that old vigor that was long-missed. The music came into my life, as I bought what I could of the soundtracks at the time. The glorious collector's editions did not exist yet, but they would come soon.


It doesn't seem like much time for this to occur. 3-4 years, tops, but I had read all of the Star Wars novels I could get my hands on, before finally putting them down for the final time and never touching them again. I stopped before I read Vector Prime, the saga that changed much about the universe that I had grown to love over the a chunk of my life. I walked away from the stories, keeping their knowledge in my brain forever. I memorized, I had timelines, and I decided to just say goodbye to characters old and new. I still have them, though. They sit in a duffel bag in my closet, hiding. Resting. Waiting to be seen again. Will I go back to them? Perhaps. Someday, I might just start over from the beginning again, taking the good ones with the bad ones. But at that point, I was moving on.


Thomas Harris made an appearance, along with some Anne Rice. I was half-assed reading again, I think. No real form or fashion. A shade of the reader I was, only this time I stayed in the dark for an even longer time. I was reading movie adaptations for Christ's sake (though some are quite good, actually). That was my current path: reading book versions of movie's I'd seen. Some were alright, when the movie was based on the book. Others, though... Others with novelizations written AFTER the movie? God help us all.


It wasn't until a year after high school that I found myself wandering back to my path. But that story will be told another day.


Now go watch the Star Wars Trilogy. If you have to ask which one, you're not paying attention. And skip that extra song. It sucks, and Lucas should never have done it.