ROTK: The Soundtrack

[The Serge]

How many spoilers are there in the titles? I don't know how the trilogy ends and have been avoiding spoilers. If I look on the back of the CD case will I be ruined?

The titles tell you nothing. You'll have no idea about the resolution of the characters from the titles (maybe what happens to the King... but I think the movie's title does that by itself).

However, if you're an astute listener, the cues, themes, and motifs will give almost everything away. It's like when I listened to the soundtrack for Star Wars: The Phantom Menance, I realized that both Jabba the Hut and The Emperor would make an appearance because their themes (both appear for the first time in Return of the Jedi) are stated in the score. So, if you're astute, watch out for that.

 

[John Crichton]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Maybe I'll just wait for the inevitable 3 (or more) disc set anyway, just in case. I can wait a month. I can get the tracks from a friend (which I want to use for D&D sessions) in the meantime but at least I know I can listen and read with impunity.

 

[Desdichado]

I just picked it today. I've tried to listen to it all the way through, but hey, I've got four little kids. I especially missed quite a bit near the end. My first impression was that it didn't pack the emotional whallop of either of the first two soundtracks, but as I said, I need to let it stew for a while to get a firmer impression. It seemed anything that was memorable was a theme from an earlier movie. I do want to get a better feel for the last 25-30% of the CD though, as I was intrigued by what I did hear. And the Annie Lennox song doesn't seem so bad. The song at the end of Two Towers really threw me for a loop until I got used to it, at least this didn't do that.

Worth noting: Billy Boyd has some lyrics on Track 5, I think, and Viggo Mortenson appears to have some near the end as well. Apparently Viggo also wrote the melody of the part he sings.