Grooving in the Old Republic – Part I: The Collector’s Edition Soundtrack

Join me for a trip across the galaxy to hear some of the best music around! But, you have to pay for your own drinks! And keep your feet off the console of my ship!

Greetings and Salutations, all! It’s been several Fortnights since I’ve last written a blog post, and I think we can all agree the less said about that previous post, and perhaps the feeling in the community in the few months post Legacy of the Sith’s release the better! If you know me, you know that one of my favorite things in The Old Republic is the music, specifically the stuff composed for the game. And with work being a little less busy and stressful, and having some more free time, I’ve decided to finally get around to writing a blog series about the official soundtracks for The Old Republic.

I mean... It's accurate.

Now, I’m sure what many of you, especially those of you who follow me on Twitter are thinking: “Really? It took you THIS long to finally get around to writing a blog post about the music releases?” And in my defense, I had wanted to do it months ago after looking back at some tweets, I saw one from Jackie (TOR’s fabulous community manager) that was a reply to me mentioning that anytime new music gets published on YouTube, she always seems to think of me (Or braces herself for my tweets of “More music when? D:”). Sadly, with most blog ideas I have (And never seem to get to writing), twelve different things happened all at once in my life, so it kind of got forgotten until recently.

I wonder what her reaction will be when she sees I've started an entire blog series about the music in the game?

Looking back, obviously, my first thought was “Hey, Senpai SWTOR noticed me!”, followed by “Oh, wait… I had hoped they equated me with my KotOR armor’s thread on the forums (Hint for anyone from the Dev Team reading this, we still need Bao-Dur and The Disciple’s armors from KotOR II *HINT HINT*!)”, then finally “Might as well become known as THAT player! :D”

Just an aside, these two are the only KotOR II companions whose armor sets are not in the game! Seriously, what the Kriff??

And so, several months later, I finally got around to it! instead of one long dissertation on the music releases (Which no one will want to read), I’ll be splitting it up into 6 blogs; one for each release, except for the Knights of the Fallen Empire & May the Fourth releases, those will be in two parts; the KotFE Soundtrack, the two tracks from Rise of the Hutt Cartel, and the Knights of the Eternal Throne soundtrack from May the Fourth will be part one, then the second part will be the Jedi Under Siege, Onslaught, and other assorted Tracks that are part of that release.

Before I sat down to write this, I went and rewatched one of the old SWTOR Developer Dispatches from 2010: “Music of the Old Republic”, and “Composing the Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic” from the Gamespot YouTube Channel to get into the right mindset of writing this, and one of the things I noticed was the that the impression of the music and making it personal to the player was a big part of the work of the composers. And I think we can all agree that, for any personal problems players might have with the rest of the game, the score is always a fantastic part of any release.

And as of this writing, at least FOURTEEN different composers (Gordy Haab, Samuel Joseph Smythe, Marco Valerio Antonini, Yitong ET Chen, Vincent Oppido, Jesse Harlin, Mark Griskey, Wilbert Roget, II, Henri Wilkenson, Madison Denbrock, Lennie Moore, Peter McConnell, Jared Emerson-Johnson, and Steve Kirk) have worked, or are currently working on the game over the last 12+ years.

But, before I get to the review, I thought I’d brag about… eh, I mean, go into the custom album art I made for each release, and how I’ve named and organized each release.

The custom album art I've made for the releases, including two versions of the KotFE soundtrack.

I like to have album art for my music, but since there was no “official” album art available for the other releases, and the scan I made of the CE Soundtrack sleeve was too dark, I made my own album art in Photoshop. I wanted to keep the look of the CE Soundtrack sleeve but use different logos for each release:

• The Republic Logo for the CE Soundtrack (Basically, it was a recreation of the CE’s Soundtrack Sleeve)
• The Sith Empire logo for the Website Soundtrack
• The dual-faction logo for the Fifth Anniversary Soundtrack
• and the Eternal Alliance logo for May the Fourth. I’ve been thinking of updating the May the Fourth album art with the Tenth Anniversary logo since that might fit more for the May the Fourth soundtrack.

For the KotFE & LotS Soundtracks, I decided to use the loading screen key art for those, however since there wasn’t any art for LotS that matched the previously released “Boxart” (As seen when you search for the SWTOR Amazon premium pack), I had to make my own. It was a lot of work in Photoshop, and while I like what I’ve made, I keep wanting to go back and tweak it or add things from the 7.2 loading screen.

Thankfully, the naming convention I use to keep it all separate is self-explanatory:

• The CE Soundtrack is what came with the Collector’s Edition in 2011 (And hasn’t been officially released elsewhere, not even on the official YouTube channel)
• The Website Soundtrack is everything released in December 2011, during the leadup to the game’s launch.
• The Fifth Anniversary Soundtrack is the five tracks released in 2016 for the fifth anniversary (Notably missing from this release was music from RotHC, but at least we got Makeb’s theme four years later!)
• The KotFE Soundtrack is the ten tracks released in 2016, leading up to the release of the Knights of the Eternal Throne Cinematic trailer.
• The May the Fourth Soundtrack features nineteen tracks from RotHC, KotET, Jedi Under Siege & Onslaught, which were released on May 4^th, 2020 (A nice gift, in the middle of that crazy year), and then seven tracks released over the next two years. I had made a notepad doc that split up each track from the May the Fourth Release, matching it up to each expansion release.
• And finally, the LotS soundtrack is everything that was released in May and June of last year, plus the two R-4 Tracks released this past January, and (Hopefully!) anything new released in the 7. x cycle!

The one downside of the recent releases is that they have only been released on YouTube, which is a win in itself, but the fact that they are not available to download (Other than downloading them straight from YouTube, and converting them to FLAC or MP3 like I did). I’m not sure what behind-the-scenes stuff prevents them from being available to download, but I hope that changes one day.

And now into the good stuff! Just an FYI, it may be a rough read, I haven’t done any… “reviews” of music since I wrote for my high School Newspaper in 2010/2011, so please keep that in mind.;

• The bombastic “Clash of Destiny” (Mark Griskey – 2:20) starts us off. I have to say that this is my second favorite track, mostly because after hearing it nearly every day since I first started playing at launch (Longer if we count my time in the beta) it’s become ingrained in my mind as the theme for TOR. There was a brief time from 2019 to 2022 when it was replaced by “The End in the Stars” (Jesse Harlin) as the Character screen music, until Clash of Destiny made a grand return with the launch of Legacy of the Sith and the tenth anniversary!

• The second and third tracks: “Glory, The Galactic Republic” (Gordy Haab & Wilbert Roget, II – 6:03), and Domination, The Sith Empire” (Mark Griskey & Gordy Haab – 5:52) are basically the “faction themes” for the Republic and Sith Empire and tell the listener/Player that you are seeing both factions at the height of their glory and power, but underneath that, tensions are brewing, and the cold war between the Sith and Republic will soon turn hot. You hear parts of them throughout the game, from the Class Origin and Planetary stories to the expansion content. For example, the openings of both tracks play when you first arrive on the Republic and Imperial fleets after the Starter Planets.

Before I go into the Class/Origin story themes, I did want to mention something I noticed when listening to these. You hear the parts of these at the start of the first cinematic on each starter world; for some, it’s the very first part of the theme (The Warrior, Agent, and Hunter for example, for others like the Inquisitor or Trooper, it’s from later in the theme.

• The first Class/Origin story theme on the Soundtrack: “Justice, The Jedi Knight” (Lennie Moore, Mark Griskey, & Wilbert Roget, II – 5:40) starts off slow, but builds up, much like the Knight’s story. As I’ve listened to these more while writing them, It feels like each theme seems to be telling the story of each class. For this track: A padawan in the height of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order is thrust into the middle of extraordinary events, and now must fight to stop a “Rogue” Sith from reigniting the Great Galactic War (I never believed that Darth Angral went rogue, and totally had the backing of the Dark Council), only to discover that there is a more insidious enemy waiting for him: The Sith Emperor. And after a brush with the Dark Side, can defeat the Sith Emperor (Or so he believes).

• “Bravado, The Smuggler” (Mark Griskey & Gordy Haab – 5:26) is probably my favorite track in not just the CE Soundtrack, but every SWTOR Soundtrack release. The Smuggler has always been my favorite Origin Story, all the way back to when I first saw the Return Cinematic. When I first played the Beta and saw that beautiful XS Stock Light Freighter flying at the start of the Smuggler story, and with this theme playing, I knew it was going to be my favorite piece of music! From running a shipment of blasters to Ord Mantell, finding a lost treasure, then working with the Republic as a Privateer, and dealing with having a bounty on his head, this theme, like “The Adventures of Han” from the Solo: A Star Wars Story Soundtrack does for Han, fits the Smuggler story like a nice, comfy vest (Or in the case of my smuggler; a trenchcoat).

• “Deception, The Sith Warrior” (Mark Griskey & Jessie Harlin – 5:10) starts off strong, and keeps going, just like the Warrior’s story, and while it slows down about two minutes in, that also fits with the events of the Warrior’s story. It’s like the opposite of “Justice, The Jedi Knight”, which starts out slow but builds up. Like the Sith/Dark Side themes in previous Star Wars Soundtracks, both of the Sith Origin Story themes use choirs, which fit perfectly with the Dark Side.

• “Scum, The Bounty Hunter” (Mark Griskey & Gordy Haab – 4:38) There aren’t many pieces of music in Star Wars that I think fit the archetype of a Bounty Hunter. There are plenty that fit a Mandalorian, but very few that fit a generic Bounty Hunter, and this is one of those pieces of music. The Bounty Hunter story can be about “Credits, pure and simple”, “I’m a Hunter, but I have a code”, or “I’m a Mandalorian, it’s what we do”, and the theme fits all of those.

• “Hope, The Republic Trooper” (Mark Griskey & Gordy Haab -5:12) The Republic Trooper’s theme would be perfect as the Republic’s Military Anthem. When I’m listening to this, I want to say “FOR THE REPUBLIC!”. When the music speeds up, it matches how tense things get in Act II of the Trooper story, when you have to make some “Needs of the Many” choices. And the last minute or so of the theme also fits really well with the events on Ord Mantell during the Trooper story.

• “Villainy, The Imperial Agent” (Mark Griskey & Lennie Moore – 4:12) While not as bombastic as the Trooper’s theme, the Agent’s theme is perfect in its own way, and actually is the opposite of the Trooper theme. Quiet, sly, and hidden in the shadows, just like the Agent is. Until halfway through the track, and then everything speeds up, just like the Agent’s story does. Double Agent, then Triple Agent, being manipulated from all sides: Hutt’s, Republic, the Star Cabal, even the Empire. Who can the Agent trust?

• “Peace, The Jedi Consular” (Mark Griskey, Lennie Moore & Wilbert Roget, II – 5:28). I love the rendition of the Force theme in this track. It fits the Consular’s story perfectly, especially the Prologue and Act I of the Origin story. I know some players find the Consular story boring compared to the Knight, but I’ve always loved it (I think having a Pureblood as my Consular helped a little). Like with the Sith Themes and their use of choirs, the Jedi themes use string and woodwind instruments, and it especially fits with the Consular. The first half of the track starts out optimistic, much like the Tython Story for the Consular, then just like the way Act I of the Consular story goes, the middle part of the track gets darker and more unsure, but like a phoenix from the ashes, the last half of the track switches back to that optimistic tone, but more experienced, older and wiser, which I would say fits Act III of the Consular Story.

• “Treachery, The Sith Inquisitor” (Mark Griskey & Jessie Harlin – 5:40) like “Deception, The Sith Warrior”, makes use of a choir, and may well be one of the best pieces of Sith/Dark Side music in all of the SWTOR Music releases (Maybe second best after “Splinter of the Minds Eye” from the May the Fourth Releases). Like the other tracks, it matches up with the Inquisitor’s story: Not as bombastic and strong as the Warrior, but like the Agent. The Sith Inquisitor works from the shadows, and in Act I, you are doing the work of Darth Zash, and then as the story progresses, you are dealing with the fallout of that work, until you become one of the most important and powerful Sith in the entire Empire.

The final six tracks are some of the Cantina music from the game. I wasn’t sure about writing reviews for each one since they all follow the same inspiration as the Cantina band from A New Hope. Now, If people really want to hear my thoughts, let me know in the comments, and I’ll go back and edit this with a review of the Cantina music. But, I did want to note that two of the tracks: “Smeeleeya Whao Tupee Upee” [Smile When You Say That] and “Shapa Keesay” [Shape-Shifter] are in Huttese, but also have English translations, as seen here. Now, I can’t say if the translations are correct or now, but It’s nice to have them!

• “Shake That Wampa Down (Peter McConnell – 2:37)
• “See You on the Dark Side (Jared Emerson-Johnson – 2:25)
• “Smeeleeya Whao Tupee Upee” [Smile When You Say That] (Peter McConnell – 2:50)
• “Run Kessel Run” (Steve Kirk – 2:34)
• “One Chuba Too Many” (Peter McConnell – 2:38)
• “Shapa Keesay” [Shape-Shifter] (Peter McConnell – 3:01)

And there we go! As I said, it’s been more than a decade since I’ve written a music review, and while it’s not the best in some areas, I really like how it turned out. I’ve already started on the rest of the series, and I’m hoping to have “Grooving in the Old Republic – Part II: The SWTOR Website Soundtrack” out sometime next week.

Now, I could use some advice on a location for my Smuggler to /groove at for next week's post. I was thinking of one of the 1.0-era planets, or making an imperial character that looks just like my Smuggler, and recreating the above photo on the fleet.

So, until then, /groove across the galaxy, and May the Force be with you!