Joel McNeely - Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire

Music from the LucasArts video game

Varèse Sarabande Records is thrilled to announce the upcoming special release of the music for Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire by Grammy-nominated composer Joel McNeely. The album will be released for the first time on LP Aug. 7, 2020, from Varèse Sarabande Records.

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire was developed and published by LucasArts for Nintendo 64 on December 3, 1996, and sold 1 million copies in its first year. A version for Microsoft Windows followed in 1997, and sold out reissues have kept the game alive amongst the Star Wars fan base since its release more than 20 years ago.

As part of the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project, a full soundtrack was composed by Joel McNeely and recorded with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Samples of the soundtrack were used in both versions of the game, with the Windows version containing many of the full tracks. The album art features the main Star Wars characters and was created by legendary illustrator Drew Struzan (Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future).

In the game, which serves as backstory between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the player controls the mercenary Dash Rendar in his efforts to help Luke Skywalker and rescue Princess Leia from Prince Xizor. The game was based on a book by Steve Perry.

McNeely is an Emmy Award-winning composer and conductor with more than 100 motion picture and television credits. As a composer for film and television, McNeely has worked with such respected filmmakers as James Cameron, John Lasseter, Seth MacFarlane and George Lucas, among others. McNeely received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) and received a Grammy nomination for Outstanding Classical Crossover Album for The Day the Earth Stood Still.