After reading a story on TheForce.net about the new MECO CD entitled entitled "Dance Your Asteroids Off to the Complete Star Wars Collection", I had to go to the web page (http://www.mecoman.com/ -- the only place to buy the CD) and check it out.

After ordering it late on a Friday night, it arrived via Priority Mail on Monday -- quite a nice turnaround time. I've listened to it several times, and am now ready to write a review on it.

First of all, if you are old enough to remember seeing Star Wars: A New Hope in the theatres the first time, you are old enough to remember the original disco hit by Meco Menardo based on themes from Star Wars. Personally, I remember hearing this song and enjoying it as a child, but unfortunately, I never had a copy of it, save for a brief snippet I had apparently made from the radio.

For those of you looking for a copy of this exact song -- "Dance Your Asteroids Off" is not it. I would recommend the 1997 release "Best of MECO" or the 1999 re-release of "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk" if you want the song (and especially "Best of MECO" for the roughly 16 minute version of more themes.)

However, neither release contained all the Star Wars themed music that MECO produced. "Dance Your Asteroids Off", therefore, is a remixing and updating of those songs, plus new ones inspiried by "The Phantom Menace."

Let's break it down by track.

STAR WARS (A NEW HOPE)
Track 1: Main Title Theme/The Land of the Sand People/Princess Leia's Theme/Cantina Band/ The Last Battle/End Title

This is a roughly 8 and 1/2 remix of the song that started it all. While not containing all the themes as the 16 minute LP version, it's quite a bit longer than the 3 1/2 minute single. This song has had more sound effects added to it -- direct from the movie, as opposed to the approximations MECO had to use back in 1977, when he did it without Lucasflim's help -- and dialogue from the movie. The actors, however, are new voice actors, not the original cast.

The themes, however, are well presented and arranged by MECO. You can hear John Williams touch in it, but it's distinctly MECO.

I am so used to the original versions that I found the spliced version a bit jarring and the new voices unusual. I much prefer the "Best of MECO" versions.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Track 2: Darth Vader's Theme/Yoda's Theme

Again, this a remix of the original version, but it seems a bit more faithful to the 1980 release than Track 1. Perhaps this is because I only knew of the single version and there wasn't as much to edit out. Also, MECO had Lucas's blessing to use the original sound effects twenty years ago, so there wasn't as much added to it. Again, I prefer the "Best of MECO" version to this, but only marginally so.

Again, you can recognize the themes used in the song -- and I find "Yoda's Theme" to be very uplifting, and I wish the song would go on longer with variations of this music passage.

Track 3: The Battle in the Snow

I had never heard this before, so I can't compare it to any other version.

This is a nice song, with some great opening effects of AT-ATs closing in on the Rebels. You can hear snippets of music recalling the original disco track as well as portions that are obviously based on John William's score, if not note-for-note. This is definitely one of the better tracks on the CD.

Track 4: The Force Theme

Another song I'd not heard before, this tune takes a familiar tune and styles it into a unique piece that definitely has early 80's written all over it. But it's still enjoyable, except for what sounds like an obvious edit towards the end of the piece.

Track 5: Finale

This song I'm disappointed with. While I've heard that the version on "Best of MECO" is chopped already, this one fades into an edit that misses a lot of the "Asteroid Theme" from The Empire Strikes Back and cuts out at the end more quickly, making the ending seem flatter and less majestic than the 1997 version. Also, some of the original melody is lost under new "ah" sounds, and I wonder why this obscuring was done. I would have preferred a better mix of melody and background here. The Yoda voice-over is serviceable, but I still enjoy the "Best of MECO" version (and probably would the original LP version as well, if I had it.)

RETURN OF THE JEDI
Track 6: Lapti Nek

You know, I miss "Lapti Nek" in the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi. So therefore, it was extremely nice to hear it again in some fashion. This is another MECO song I had never heard until this CD, so I can't compare it with the original.

It's not what you hear in the original Jedi, but it's a nice arrangement that will have you envisioning Sy Snootles dancing in your room.

Track 7: Ewok Celebration

I also miss this from the Special Edition. And this tune is the main reason I bought "Dance Your Asteroids Off." I remember hearing it once or twice back in 1983, and I've been wanting to hear it again since before "Best of MECO" came out. I was disappointed that it wasn't on that compilation. So when I read that it would be on this CD, I was extremely excited.

I felt extremely let down by this. Perhaps I am letting my youth cloud over the original version... but this is not a good song. It's early 80's rap, a music format that, in my opinion, has aged extremely poorly. The song does recall the tribal drums of the Ewoks, the story being, well, rapped does contain some sound effects reminiscent of C-3PO telling the Ewoks about the Rebellion vs. the Empire... but, well....

Repeated listenings, however, have lessend my distaste for it. I do not know if that's a good or bad thing.

Some part of me (and that part has got to be somewhat sadistic) still wants to hear the original LP for reasons that still elude me.

The ending forty seconds recall the "Yub Yub/Celebrate the Love" portion from the original Return of the Jedi, which I enjoyed.

THE PHANTOM MENACE
Track 8: Duel of the Fates/Augie's Municipal Band

The first of three new songs written or arranged for this CD -- and the only new song that's based on existing material -- this track puts "Duel of the Fates" into a techno-style instrumental song. It's hard to envision this song without the Sandskrit singing chorus, but here it is. MECO tries to capture the ending Jedi duel's intensity, but for me, the chorus is what made the piece intense in the first place.

However, it's still enjoyable as purely instrumental.

The second portion is tied to the first with a few snippets of the Main Title, but Augie's Band seems to have lost a few members. Doesn't quite gel with me.

Track 9: Cousin Jar Jar

Now we have the first of two entirely new songs. Quite frankly... I'm a bit nonplussed. I suppose the fact that it deals with Jar-Jar (or more to the point, his cousin) could be clouding my judgment, but still, this song does nothing for me. I could care less that people are confusing Jar-Jar's cousin for the real deal, nor that the cousin can't dance. Heck, it may actually be Jar-Jar and he's trying to avoid publicity. I don't care enough to really figure it out.

That said, the Gungan impersonator does a nice job of sounding a lot like our (non?) favorite sidekick from Episode 1. That counts for something, I guess.

Track 10: A Jedi Knight

The other new song on the disc, this piece is sung by Yamira and contains lyrics meant to uplift your spirit. It talks about choosing light over dark, and believing in your path.

Unfortunately, to me, the music overpowers the words. And while it's an upbeat tune -- if you're going to have lyrics, the lyrics should be able to be heard and understood. If it weren't for the sheet included with the CD, I wonder if I'd know what Yamira was singing.

Final Word:
In short, while it's nice to have versions of songs that were up until now unavailable on CD, I am disappointed in how the remixes turned out. I much prefer the version on the "Best of MECO" CD, even though I know some of those songs have also been edited on that disc.

However, it's a lot easier than finding the original vinyl records, so I shouldn't be too choosy. I recommend that you pick up "Dance Your Asteroids Off" to complete your MECO collection, as it contains some new tracks, and if you've never heard some (or all) of these songs before, then you should get this album. But sure to also pick up "Best of MECO" for versions of some songs that, while perhaps edited in their own right, are more "pure" and capture MECO's spirit from twenty years ago.

-Phil Zeman
April 5, 2000