Poor
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., this entry in the box
set works as an "odds and ends". It includes
a second CD, but this is based on more music from
Godzilla:
Final Wars (2004), while the booklet is half
dedicated to director Shusuke
Kaneko. Despite this, the selection of material
found here is still good for the 2003 film itself,
although very similar to the earlier King Records
CD (KICA-620).
The music composed for the 2003 movie, like Michiru
Oshima's other work in the franchise, is stellar.
It does suffer a bit from not being as memorable as
her other two Godzilla soundtracks, but that still
doesn't detract from the themes composed here. The
"Main Title" in particular is a strong track,
weaving in an intro sequence with the portion where
Mothra is sighted. "Returning to the Sea"
is also another good theme, ranging more on the soothing
side and making a nice end piece with all of the action
themes that came before. The real strength of this
score, though, is that there isn't a bad theme. The
soundtrack is enjoyable from start to finish while
at the same time cementing Oshima as one of the greatest
composers attached to the franchise for her overall
dependability.
Now in terms of this release in particular it contains...
one new track. Well technically three, but two of
them are just themes edited together into mini-suites,
although the "The Mothra Larvae Land - Imago
Mothra Dies" edit is really well done for the
way it puts emphasis on the usually tame "Imago
Mothra Dies" theme. Sadly, this particular track
does have faint dialogue in it, which is very hard
to hear but it is there, which means that Toho Music
likely used a film souce for this. Anyway, the new
track is "Send-Off Party BGM", which is
actually a fantastic theme. Its subtle, and very classical
in its approach, but is a great cue and its nice to
finally have it. Otherwise this release is very close
to the previously mentioned King Records CD (KICA-620).
It does break up the cues so they are by themselves,
which is more preferable. Sadly, it mixes the unused
cues with the used ones, creating a disjointing experience.
The unused cues, which aren't even marked on the CD,
are as follows: Beached Kamoebas (M9), Repair Status
(M11), Yoshito's Bitterness (M19), Imago Mothra ×
Godzilla II (M20), Imago Mothra × Godzilla III
(M22), Mothra Larvae in the Sea (M28) and Mesa All-Out
Attack (M36). On the plus side, we have titles for
these tracks and can now place the music to the scenes
they were at one time planned for.
As for the second CD, which is actually the third
disc for Godzilla:
Final Wars (2004), it starts with alternate
edits that were originally featured on Victor's release
(VICP-62936). Following
this are 28 tracks by Keith Emerson. I would be lying
if I didn't say that these 28 tracks weren't very
interesting. They present a view of what the score
could have been like. They include outtakes, which
reveal some surprising facts. First off, the battle
with Rodan, Anguirus and King Caesar was at one point
going to be set to Emerson's version of the Invasion
of Astro-Monster (1965) main title. Emerson
was also going to use a motif from his "Gotengo
vs. Manda" theme for the opening with Godzilla,
but thankfully Yano composed something for this instead.
It is sad, though, to see the unused track for the
"Threat of Monsters" part, M2A, which is
actually much better than the reused "Crusing
the Cirro-Stratus" theme they ended up placing
there.
Following this are a random array of tracks. They
seem to be more outtakes, but aren't attached to any
specific sequence of the movie. For example, there
is one for Hedorah, which is oddly soothing, and a
couple of attempts at Akira
Ifukube themes. There are also a few themes attached
to the Xilien Ship, both of which are god awful. "Xilien
Ship 1" sounds like walking into a room with
three people playing around on synthesizers: a lot
of noise without any unifying tempo. It's bad... really
bad. So awful, in fact, that the CD would have benefited
had it been left off, like "Xilien Ship 2"
was. In terms of the third version of this, it starts
off okay, but eventually turns bad as well and long
overstays its welcome. After these are two tracks
called "Parody Spy Music into Serious",
none of which was used and are oddly named to boot,
and then a collection of 15 demos. The demos repeat
themes seen in the film, and give an early idea as
to their progression during the movie's development,
while some also introduce some music that was never
used for the movie. All in all, this last CD for the
2004 film is one that's interesting from a film production
angle, but not one that lends itself to a stand alone
listening experience.
Overall, the Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. content
is still great, the second disc for the 2004 film...
not so much. If one is curious, the first disc by
itself would have gotten a higher score, about 4 stars,
but the second CD dragged down the rating. Also, just
as a closing remark, if one has the King Records CD
(KICA-620) then there
isn't much new for that particular film.
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