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Title
 Pocket Monsters: Lord of the Crystal Tower/Pichu & Pikachu - OST
International Title
 Pokémon: Lord of the "Unknown" Tower
Music By: Shinji Miyazaki
Record Label: Media Factory
 
Running Time: 36:39 Discs: 1
Release: July 2000 CD Number: ZMCP-1102
Comments
Anthony Romero
This CD from Media Factory, distributed under the "Pikachu Records" label, contains the soundtrack to the 2000 feature film Pokémon: Lord of the "Unknown" Tower. This disc would also mark the first from the firm that also features the soundtrack to the animated short that played with the main film, in this case Pichu & Pikachu (or vice versa as it played in the US). As it turns out, this move was pretty much a necessity here, considering that the amount of music for the main feature only amounts to 20 minutes on this release, five of which is a karaoke version of a previously included song. In fact, a third of the entire disc is made up of karaoke tracks. This, coupled with the rather mediocre selection of music, results in thee most disappointing soundtrack of the theatrical scores for the Pokémon films to date. Of course it's not a total loss, as "Entei's Theme" is quite nice, almost iPod worthy. The "Unown's Theme", "Mii's Theme" and Rica Matsumoto's theatrical version of "OK!" are also nicely done. That actually encompasses most of the stuff related to the main film, save the tepid "The Day a Rainbow was Born" by Kumiko Mori, but at the same time only accounts for nine minutes of the total runtime.

This leads into the music for Pichu & Pikachu, which was given a "big band" type of flavor to it by series composer Shinji Miyazaki. Unfortunately, none of these themes are particularly memorable or even pleasant, while the lyric accompanied "Pichu Pika Swing" and "Friend Memorial Day" will have one leaping for the "skip track" option.

Overall, there are some nice themes on this disc... but with its extremely short runtime, which is padded as it is with karaoke versions, the rest of the CD just tends to drown out the good cues.

Note: This soundtrack was later re-released in December of 2001. This second release featured the same selection of music, but came packaged in a clear plastic bag that housed a CD shaped tin box with the disc inside. Due to rarity, the tin release tends to fetch the higher price of the two.
Rating:
Tracks
    Pichu & Pikachu
  1. Fanfare
  2. Pichu Pika Swing
    By: Neo-Pockets
  3. Secret Base Theme
  4. Friend Memorial Day
    By: Noriko Sakai, Naoto Takenaga

    Pokémon: Lord of the "Unknown" Tower
  5. OK! 2000
    By: Rica Matsumoto
  6. Unown's Theme
  7. Entei's Theme
  8. Mii's Theme
  9. The Day a Rainbow was Born
    By: Kumiko Mori

    Pichu & Pikachu
  10. Pichu Pika Swing (Karaoke)
  11. Friend Memorial Day (Karaoke)

    Pokémon: Lord of the "Unknown" Tower
  12. The Day a Rainbow was Born (Karaoke)