I'm not
readily familiar with composer Naoki Sato's work,
but this album has definitely placed him as someone
whose scores I will be looking out for in the future.
To the point, his soundtrack for Always: Sunset
on Third Street 2 is a fairly diverse body of
work all on its own. From soothing and beautiful themes
to more light hearted and whimsical, this disc has
it all while also making for a fairly stellar stand
alone experience.
The CD starts off on a very strong note with the always
fantastic Godzilla Theme by maestro Akira
Ifukube. This isn't stock music, though, from
a previous soundtrack. Instead, Sato has re-conducted
the famous theme for the picture, while adding his
own little twist. The end result, while admittedly
not as good as Ifukube's own efforts in the 1990's,
is still faithful to the source while its deviations
make it a fairly memorable rendering of the theme.
Following this is the very soothing "Opening
Title", which is one of the more noteworthy cues
off the disc. This leads into some more comical themes,
in particular the "Lawyer Norifumi Suzuki"
track which, like the scene it is attached to, is
over the top and fairly enjoyable for being so unabashedly
so. " Ryunosuke Chagawa's Shock" also maintains
a similar type of style, although also has a slight
retro flavor to it that adds to the charm. The very
long titled "The People of Third Street's Excitement
Over the Final Selection" is yet another whimsical
track, although this one maintains an almost carnival
type of vibe to it. These tracks are flanked, though,
by more subtle themes like the "The Writing is
Finished" and "Akutagawa Prize Decision!?",
each of which is also pleasant to listen to. One of
the standout cues, though, is a track called "Ryunosuke
Chagawa's Decision", which is stunning composition
due to its simplistic yet very catchy nature, and
is one of my favorites off this release. Finally,
it's also worth mentioning the "Rabies"
track on this CD, if for nothing more than to highlight
Sato's diverse talent as this theme feels right at
home in a horror movie and further adds to the varied
score.
Sadly, though, this disc is not perfect. Despite all
the praise I might lavish on it, there is at least one
theme that fails to rise to the occasion and that is
the "Drum Battle". This theme, which plays while
Mutsuko Hoshino and her friends are at the theater, could
almost be described more as a sound effect as it's simply
a minute long drum solo that, quite honestly, outstays
its welcome ten seconds in. Also, it should be mentioned
that this release is missing some music from the
movie. For example, Norifumi
Suzuki's "rage" theme that plays when he loses his temper
is not included on this CD, as is the ending song
that plays during the credits.
Bottom line, despite some very minor flaws, this is
a pretty fantastic soundtrack all around. I'm sure
some will be less amused by some of the themes here,
as it's going to be hard to find someone whose tastes
will range as diversely as Sato's score is, but I
was pleasantly surprised by nearly the entire soundtrack
from beginning to end.
Rating:  |
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