The landmark
score to the first Godzilla film by composer Akira
Ifukube. For those more familiar with the famed composer's
work, this soundtrack certainly seems to stand out from
his other scores as it contains a much more gothic and
dreary style to it that fits the movie perfectly although
feels like a stark departure from Ifukube's usually riveting
and energetic work. In that respect, it's also not surprising
that a lot of the stand out cues tend to be more atmospheric
in nature, such as "Godzilla's Rampage" and
the wonderfully done "Godzilla at the Ocean Floor".
The "Main Title", which would eventually be
reworked into Godzilla's own theme, does seem to maintain
the composer's usual flair for military marches though,
and is used to good effective throughout the score.
As far as new material goes, the bonus tracks on this
release are kind of a bust. The first bonus track is the
sound effects heard during the "Main Title"
minus the actual music, while the other three are disappointingly
just "radio drama" segments. Meaning it's just
the audio captured straight off the film for three particular
scenes, complete with music, sound effects and dialogue.
Suffice to say, the "Film Version" extras found
on the La-La Land Records release (LLLCD-1022)
are much more interesting. Where this release does shine,
though, is in the presentation of the score itself, which
is the most definitive yet. This means that there are
added cues to this particular release, such as "Chaos
in Shinagawa" and "Intercept Godzilla".
The other new cue is "Godzilla Appears on Odo Island",
although this is just the roar and footsteps as they where
used for Godzilla's first appearance in the movie and
there is no actual music during this sequence. Unfortunately,
that's about it in terms of new additions to the score.
These tracks aren't much different then the others that
were previously released either, with "Chaos in Shinagawa"
literally being a bridge of two other cues. This disc
does have the same clarity in its presentation like what
was found on the La-La Land disc, so it's something else
to tout over the older Toshiba release. This particular
CD also preserves the "Tragic Sight of the Imperial
Capital" track, which was altered on the La-Land
release to remove the crying sounds by cropping the music
at that point and merging it with a similar cue on the
score. Although La-La Land does improve on its presentation
of the "Prayer for Peace", as it removes the
earlier dialogue in that scene, that is still found here,
and starts the track more appropriately right when the
chorus begins.
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