 |
Title |
| Earth Destruction
Directive: Godzilla vs. Gigan (Perfect
Collection 3) |
| International Title |
| Godzilla
vs. Gigan |
| Music By:
Akira
Ifukube |
| Record Label:
Toho Music |
| |
|
| Running Time: 72:29 |
Discs: 1 |
| Release: April 2005 |
CD Number: G-012 (Set) |
|
| Comments |
 |
Anthony
Romero |
 |
|
|
First,
thanks goes to Jessica Stan for sending this in for
review!
The 1970's were a rough period for the Godzilla franchise,
and really Japanese cinema as a whole. With TV dominating
like never before, movie studios had to find ways
to cut corners in order to maintain profitability
on their film ventures. A variety of methods were
employed, including stock music which leads to this
disc's subject matter: Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972).
Rather than creating an all new soundtrack, Toho opted
to reduce costs by using their large backlog of themes
created by maestro Akira
Ifukube. The ending result, while sometimes
controversial, is surprisingly nothing short of great.
It deserves flack for being based on stock music,
but all the same it's a fantastic collection of music
that leads to a great stand alone listening experience.
Effectively, the score works as an almost "best
of" for Ifukube, as many of his better themes
that he had created up to this point in his career
are utilized here. Many of these cues will be familiar
to genre fans, although some will seem new due to
their obscure subject matter such as The
Big Boss (1959) or Will
to Conquer (1970). In all, 11 different soundtracks
are sampled from in order to create the "score"
for this film. Rather than just reusing the themes,
though, many of these were edited. This means they
were either shortened, lengthened, or sometimes mixed
together. The end result is both creative and very
well done. There are a number of tracks that highlight
this well, but the show stoppers in this regard are
probably "Fierce Battle Between the Four Giant
Monsters" and "Vicious Attack of the Space
Monsters". Each is a couple themes woven together,
and each benefits from the pacing and overall methods
that were utilized to create them. The end result
isn't better or worse than the original, fantastic
themes that they borrow from, but it's just different
enough to be a memorable construct from them.
Now, this "Perfect Collection" disc is worth
talking about at length because its notably different
from the previous release by Toshiba for their Futureland
label (TYCY-5356).
For one thing, it features the score exactly as it
appeared in the film, where as the 1993 CD featured
an earlier version of the score before it was edited
further and things like the Mitsubishi
Pavilion (1970) were added in. Also of note
is that themes have been edited down or changed to
reflect how they were used in the film. "Monster
Island" (shorter version), "Anguirus is
Dispatched" (shorter version), "Background
Check" (shorter version and has now been split
into two themes), "The Defense Corps Mobilize
I" (removes the break in the middle), "The
Defense Corps Mobilize II" (shorter), "The
Tower Destruction Operation" (shorter, the Mitsubishi
Pavilion version) and "The Earth Monsters'
Counterattack" (shorter) are all different in
order to best present how they appeared in the movie.
The "Main Title" was also changed, removing
the silence that naturally occurs in the movie when
Godzilla uses his ray. This is a less correct way
to edit it compared with how it was featured in the
movie, but at the same time makes the theme more enjoyable
to listen to. "Godzilla and Anguirus Sortie",
previously "The Rescue Operation Begins",
is also different here as the drums at the start sound
more subdued. This is probably a result of the track
being remastered, but all the same it doesn't match
the previous presentation of the theme.
In terms of new material, besides the previously mentioned
new edits, the disc also features a karaoke version
of the "Godzilla March". The record song
"Go! Go! Godzilla" has also been included,
which feels like a good addition since it was featured
prominently in the movie's trailer. Finally, the disc
rounds out its runtime with three original cues from
their respective sources, which is the unedited M12
from The Big Boss
(1959) and the Mitsubishi
Pavilion (1970) content.
As for what this release is missing compared with
the earlier CD, its mostly lacking the unused edits.
The original, unused version of the "Main Title",
which featured music from Battle
in Outer Space, is gone along with M7A (which
was called "Monster Island II"), M25 (the
original version of "The Tower Destruction Operation")
and an alternate version of the "Ending".
None of these themes are that important as its all
stock music anyway, but it would have been nice to
have seen the original edit of the "Main Title"
present as a bonus track.
Overall, this soundtrack deserves the criticism it
gets for being stock music. Despite this, though,
the "score" still manages to be one of the
more enjoyable stand alone experiences in the Godzilla
franchise. In regards to this release in particular,
and comparing it to the Toshiba/Futureland release
(TYCY-5356),
this one comes out ahead for a couple reasons. For
one, it features the correct movie order, with themes
edited exactly as they were presented... although
this is a double edged sword, as some of these edits
sound more abrupt then their counterparts on the earlier
CD release. Second is that it has some nice bonus
material, in particular the karaoke version of the
"Godzilla March" which was notably absent
on the earlier CD release although did appear on the
Godzilla Song Book (VPCD-81381).
The "Perfect Collection" release is missing
some of the unused edits, in particular the "Main
Title", and a few of the expanded edits are also
gone which is why this disc has a shorter runtime.
In the end, if a collector happens to have both, then
there are merits to each. If one is considering which
to get, then this release is ultimately the winner.
Rating:  |
|
| Tracks |
- Main Title (M1 New Edit) [The
Big Boss (M12) - Mothra
vs. Godzilla (M20) - Mitsubishi
Pavilion (M3)]
- Construction of Children's Land (M3) [Will
to Conquer (M4)]
- Monster Island (M4) [Destroy
All Monsters (M3)]
- The Lost Tape (M5) [Atragon
(M5)]
- The Chairman of the Construction Committee (M6)
[Frankenstein
vs. Baragon (M1)]
- The Park at Night (M6A) [The
Big Boss (M15B)]
- The Tape's Whereabouts (M7) [Atragon
(M11)]
- Anguirus is Dispatched (M8-1) [Destroy
All Monsters (M3)]
- The Older Brother's Whereabouts (M8-2) [Latitude
Zero (M21)]
- Background Check (M9) [Frankenstein
vs. Baragon (M21)]
- To Yamano City (M10) [Frankenstein
vs. Baragon (M21)]
- The Accident One Year Ago (M11) [Frankenstein
vs. Baragon (M6)]
- The Defense Corps Mobilize I (M12-1) [Destroy
All Monsters (M20)]
- Anguirus Repelled (M12-2) [Destroy
All Monsters (M10)]
- The Transmitter (M13) [Atragon
(M5)]
- The Assassination Group Attacks (M14) [Frankenstein
vs. Baragon (M19)]
- The Signal to Space (M15) [Battle
in Outer Space (M1)]
- Godzilla and Anguirus Sortie (M16) [Battle
in Outer Space (M2)]
- Infiltrating Godzilla Tower (M17) [Frankenstein
vs. Baragon (M19)]
- The Race from Universe M (M18) [Frankenstein
vs. Baragon (M26)]
- The Invader's Invitation (M19) [Ghidorah,
the Three-Headed Monster (M6)]
- The Defense Corps Mobilize II (M20) [Destroy
All Monsters (M28)]
- The Space Monsters Attack Tokyo (M21) [Destroy
All Monsters (M25/M26) - King
Kong Escapes (M17)]
- Fierce Battle Between the Four Giant Monsters
(M22) [Mothra
vs. Godzilla (M14/M23)]
- Strategy to Escape Godzilla Tower (M22A) [Mothra
vs. Godzilla (M20)]
- Earth Monsters vs. Space Monsters (M23) [Ghidorah,
the Three-Headed Monster (M19)]
- Vicious Attack of the Space Monsters (M24) [Ghidorah,
the Three-Headed Monster (M11/M15)]
- The Tower Destruction Operation [Mitsubishi
Pavilion (M2)]
- The Earth Monsters' Counterattack [Mitsubishi
Pavilion (M3)]
- Ending · Godzilla March
By: Susumu Ishikawa, Composer:
Kunio Miyauchi
Bonus Tracks
- Godzilla March (Movie Version Karaoke)
By: Susumu Ishikawa, Composer:
Kunio Miyauchi
- Godzilla March (Record Version)
By: Susumu Ishikawa, Composer:
Kunio Miyauchi
- Defeat Gigan (Record Version)
By: Susumu Ishikawa, Composer:
Kunio Miyauchi
- Go! Go! Godzilla
By: Susumu Ishikawa, Composer:
Hiroaki Hagiwara
- Toho Logo (The
Big Boss M12-T2)
- Main Title (Mitsubishi
Pavilion M3 · Volcano)
- The Tower Destruction Operation (Mitsubishi
Pavilion M2 · Storm)
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