 |
Title |
| Godzilla vs.
Hedorah (Perfect
Collection 3) |
| International Title |
| Godzilla
vs. Hedorah |
| Music By:
Riichiro Manabe |
| Record Label:
Toho Music |
| |
|
| Running Time: 72:10 |
Discs: 1 |
| Release: April 2005 |
CD Number: G-011 (Set) |
|
| Comments |
 |
Anthony
Romero |
 |
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First,
thanks goes to Jessica Stan for sending this in for
review!
Through the "golden age" of Japanese cinema,
the Godzilla franchise had only been scored by two
composers: Akira
Ifukube and Masaru
Sato. However, as the 1970's crept up, and a need
for reduced budgets went into full swing, new blood
was introduced to the series' soundtracks. The first
of these was Kunio
Miyauchi, who scored All
Monsters Attack (1969) and was a logical choice
given his past experience with Ultraman
(1967). In 1971, another new composer in the form
of Riichiro Manabe got to take his swing at the series.
With past work such as Sun Above, Death Below (1968) and Vampire
Doll (1970), Manabe had a history with Toho
but this marked his first foray into the giant monster
genre. Unfortunately, Manabe proves to be an awkward
fit for the series, while this soundtrack for Godzilla
vs. Hedorah would go on to be generally considered
the worst entry in the franchise.
Leading up to the 1970's, Manabe was actually more
of a traditional composer and not all that unlike
his peers. However, with the advent of synthesizers,
Manabe suddenly became highly experimental. Nothing
was off limits and a variety of odd instruments and
methods found their way into his work. While one can
admire his tenacity to try something new, sadly this
rarely paid off. To be fair, Manabe has created several
great themes through his career. However, they tend
to be diamonds in the rough, surrounded by lackluster
to poor cues. This ratio of good to bad is at its
lowest, though, for this soundtrack for Godzilla
vs. Hedorah. In fact, only two themes really stand
out in a positive way. The first of these is "Seabed
Investigation", which is a fantastic cue. Its
moody, creepy and great as a stand alone piece. It
perfectly builds an uneasy atmosphere while at the
same time feeling unearthly. The other is "Godzilla
and the Polluted Sea", which is a love it or
hate it theme. Its actually a gross update of one
of the composer's cues from The
Militarists (1970), and conveys a victorious
and more carefree tone. This feels completely at odds
with the Godzilla character, but at the same time
works due to the horrific nature of his opponent,
Hedorah, and the more heroic role of the King of the
Monsters.
As for the bad, they are many, due in part because
of experimentation and also because of repetition.
Leading the way is the grotesque "Sulfuric Acid
Mist", which features a raspy noise that does
a great job of conveying the tortured gasping of the
victims on screen. However, this sounds more like
a sound effect, and the fact that it was actually
part of the score instead only adds to the oddity
of Manabe's techniques. "Highway Attack"
is also another example as it features a water gargling
noise. This fits for the Hedorah character, but feels
odd to hear it on the actual score... and seems more
like a fluke that it works considering Manabe used
a similar "gargling theme" for the vampire
in Lake
of Dracula (1971).
Still, the greatest sin of this soundtrack is its
pitiful second act. Starting past M24, "Preparing
the Electrode Board Experiment", the score takes
a nose dive. "Our Energy", which conveys
the music of the youth out by Mount Fuji, is simply
horrible in every sense of the word. It sounds bad
in the movie, and sounds worse removed as a stand
alone experience. The rest of the themes past this
point are more or less variations of the composer's
Godzilla theme and one he introduces for Hedorah's
final form, heard in cues such as "Hedorah Approaches".
The tempo of all of these are slowed down, making
the ending plodding, boring and a choir to get through.
Much like the movie's climax itself, they long outstay
their welcome and the repetition is painfully obvious.
Now, in terms of how this release compares to earlier
versions of the score on CD, there is a ton of added
content here. First off, there are many outtakes that
are appearing for the first time. Some are decent,
while others sound like little more than someone playing
around with random instruments such as "Hedorah
Separates (M12-T1 + T2 + T4 + T5 + T6 + T7 + T8)"
which is trying to find a good two second cue for
Hedorah falling over. The disc also contains a seemingly
endless supply of karaoke versions of "Give Back
the Sun!", both outtakes and all of the ones
that appeared in the film. As it turns out, the real
gem of this CD compared with earlier releases are
the final two tracks. The earlier record versions
by Keiko Mari, who also sings in the movie, have widely
been available on CD before. There was, however, an
entirely different set of record songs done by Kazumi
Kitayama that are also included here, which were released
by Union on an LP single. Overall, Keiko does the
song better, but Kitayama's version is still very
interesting as she takes a drastically different approach
to singing. To elaborate, it's not only the vocals
that are different but also the overall feeling, as
Kitayama goes for a more bouncy and pop style arrangment
of the songs.
As for the sound quality, its mostly on par with what
is already available on CD for this score. One of
the exceptions, though, is "Godzilla and the
Polluted Sea", which sounds poor. Not sure if
its a technical error or if whatever master they were
using was damaged. The other exceptions are the vocal
"Record" tracks, which lack the clarity
found on previous CD releases containing them.
Overall, this is a great release of a lackluster score.
It has an okay start, but the soundtrack gets lost
half way through and finishes with a whimper rather
than a bang. I will attest to being a huge fan of
the movie itself, and enjoy the score through correlation.
However, even given that, Manabe's work here tends
to work better in small spurts rather than hearing
the whole thing from start to finish. Regardless,
Godzilla fans looking to get this soundtrack on CD
won't find a better option than this release.
Rating:  |
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| Tracks |
- Opening (M1)
- Give Back the Sun! I (PS2 Mix)
By: Keiko Mari, Honey Night
- Mysterious Incident at Suruga Bay (M2)
- Seabed Investigation (M3)
- Giant Tadpole (M4)
- Terror Underwater (M5)
- Ken's Cry (M6)
- Mysterious Monster (M7)
- Godzilla and the Polluted Sea (M8)
- Multiplication (M9)
- Hedorah's Landfall (M10)
- Give Back the Sun! II (PS25 Mix)
By: Keiko Mari
- Hedorah and the Smokestacks (M10A)
- Godzilla's Charge (M11)
- Give Back the Sun! III (PS38 Mix)
By: Keiko Mari
- Hedorah Separates (M12-T3)
- The Two Giant Monsters in the Factory District
(M13)
- Green Removal Factory (M14)
- Fragments (M15)
- Hedorium (M16)
- Catalytic Action (M17)
- Source of Hedorah (M18-T2)
- Highway Attack (M19)
- Sulfuric Acid Mist (M20)
- Period of Anti-Hedorah Mask Circulation (M21)
- Nuclear Fission (M22)
- Weakness Revealed (M22A)
- Transforming Pollution Monster (M23)
- Preparing the Electrode Board Experiment (M24)
- Guitar in the Wilderness I (PS103 Mix)
- Guitar in the Wilderness II (M25-T2)
- Our Energy I (PS104)
- Floral and Aquatic Death (M26)
- Our Energy II (PS112)
- Telepathy from Godzilla (M27)
- Decisive Battle at the Base of Mount Fuji I
(M28)
- Decisive Battle at the Base of Mount Fuji II
(M29-T2)
- The Young Die (M30)
- Godzilla's Bitter Struggle (M31)
- Decisive Battle at the Base of Mount Fuji III
(M32)
- Guidance Strategy (M33)
- Hedorah Approaches (M33A)
- Hedorah Approaches (M34)
- Stillness (M35)
- Radioactive Fury (M36)
- Godzilla Flies (M37-T2)
- Give Back the Sun! IV (Male Chorus PS156A Mix)
- Victory (M38)
- Godzilla Departs (M39)
- Give Back the Sun! V (Male Chorus PS155 Mix)
- Give Back the Sun! VI (Male Chorus PS156 Mix)
- Ending (M40)
Bonus Tracks
- Source of Hedorah (M18-T1)
- Decisive Battle at the Base of Mount Fuji II
(M29-T1)
- Godzilla Flies (M37-T1)
- Hedorah Separates (M12-T1 + T2 + T4 + T5 + T6
+ T7 + T8)
- Guitar in the Wilderness II (M25-T1 + T3 + T4
+ T6)
- Our Energy I (PS104 Mix)
- Give Back the Sun! I (PS2 Mix Karaoke)
- Give Back the Sun! III (PS38 Mix Karaoke)
- Give Back the Sun! I (PS2 Karaoke)
- Give Back the Sun! II (PS25 Karaoke)
- Give Back the Sun! III (PS38 Karaoke)
- Give Back the Sun! V (Male Chorus PS155 Karaoke)
- Give Back the Sun! V (Male Chorus PS155-T2 Karaoke)
- Give Back the Sun! VI (Male Chorus PS156)
- Give Back the Sun! IV (Male Chorus PS156A-T1)
- Give Back the Sun! IV (Male Chorus PS156A-T2)
- Give Back the Sun! IV (Male Chorus PS156A-T3)
Victor Record Volume
- Defeat Hedorah
By: Keiko Mari
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (Give Back the Sun! Record
Version)
By: Keiko Mari
Union Record Volume
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (Give Back the Sun! Record
Version)
By: Kazumi Kitayama
- Defeat Hedorah
By: Kazumi Kitayama
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