First,
thanks goes to Jessica Stan for sending this in for
review!
Godzilla 2000: Millennium marks the second
time Takayuki
Hattori was given the chance to score for the
Godzilla franchise. Debate tends to spring eternal
as to which was his better effort between this and
Godzilla
vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994). General consensus
today seems to be in favor of his Godzilla 2000:
Millennium, but I found it to be the less interesting
soundtrack of the two. Of course, neither were stellar
bodies of work in the franchise. To be fair, Hattori
is a good composer and soundtracks such as the very
hard to find Radio Time (WPC6-8400)
show off his talent, but at the same time he seems
ill fitted for the world of kaiju and this soundtrack
is an example of that.
Now in terms of this score, one thing Hattori has
improved on is his subtlety. "In the Ocean Depths"
is a perfect example of this, as the theme is soothing
yet at the same time doesn't overpower the scene.
Still, there are a number of tracks that miss the
mark such as "A Sleep of 60 Million Years",
which actually starts out great before becoming almost
cheesy in its simplicity halfway through. However,
the real downfall of this soundtrack is simply that
there aren't many cues that stand out. "End Title
· The Feared God: Godzilla" is one of
the exceptions, although features chorus work that
is a little overdone. "The Flight of the Giant
UFO 1" is probably the other, although general
opinion seems to be polar in regards to it. Some find
it one of the worst tracks on the CD, while others
praise it. Personally, I find its over the top drum
beat and march-like quality to be a welcome change
of pace from the rest of the score. The true standout
theme from this disc, though, is easily "Organizer
- Godzilla's Theme". This cue features Akira
Ifukube's wonderful composition from Godzilla
vs. Destoroyah (1995), and is a really energetic
theme. It perfectly captures the sense of mass of
the titular character, and is made all the more rousing
when placed against the backdrop of the rest of the
soundtrack. For whatever reason, though, this track
has been altered a bit from its previous representation.
First off, Hattori's "Organizer" was placed
at the start of the theme rather than as a separate
cue, although an isolated version of "Organizer"
is present in the bonus material. Second, the gap
of silence in between the two Ifukube themes that
were mixed together is a lot longer than the previous
release. All in all, the previous CDs presented this
theme better, but its presentation here is still an
interesting take.
In regards to the new content on this CD, there are
a number of cues presented here for the first time.
Sadly, many are previous themes with changed tempos.
Of the new material, the only theme that will really
jump out at the listener will be the unused "Full
Metal Missile". The track is a collection of
several unused themes that were at one time considered
to represent the Full Metal Missile Launchers before
being left on the cutting room floor. The rest of
the themes are mostly similar to their previously
included brethren. Tracks 42-45 are worth mentioning,
though, because they are "movie edits",
representations of how the score was edited when placed
in the film. The reason to bring them up is that Toho
Music culled these directly from a copy of the movie.
Thankfully, unlike presentations in later CDs, these
tracks don't feature any muted dialogue or awkward
volume dips. They do lack the clarity of the other
themes, but hold up well enough that they were worthwhile
inclusions unlike similar tracks found on their Godzilla,
Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
(G-025) release.
On a closing note, it's worth talking about the titles
and tracks on this disc, which is another misfire
from Toho Music. First off, the unused cues are actually
mixed into the soundtrack. In total, there are six
unused cues here, which are tracks 12, 13, 16, 21,
23, 24 and 29. Personally speaking, I prefer the unused
material to be included in the bonus section rather
than being mixed in with the regular score. Regardless,
though, the problem here is that Toho Music can't
decide how to handle this, as there are discs in the
"Perfect" collection that both have the
unused cues mixed in with the normal tracks and also
ones that have them appear at the end. There is no
consistency. The other problem are the titles themselves.
As another inconsistency, Toho Music decided to keep
the titles the same across cue numbers and/or sources.
So, for example, there are four tracks on this CD
called "End Title", only one of which is
a bonus track. The worst part about this is that by
track 11, on a 51 track CD, one is already hitting
the "End Title". Granted, its interesting
to see the source, but that's what we have cue numbers
for. Track 11 is M39B, which means it was originally
part of the ending... there was no reason to name
the 11th track into the CD "End Title" on
top of that. However, enough ranting about track titles.
Overall, this is actually a fairly middle of the road
soundtrack. Its not very memorable, and is probably
one of the "lesser Godzilla soundtracks",
but all the same it does make for a decent listen
now and then. This "perfect box" version
is also the best presentation of the score to date.
It has some drawbacks, but is still superior to the
previous two releases on CD.
Rating:  |
|
