Regardless
of one's feelings toward the feature film itself, it's
hard to deny that composer David Arnold created a fairly
stellar score for Tristar's take on Godzilla. Unfortunately,
getting one's hands on the score hasn't been easy. To
date, there have been three "releases" of the
score on CD, two of which were promos and the third wasn't
even legitimate. Thankfully, La-La Land Records has set
out to do things right by giving the score its first retail
release some nine years after the movie's debut. However,
rather than just release the same 15 tracks that have
previously been found on CD, the firm went above and beyond
to include the entire score, and outtakes, on a fantastic
two disc set. I really had high hopes for this release,
and, simply put, it exceeded them and then some.
First off, for those dedicated collectors who might have
already purchased one of the previous single disc releases,
they will likely be amazed at simply how much of the score
those left off. For example, track 2-8 on the first disc
have never been released before, and there are many, many
more that fall into that area as well. Some unused moments
of music also fit there way into the selection here, and
the two tracks that include those are: "The Boat
Gets It" and "Baby ‘Zillas Hatch".
As for the music itself, David Arnold has really outdone
himself. There are a number of really great cues on this
release, ranging from the epic, and semi-haunting "The
Beginning", to the very upbeat march for the military,
called "Military Command Center". My favorite
cue off this release, though, would easily be the very
action oriented "1st Helicopter Chase / Godzilla
Swats a Chopper", which is a great adrenaline pumping
theme as it perfectly conveys the type of mayhem that
one should associate with the scene. "Godzilla Versus
the Submarine" is also another outstanding track
here, and one which was previously left unreleased.
For completists, some things to note about this release
is that several of these tracks are extended compared
to the presentations on the obscure single disc releases.
Some very brief segments have even been left off as well,
such as the last few seconds of "It's Alive!!!/Rampage
and Pursuit" (title depending on release). The amount
lost is extremely minimal, though. Also, the odd rearrangement
of the main title, found on Godzilla the Best 1954-1998
(TYCY-5617),
is not included as well, although no real surprise there.
Overall, this soundtrack goes highly recommended to everyone,
and it's great to finally see it get a commercial release.
It is worth mentioning that the CD was limited to 3,000
copies, so there might be a slight need to rush depending
on what type of demand it might garner.
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