Originally released in 1984, Godzilla Legend III: Dialogue of the Infantians rounds out Makoto Inoue’s original Godzilla Legend trilogy. As the name might suggest, this release tends to feature the songs from the films a little more… but they don’t dominate it. Only five tracks are vocal oriented, although dialogue inserts have been added straight from the films. This is one of the better entries in the series and it’s a welcomingly odd selection of music. One that covers some more popular themes left out, focuses on stuff outside of Akira Ifukube and presents the best version song from Gorath (1962) that you will ever find.

The disc starts, fittingly, with selections from Mothra (1961). Before getting into the music, it’s worth noting that the themes are separated into groups. This is most often after the name of the movie it comes from. There are a few exceptions, though. For example, the Mothra content is “Daikaiju Mothra”, there is a grab bag “Godzilla Showdown Series” one and finally one called “The Greatest Battle on Earth: King Kong vs. Godzilla / Mothra vs. Godzilla”. The “Greatest Battle on Earth” is likely homage to the Japanese title for Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), although no music from the film is featured.
Now this release starts strong with the “Infant Island” theme. It’s one of the better themes heard in Inoue’s style. The lyrical music just fits really well with the synthesized music and is one of the rare examples where I prefer this version to the original. The next track continues with a great, exotic sounding “Mothra’s Song”. This includes a string instrument that sounds almost like a tanpura, giving it an Indian-like vibe.

This is followed by a selection of themes from the Godzilla series. All of these are good, but none of them stellar. The best one is the “Terror of Mechagodzilla / Godzilla vs. Gigan” suite. Next is a loving collection of music for Gorath (1962), which could have been better. It’s nice to see often overlooked music highlighted, though, as is the case with this selection. The “Introduction” theme is nice and fits with the style. The best part, though, is the “I’m a Space Pilot” song. This was a slightly goofy segment in the film, where the pilots steal a helicopter and begin to sing. It’s superfluous, but Inoue really transforms this into a lively song that makes you want to dance in your seat, and another instance where it’s arguably more enjoyable than the original.

The rest of the themes here are devoted to the Godzilla series. “Great Monster War Main Title” and “Godzilla Advances” are two themes that were already done for the first Godzilla Legend. They are given an update here, though, and sound much better the second go around. A track called “Prayer to Peace” is also included based on the original 1954 Godzilla film. This is the song heard when Serizawa is watching TV after Godzilla’s attack, and is downright haunting here. The disc then concludes with a piece on The Return of Godzilla (1984) called “Godzilla Reborn”. It’s not that engaging, but was likely noteworthy for its day since the film was an upcoming release.

In terms of how this CD fares against others that include the music, it’s positive. Of the material in this set, Godzilla Legend III is treated the best. The music has been remastered and sounds excellent, especially all the vocal work that is crystal clear. The dialogue only tracks from the films are iffy, as they are recorded too low, but the least important aspect of this CD anyway. The all of the material found on the original LP is included here. A later CD release contained a bonus track, but this was moved to Godzilla Legend IV in this set. So the full range of material related to Godzilla Legend III is available.
This release makes the wise move of divorcing the intro dialogue segments from the main theme as well. So Nelson introducing the Shobijin or the Xilien controller giving his speech are both isolated tracks here. This is the first time it has been done, and it’s a positive for contemporary use where someone might choose to have just the music on their iPod or other digital device.

Overall, this and Godzilla Legend II are the best entries in the series. It’s a general toss up as to preference. The earlier release focused on music mixed with sound effects, this one does it with dialogue and song. Both produced stellar results and are the shining examples of Inoue’s work.

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