Released
under Toshiba's Futureland brand, this disc is a real
treat and one of the better soundtracks in the long
running series, mixing new music from Dragon Quest
regular Koichi Sugiyama with stock music by Akira
Ifukube from Ostinato. This combination,
the first of this nature for the series, creates something
with an air of familiarity, yet Sugiyama's new body
of work breathes a level of uniqueness into the proceeding
that makes this truly one of the more commendable
scores in the franchise.
Now the first ten tracks on this disc are extended
"album" pieces conducted by Sugiyama. To
make it clear, these are not the direct cues that
were used in the film, but are likely the original
pieces that were written for the movie before being
spliced up for the feature. On account of this, there
is a good chunk of music here that did not appear
in the film, with the most obvious example being the
wonderfully soothing "The Saradia Republic"
track, of which only a few seconds ended up in the
movie. The other stand out track in this respect is
"Bio Wars" as most of this guitar heavy
theme was not utilized in the production either, and
what little did make it in is mostly confined to the
scene of the British agents stealing the Godzilla
cells.
Unlike the 1991 CD release of composer Sugiyama's
score, this disc also has 11 cues as they appeared
in the film. This also means that Akira
Ifukube's work from Ostinato that was
used in the feature is also included. Of this new
material, the most welcome addition is easily track
12, as the "main title" piece is a wonderful
meshing of Sugiyama's foreboding music as it transitions
perfectly into Ifukube's classic Godzilla theme to
create one of the more memorable cues utilized in
the series.
Finally, it's worth comparing this CD to the later
day two disc set found in the Perfect Collection (G-017).
The two disc release has a lot of content not found
here, including the uncut Ostinato tracks,
alternate takes for a few of the suites, and the full
"Cell Theme". It also has the full score,
as it appeared in the film, although in mono with
some inconsistencies. This leads to what shines on
this Toshiba release, which are the 11 cues at the
end which are in stereo and crystal clear without
any problems. Personally, I find this release worth
it for these, as many of the shorter tracks proliferate
my iPod. In the end, though, both have their strengths
and weaknesses. The two disc release is a more complete
package, but either is a serviceable option to enjoy
Sugiyama's work.
Bottom line, fans of the character should do themselves
a favor and search out this or the two disc release
of the score, as it's one of the finer entries in
the series.
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