toho-kingdom-forums-icon forums
Title
 Complete Recordings: Akira Ifukube Toho Special Effects Movie Music 11
International Title
 Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
Music By: Akira Ifukube
Record Label: Toshiba EMI
  Order
Running Time: 42:58/57:27 Discs: 2
Release: December 1995 CD Number: TYCY-5469/70
Comments
Anthony Romero
Toshiba's two disc set to Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, released under their cumbersomely titled "Complete Recordings" line, is yet another outstanding release from the firm. This set also marks Akira Ifukube's final full fledged entry in the Godzilla series, as the composer goes out with a bang.

The soundtrack really has it all, with the composer's penchant for reusing themes while also displaying some new material. Some of the reused material includes "Masertank: Ultra-Low Temperature Offensive", recreated from The War of the Gargantuas (1966), and "The Super-X3 Attacks", from Daredevil in the Castle (1961), among others. Rather than feeling unoriginal though, as his still wonderful score for Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) did, it breathes just the right degree of familiarity into the proceeding to really make the score feel like a memorable one.

New or old, though, this soundtrack has a lot to offer. There are a number of themes here that are, what I call, "iPod worthy". In fact, the best cues from this set are hard to compile as there are several, such as the upbeat "Masertank: Ultra-Low Temperature Offensive" and the moving final piece for "Requiem". "Fear of the Oxygen Destroyer" is another fantastic cue from this disc, and one I want to single out as it seems to get overlooked despite being very haunting and yet beautifully done to make it seem perfectly tragic in its composition. This soundtrack also contains one of the best Godzilla themes ever conducted in the form of "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah [1]", which was wisely reused for Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999). "End Title" is also another stellar theme off this disc, weaving in modern conduction with a motif from one of the themes from King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) to surprisingly good affect. Overall, there are a lot of standout cues on this score to the point where just about any Godzilla fan would be hard pressed to make a "top ten theme list" from this franchise that didn't contain at least one theme from this soundtrack.

Following the movie selection comes a wealth of outtakes, unused, and unedited cues. The most interesting of these are the unedited cues, although not for reasons one might expect. To be honest, most of these are pretty poor, such as "Operation to Incinerate the Mysterious Life Form" which has a rather obnoxious blaring horn. It's more of an interesting study really, as one can follow the cue number and see where these were originally going to be placed in the movie. For example, "The Birth of a New Godzilla" was literally going to be placed during the scene where the camera zooms in on the new full grown Junior. In this case, the music is actually good, but was wisely cut as the scene is much more powerful with no soundtrack at all as the roar slowly fads in instead and the viewer realizes what has happened without reusing Junior's theme to spoil it ahead of time.

In terms of the unedited cues, they are a little interesting. Mostly slightly different runtimes for each, like "Requiem" runs for nearly four minutes instead of three. Rather than placing all of these on the disc, though, Toshiba selected the most different ones from the final selection, which was a wise choice after their manner of including it all for Complete Recordings: Akira Ifukube Toho Special Effects Movie Music 10 (TYCY-5342/3) made the already repetitive score slightly more so. In terms of the outtakes, which are found at the very end of the second disc, they are notably different from the source, which is a shock for Ifukube since his outtakes generally tend to be almost the same as what was used. For example, the outtake for "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah [1]" is much slower than the used version, while "Masertank: Ultra-Low Temperature Offensive" spends a longer time on the intro (plus a horn is off note, if one wants to be picky).

Bottom line, this is a fantastic score, one of Ifukube's better offerings, that is really given a royal treatment release. Basically, this is a soundtrack well worth owning.

Now, some are probably interested in how this release stacks up to the other two options that can be found on CD, which include the single disc from Toshiba (TYCY-5468) and the two disc set from the Godzilla Perfect Collection (G-022). To be fair, if one is a casual collector all three are fine releases as all three contain the best themes from the films. If one wants to nitpick, and surely one does if they are still reading this, the poorest choice of the three is the single disc. It has an odd order, mixing in unused cues with the final score, and naturally has the least amount of music. As it turns out, the Godzilla Perfect Collection release has the most music, as it contains about 13 minutes more minutes of music. The problem is that most of this additional music is nearly identical to what is already present, and its missing a couple noteworthy unused cues from this set. Not only that but the "Perfect Collection" release also features a cumbersome order that loses the original flow of the score as it was used in the movie. Final verdict? If one has a choice, this is the version to get, but it's close enough between both sets where either one is a fine choice.
Rating: Star Rating
Tracks
    Disc 1 - Movie Soundtrack
  1. The Destruction of Birth Island (M2)
  2. Main Title: The Destruction of Hong Kong (M3)
  3. The Oxygen Destroyer (M4)
  4. Incident at the Underwater Tunnel (M5)
  5. Godzilla Advances from the Coast of Taiwan (M6)
  6. Nuclear Explosion: Earth's Inferno (M7 + M3 + M29)
  7. Restaurant on the Ship BGM (OP9-2)
  8. Fear of the Oxygen Destroyer (M9)
  9. The Hole in the Flask (M10)
  10. The Nightmare at the Aquarium (M11)
  11. Discovery of the Microorganism (M12)
  12. Godzilla Advances from the Coast of Okinawa (M13)
  13. The Mysterious Life Form Emerges (M16 + M29)
  14. Yukari's Crisis (M19)
  15. Godzilla Heads Towards the Nuclear Plant (M21)
  16. Super-X3 on Standby (M22)
  17. The Super-X3 Attacks (M23B)
  18. Little One was Alive (M24)
  19. Meltdown (M25)
  20. Masertank: Ultra-Low Temperature Offensive (M26)
  21. The Birth of Destoroyah (M19)
  22. Beckoning Junior (M28)
  23. Destoroyah's Fury (M29)
  24. Junior vs. Destoroyah (M31)
  25. Godzilla Appears in Tokyo Bay (M38)
  26. Junior's Desperate Situation (M1)
  27. Destoroyah's Final Form (M3)
  28. The Super-X3 Takes Off (M15)
  29. Junior on the Verge of Death (M37)
  30. Godzilla's Decision (M38)
  31. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah [1] (M39B)
  32. Godzilla's Wrath (M39A)
  33. Destoroyah's Counterattack (M40)
  34. Roar of Sadness (M41)
  35. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah [2] (M42)
  36. Godzilla's Last Fight (M3)
  37. Requiem (M44A)
  38. End Title (M45)

    Unused Edited Cues
  39. Title Attack (M3)
  40. The Special Forces vs. the Mysterious Life Form (M15)
  41. Terror of the Mysterious Life Form (M3)
    Disc 2 - Original Conduction
    Unused Cues
  1. Toho Logo (M1)
  2. Destruction of the Mysterious Life Form (M14)
  3. The Special Forces Mobilize (M15)
  4. The Giant Growth of Destoroyah (M19B)
  5. Operation to Incinerate the Mysterious Life Form (M20)
  6. Super-X3 Preparation Sortie (M23A)
  7. Junior's First Crisis (M30)
  8. Godzilla and Junior Reunite (M33)
  9. Junior is Carried Off (M36)
  10. Maser Force All-Out Attack (M43A)
  11. The Birth of a New Godzilla (M44B)

    Utilized Cues
  12. Incident at the Underwater Tunnel (M5)
  13. Nuclear Explosion: Earth's Inferno (M7)
  14. Fear of the Oxygen Destroyer (M9)
  15. The Nightmare at the Aquarium (M11)
  16. Godzilla Advances from the Coast of Okinawa (M13)
  17. The Mysterious Life Form Emerges (M16)
  18. Yukari's Crisis (M19)
  19. Super-X3 on Standby (M22)
  20. The Super-X3 Attacks (M23B)
  21. Little One was Alive (M24)
  22. Masertank: Ultra-Low Temperature Offensive (M26)
  23. Beckoning Junior (M28)
  24. Cymbals (M29)
  25. Junior vs. Destoroyah (M31)
  26. Junior on the Verge of Death (M37)
  27. Godzilla's Decision (M38)
  28. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah [1] (M39B)
  29. Godzilla's Wrath (M39A)
  30. Destoroyah's Counterattack (M40)
  31. Roar of Sadness (M41)
  32. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah [2] (M42)
  33. Requiem (M44A)

    Outtakes
  34. Main Title: The Destruction of Hong Kong (M3-T1)
  35. Masertank: Ultra-Low Temperature Offensive (M26-T1)
  36. Godzilla and Junior Reunite (M33-T1)
  37. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah [1] (M39B-T2)
  38. Requiem (M44A-T1)
  39. End Title (M45-T1)




toho-kingdom-forums-icon forums

This website is for noncommercial use only and is not affiliated with, or authorized or endorsed by Toho Co. Ltd. Toho is the owner of all copyrights and trademarks in its respective films and characters, and all of its rights are expressly reserved. © 1943-2026 Toho Co. Ltd. and its related entities. All rights reserved. Godzilla, Gojira, the character designs and King of the Monsters are trademarks of Toho Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, duplication or distribution of these materials is expressly prohibited.