| Intended
to capitalize on the recent release of Peter Jackson's
King Kong, this soundtrack is actually an odd
choice for a US release considering that Akira
Ifukube's score was almost completely removed from
the English version of the film. Consequently, it seems
likely that most people in North America aren't well versed
in Ifukube's score for the movie, outside of the "native"
themes. Still, fans of the great composer's work should
still enjoy this CD, regardless if they can vividly picture
which sequences they are intended for or not. Collectors
might want to take note, though, that La-La Land Records'
release isn't quite the definitive version of this score;
that title would go to Toho's two disc release (G-003)
found in the Perfect Collection Box set that contains
both the Mono and Stereo soundtracks for the film. Of
course that release is not found outside of the $100 set
either. So more casual soundtrack collectors, especially
those looking to be easy on their wallets, should probably
search out La-La Land Records' version, which contains
the full soundtrack in stereo plus two extra tracks. On
the plus side, this release seems to have gotten rid of
the more cumbersome track transitions found on the two
disc set; however, in doing so they have clumped together
some very odd theme choices, such as "The Seahawk
in Crisis / Great News Gathering Team Departure".
Still, it's a minor complaint, especially considering
that the themes are played in chronological order. It
should be mentioned that this disc is missing a few themes,
such as "Operation "Burial" Begins",
but most of these are spliced from earlier cues and the
listener really isn't missing much unless they absolutely
have to hear the score in the same way it's presented
in the film. The only real loss in this respect is the
absence of the "Faro Island Expedition", which,
for whatever reason, wasn't included.
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