This two disc set features the soundtracks to the 1957 movie Kronos and the 1959 movie The Cosmic Man. Each score was created by the composing duo of Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter. The set for the two American science fiction films also features two booklets, one for each film. The primary one is for Kronos, pictured above, while the second one is for The Cosmic Man, pictured here. Now the reason we are covering this release on Toho Kingdom is due solely to the Kronos score, which served as the source material for Warner Bros' 1959 release of Godzilla Raids Again (1955) as Gigantis, the Fire Monster. So we'll review both scores, but pay a little extra attention to the first.
Now this isn't the first time the Kronos soundtrack has been released, although prior to this was to the LP format. That release only had 40 minutes worth of music, though, while this one features an additional nine minutes from the score. An element of the score that might surprise people is exactly how much was reused for Gigantis, the Fire Monster. The main title for example is literally a shortened version of the main title from this film, "Power Resources" was used during the Fire Monsters lecture, "Kronos on Rampage" was used for the final battle of Godzilla/Gigantis and Anguirus while many others appear in the overseas version. Those who grew up on the Americanized version of the film will probably appreciate hearing the music again. That said, the score is not stellar as a whole. It does have a very 1950's science fiction vibe to it, dated to the period it was made as it uses a lot of musical saws and loud horns. So some might enjoy it quite a bit. A few tracks are good, like "Dr. Eliot in Hospital " and "Asteroid Rises From Sea". Others are awful, like "Asteroid Part 1" that just goes on and on with the same musical riff and feels like it lasts forever. The soundtrack is very repetitive too, as theme motifs appear again and again. On the plus side, this means themes similar to the ones that appeared in Gigantis, the Fire Monster are plentiful. On the negative side, as a stand alone experience the score quickly overstays its welcome.
As for the second disc with The Cosmic Man score, it's better. The orchestration sounds more complex, using a greater number of instruments. It's also not nearly as repetitive as Kronos was. There is a lot more range in the tracks, in fact even a few creepy tunes like "The Cosmic Theme" and "Magic Bloop!". In general, the score sounds a lot less dated than the Kronos one does. However, even though it's a better soundtrack, it's not really memorable.
Overall, this set appeals to that rare completest who is searching after the music that appeared in the American version of a Toho film. However, unlike Def-Con 4, which features music that appears in Godzilla 1985, the score for Kronos just doesn't stand up well in an isolated experience. That said, if you are a fan of science fiction music of this period in US cinema, this is a great set as it's very affordable for housing two complete scores.
Note: the track titles are presented exactly as they are throughout this set. I haven't seen the movies so I'm not sure if "Heliocopter" was a reference to something specific or just a typo. |
