Following
Toho Music's release of Latitude Zero (TSFCD-22),
this double CD set marks the second release in Toho
Music's Sci-fi series. For this entry, the company
combined the scores for their two "space operas":
The Mysterians and Battle in Outer Space
(the booklet can be flipped for the Battle in Outer
Space cover, seen
here). The end result is a nice "budget",
and the term is used loosely given this will still
cost around $40, release that gives newer collectors
a chance to pick up the two long out of print soundtracks.
To start off with comes the disc for The Mysterians.
To give a rundown of the music, the score happens
to fall into that brief window when maestro Akira
Ifukube seemed to be in love with the tuba. Rodan
(1956) features a lot of this as well, but this 1957
soundtrack feels much more dominated by the instrument.
Dominated being the keyword, as it often overpowers
the other instruments and is fairly over-the-top in
the way it is utilized. "Moguera Emerges",
"Kidnapping", and of course the "Main
Title" are all examples of this. Consequently,
the score as a whole tends to suffer a bit. However,
there are a few gems here. Chief among these is the
wonderful, if not brief, "The Earth Defense Council",
which is a magnificent march from Ifukube. The other
truly noteworthy theme from this score is the "Markalite
FAHP", which is a great, rousing march and one
of Ifukube's better themes from this decade. That
said, the cue was presented with a lot more power
and to better effect when it closed out the composer's
Symphonic Fantasia (KICS-775,
although it has been issued on CD many times), but
the original is still with its charm. Overall, this
is not one of Ifukube's finer hours, but all the same
not a bad score or anything.
In terms of the bonus content for The Mysterians,
the disc covers a large number of outtakes. Like many
of the composer's alternate takes, these cues are
often extremely close to the ones used and because
of that are not all that interesting. This disc marks
the first time M6-T2 has been released, but it's so
close to the other two that it's hard to get excited
about it. Sadly, the sound effects and trailer were
removed from this release compared to the earlier
one (TYCY-5499). The sound effects are available on
the recent Sound EFX CD from Victor (VICG-60591),
so not too much of a loss for those who want them.
However, the trailer is harder to come by in audio
format, and the loss of the isolated trailer music,
which was a nice edit of some music from Rodan
(1956) and this film, is very unfortunate since it
was unique to the Toshiba EMI release. On the plus
side, the disc does have three tracks previously unreleased
with this score. The first two are classic themes
from famous composers Hector Berlioz and Edvard Grieg.
Sadly, the two themes aren't in the best condition,
but they are great additions, especially the Berlioz
piece which was actually featured prominently in the
movie. Finally, the last unique cue is the full song
for the "Bon Festival Dance". To my surprise,
the cue actually works better as a stand alone experience,
and I was somewhat shocked Toho even had the song
isolated since it has never been released before to
my knowledge and is such a front and center part of
the movie.
Now, the second disc includes the full score to Battle
in Outer Space. This soundtrack is classic Ifukube.
A wonderful mixture of rousing marches with the more
sinister music for the Natarl. The score as a whole
just has a wonderful level of energy to it, and is
a real gem from the composer. The star attraction
of this soundtrack is easily the amazing "Main
Title", which is such a rousing theme that it's
hard not to really get into the cue, which is well
known outside of the film as well for its use in Godzilla
vs. Gigan (1972). "Battle on the Moon"
is also another great cue and fantastic battle music,
which worked great within the film and as part of
the trailer for Invasion
of Astro-Monster (1965). The composer does
shake it up a bit too with the wonderfully soothing
"Starry Sky" theme, which would be reworked
countless times into later cues. "The Magnificence
of the Base" is another cue like this, with a
great majestic melody behind it. Overall, this is
one of the composers best soundtracks from this decade
and a real treat for fans of his work.
In regards to the bonus content, the disc contains
only one outtake and one edited cue, which is to combine
the "Opening" and "Main Title"
themes to represent how they appeared in the film.
The rest of the bonus content is more of the parade
music from classic composer Yosaku Suma. I personally
love this type of band music, having a nostalgic attachment
to fairs and theme parks of my youth, and the music
successfully conveys this type of emotion. There are
a couple of these that are unique to this release
versus the earlier one from Toshiba (TYCY-5501), but
these are alternate takes to the ones that were previously
included and not all that special. The disc closes
with an odd sound effect track that is literally of
people clapping. Odd that this would make the cut
when Toho Music has been removing the sound effects
from their other releases.
As for the audio quality, this set is mixed. The
Mysterians selection was well restored and sounds
stellar for its age. The same could not be said for
Battle in Outer Space, especially compared
with the earlier Toshiba (TYCY-5501) release. As per
usual, the tracks are all recorded here at a lower
volume level, as Toho Music almost prides themselves
at having softer CD music than just about any other
record label. Regardless, this is just preference.
The problem here is that there is a slight hiss to
the tracks, which is brought out when the volume is
raised to a comparable level to the Toshiba disc.
Its very minor, and hard to hear, but once one catches
it... sadly they will always notice it. This is particularly
lethal on the already soothing tracks on this release,
especially the very quiet and majestic "Starry
Sky" theme for which the hiss becomes the most
apparent.
Bottom line, this package doesn't offer much to those
who happen to have the earlier Toshiba EMI releases
from 1996, but does offer a great chance for those
who missed out on them to get both at the same time.
At around $40, the set still sells at a premium, but
given the elevated prices of the Toshiba EMI discs
and that Japanese soundtracks are rarely cheap anyway
this two disc set does come off as a nice deal for
collectors. As a side note, it also comes with a postcard
showing two production stills from the films. Nothing
too special, but resllers will probably want to hang
on to it. It should a be mentioned that this set is
sold exclusively online at Toho Music's site or Arksquare.com.
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