This is a
lacking "Image Album" done for the 1992 animated
film Porco Rosso. For those unfamiliar with these
types of releases, and I'm sure many aren't as I don't
see it explained very often, "Image Album"s
are a collection of outtakes for the film's score. They
are composed before the movie is complete, usually on
a much smaller scale then the final orchestrations. Their
name comes from the fact that they are done using images
from the storyboards as reference.
The one for Porco Rosso by Joe
Hisaishi is pretty standard for one of these releases
as well. It's a short album, at only a little over forty
minutes, while hearing a lot of these themes with the
smaller orchestra tends to just get one interested in
hearing the final soundtrack. A couple of these themes
do still work quite well here, such as the magnificent
"The Piccolo Company" and the "Dabohaze";
however, some of them falter pretty badly, especially
the extremely repetitive "The Great Depression"
and synthesized "Playing War", which, thankfully,
didn't translate over to the final score.
Like other "Image Album"s, particularly the
ones for the Hayao
Miyazaki films, these are generally
more regarded by collectors than the actual soundtracks
due to the fact that they go out of print. This is in
contrast to the final scores to these productions which,
due to popularity, remain in heavy circulation. At least
in theory, although some of these "Image Album"s
can hang around for quite a while after their first printing
due to the demand being fairly weak. Regardless, most
will be more than satisfied with the main release and
not need to bother with this one. If someone truly loves
the score, then seeking out these different arrangements
might be suggestible, but more casual listeners hoping
to hear some of Hisaishi's wonderful themes from the movie
should certainly check out the 23 track main release instead.
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