The third
release in the "Rhythm and Police" line, this
disc deals with the soundtrack to the first Bayside
Shakedown film. As is customary with this CD series,
III features a lot of remixes of previous themes, particularly
"G-Groove", "Ding Dong" and of course
the self-titled "Rhythm and Police". The remixes
here certainly aren't bad, much better than the ones that
appeared in Rhythm
and Police - Original Soundtrack IV/The Movie 2.
The track "Shinjyo" also debates on this disc,
a theme which sounds suspiciously close to one used in
The Matrix the following year, which played during
the "pan around the phone" scene. Unfortunately,
this theme is best heard in small spurts, and the five
and half minute version here just drags on far too long.
In fact, the CD as a whole tends to trade off on enjoyable
themes with ones that just fail to catch one's interest.
"The Sabbath", "March of C.X.", "Requiem"
and the holdover remixed tracks all good themes; however,
they are counterbalanced by the awful "Abduction"
(honestly sounds like a room with musicians tuning their
horns), the tedious "The Mission of Conga" and
"Insect Man". The disc does more right then
wrong, without doubt, and I would rather have a disc with
some nice themes mixed in with bad, than a mediocre CD
as a whole. Although this stance will likely depend on
listening habits. The disc does have one of those annoying
"secret tracks", which plays at the end of track
13 after a 30 second pause. The theme is chorus based,
sounding like "Odiex (The Theme of Teddy)" except
with a faster tempo. I have seen this theme often referred
to as "Manami", although it's not mentioned
at all in the booklet.
Overall, there are some nice tracks here, enough to probably
suggest this soundtrack to people who enjoy Matsumoto's
work despite its rather meager runtime. Due to the reputation
in this line, though, it's hard to suggest picking up
more than one CD from the series, unless one truly enjoys
this style of techno-like music. Regardless, this particular
disc certainly isn't a bad "entry" level one
for those interested in the Bayside Shakedown music.
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