 |
Title |
| SPFX Film Collection |
| International Title |
| [Compilation] |
| Music
By: Various |
| Record Label:
Avanz Records |
| |
|
| Running Time: 55:53/52:29 |
Discs: 2 |
| Release: October 1996 |
CD Number: SP/CR-71004~5 |
|
| Comments |
 |
Anthony
Romero |  |
|
|
This
release from Avanz Records is an oddity, to be sure.
The firm itself is one that specializes in mostly
releasing Italian scores, sometimes of questionable
quality with the source coming straight off vinyl
records. For whatever reason, to commerate their first
year of business the company decided to release a
two disc set dedicated to the trailers of Toho's special
effects productions. Sadly, their efforts are mixed
at best.
In terms of scope, the set is fairly exhaustive. It
skips over the two "self banned" films,
Half Human
(1995) and Prophecies
of Nostradamus (1974), but covers a lot of
the well known science fiction productions from Toho.
Vampire Doll
(1970), ESPY
(1974), Yamato
Takeru (1994), and a selection of others are
notably absent but most everything up until the 1970's
is featured along with all of the Godzilla films up
to 1995. There is no specific trailer for Godzilla
Raids Again (1955), but the movie is featured
in the start of the Rodan
(1956) one.
Sadly, some of these trailers are really bad in terms
of audio quality. Varan
(1958) is easily the worst, sounding so muffled one
would swear they are hearing it coming from a TV on
the other side of a wall. A lot of others sound rough
and slightly distorted. Notably worse than they have
on other CD releases, such as Toshiba's Futureland
set or Apollon's releases such as The History of
Godzilla Vol. 1 (APCF-5096).
Frankly, the lacking audio quality is really the downfall
of this release, and one could easily get better quality
recording directly off the many DVDs available that
contain the trailers on them today. Furthermore, there
are a couple of glitches found on these tracks as
well. The Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) one being the most obvious,
as it ends too early and actually is interrupted by
the start of the trailer for Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)... only for the track
to cut back out and for the next track to start playing
the intro again from the start.
Now, the set is largely focused on the "main"
Japanese trailers for these movies, but there are
a few exceptions. There are "international"
trailers for Godzilla
(1954), The Last
War (1961), King
Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), and Latitude
Zero (1969). The quality on all of these are
a little iffy, especially the last one, but they are
still great extras to have. The one for King
Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) in particular, as
its somewhat rare and features a dub track I have
never heard before. There are also two versions of
the Japanese trailer for King
Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) present. One of these
is in mono, while the other is in stereo. Sadly the
stereo one is in real horrible condition. It also
suffers the same problems of the stereo version of
the trailer found on the Godzilla 2 release (GX-2)
in terms of the audio levels being off, although the
condition of this one is much worse than what's found
on that release.
In terms of presentation, the set is certainly a mixed
bag. It's different for the sake of being different,
really. The disc contains two small booklets, one
for each disc, which are notably smaller than the
standard insert size. The covers of these are quite
unnattractive, with captures from the movies literally
cut out and placed together on the cover with the
background still around the figure. Its artsy, no
doubt intentional, but far from pleasing to the eye.
On the plus side, the CD discs themselves look nice.
The first has a blueprint sketch of the Helios-7 from
Space Amoeba
(1970) on it, while the second has a sketch of the
Trip Wire Cannons from The
War of the Gargantuas (1966).
Overall, this set has limited appeal. I love what
the set is trying to do, as I have always found trailers
to be a very memorable and an exciting aspect of a
movie. Even in audio form I find the trailers to be
catchy and interesting. The market for this is limited
though, and this set has a boat load of problems with
it. It's really the only set to focus solely on this,
though, and will probably still be of interest to
some, if for nothing more than the Heisei Godzilla
trailers. Still, hopefully someday a company comes
along and gives the concept a proper release, in far
better quality.
As a side note, although I ran into no problems, it
has been said that there are issues with the second
disc in this set playing in some DVD players and computer
drives. This is likely due to the way the disc was
produced. It's one of the rare examples I have seen
where they actually include a track listing that carriers
over from the first CD, meaning that track one reads
as track 23, a feature that some players might have
trouble with.
Rating:  |
| | Tracks |
Disc 1
- Godzilla
- Godzilla (International Version)
- Rodan
- The Mysterians
- H-Man
- Varan
- The Three Treasures
- Battle in Outer Space
- The Secret of Telegian
- The Human Vapour
- Mothra
- The Last War (International Version)
- Gorath
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (Version A)
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (Version B)
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (International Version)
- Matango
- Atragon
- Mothra vs. Godzilla
- Dogora
- Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
- Frankenstein vs. Baragon
Disc 2
- Invasion of Astro-Monster
- The War of the Gargantuas
- Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
- King Kong Escapes
- Son of Godzilla
- Destroy All Monsters
- Latitude Zero
- Latitude Zero (International Version)
- All Monsters Attack
- Space Amoeba
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah
- Godzilla vs. Gigan
- Godzilla vs. Megalon
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
- Terror of Mechagodzilla
- The War in Space
- The Return of Godzilla
- Godzilla vs. Biollante
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
- Godzilla vs. Mothra
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla
- Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
| |
