[.ca] Godzilla: 50th Anniversary Edi

Origato, Ikufube-san!:
This remastered CD of Akira Ikufube's original Godzilla score is an excellent addition to the fiftieth anniversary celebrations for the film series. Ikufube is constantly mentioned in discussions of the Godzilla films, and it's easy to see why: he always treated his subject seriously, even when the movie itself didn't. Surprisingly, the music doesn't feel terribly dated. You can often pinpoint the age of a movie soundtrack pretty accurately, particularly 1950s sci-fi movies (the theramin is usually the giveaway). I don't think this is because Ikufube continued to score the Godzilla series well into the 1990s. Rather, I think his classical music training allowed him to create a score that was not influenced by the sounds of the time. "Classic" is an overused adjective, but it's appropriate for a score that feels relatively modern after 50 years. The one thing that does date the music is the quality of the recording. It's in mono, of course, and the music is not as crisp as you would hear in a contemporary recording. Still, the sound remaster is impressive considering the age of the original recordings. It's also interesting to listen to this score in comparison to Ikufube's later music for the series. The music is extremely somber, in contrast to the more adventurous tone that Ikufube created for later films. For example, Godzilla's "entry" theme is here (in tracks like "Godzilla's Rampage"), but in a much slower, more menacing version that is barely recognizable as the powerful signature it would become later. At just over 45 minutes, there's not a lot of music on this CD. And of those, four tracks reprise earlier cues, just rearranging the cues to the order they appeared in the movie. There's also some Godzilla sound effects. Their inclusion is appropriate, considering that Ikufube created them with musical instruments! (This piece of information is one of my favourite tidbits from the liner notes, which are fairly good.) If you're interested in the familiar Godzilla themes, you're probably better off with a compilation CD of Godzilla music: it will have better sounding recordings, and the themes are more recognizable. But for serious kaiju fans and film score afficianados, this CD is a treat.

• Godzilla Approaches \oSound Effects\c
• Godzilla Main Title
• Ship Music/Sinking of Eikou-Maru
• Sinking of Bingou-Maru
• Anxieties on Ootojima Island
• Ootojima Temple Festival
• Stormy Ootojima Island
• Theme for Ootojima Island
• Japanese Army March I
• Horror of the Water Tank
• Godzilla Comes Ashore
• Godzilla's Rampage
• Desperate Broadcast
• Godzilla Comes to Tokyo Bay
• Intercept Godzilla
• Tragic Sight of the Imperial Capital
• Oxygen Destroyer
• Prayer for Peace
• Japanese Army March II
• Godzilla at the Ocean Floor
• Ending
• Godzilla Leaving \oSound Effects\c
• Main Title \oFilm Version\c\o*\c
• First Landing \oFilm Version\c\o*\c
• Tokyo in Flames \oFilm Version\c\o*\c
• Last Assault \oFilm Version\c\o*\c