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I love, love, love Satoh's Godzilla scores. They carry elements of fun, danger, excitement. Great stuff!
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Posted: |
May 5, 2021 - 5:03 AM
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By: |
increbula
(Member)
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I love, love, love Satoh's Godzilla scores. They carry elements of fun, danger, excitement. Great stuff!
Yes, I agree - stylistically, those scores are all over the place, but in a good way. The "Main Title" from GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN is a frenetic, no-nonsense danger theme, while "The Yacht, the Storm and the Monster" from GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER is straight out of James Bond with it's spidery, twanging guitar and brass. "Escape", from the same film, starts out as mock suspense but shifts to zany chase music, and the cue "Godzilla vs. Ebirah II" audaciously echoes Neal Hefti's "Batman" theme from the same period. "Gimantis" from SON OF GODZILLA reminds me of intro music from "The People's Court", while SON's "Godzilla vs. Kumonga" transitions from guttural, tribal-flavored battle music to exotic, high seas adventure in just over two minutes. GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA begins with a truly swingin' main theme and the film's "Godzilla and the Torpedo Attack" sounds like Duke Ellington training for a death match. Go-go Satoh!
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Posted: |
May 6, 2021 - 9:50 AM
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By: |
Ostinato
(Member)
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Yes, I agree - stylistically, those scores are all over the place, but in a good way. The "Main Title" from GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN is a frenetic, no-nonsense danger theme, while "The Yacht, the Storm and the Monster" from GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER is straight out of James Bond with it's spidery, twanging guitar and brass. "Escape", from the same film, starts out as mock suspense but shifts to zany chase music, and the cue "Godzilla vs. Ebirah II" audaciously echoes Neal Hefti's "Batman" theme from the same period. "Gimantis" from SON OF GODZILLA reminds me of intro music from "The People's Court", while SON's "Godzilla vs. Kumonga" transitions from guttural, tribal-flavored battle music to exotic, high seas adventure in just over two minutes. GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA begins with a truly swingin' main theme and the film's "Godzilla and the Torpedo Attack" sounds like Duke Ellington training for a death match. Go-go Satoh!
"Ebirah" is definitely my least favorite Sato Godzilla score. However, there are a number of cues I absolutely enjoy. I don't care for the more comical cues, but I also enjoy some of them. "Son of Godzilla" is great. Not much in the way of nitpicks there. Same for "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla". I remember laughing when I first saw the film though. The music during the title card was quite dramatic, then transitioned to the rather peaceful and care-free music during the title credits. That made my crying with laughter.
As mentioned elsewhere, "Godzilla Raids Again" is my favorite Sato Godzilla score. From it being dark, brooding and atmospheric, to the experimental recording and playback techniques, the score is unique among Sato's other three Godzilla efforts.
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This thread seems like an appropriate place to post a question I have about Satoh's score for "Godzilla Raids Again."
On the Futureland CD from 1993, Track #3 is short cue with a title that translates variously as "Giant Dragon Splash" or "Dragons Falling."
Years later, when the same album was reissued in the "Godzilla Perfect Collection" series, that cue wound up getting moved to Track #2 (and thusly, an earlier point in the film), and the title was changed to "Crisis With Kobayashi's Plane."
Why the change?
The cue itself is not actually heard in the film (I just checked both of scenes alluded to by the track titles), so there's no definitive answer there.
I'm wondering if this odd discrepancy is explained in the "Perfect Collection" liner notes, but I can't read Japanese. So...do any Satoh experts out there know what the explanation is?
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Posted: |
Sep 30, 2023 - 10:22 PM
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By: |
Ostinato
(Member)
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This thread seems like an appropriate place to post a question I have about Satoh's score for "Godzilla Raids Again."
On the Futureland CD from 1993, Track #3 is short cue with a title that translates variously as "Giant Dragon Splash" or "Dragons Falling."
Years later, when the same album was reissued in the "Godzilla Perfect Collection" series, that cue wound up getting moved to Track #2 (and thusly, an earlier point in the film), and the title was changed to "Crisis With Kobayashi's Plane."
Why the change?
The cue itself is not actually heard in the film (I just checked both of scenes alluded to by the track titles), so there's no definitive answer there.
I'm wondering if this odd discrepancy is explained in the "Perfect Collection" liner notes, but I can't read Japanese. So...do any Satoh experts out there know what the explanation is?
There's even a discrepancy with the track descriptions with both releases. The Futureland release states that the cue was intended to be used when Godzilla and Anguirus fall into the ocean after their initial confrontation. However, the Perfect Collection release states that the cue was thought to have been chosen for the scene where the engine in Kobayashi's plane stops. Other than that, there is no other explanation on either releases.
The cue number, DB-5 M-2, suggests that it could very well be the latter. Unfortunately, the cue sheets for both the primary and secondary sets of tapes (like many of Toho's scores, it was primarily recorded onto two sets of tapes aside from the pre-scoring) don't provide anything on the cue other than its recording date (April 17, 1955) and its duration (15"). Funny enough, the cue can work for both sequences.
Oh, please do not get me started on the Perfect Collection sets. I've said plenty about those dreaded things here enough times now. Long story short, I'm absolutely NOT a fan of most of Toho Music's releases.
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Posted: |
Oct 1, 2023 - 5:23 AM
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By: |
increbula
(Member)
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I know that the Perfect boxes are arguably superior in most respects, but I guess it's just a nostalgia thing with me.
Oh, please do not get me started on the Perfect Collection sets. I've said plenty about those dreaded things here enough times now. Long story short, I'm absolutely NOT a fan of most of Toho Music's releases.
The Perfect Collection sets (as well as many other releases on the Toho Music label) are a missed opportunity. While they score points with generous bonus material, attractive packaging and copious liner notes, their sound quality is inconsistent, at best. The 90s-era Toshiba/Futureland releases were almost always superior in that department, featuring consistently crisp, straightforward transfers without the unnecessary fiddling and noise reduction found so frequently in the Perfect Collection. Considering the age and often low-budget circumstances of the original films, the Futureland CDs sound surprisingly good, and it's regrettable that Toho Music was so heavy-handed in trying to improve on them.
In all fairness, Toho Music should be given due credit for at least attempting to thoroughly curate their legacy. And in the case of the Kurosawa box sets, we have to be grateful to the label for releasing them at all, as no comparable earlier editions exist.
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Way back in the 1990s, when I got the Soundtrack Listeners set, I was doing a marathon Masaru Satoh listening session
and I remember hearing a melody that made me stop what I was doing and listen again: It was a dead ringer for "Born Free"
in the downhill skiing music for the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics in Japan
Apparently, this "sound alike" was also noticed by this reviewer in Volume 15, cue No. 1 ("Sapporo Olympic").
http://godzillamonstermusic.com/MS15.htm
If you have this set, give it a listen. It's pretty damn close.
Ron Burbella
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Posted: |
Oct 1, 2023 - 9:20 PM
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By: |
Ostinato
(Member)
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Here's a bit of a surprise: Futureland did tamper with the original recordings for many of their releases.
I do remember the "Born Free" similarities regarding the Sapporo Olympics documentary.
For Toho Music, I have their 14 Kurosawa releases (the individual releases rather than the three box sets), Ifukube's "Osaka Castle Story" and their two disc Ifukube set.
The Kurosawa stuff is great, not too many complaints there. I only wished they included the cue sheet data as they did with the majority of their releases afterward.
"Osaka Castle Story" unfortunately has most of the issues that plague their releases after the Kurosawa albums were released, but I have a workaround when listening to it.
The two disc Ifukube set can be skipped. It has a small amount of music exclusive to the set, but it's overall uneven and much of what's included can be found elsewhere. If one wants introductory album to Ifukube's film music, grab VAP's Akira Ifukube Melodious Compile (VPCD-81225). It has a good sampling of Ifukube's film music covering a variety of genres, plus samplings of his stage music and more. I can't recommend it enough.
I can't stress enough at how much I love Cinema-kan! There was a period shortly after the label was revamped in 2015 when they released a swath of Sato scores. All of which are great. However, they omitted the stereo cues for their "Battle of Okinawa" release, which I found odd. Since it's my second favorite Sato score, I didn't care in the end.
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