The Best Of Godzilla 1954-1975: Original Film Soundtracks [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] [SOUNDTRACK]

Various Artists - Soundtracks - Film Scores, Godzilla (Related Recordings), Akira Ifukube

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 17, 1998)
• Original Release Date: February 1, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack
• Label: Gnp Crescendo
• ASIN: B0000061GJ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #119,476 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Despite the best--no, make that worst--efforts of a Hollywood studio to destroy his legacy in the '90s, Godzilla lives! Okay, we know, the original Gojira is still just an underpaid and overworked stuntman in a clumsy rubber suit, but that just makes the Big Guy's half-century legacy all the more remarkable. Perhaps the most underrated element of Kaiju Eiga (the Japanese term for the prolific, internationally successful monster genre spawned by the World's Biggest Radioactively Mutated Reptile with an Attitude) is its earnest, nightmarish music. The Toho Studios series' cheese-factor may have waxed and waned (mostly the former) in ensuing years, but its music maintained a remarkably even keel. The dark, often minimalist efforts of original composer Akira Ifukube set the tone, coloring much of the toy-city stomping with ominous, nerve-wracking cues. But as the genre entered the swinging '60s, a deliciously skewed pop sensibility began to take hold, as Tokyo now saw its property insurance rates skyrocket to a soundtrack increasingly informed by warbling chanteuses and twangy guitars. GNP-Crescendo offers up a generous and sampling of the first 20 years of Kaiju Eiga music here, complete with annotation and lavish color artwork that would put many major-label anthologies to shame. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This Treasure Trove Before It Goes Out of Print!, October 30, 2002

By	Bryan E. Leed "Jesus says, 'Go and Sin No More!" (Dayton, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great collection of old soundtrack tunes and monster sound effects.

The best songs are the first half of this 70+ minutes CD. The earliest Godzilla music is a bit lo-fi, circa 1954, but the compositions can often be considered classic, and are quickly recognizable; so these earliest songs are written so well that they overcome the primitive recording techniques and are very enjoyable anyway. Since the songs are in chronological order matching the release dates of each film, the lo-fi recording quality only last for the first 10 minutes. By the time we get to Godzilla vs. Mothra, (including the priceless singing by the tiny twin girls), the recording quality seems perfectly normal.

The second half of the CD leaves behind the grand themes and monumentally moody atmosphere, and the later music starts to reflect the swinging 60's, Playboy mansion-type atmosphere that is fun yet kinda cheesy for trying to be so hip and contemporary. Some of it sort of sounds like the cocktail retro surf sounds that were en vogue in the late 1990's, except these tunes are actually from the authentic era of the 1960's, so it's this crazy Japanese version of trying to mimic American surf and cocktail music. Beautifully campy!

Sprinkled throughout the CD are brief sound effects of the monsters' voices and roar.

The editors of this CD did a very good job of collecting the best choices from each film, and not repeating basic melody themes too often, unless the theme has been significantly rearranged using different sounding musical instruments. So even though Godzilla films all contain the Godzilla theme song, this CD spreads it out so it isn't too redundant, but rather interesting to hear the different arrangement from many years apart in recording dates.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Godzilla & Ifukube triumph, December 26, 1999

By	Michael Tullberg (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an especially good and comprehensive CD of the music of the classic Showa-period Godzilla era. Maestro Akira Ifukube's vibrant monster marches and horror themes particularly stand out, as do the informative liner notes inside... unusually extensive for a simple fold-out piece of paper. Overall the music selection is very good, but I have one minor quibble: more of King Ghidora's themes would have made the disc truly complete, as would have more monster sound FX (Japanese import discs of the latter can get quite expensive). However, these are only minor points. This would be an excellent CD to introduce Western fans to the wild world of kaiju music...I have a couple of friends who work in the movie business here in L.A. who were positively enchanted by it. And on a side note, it's also a nice disc to listen to while reading a Godzilla-related book...not quite as distracting as a movie!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings a tear to my eye!!!, April 7, 1999

By A Customer

This CD brings me back to my childhood where I grew up watching Godzilla movies. This collection is better than the 84-95 collection, although that collection is great too. When I listen to this album, I feel like I'm that little kid in the Gamera or Godzilla movies. Brings a tear to my eye!!!!! Long Live GOJIRA!!! You need to get other Japanese monster movie soundtracks available to us like War of the Gargantuas or the music from the Daimajin trilogy. Akira Ifukube is God!!!