1954-1975 Best Of Godzilla [Import]

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.

There are other composers whose pieces are here too - Masaru Satoh, Yuji Koseki, Kunio Miyauchi, and Riichiroh Manabe. Most of these others used a more modern style - for the late 1960s. They're a non-classical style of music. In fact, Kunio Miyauchi's "All Monsters Attack" (track 28) sounds almost like 1960s rock with an orchestra or band and someone playing an electric guitar at times - after you get past the intro which would be about 40 seconds into the track.

There are some tracks of sound effects from the movies - Godzilla and Kong's roars, Mothra's chirp, planes and other military weapons. At least, one track has some dialogue - "It's Gojira!" (Track 9)

Most of the music is great. I don't care for Manabe's music for Godzilla vs. Megalon. Some of the basic melodies are OK, but in "Godzilla of Monster Island" (track 35) the random (possibly electronic) sounds are annoying. His music just sounds like it came from a low budget movie. Other pieces on the CD don't reflect this as much. In fact, Ifukube's music has a big budget quality.

Ifukube remains my overall favorite. His style is much more complex, not forgetting background instruments to enhance the primary music being played. I also enjoy Satoh's music for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (aka. Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster) except for Miyarabi's Prayer where she sings to wake King Ceasar. I'm not a big fan of most of the songs on the CDs, but they are nice to have anyway. Mothra's Song is here too.

I just spotted a mistake in the CD booklet. I'm not sure if it's been corrected. I got my CD over 3 years ago. For the summary of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, they list Akira Ifukube as the composer, but in the first two pages where they list the tracks, Masaru Satoh is listed as the composer. Satoh did write the music for this one. The music is not even close to Ifukube's musical style. Ifukube did compose the music for the sequel - Terror of Mechagodzilla which reflects the darker tone of that movie.