Various: SF特撮映画音楽全集 4 (Starchild)
Purchased at Eide's
"Let me tell you something, do you like monster movies? Anybody? I love monster movies, I simply adore monster movies, and the cheaper they are, the better they are." -Frank Zappa, introduction to "Cheepnis" (Roxy & Elsewhere)
Yes, I like monster movies too, Frank. As I've said on stage, put a Japanese man in a rubber monster suit, and that's guaranteed entertainment to me. I know "the excuse" too: yes, I know they can be dumb, but I still like them. And for as much as I enjoy characters such as the classic Universal monsters, I'm definitely a Japanese kaiju fan.
This LP is from a series issued in 1983, with selections from various Toho movies in the monster, horror, and sci-fi genres. A bunch of them turned up at Eide's as a stack, and I picked through and bought some of them. I should have strung for all of them, in retrospect.
#4 contains excerpts from five movie soundtracks, from five composers. Akira Ifukube, Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster; Sadao Bekku, Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People; Masaru Sato, The H-Man; Sei Ikeno, The Secret of the Telegian; Kunio Miyauchi, The Human Vapor. I know Sato's name, and Ifukube is the old master of Toho kaiju soundtracks. The other names, I don't recall at all, and I've never seen nor read about The Secret of the Telegian.
I like Akira's soundtracks. I think they add gravity to films that wouldn't necessarily be taken very seriously. I admit, he repeats himself, frequently. The upside is that he's identifiable; the downside, a lot of it sounds similar. He himself said that what he did best was write marches and elegies, and I'd confirm that.
The thing is, I like those pieces even despite their similarities. Bernard Herrmann is also instantly recognizable, but he drew from a wider range of techniques than Ifukube. On the other hand, I largely can't tolerate Danny Elfman's work, who from my perspective also writes the same piece over and over. It's a matter of taste, isn't it?
If you can think of a musical cue or melody associated with Godzilla, Akira wrote it. They are highly memorable, probably in part because they're very broad and simple. What I was wondering in pulling this out is, to what extent do the others sound or not sound like Ifukube? All of the composers to varying degrees sound similar to each other, though I wonder if part of that has to do with the orchestra and recording circumstances.
For whatever its faults, I really enjoy Matango. It's a very slow burn for a much of its time but pays off in the end. A boat is shipwrecked on a deserted island, where there is curiously no animal life at all. There are however many odd mushrooms. The problems happen when the people start going mad with hunger... Bekku's score sounds a bit like Ifukube, though he brings some more jazz elements into the mix. There's a new, snazzy edition on vinyl of the complete score on the Death Waltz Recording Company label. It's tempting, but I am discouraged by how expensive single records are these days, even ones presented as beautifully is this one.
https://mondoshop.com/collections/soundtracks/products/matango-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-lp-numbered-edition
It's Sato's score for The H-Man that sounds most western to me, the most like American soundtrack music. It's also the earliest of the scores on this record. The remaining composers have a little of that Ifukube style happening, but also sound more western influenced. And Ifukube is certainly influenced by western music too, but there's something about the simplicity of his melodies that suggests an Asian approach. I think it's his broadness that wins out among these composers.
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