VOTD 2/07/2023

 VA: SF特撮映画音楽全集 14 (特撮スペクタクルの世界2) (Starchild)

Purchased from Eide's

The State of the Union address is happening as I write this. I can't stand those speeches. Even when I agree with the people speaking, I have little tolerance for political speeches, senate hearings, White House briefings, and such. There's too much postering. There's little direct talk, little honesty. Add to that the "who stands and claps/who sits on their hands and scowls" drama, and it all borders on theater of the absurd. I also have little tolerance for awards shows, and rely on my wife to to tell me what's going, assuming even she's watching.

So here I am again, posting to this modest listening journal, escaping from political irreality, listening to more Japanese soundtrack music. Do I like the music? Yes, although I'll freely admit some of it isn't particularly outstanding (or sometimes even good). Nonetheless, I like that there was an independent Japanese film industry, producing in some cases movies that stand apart from American films. I mean, Mothra? Two tiny twins can communicate with a phoenix-like giant moth, the guardian of Infant Island? That is mythical in a way American films rarely are, if ever.

In a previous posting, I made comments on another LP in this series. That was, if I remember correctly, entirely Toho Studio-related. Not so here. According to Discogs, the initial track is from Daikyojû Gappa/Gappa the Triphibian Monster. I was reading that it was the only giant monster film produced by the Nikkatsu Studio. Nikkatsu was notorious in later years for its "pink" series, which are softcore sex films, I guess. I can honestly say I've never seen one of them.

Gappa is from 1967, and like the Godzilla soundtracks of the time, the rock 'n roll influence is heard in the music is heard, with a kind of strange surf guitar sort of thing happening.

Discogs makes no mention of some of the film titles on the first side, but the images on the cover clearly indicate the producers have included cues from Goke, The Body Snatcher From Hell. I recommend that film, a particularly good sci-fi/horror/end of the world (?) film. There's an image of a character's forehead splitting open and foaming goo spewing out, that's pretty strong stuff for a 60s Japanese sci-fi feature.

The second side appears to be drawn entirely from 1963-1969 war films. The great Akira Ifukube isn't present on either side; the familiar name, as I've written before, is Masaru Sato. There's a contrabassoon/contrabass clarinet melody that reminds of me his theme for Son of Godzilla, one of the sillier films in the Big G original series.

The music otherwise, pretty standard fare for film scoring, particularly from Japan. But, you know, it definitely beats watching the SOTU, and more so Sarah Huckabee Sanders' Republican response. Yuck. Make it all stop, please.