© 2000, 2014 Lawrence Tuczynski

Title The Film Music By Masaru Satoh Vol. 4
CD Label SLC Inc.
CD Number SLCS-7104
Music by: Masaru Satoh
Number of tracks 9
Running time 72:15
Number of discs 1
Year of release/manufacture 1992

REVIEW

Feb. 29, 2000

The music on this CD is probably the best known of his music to kaiju fans. This is the volume with his Godzilla and other Sci-Fi film works. While I personally don't care much for most of his score work IN the Godzilla films, as stand alone pieces they are good to listen too. After the rousing marches and action pieces in Godzilla films scored by Akira Ifukube, Satoh's Godzilla scores seem out of place.

There are nine suites of music here and they are all pretty enjoyable and are comprised of a variety of styles. Track #2 from "The H-Man" also has some female vocals in parts. If you remember the movie, a lot of the film took place in a night club and this is the singer who was on stage at the time. The last track on this CD is called "Blue Christmas" and is sung by someone named Char. I don't know anything about this particular film except that it was released in Japan in 1978 and was also known as: "Blood Type: Blue", "The Blue Stigma" and "U.F.O. Blue Christmas". It's Japanese name was "Buru Kurisumasu".

This is one of the better CD's in the series for my tastes. It's very listenable and most of the stuff will sound familiar.

Updated March 25, 2001

Title: The Film Music By Masaru Satoh Vol. 4 (SF, FANTASY MOVIE VOLUME)
Japanese Title: SF, FANTASY EIGA HAN
Cover: Gigantis the Fire Monster [Haruo Nakajima (left), Katsumi Tezuka (right)]
Dir= director, Str= starring, Scr=scripted by.
Translations & notes courtesy of Jolyon Yates

  1. Lost World of Sinbad (Daitozoku [Great Thief], 1963, aka Samurai Pirate, dir Senkichi Taniguchi, str Toshiro Mifune, Kumi Mizuno, Mie Hama, Takashi Shimura, Little Man Ma-chan)
  2. The H-Man (Bijo to Ekitai Ningen [Beauty & The Liquid People], 1958, dir Ishiro Honda, str Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Hirata, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Haruo Nakajima)
  3. Monster Snowman (Jujin Yukiotoko [Manbeast Snowman], 1955, aka Half Human, dir Ishiro Honda, str Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi)
  4. Gigantis the Fire Monster (Gojira no Gyakushu [Godzilla’s Counterattack], 1955, aka Godzilla’s Counterattack etc, dir Motoyoshi Oda, str Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Haruo Nakajima)
  5. Godzilla vs the Sea Monster (Gojira, Ebira, Mosura: Nankai no Daiketto [Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: South Seas Big Duel], 1966, aka Godzilla vs The Sea Monster, dir Jun Fukuda, str Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Akihiko Hirata, Haruo Nakajima)
  6. Son of Godzilla (Kaiju Shima no Kessen: Gojira no Musuko [Monster Island Showdown: Godzilla’s Son], 1967, dir Jun Fukuda, str Akira Kubo, Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Hirata, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Haruo Nakajima, Little Man Ma-chan)
  7. Godzilla vs the Bionic Monster (Gojira tai Mekagojira [Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla], 1974, aka Godzilla vs the Cosmic Monster, dir Jun Fukuda, str Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara)
  8. Tidal Wave (Nihon Chinbotsu, 1973, aka Submersion of Japan, dir Shiro Moritani, str Keiju Kobayashi, Tetsuro Tamba)
  9. Blue Christmas (Buru Kurisumasu, 1978, aka Blood Type: Blue etc, dir Kihachi Okamoto, str Tatsuya Nakadai, Eiji Okada)