© 2002 Lawrence Tuczynski
| Title | Godzilla Sound Memorial |
| CD Label | Toho Music |
| CD Number | TGCS-1229 |
| Number of tracks | 2 |
| Running time | 50:23 |
| Number of discs | 1 |
| Year of release/manufacture | 2001 |
| REVIEW |
January 4, 2002 I recently bought this CD from a friend who had an extra copy and paid a pretty steep price for it. I'm told that it is rare to find this CD outside of Japan right now. Neither my friend nor I had ever heard the contents of this CD before I bought it. I figured it wasn't something already on the site so why not pick it up. To say I was very disappointed with the contents after hearing it is an understatement. The first surprise was that it only contained two tracks. But since one ran over 20 minutes and the other over 29 minutes, I wasn't overly concerned. However once I played it I sat there stunned. There is almost NO music on this disc. Instead it is mainly spoken Japanese dialogue. The first track starts off with a few sound effects and then goes into the dialogue of a 1954 radio broadcast. At the end of the track is a short, chorale type song that is very slow and sounds like funeral music. Track two starts out with an Akira Ifukube Godzilla theme and then goes into dialogue that is from an interview with Tomoyuki Tanaka but is very difficult to hear. Unless you can understand Japanese or are a completist Godzilla collector, I really can't recommend this CD. February 10, 2002 - Additional information courtesy of Bill Littman Originally this was broadcast as a multi-part radio program just before the release of GOJIRA in 1954. What's on the CD is the final chapter following Ogata's pressuring of Dr. Serizawa to use the Oxygen Destroyer. The music and sound effects are original and not from the feature. After this comes the Ifukube main title music for GOJIRA followed by a long interview with Toho Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka. The interview, although in stereo, gives me the feeling that the recorder was left running in someone's suitcase two rooms away! I'll also add that Toho offered the Sound Memorial as part of a three-tiered gift set which included a very nice "G-Shock" wristwatch, a terrific Godzilla figure and the CD. They were released 11-3-01 and cost over $300 for the lot. There's a Toho web page that shows the trio as part of the "Godzilla Premium Collection" at: www.toho.co.jp/music/sf/news/cf.htm . You may need a download (like NJWIN or something similiar) to see the Japanese characters. One of the Toho web page connections shows an example of one of the GOJIRA "radio drama" cue sheets used in the broadcast and also pics of the figure model and the watch. (BTW it was Linda at Chibi-Goji Toys who first alerted me to the GODZILLA SOUND COLLECTION via her Japan connections.) |
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Title: Godzilla Sound Memorial
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