© 2004, 2014 Lawrence Tuczynski

Title Four Beats Artisan / KIHACHI Tracks
CD Label VAP Inc.
CD Number VPCD-81409
Music Composed by: Masaru Sato (Satoh)
(except Disc 1, tracks 4 & 38 - Akira Ifukube,
Disc 2, tracks 17 & 18: Scott Joplin, arranged by(?) Masaru Satoh
Disc 2, tracks 19 & 25 - Yamashita Yosuke)
Number of tracks Disc 1 - 38
Disc 2 - 25
Running time Disc 1 - 62:53
Disc 2 - 53:10
Number of discs 2
Year of release/manufacture January 23, 2002

REVIEW

March 19, 2004

I was finally able to give this set another listen in order to do this review. The music on these two discs is interesting and pleasant enough to listen to but nothing really grabbed me. Most of the tracks have the sound of horn heavy Jazz. There are also a couple of vocal tracks scattered and some slower paced tracks. I think what really surprised me was how similar these tracks were considering how many different movies they were taken from. There were also a number of tracks that came off sounding like TV music from '70's U.S. television. Then again, jazz sounding tracks seem to be a Masaru Sato trademark. If you like Sato's other soundtracks or jazz oriented music then you'd probably love this CD. For others it's a pleasant enough set to listen to and you'll most likely like some tunes better than others. Not a bad set but, for me, nothing outstanding either.

Four Beats Artisan / KIHACHI Tracks
Track translations courtesy of Jolyon Yates

    Disc 1

    ALL ABOUT MARRIAGE (1958 Toho)

  1. Prologue

    2. YOUNG LADIES (1958 Toho)

  2. Rockabilly
  3. Girls' Love

    4. BIG BOSS (1959 Toho)

  4. Top Title (Akira Ifukube)

    5. SOMEDAY I WILL (1959 Toho)

  5. Top Title
  6. Tango

    7. DESPERADO OUTPOST (1959 Toho)

  7. Title Back

    8. THE LAST GUNFIGHT (1960 Toho)

  8. Main Title
  9. Cabaret Music

    10. BAD BOYS IN UNIVERSITY (1960 Toho)

  10. Top Title
  11. Title Back

    12. WESTWARD DESPERADO (1960 Toho)

  12. Captain Ikina instrumental

    13. GANGLAND BULLETS (1961 Toho)

  13. Main Title
  14. Above the Canal

    15. DEATH OF THE BOSS (1961 Toho)

  15. Main Title
  16. Jazzy Night

    17. BANQUET IN HELL (1961 Toho)

  17. Main Title
  18. Coffee House 'Boa'

    19. OPERATION X lit.'Operation Sewer Rat' (1962 Toho)

  19. Main Title

    20. SALARY ROBBER (1962 Toho)

  20. Main Title

    21. WARRING CLANS (1963 Toho)

  21. Main Title

    22. THE ELEGANT LIFE OF Mr EVERYMAN (1963 Toho)

  22. Title Back
  23. Daylight Sleeper

    24. OH BOMB (1964 Toho)

  24. Vacuum Car Drive-in

    25. SAMURAI ASSASSIN (1965 Toho)

  25. Prologue
  26. Main Title

  27. FORT GRAVEYARD lit. 'Blood & Sand' (1965 Toho)

    28. SWORD OF DOOM (1966 Toho)

  28. Title Back

    29. TIME OF KILLERS (1967 Toho)

  29. Prologue (Work Repayed in Full)
  30. Title Back
  31. Dr Mizorogi's Theme

    32. THE EMPEROR AND A GENERAL (1967 Toho)

  32. End Credits

    33. KILL (1968 Toho)

  33. Title Back

    34. HUMAN BULLET (1968, Human Bullet Group, ATG)

  34. Main Theme
  35. Attack Preparation
  36. Last Scene

    37. RED LION (1969 Mifune Productions)

  37. Title Back

    38. ZATOICHI MEETS YOJIMBO (1970 Mifune Productions / Daiei)

  38. Title Back (from the film soundtrack) (Akira Ifukube)

    Disc 2

    BATTLE OF OKINAWA (1971 Toho)

  1. Ending

    2. JAPANESE THREE FIGHTERS: GOODBYE TOKYO (1972 Tokyo)

  2. Title Back
  3. Last Scene

    4. JAPANESE THREE FIGHTERS: CINCH THE HAKATA BELT (?)

  4. Battle & Strip

    5. LUSH FOLIAGE (1974 Toho)

  5. Toho Logo
  6. Main Title long version
  7. Hiroko's Theme

    8. BATTLE CRY (1975 Toho)

  8. Title Back
  9. Fall of the Two Matsushiro Castles

    10. NEW JUDO SAGA (1977 Toho)

  10. Prologue
  11. 34 Ro! Instrumental
  12. Otomi's Song instrumental

    13. DYNAMITE DON DON (1978 Daiei)

  13. Ending

    14. BLUE CHRISTMAS (1978 Toho)

  14. Main Title (Future Assassins)
  15. Ending (Blue Christmas Love Theme)

    16. THE LAST GAME (1979 Tokyo 12 Channel)

  16. THE LAST GAME Main Theme lit. Song to Cheer the Spirits of the War Dead

    17. AT THIS LATE DATE, THE CHARLESTON

  17. Maple Leaf Rag (Scott Joplin)
  18. Magnetic Rag (Scott Joplin)

    19. DIXIELAND DAIMYO lit. Jazz Daimyo (1986 Daiei)

  19. Jazz Daimyo ~ Burrow Underground (Yamashita Yosuke)

    20. RAINBOW KIDS lit. Great Kidnapping: Rainbow Kids (1991)

  20. Fortune Demand
  21. "Toshi's" Theme (Toshiko Yanagikawa is the kidnapped woman who ends up running the scheme)

    22. EAST MEETS WEST (1996 East meets West production group)

  22. Main Title
  23. Samurai Western
  24. Last Scene

    25. VENGEANCE IS SUCH A GREAT BUSINESS (2002 Fuji TV)

  25. Main Title (Yamashita Yosuke)