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-In honor of the 46th anniversary of the film's premier on November 3rd, 1954, selections from Godzilla, King of the Monsters (original title: Gojira, 1954). There's not really a whole lot I can say about this entry that hasn't already been said. Ifukube's music was just as essential in the birth of Godzilla as the contributions of Honda, Tsuburaya, and Tanaka. With that being said, let's celebrate 46 years of Godzilla by just getting straight to the music!
Main
titles (1051 kilobytes)
The
sinking of the Eiko-maru (787 kilobytes)
Godzilla
wades ashore (1320 kilobytes)
Godzilla
in Tokyo Bay (1025 kilobytes)
Prayer
for peace (2143 kilobytes)
Godzilla
under the sea (4351 kilobytes)
-Selections from Varan the Unbelievable (original title: Daikaiju Baran). In my opinion, it was this score, moreso than his scores to Gojira or Rodan, that would define all of his future genre scores. The tune that would become the "battle" music for the Godzilla scores makes its first appearance in the opening titles for Varan. The music for Varan's rampage was also later revised as part of the "Horror of Godzilla" theme. This score features some truly bone-chilling music, creating an overpowering sense of doom & mystery. Unfortunately, nearly all of the music was removed in the US version of this film.
Main
titles (1231 kilobytes)
Mysteries
of the 20th Century (792 kilobytes)
Iwatani
Village (810 kilobytes)
The
battle begins (1678 kilobytes)
Varan
lands at Haneda Airport (2100 kilobytes)
Special
dynamite (631 kilobytes)
End
titles (2015 kilobytes)
The
JSDF marches on Iwatani Village (639 kilobytes) Note: this
track is actually from the aborted TV version of Daikaiju Baran.
-Selections from The Battle in Outer Space (original title: Uchu Daisenso, 1959). Now, I've never seen either version of this movie (I know, what kind of fan am I!?), but I've read that the U.S. version had quite a bit of music replaced with generic stock tunes, so if you've only seen that version, these cuts may be new to you. Quite a bit of music from this film was later re-used in Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972).
A
little night music (1395 kilobytes)
The
battle with the Nataru-seijin on the Moon (1884 kilobytes)
-Selections from Atragon (original title: Kaitei Gunkan, 1963). Fittingly enough, this score is filled with naval marches, exotic island dances, and eerie, mysterious themes befitting deep-sea menace. This is another film whose score was raided for Godzilla vs. Gigan.
The
Mu submarine surfaces (1507 kilobytes)
A
warning from the Mu Empire (1612 kilobytes)
The
Goten Defense Forces (287 kilobytes)
Makoto's
Theme (773 kilobytes)
The
first test of the undersea warship (505 kilobytes)
The
second test of the undersea warship (1865 kilobytes)
The
raid of the Volunteer Corps (1593 kilobytes)
-Godzilla's famous theme music, from Godzilla vs. The Thing (original title: Mosura tai Gojira, 1964). This theme has its origins in the dirge Ifukube wrote for the destruction of Tokyo in the first Godzilla film, which was later revised in Varan, The Unbelievable (Daikaiju Baran, 1958). Finally, that piece of music was incorporated into a full theme for Godzilla's return in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). The final touches were put onto this piece for Godzilla vs. The Thing, and few other changes have been made to the basic structure of the piece in the nearly forty years since.
The Horror of Godzilla (2037 kilobytes)
-Selections from Frankenstein Conquers the World (original title: Furankenshutain tai Chitei Kaiju Baragon, 1965). Like the film itself, the score has a mood of horror-tinged science-fiction, with trilling strings and low wind instruments representing the horror elements, and rotating speaker cabinet electric organs representing the science fiction. A personal favorite of mine, music from this film was also re-used in Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972).
Opening
titles (1184 kilobytes)
The
crawling hand (356 kilobytes)
The
missing hand (488 kilobytes)
Within
the woods (1871 kilobytes)
-Selections from Latitude Zero (original title: Ido 0 Daisakussen, 1969). This is a film most people, genre fans included, have never heard of. An ill-fated co-production between American producers and Toho, the legal tangles created by the last minute backing out of the American producers have prevented an official video release of this film in both Japan and America. An unlicensed video of this film (mastered from an old US theatrical print) was released two or three years ago. A film about a hidden underwater technological Utopia, the score is filled with music of underwater mystery, themes of fantastic discovery, longing harpsichord themes of a fragile dream-land, and themes of the menace of those who would destroy Latitude Zero.
Main
titles (2187 kilobytes)
The
submarine "Alpha" (1733 kilobytes)
The
Alpha vs. The Black Shark (708 kilobytes)
Utopia
(2456 kilobytes)
The
Fare at Latitude Zero (254 kilobytes)
The
kidnapping of Dr. Okada (662 kilobytes)
Maleck
and Dr. Okada (1094 kilobytes)
The
Griffin (375 kilobytes)
The
monsters at Blood Rock (1239 kilobytes)
Metal
Fragments (182 kilobytes)
Ruckus
on the ground (246 kilobytes)
-Music from from the intro sequence, from Yog, Monster from Space (original title: Gezora-Ganime-Kameba: Kessen! Nankai no daikaijû, 1970). This Ifukube score has been unfairly maligned, in my opinion, as one of his weaker scores. While it is certainly different than his other scores, that isn't a bad thing, by any means. This score is particularly notable for the use of synthesizers, a rarity in Ifukube's genre scores.
The launch, contamination, and return of the Helios-7 (1850 kilobytes)
-The final minutes of the first movement of Ifukube's symphonic work, Sinfonia Tapkaara (1954, revised 1979). Most western fans are unfamiliar with Ifukube's symphonic output, understandably. While certainly not as vast as his film score output, his symphonic works are much more developed, musically, than his film scores, due to the fact that he usually had very little time to work on his film scores, and was never satisfied as a result. Often, while trying to meet the break-neck deadlines of the Japanese film industry, Ifukube would "borrow" tunes from his symphonic works, revising them as needed. The following track was reinterpreted for the film The Devil's Temple (date & original title unknown). It's music that wouldn't be out of place in, say, an epic about the American Revolution, or some other historical drama.