Ostinato

The second bonus CD from this set is yet another LP transfer, this time of Akira Ifukubes Ostinato recording. Conducted by Hiroshi Kumagai, Ostinato was a selection of music created in the mid-1980s during the slow resurgence of the Godzilla franchise. The content was used largely for promotional supplements, most famously in trailers and home videos showing off cut scenes. In 1986 the music was released on CD and LP. This disc is a reproduction of that original LP. In terms of the content, Ostinato is something that every Godzilla fan should hear at least once. Its an interesting body of work, as Ifukube has essentially rescored some of his material from the Toho science fiction features and then had that work reconducted. The result is mixed. Some of these themes are better than the original source, such as "Latitude Zero: Title" and "Godzilla: Title", while others are notably worse, such as "Preparation for Operation Burial" and "Rodan Appears in Fukuoka". The problem is that the orchestra used sometimes sounds pitifully small, which really impacts some of these redone themes. However, these themes are also being done in stereo too, many for the first time, so its a give or take as to which benefit most from the multi-channel presentation versus overcoming the small orchestra. Regardless, one cant deny the influence that this body of work has had, as it was reused in several of the Godzilla films including Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989), Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) and Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001). In regards to the presentation of this CD in particular, its not bad but has its faults. Again, it is a reproduction of the original LP, which in this case is a little questionable given that the LP was released the same year as the full CD. This means the order of this bonus CD is done to retain the original presentation of the LP. So the first eight tracks are side one, all from the Godzilla films, while the next nine are the other side. The remaining eight are the seven tracks that were left off the LP due to space, but were found on the 1986 CD, and the expanded version of the "Battle in Outer Space: March" as a shorter version was substituted in order to meet the space requirements of the LP. Sadly, the audio here lacks the clarity of its CD brethren, although is really only notable in side-by-side comparisons. Still, its frustrating as Toho Music has gotten to the point where they are recreating a LP that was produced alongside a superior CD version. To be clear, LPs have their advantages, as analog media versus digital media always does. However, when you take that analog media and then convert it to digital... why bother? Just remaster it in digital to begin with and ignore the analog LP. Sadly, Toho Music has proved to be diehard about these "LP wannabe" CDs, and so out pops an inferior version of Ostinato. Overall, this disc is slightly worse than other versions of Ostinato on CD, due to audio quality and as the shortened version of "Battle in Outer Space: March" isnt much of an enticement when the full version was so readily available. Still, the difference in audio quality is minor, and this is a cheaper alternative to the long out of print CD versions that fetch high prices today. Although a truly remastered version would have been great, in its current form this is still a decent bonus for those who arent familiar with Ostinato.