CD Collection -- 90s Shotaro Ishinomori Movies

OK, maybe I have been spending a little bit too much time covering Sentai recently in my lists and CD Collection posts. To make up for that, I am going to focus on the Music Collections and Song Collections that cover all of Shotaro Ishinomori's Kamen Rider work from the 90s (and Hakaider)! The good and the...slightly less good! So let's get to it, shall we?

Shin Kamen Rider Prologue Original Soundtrack
BCCM-14 1992.03.21

Shin Kamen Rider was such an awesome movie. The soundtrack is also pretty incredible. You know how pasta and ice cream are both delicious? Well, they aren't so good when you mix them together. Maybe this soundtrack could've worked with the movie, but the final cut is just awkward in it's sound design. There is one scene where Shin is riding his motorcycle to the warehouse lab and the music is just...out of hand. The sound of just his bike wouldn't been a thousand times more appropriate.

So yes, the music is very good on this CD, just poorly utilized in the film in my opinion. The CD is broken down into three sections rather than the usual random assortment seen on Music Collections similar to this. Tracks 1~4 are the "Band Arrange", Tracks 5~9 are the "Synth Arrange", Tracks 10~20 are the "Orchestra Arrange" and Track 21 is the film's ending song "Forever". There is a full color booklet, which is loaded with the usual production info along with several images.

Overall this is a fantastic release. I believe it was reissued as part of the ANIMEX 1200 series...so this is an easy one to find still. Just beware...ANIMEX 1200 CDs don't come with booklets, just a slip with the cover photo.

Kamen Rider SD Shudaika
CODC-119 1992.12.01

 



I talked about this CD previously in one of my Rare CD Round-up posts. Not much else to say. As a bonus I even uploaded the CD to Youtube. Enjoy...

Kamen Rider SD Ongakushuu
COCC-10588 1993.01.21

This is easily one of the rarest Kamen Rider CDs out there. The Kamen Rider SD OVA was released the same day as this CD. Well...this CD is exclusively made for the OVA and that is it. It contains the opening theme, ending theme, and all of the background music featured in the special.

So how is the CD? It's...excellent. I love the music on this disc. Usually rare CDs contain nothing special in terms of quality music. The flavor of music here is upbeat and very 90s. If you saw the OVA, you heard most of the music here.

The only thing that kinda sucks is how short it is. It comes up to about 33 minutes. It would've been cool if they tossed in some instrumental versions of the opening and ending themes to pad it out.

If you happen to see this CD for sale...BUY IT. Seeing as there were only two vocal tracks, it's easy to why the music on this CD doesn't get much love. However, they had a perfect opportunity to reissue this during the ANIMEX 1200 run. All of the other 90s Rider Music Collection were reissued...but this one was forgotten.

Kamen Rider ZO Shudaika
APDM-5001 1993.04.05

This CD Single features the Ending theme song and image song from Kamen Rider ZO. It also has Karaoke versions of both songs. Enough said.

Kamen Rider ZO Original Soundtrack
APCM-5011 1993.04.05

Eiji Kawamura took over soundtrack duties for the Kamen Rider ZO soundtrack. Seeing as he was composing the score for Dairanger at the same time, there is a similar style among the tracks. A handful of the music here actually ended up in Dairanger if you listen closely. The biggest difference is that there is more of a cinematic feel to the music with a bit more depth on the orchestra and action pieces.

This disc is very nicely put together. It features a wide track list (36 tracks) which makes finding specific tracks easier. There are also instrumental versions of the songs (versus Karaoke on the CD Single that I mentioned above) as well as the vocal versions.

Of the 90s movie music collections, this is easily my favorite. It is very comprehensive and the music is absolutely great. Recommended!

Kamen Rider J Shudaika
APDM-5006 1994.04.10

This CD Single features the Ending theme song and image song from Kamen Rider J. It also has Karaoke versions of both songs. So there you have it...

Kamen Rider J Original Soundtrack
APCM-5032 1994.04.10

Eiji Kawamura is back for another Rider movie! While not as good as the Kamen Rider ZO soundtrack, the music here is pretty decent. It retains the cinematic feel that the ZO music has, but it also has a mixture of a handful of tracks that were clearly Kakuranger rejects (Kawamura did the Kakuranger music as well). So the quality of the music is pretty good.

The CD itself falls short, however. It is 13 tracks, 12 of which are music with the vocal version of the ending theme song tacked on at the end as the final track. No instrumental version of the image song or ending theme--hell they didn't even include the vocal version of the image song "Just One Love". If they had included the instrumentals, this CD would've felt more complete.

There is a happy ending to the missing content, however. Skip down to the "Kamen Rider Song Collection" after the Hakaider stuff.

MODE - WILD SIDE
FHDF-1464 1995.04.26

This is the single for the ending song to the 1995 film Jizoningen Hakaider. Rather than produce a fourth Rider film, the popular antagonist from Kikaider gets his own role as a hero(kinda?). I talked a great deal about Hakaider earlier in this entry. Check it out -- both the blog and the film!

This single is unique in that it is a pop single that was adapted to become part of the movie. There is mention, in small print, that this is the ending song from the Hakaider film--but no image of Hakaider anywhere. Oh well.

Wild Side is a great song as I'm sure you're well aware. Even people I've spoken to who didn't dig the film walked out thinking that the song was cool. I've always had a theory that using Wild Side as the ending song was a last minute decision. Oh, and the other song on this album is a cool little song called "Shake To The Future". It's a little more dated than Wild Side, but it's still nice. The third track is the Karaoke version of Wild Side...and that's all.

I should note there was another single released for the Hakaider film. It is the two vocal image songs by KYOKO SOUND LABORATORY from the Forte edition of the soundtrack. It is one of maybe two 90s Tokusatsu CDs that I don't own. I'm not exactly tripping over my to get it because I already have the two tracks from the single, but more importantly it's flippin' $100+ whenever it pops up. I have no idea why it's so expensive... Hopefully I'll score a copy from auction for cheap.

Jinzoningen Hakaider Music Collection
FMCC-5058 1995.04.21

I've talked about this CD in the past. To summarize, this CD features a lot of music that wasn't featured in the movie. The record label behind this CD evaporated almost immediately after it was released and a second Music Collection was released the next year to coincide with the release of the Director's Cut of the film on Laserdisc and VHS.

Is it any good? Sure. The unused image songs are nice and hey, instrumental versions to go with it! The CD Single for the image songs didn't even have those (or Karaoke versions). The music itself is decent, but don't expect to hear some of the awesome music from the film itself--this contains bizarro versions of what ended up in the film.

Jinzoningen Hakaider Director's Cut Music Collection
COCC-13931 1996.11.30

This is the CD to get if you want to hear the music from the movie. It is a whopping 40 tracks with an insane number of variations of pretty much everything. It lacks vocals songs, but it totally makes up for that in content. Even the artwork is better...

Kamen Rider Song Collection
APCM-5042 1994.06.21

I'm so happy this CD exists. Remember how I mentioned during my review of the Kamen Rider J Music Collection that it was missing a bunch of stuff? Well, here it is. Lemme post a picture of the tracklist so that you can see what I'm on about...

Tracks 1~5 are all of the vocal songs from J, ZO, and Shin (in that order), Tracks 6~10 are Karaoke versions of 1~5 and 12~13 are instrumental versions of the J image songs that were missing from the J Music Collection. As an added bonus, track 11 is the movie size version of the ending song.

Also notable is that in addition to this being the only place to find the instrumental versions of the J songs, this is the ONLY disc to have the Karaoke version of the Shin Kamen Rider ending song.

This was pretty much the last Kamen Rider CD to feature new content in the 90s (yeah, in 1994). I'm just glad they were able to fill in some gaps before letting it die for a little while...

Kamen Rider Comple Song Collection of 20th Century Series EXTRA
COCX-36974 2011.09.21

Alright...a little back story.

Kamen Rider seems to get a lot more love when it comes to song collections. When it comes to the "Columbia Riders" as I call them (Kamen Rider 1-Agito), we get a reissue of Song Collections every few years. The first "Complete Song Collection" came out in 1992 with a follow-up in 1996. The Super Hero Chronicle Daizenshuu series came out in the early 00s, which combined multiple shows into volumes but did not contain Karaoke tracks. In 2011 a completely new series of complete song collections came out. This new series featured more Karaoke tracks and usually some bonus tracks tacked on to fill out the disc space.

I happen to have the 1996 series of CDs, which covers Kamen Rider-Kamen Rider BLACK RX. My Kamen Rider V3 CD is actually from the 1992 issue, so it annoyingly has a different cover (meh). I did end up picking up a handful of these 2011 versions though--Super 1, BLACK RX, and the EXTRA disc. Super 1 and BLACK RX has some missing Karaoke (and bonus tracks).

The EXTRA disc basically features all of the songs from ZX, Shin, ZO, and J. Karaoke versions of the 90s songs are absent, but for the first time ever we given the Karaoke version of the unused ending song from Kamen Rider ZX called "Forget Memories" along with a Karaoke version of that disco travesty known as "Stars on Kamen Rider". In addition to this, we are given MONO instrumental versions of the Riderman theme as well as "Tatakae! Kamen Rider V3" and "Let's Go!! Rider Kick".

While this CD isn't entirely for me, it is a fantastic disc to get if you just want to check out the songs from the Rider films of the the 90s...and ZX. All of the songs are great, as you probably know.

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There you have it. This is a look into the insane musical completionist world of just a handful of films. If you take anything away from this post...umm...Kamen Rider SD rocks!

-CC

Top 7 Toei Sentai Heroine Songs + CD Review!

Super Sentai Song Collections seem to have a loose set of rules since the inception of the genre. There is usually a theme song for the mecha and there is usually a song dedicated to the heroine(s) of the series. As a result of this, many song and music collections have been dedicated to both mecha and heroine songs.

Since I am talking about my favorite Heroine songs...why not do a little review before I get to my list? Honestly, I don't know when else I'll have the opportunity to talk about this CD, so why not here? Let's take a quick look at Toei Sentai Heroine Song & Music Collection!

Toei Sentai Heroine Song & Music Collection
COCC-13106

 



I mentioned this CD briefly in my mega-post about the Super Sentai Music Collections of 1996-1997 last month. To summarize, this CD is part of a massive catalog of music releases by Toei and Columbia in the mid-90s. This is actually one of the first CD releases in all of the madness.

While the mecha music sets were spread out on to four discs, the Heroine Song & Music Collection is only one disc. In all honesty, it really didn't need to be much more than that. There is a pretty clever layout to this disc. Here is an example...

Series 1
01. Eyecatch A
02. Heroine BGM
Series 2
03. Eyecatch A
04. Heroine Song

If your reading is up to scratch, here is a photo of the back cover tracklist:

As you can see, there isn't much in the way of description from the tracklisting. Most of them just say something like "Ninja White Image BGM", etc. In a handful of instances, vocal songs sung by the actresses are used (Flashman, Liveman, the Ako-chan Ramen song from Jetman, and the slow versions of songs from Goggle Five and Dynaman).

The actual BGM tracks are hard to explain. There are some pretty rare gems included, but not too much that isn't included in the Music Collection series that followed this set. Sometimes the BGM tracks are nothing more than one-chorus instrumental versions of the heroine songs. Other times it might be a few BGM tracks strung together. For Dairanger, Kakuranger, and Ohranger it is a medley of BGM *and* instrumental versions of the heroine songs.

The eyecatches...are strange. Only the outgoing eyecatch (Eyecatch A) is included. The Goggle Five Eyecatch actually sounds better here than on the Music Collection. Some of the eyecatches sound like they were recorded off of fourth generation VHS copies of the shows (Turboranger, Fiveman) while others were clearly recorded from TV, but sound decent enough (Dairanger, Kakuranger). The Kakuranger one bugs me because this is the only CD release of the proper Eyecatch A...and the quality is a bit off. The Eyecatch A that was used in the 2-Disc Music Collection is missing the percussion. Ugh. The only way Toei can make this right is by letting me raid their music vault.

Overall, this is a pretty good CD. There is a lot of variety and they made some good selections. The format may be offbeat, but it is definitely fresh.

 



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Top Seven Sentai Heroine Songs!

Alright, on to the main topic. I will try to include links for songs if they're available. If not, you might have to do a little internet digging on your own if you don't already have the tracks.

07. Mermaid & Phoenix / Dengeki Sentai Changeman 1985

I could only find the Karaoke version on Youtube for this one. > <

I think that this is one of the more underrated songs from the Changeman Song Collection. It isn't upbeat like a lot of heroine songs, but it is still a nice little song with great singing.

I also really like the song "Love Forever" from Changeman. It's kinda similar to this one.

06. hana no Momoranger / Himitsu Sentai Goranger 1975

The song that started it all from the series that started it all. I'm not a fan of too many of the songs from Goranger (or Gorenger if you're a PUTZ) but this is clearly one of the better ones. Also, Mitsuko Horie sings this song! Anison legends can't do wrong!

05. Spark! Umi e / Chojuu Sentai Liveman 1988

I'm not a fan of too many songs by the cast members. For the most part they can't sing...and recently they can't act... This time around we have Megumi Mori, who was an established actress prior to her year on Liveman. On top of this, she is also a decent singer and displays that here.

The great thing about this song (and a lot of the Liveman songs) was that this was a genuine return to a rock sound. I'm also a fan of synthesizer/dance stuff, but it was nice to have a brief break from the norm.

In the end, this song was a very nice combination of great music and vocals.

04. kagayaki no mai / Choriki Sentai Ohranger 1995

Another underrated song in my opinion. I think a lot of people favor the Tsuruhime song from Kakuranger since it has the same singer, Mari Sasaki, and sounds a little similar. I just think the music wins out overall here.

03. Seishun Circuit / Gekisou Sentai Carranger 1996

This one is sung by Hiroko Asakawa. She was an anison regular from the late 80s until the mid 2000s it seems and it's fair to say I'm a fan of her work. This is my favorite Sentai song of hers...actually, this is probably my favorite of hers overall.

It's a catchy little song that manages to have a certain sweetness to it at the same time. If I recall correctly, this song was used during the montage in Gaoranger vs Super Sentai...so atleast I'm not alone here.

02. Cosmic World / Denji Sentai Megaranger 1997

Alright, now we're getting serious.

For a while I kinda ignored this song. I always thought it was decent, but never thought too-too much of it. Recently it popped up on random in a playlist and I was won over completely.

This has to be one of the most lively Sentai songs of the 90s. It's right up there with the Megaranger theme song itself in terms of intensity. The singing is great on top of the music. Great song.

01. hard rain~yamanai ame wa nai  / Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger 2004

This song pretty much knocked me on my ass. Not only is it a song from a show I didn't care for at all, it's also a song by a cast member. The fact that it goes against all odds and made it to the top of my list.

Ayumi Kinoshita played Dekayellow in the show and actually did a decent job here singing this song. Who knew? On top of this, the music is a solid imitation of the kind of stuff other record labels were putting out at the time *cough*avex*cough* while managing to sound fresh.

It's a killer song. I'm definitely not alone in liking this one either...

THE ABSOLUTE FUCKING WORST: Girls in Trouble / Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger 2004

...and then there is this shit. Fuck this song. I know a lot of people out there like this one...but nope--I don't.

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That's it for my latest list! Be sure to check out my other Top 7 lists on this page right here. Stay tuned for more Top 7 lists if that's your thing--I have plenty more to write about!

See ya!

-CC