It's T.I.M.E. for the thrilling conclusion of my series of articles on the 8cm CD Singles from Super Sentai! I am finally up to the fourth and final part... Part 1 covered Liveman-Ohranger, Part 2 covered *just* Carranger, and Part 3 covered Megaranger and Gingaman. To finish things off I'll be looking at the ten singles from GoGo Five and Timeranger! Did it finish strong, or sputter to a halt?
Enough of the blahblahblah, lets get right into this!
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Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGo Five OP c/w Go! Five Go! Fight!
CODC-1705
1999.02.20
The 90s are my favorite decade for Super Sentai theme songs. The last one of the decade is easily one of the best. Shinichi Ishihara *finally* gets the Sentai theme song credit on his resume...and boy does he bring it! I really couldn't think of a better singer to bring this one to life. Ishihara's theme songs (He is certified M•U•S•K--Metal Hero, Ultraman, Sentai, Kamen Rider theme song singers) all have a different personality and he is one of the few singers that can mold himself into any type of song. This song: Action. It's excellent.
The coupling song here is an insert song call Go! Five Go! Fight which complements the theme song perfectly. It's another upbeat action song from Shinichi Ishihara. This song collection is largely devoid of action songs as the shift to character songs was starting to take place this year. I'll take ones as good as this any day.
I'm not going to be clever or witty in this entry with the following statement...so this is what you're going to see on the rest of the CDs in this article... Ready?
There are four tracks on this CD--two are vocal and two are Karaoke.
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Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGo Five ED c/w Kinkyu Gattai! Victory Robo
CODC-1706
1999.02.20
The ending song, Kono hoshi wo, kono machi wo is very good...but maybe a little too similar to the Megaranger ending song. I like it, but I would probably like it a little bit better if it were a little more unique. At least it is the return of Naritaka Takayama.
The Victory Robo theme song is...OK. It isn't all that exciting or majestic, just kinda there. I do like Yukio Yamagata quite a bit, but he was an odd choice for this song. Then again, the blandness of the music track doesn't really have a flavor for any particular singer. I guess he brought some life to it. Spirit!
There are four tracks on this CD--two are vocal and two are Karaoke.
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Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGo Five Hashire Go Liner! Sukue 99 Machine! c/w Tango Psyma
CODC-1724
1999.04.21
Now this is what a mecha theme song should sound like! After a boring Muteki Shogun theme song, Takayuki Miyauchi absolutely nailed the Gingaioh theme song. The streak continues with the Go Liners theme song. I absolutely love this one. It is themed correctly, is upbeat, and just has that grandness that the Victory Robo theme lacks. It is catchy enough to think about and whistle along to later on, but doesn't touch the catchiness of Gingaioh's theme song.
Then it all comes crashing down. This throw-away IN song is sung by Pierre seiyuu Taiki Matsuno. It's not like villain song never existed, but GoGo Five has three of them. Ugh. Remember what I said about the move away from traditional IN songs? It was like an overnight change. Oh, and I should note that the title is stylized as Tango Sa•I•Ma, but let's call it Tango Psyma for simplicity's sake.
There are four tracks on this CD--two are vocal and two are Karaoke.
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Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGo Five Yuuki wo Nakuseba c/w PSYMA ~Hakai no Rakuin~
CODC-1725
1999.04.21
This one is a true shock. Not only is Yuuki wo Nakuseba a great IN song (probably my favorite of the series) but it is sung by MICKEY. You know Mickey, right? Supreme Butcher of English Versions of Sentai theme songs...yeah...THAT Mickey. Given the opportunity to sing in Japanese, she is pretty good. The only downside to this one is that it's a little dated sounding...that and she managed to sneak some English in. Bah. Great song, though...I listen to it often.
Another Psyma song? Eh. This one is at least a little bad ass sounding. I'm not sure I care for Norio Sakai's imitation of Mikio Katsumata's song for Junior in Kakuranger, but it's an interesting choice. I don't care much for this one, but at least it isn't another character song.
There are four tracks on this CD--two are vocal and two are Karaoke.
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Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGo Five Chokyodai Robo!! Grand Liner c/w Kyuumei Shoka -Tatsumi Boukai Kenkyusho uta-
CODC-1743
1999.05.21
The Grand Liner theme song...good stuff. I honestly don't give this one enough credit. It's kinda weird that a mecha has more than one theme song, but when you have a mecha heavy show like GoGo Five I suppose it works. Do I prefer the completed mecha theme song (this) over the song about it's individual pieces (Go Liners)? I like them both. Shinichi Ishihara did a good job on this, but I think I like the Go Liner theme better. Fun Fact: The last time Shinichi Ishihara did a Sentai mecha theme song was the Turbo Rugger song in Turboranger...it was also his Super Sentai debut.
If you've been paying attention to the color of the discs, you'd notice that all of the GoGo Five colors have been represented...something Megaranger tried and failed to do...
The coupling track, Kyuumei Shoka -Tatsumi Boukai Kenkyusho uta- is a borefest anthem song. It did show up later in the series, but in th...zzzzzzzzzz
There are four tracks on this CD--two are vocal and two are Karaoke.
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Mirai Sentai Timeranger Shudaika
CODC-1837
2000.02.19
For the first time since Ohranger both theme songs to the show were joined together on one CD Single! The OP, JIKU~Mirai Sentai Timeranger is a good song with a lot of problems. I enjoy it overall, but it's hard to ignore all the jerkiness in it's structure...particularly in the vocals. There are moments where the song is great and all the sudden entire lyrics are blurtedoutinonequickbreath, I'm glad that they gave their most unique backing vocalist not only their own song, but the keys to the series theme song...but Kumi Sasaki deserved better...or at least more. Credit where credit's due, though, they definitely pulled off the dark sound for the theme song.
Ending song? Yep, that's here too. I actually kind of prefer it over the opening theme song. Toki no Kanata e is equally as broken in structure, but manages to sound more like a solid song. It certainly makes up for the lack of uniqueness in GoGo Five's ending theme song.
There are four tracks on this CD--two are vocal and two are Karaoke.
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Mirai Sentai Timeranger OK! Timerobo!! c/w Aitai yo
CODC-1852
2000.04.21
Of the Timeranger mecha theme songs, Timerobo's theme is probably my least favorite. It sounds like a mix of random weapon theme song and a much, much, much watered down version of the Galaxymega theme song. I guess it's nice to hear Naoki Takao again...
Aitai yo is a pretty good song, actually. It's the lone solo character song on the good side of the characters and I listen to it quite a bit. Mika Katsumura's vocals aren't half bad (though they are kind of obscured by the kinda in-your-face music during a good portion of the song). Heroine songs were something to look forward to once upon a time...
There are four tracks on this CD--two are vocal and two are Karaoke.
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Mirai Sentai Timeranger Timeshadow ~Sugatanaku, Otomonaku~ c/w WHO ARE YOU?
CODC-1876
2000.06.21
A jazzy mecha theme song? Yes...I'll allow it. Yukio Yamagata is back to sing the Timeshadow theme song. It might not be excellent as a mecha theme song, but I really dig the smoothness. It kinda reminds me of the Red Puncher theme song a bit...and I love that one!
The coupling song, WHO ARE YOU? is, what feels like, one of the few true IN songs of this series. It's Kumi Sasaki back with a much more traditional song. This is the jazz single from the series I guess. Another smoooooth song. I actually prefer it over the theme song...but it definitely wouldn't work as a theme song. So I guess it all worked out. Listening to this again I noticed that she sound a lot like Norio Sakai. Their styles are almost identical...
There are four tracks on this CD--two are vocal and two are Karaoke.
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Mirai Sentai Timeranger Frozen Beauty c/w CHI•KA•RA 2000 ~Owaranai mirai no tameni~
CODC-1877
2000.06.21
I can't say I'm a fan of Frozen Beauty. It works better as a Karaoke track to be perfectly honest. This is Lila's character song so naturally it is sung by her actress, Kuru Asami. Her singing is just...dead. Maybe it would work with one of those droning songs that they usually gave to the female villains...but this semi-upbeat tune is a strange combination.
CHI•KA•RA 2000 is another great IN song from the series. I would probably say it's my favorite, but there is another song that I am not talking about today that is a strong contender...so maybe it's a tie. This song is sung by NAT'S who also sang the ending theme song (just noticed I forgot to give her credit when I was talking about the ED...oops...). It's pretty upbeat, has great singing, and gets regular play from me.
There are four tracks on this CD--two are vocal and two are Karaoke.
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Mirai Sentai Timeranger Kakusei! V-Rex Robo!! c/w T.I.M.E. Timeranger!
CODC-1896
2000.08.19
I would have to say that the V-Rex Robo theme song is my favorite of the series. It has a great combination of fitting music and Yukio Yamagata. This one was good enough that when it came time to put the commercial together they used a slightly modified version of this song instead of a new composition (unheard of at the time).
Timeranger got the colors right too!
The song that it's coupled with...was an odd choice. T.I.M.E. Timeranger! is.....bleh... I really don't have much to say about it. It's the Timeranger cast a long with a bunch of brats singing about time. Hattori Hanzo gets a shout-out...that's cool at least. It's extra awful when the kids are singing on their own, though. I definitely prefer the Karaoke version of this.
There are four tracks on this CD--two are vocal and two are Karaoke.
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Recommended Pick: Easy! This time around I have to recommend the GoGo Five OP/Go! Five Go! Fight single. It's back-to-back Shinichi Ishihara incredibleness and the only truly solid CD Single on this list. Sure there are some with two good songs...but this is the only one with two awesome songs! Even the cover art is cool...
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That does it for Super Sentai! I would love to say that I ended on a high note, but they definitely made some odd selections when it came to what songs made it to the single. Replacing NEVER END from GoGo Five or 1000 nen Senshi from Timeranger with a lesser song that they selected would have made these singles more interesting...but it's all in the past now. Carranger, Megaranger, and Gingaman were truly the golden years of collecting Sentai CD Singles.
Be sure to check out my CD Collection page! Hoping to update it soon...but I probably won't. Lots of good stuff on the way, so my ears are the real winner.
See ya soon!
-CC
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Previously...
Super Sentai 8cm CD Singles Part 1 [Liveman-Ohranger]
Super Sentai 8cm CD Singles Part 2 [Carranger]
Super Sentai 8cm CD Singles Part 3 [Megaranger-Gingaman]
Nice way to wrap up Sentai CD Singles.
ReplyDeleteGoGo Five and Timeranger tend to be end of the era for “Golden Era (1985~1999)” sentai/tokusatsu in general; especially, since I grew up with 80’s~90’s show.
Granted, some of 00’s are good, but they’re not on same league.
Interestingly enough, I wasn’t fan of these two series, and I didn’t appreciate their greatness til I got older and has become one of my favorites.
GoGo Five, a last Sentai of 90’s; ironically, a last year of “Golden Era” of tokusatsu IMO.
It’s one of the more underrated sentai (if not tokusatsu) ever made.
It’s arguably the best rescue motif tokusatsu ever made (better than Rescue Police Series of Metal Hero) AND best sibling team ever exists.
It’s nice that for last Sentai of century, Ishihara FINALLY managed to sing OP for Sentai and it’s one of my favorites. I’m a huge fan of Ishihara as well.
M•U•S•K eh? Very creative.
I also like the ED as well. I personally think it’s one of my favorite.
Speaking of Mickey, I like her English version of OP as well; it’s more tolerable than her other OP song. lol
Timeranger was a really good Sentai to start the new millennium (2000).
It’s a nice transition from GoGo Five Rescue motif to Future Cop (even though they were janitor for most of the time… lol).
It’s a nice “epilogue” to my aforementioned “Golden Era” of sentai; if Shout! continues to release Sentai DVD, Timeranger will be my cutoff, since I have very little interest with Gaoranger and beyond.
I’m really mixed regarding OP/ED.
They’re not bad by any means, but it felt like radical departure from previous series.
I give credit to Toei for trying something different/new for dawn of new millennia, by hiring female singer sing Sentai OP, but it felt very weird and somewhat awkward when I first heard it back then. The lyric was kind of hard to understand (especially for kid to understand) and I remember not liking it very much; granted, I got used to it as I grew older.
I enjoyed ED better than OP, even though it had same awkwardness and weirdness, but it was much easier to follow and catchier. It almost felt like early-Avex Kamen Rider (Ryuki~Kabuto) songs IMO.
I like how colors of discs are represented for both series.
If there was sixth single for Timeranger, I think the disc would have been black (even though TimeFire is another “Red” Ranger, he had black on suit).
Great job with CD Singles review.
Not many singers have made it into the M•U•S•K club... Perhaps I have something in the works on the subject... :D
DeleteEven though they finally got the disc-coloring right, I am a bit underwhelmed by the artwork overall on these singles. Sales were dropping and you can see that Columbia didn't really go all-out like they had in the past. Lots of generic images slapped in. The only really cool-looking Timeranger single is the V-Rex/T.I.M.E. one.