Song Collection: Tokkyushirei Solbrain

I'm back again for the follow-up to my previous post...which coincidentally is the song collection to the follow-up from the previous post's series. Confused? I'm not!

Tokkyushirei Solbrain is the 1991 more/lesser than equal sequel to Tokkei Winspector. In my previous post I took a more detailed look at Winspector's entire song collection since I had only ever summed up it's entire fifteen song set into a single paragraph. The same goes for Solbrain...and pretty much every Metal Hero song collection for that matter.

As with the previous post, I am reviewing these songs from my copy of Superhero Chronicle Metal Hero II.

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01. Tokkyushirei Solbrain / Takayuki Miyauchi

Another great theme song by Takayuki Miyauchi. It may be my least favorite of the three Rescue Hero theme songs, but it's still really good. Really, there could be no perfect follow-up to the Winspector theme song. It has a little bit of restraint, but also dashes of urgency with lyrics like "BURNING!" Heh.

It may be my least favorite of the trio, but it's still a fantastic theme song.

02. Rescue Action kokoro o sukue! / Yasuhide Sawazaki

This...is my favorite Metal Hero song.

I have to admit, it's far from perfect. Yasuhide Sawazaki was a short-lived Columbia player whose voice...is lacking. It somewhat fits this song, though. It has a dash of prog-rock flavoring which is fertile ground for singers with unappealing voices. This type of music was actually pretty trendy in Japan around 1990~1991, so it isn't totally random.

Start to finish this song is just awesome, but the hook is just so damn perfect. Then there is that weird violin solo. Call me crazy for loving this one, but it's just a storm of odd concepts that just...works. Perfectly.

03. Fighting Solmachine / Takayuki Miyauchi

A short little action rock song that ended up being selected for the lone Solbrain IN song on Metal Hero Karaoke Vol.2. A solid choice, but I feel that it was likely selected due to it's brief duration. The intro/outro are really cool.

04. Bokan Solid States 1 / Takayuki Miyauchi

The theme song for the giant shuttle of the series. I used to own the DX version of Solid States 1, but ended up selling it before I got into the Youtube game. Bummer since it was a pretty rad toy.

Oh right, the song. This song is more on the slower/serious side. I'm trying to liken it to another mecha theme song...but I can't really think of a simile. Even the understated Dolgiran theme song from Uchuu Keiji Gavan is more lively. The organ at the very end is an awesome prog-rock touch. Awesome and weird...

I dig it. While Miyauchi has some memorable mecha theme songs, he tends to have some odd ones peppered in.

05. Plus Up! / Kenji Konuta

This is the first Solbrain IN song I ever heard...and probably the most generic. It's really good as a fast-paced action track, but it feels like it was a Winspector leftover. The singer of this song, Kenji Konuta, is a bit more competent than Sawazaki, but is also another short-term Columbia singer.

06. Ashita e no kizuna / Takayuki Miyauchi

This almost sounds like a much faster version of the Solid States 1 theme song at times, but it does occasionally take a turn for the upbeat. For being one of the more anonymous songs on this song collection, it's still really good.

07. Kokoro ni boken o / Takayuki Miyauchi

The slowest of slow ballads. Takayuki Miyauchi definitely has the chops for such a song, but if I had to compare it to his ballad on the Winspector song collection...that one would win out. It's a shame, though. If you're listening to these songs in order this would be the perfect spot for a ballad break. This one...just doesn't have anything special going for it.

08. Heart wa Diamond / Yasuhide Sawazaki

Another Yasuhide Sawazaki rock song. This one is also quite good for all the same reasons that Rescue Action kokoro o sukue! is. It's probably also the first time any Metal Hero song has any kind of distortion worked in. Clearly I don't think it's as good as his previous effort, but this is still a damn good song.

09. Shutsudo! Solbrain / Takayuki Miyauchi

This reminds me of a Jiban song...two of them actually. Hahaa. It's very catchy, but it is like a weird combination of Jiban's ending song as well as the IN song GOYO da!. This is certainly the light-hearted yet upbeat song that this series needs. It certainly pulls it off better than a song that is coming up in a bit...

10. Mae e dero! / Takayuki Miyauchi

Another generic-ish rock song. It's good, but doesn't do enough to stand out on this loaded song collection.

11. Kizutsuita chikyuu no tame ni~ Seimei no mecha Pile Tornado / Yasuhide Sawazaki

Of the three Sawazaki songs, this my least favorite by far. He's out of his element here. This one would actually be more at home on the Janperson song collection with it's horns and blah. Bring back the prog rock. The janky guitars...the organs...the weird violin solo. This song is just too normal.

12. Kimi mo Solbrain / Takayuki Miyauchi

I was alluding to this song at the end of my review of Shutsudo! Solbrain. This song...what the hell is this song? It borders on the extreme tackiness of sounding like a bastard hybrid of the Ultraman Great theme and the John Williams Superman theme. Then it almost devolves into a weird tango for a second. I typically skip this one, but actually listening to it for the first time in years has me wondering how the hell this ended up getting released. Mercifully it barely passes the three-minute mark.

13. Wasareruna kimi mo / Kenji Konuta

Hey, this isn't a bad song to finish of the IN/IM song set. It's an upbeat song that really sees this whole affair off on a pretty positive note. It's a really good song and well-placed on the CD.

14. Ai ni dakarete / Takayuki Miyauchi

SOLUUBUURAAAAAIIIINNNNN!

Great ending song. Much like the opening theme song, it's really just a more subtle version of it's predecessor. Catchy, but not over-the-top. If you listen close enough, you can almost place the bass from Winspector's ending song in here.

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Despite having my all-time favorite Metal Hero song, I can't really say this is one of my favorite Metal Hero song collections. The songs that are great work well, as do the generic tracks. The stranger songs almost detract from the awesomeness of the good stuff, though. It just kinda throws the whole thing off-balance.

For years I've always come into this song collection and cherry-picked my favorite songs to listen to while skipping the weak stuff. I...don't see this changing. Kimi mo Solbrain will never work it's way into my regular rotation...

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There is my look at the Solbrain Song Collection. Next up I will be taking a look at the follow-up series Tokusou Exceedraft's song collection to round out the trilogy debut of this new series on the site.

See ya there!

-CC

The CD Collection
Song Collection: Tokkei Winspector
Song Collection: Tokusou Exceedraft

Song Collection: Tokkei Winspector

Welcome to a new segment on my site! In this segment I spin back around and dedicate an entire post to a Song Collection from a random Tokusatsu series. A series like Kamen Rider or Himitsu Sentai Goranger would be the perfect place to start, right? Nope!

I'm not exactly sure why I picked Winspector to kick things off, but it's certainly not a bad place to start. It's a song collection with memorable songs book-ended by two memorable theme songs. You may be wondering..."didn't CCLemon99 review this song collection already?". Well, I did...ish. In my haste to catalog my CD collection I blew through all four volumes of the Superhero Chronicles Metal Hero CDs. That's right...every Metal Hero song were reduced down to a single post. Hell, Winspector only got a brief paragraph. I mean, the post is still good if you're only looking for a brief synopsis. This new series will certainly be more in-depth...

Here is a look at all fifteen of the songs from the 1990 Toei Metal Hero series, Tokkei Winspector. Naturally I am reviewing these songs from my copy of Superhero Chronicles Metal Hero II...which, as of this writing, is miraculously still available new from Amazon. Definitely a must-buy set!

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01. Tokkei Winspector / Takayuki Miyauchi

One of the ear-wormiest theme songs in Tokusatsu history. It rightfully made number two on my list of Top 7 Metal Hero theme songs way back in 2012. There is more to it than the catchy "MAYDAY, MAYDAY" hook, though. Listen to all of the layers... This is an incredibly rich song when you put it up to it's contemporary Sentai theme song, Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman.

Easily my favorite theme song from Takayuki Miyauchi, but he certainly wasn't the sole factor in ensuring this song's greatness.

02. Yume no hitotsu no nakamatachi / Ichiro Mizuki

It had been a few years since we heard a song from Ichiro Mizuki in the Metal Hero catalog. His return? Awesome. This song isn't action-packed, but it also isn't a slouch either. The awesome synth accents give it an time-appropriate feel. It even has a great guitar solo for good measure.

While I can see this song having it's detractors for not really being fast enough, I love it!

03. Taiyo no yuusha Fire / Takayuki Miyauchi

Of the three songs devoted to Fire, this is easily the best. The verses are a bit on the slow side, but there is plenty of things to like thanks to that memorable hook and cool intro that slides back in toward the end of the song.

04. Hero wa yattekuru / Ichiro Mizuki

This one is kinda weak. The music is good, and Mizuki does his best...but the lyrics are just weak as all hell. I also don't really like the distracting filter they used on Mizuki's voice. This song would have been more at home on Fiveman's corny Song Collection, to be honest.

05. Moyase hitomi o / Hiroshi Miyauchi

I don't like Hiroshi Miyauchi as a singer. I never really cared for the Kamen Rider V3 theme song... I wouldn't be shocked if you told me there was a shelved theme song for Miura from the Ohranger Song Collection considering the weirdness that happened there. This song, however, is amazing.

Don't get me wrong, he's still not a great singer. This song just suits his natural grizzly voice perfectly. That high-pitched, paint-by-number yelp from the V3 theme? Not present. This is actually a really cool song.

06. Gekisou! Rescue Machine / Ichiro Mizuki

Ohhhhh how I love this song. The bassline is so cool and the fast-paced waviness is great. I was floored when I bought my copy of Metal Hero Karaoke Vol.2 and found that this song was selected as the lone insertion song from WSP. That said, it is better as a Karaoke song than it is a vocal song. It's still a lot of fun and legit has "DANGER ZONE" in the lyrics.

...the final minute of the song is pure magic, though. It's this random instrumental outro that is my favorite outro of any Tokusatsu song. Maybe the Biorobo song comes close, but this is so good.

07. Kimi ga shiawase nara / Masaru Yamashita

A snoozer of a character song sung by Ryoma/Fire himself, Masaru Yamashita. He isn't much of a singer...and a ballad really isn't the best choice to showcase those non-skills. They should have given him a grunty song like they did for Hiroshi Miyauchi.

08. Fire Hurricane / Ichiro Mizuki

A slick jam by Mizuki and a criminally good bassline. If there was ever a fast-paced Tokusatsu song that I can also call "smooth" it would be this one. It suddenly breaks into an awesome guitar solo for good measure. The only thing I don't really care for is the back-up singers. They're more barking than singing.

09. Kono inochi eien ni / Takayuki Miyauchi

This song isn't all that bad, but it never really stuck out as a great song. Again, the back-up singers are kinda lousy. I think what I don't like about this one is the great build-up not having much of a payoff. This song is a little disjointed and sloppy. It sounds kinda like a leftover from the Jiban Song Collection more than anything.

It also doesn't help that this song is over five minutes long for no reason...

10. Aisuru daichi, aisuru umi yo / Takayuki Miyauchi

A march song. I never really liked these too much, but this one is actually pretty good. It has some decent structure and a catchy hook. If I can paint a picture, this is like a less decent version of Kakuranger's Muteki Shogun theme song...same singer and everything!

It also barely crests three minutes...yay!

11. Just Gigastreamer / Ichiro Mizuki

It's rare that a show's weapon has it's own theme song. Well, here we are examining the theme song to Winspector's BFG. Gigastreamer is such a beast that, if I recall correctly, it had not one but TWO episodes dedicated to how much of a handful it was in two different series. That's right, it's too much during it's return in Solbrain!

The song itself is great. Ichiro Mizuki was the better choice of the main singers for this one. It isn't an action song, but it speaks to the power of the weapon well enough to get the point across.

12. Honoo wa mirai e / Takayuki Miyauchi

The better ballad on this song collection. Takayuki Miyauchi is a singer for one, so this makes sense. It also has something resembling a pulse at times, which is more than what can be said for Kimi ga shiawase nara. This isn't a bad song. I never skip it during a listen-through.

13. Let's go! Fire Squad / Takayuki Miyauchi

I think this may be the very first song I ever heard from this series.

This is such an awesome song. If there is one song on this song collection that is a perfect balance of singing, action, and pace, it's this song right here. There is no concept or anything, just the perfect theme song for...uhhh...his car. Oh, and "DANGER ZONE" made it into the lyrics again.

14. Yuusha Winspector / Ichiro Mizuki

This isn't a bad song, but a little bit on the boring side. Mizuki's singing is great, but not enough to save the song from it's blandness. Even it's obligatory guitar solo is pretty boring.

15. Kyo no ore kara ashita no kimi e / Takayuki Miyauchi

Good enough to be number six on my Top 7 Metal Hero Ending Song list from 2018. The bassline is undeniably catchy along with the blaring horns. This song is delightful in it's overbearing cheesiness. Even Miyauchi's vocals are softer than usual to accommodate this aural confection.

BONUS: Winspector Action

Technically this isn't a vocal song, but it easily could have been. Hell, I think it was initially released on the second volume of the song collection in 1990. This song exists in two forms on the 2007 2-Disc Complete Music Collection--With or Without backing vocals.

I actually dig this song quite a bit. It's very 1990, but has some modernized elements of some of the music you would have heard in a hardboiled detective show of the 70s. When you listen to this, imagine it being done up with a jazz orchestra. It just...has that feel to it. That said, I enjoy the version without backing vocals better.

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I love this song collection. Back in my early days of collecting, I sought these songs out dearly. I don't even think I was able to score a legit copy until the Superhero Chronicle was released in 2004. Of the big three genres, Metal Hero always took backseat to Kamen Rider and Super Sentai.

Has the excitement of this soundtrack worn off over time? Nope! It's still one of my favorites. While it doesn't avoid the duds, it has some great songs from two of my favorite anison singers and a surpisingly good tune from Hiroshi Miyauchi for his Masaki character. Of the two Toei Tokusatsu series from 1990, Winspector definitely made out with the more memorable song collection.

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Now that you've made it to the end, I have a little confession to make. Sure, I love the hell out of this song collection...it's the main reason I picked this as my debut to the new series. The secondary reason is...I figured...why not start with a trilogy?

See ya next time!

-CC

The CD Collection
Song Collection: Tokkyushirei Solbrain
Song Collection: Tokusou Exceedraft