UPDATE: A revised version of this post lives here. Check it out for more CDs!
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Welcome to my review of the song collection from Toho's 1988 Tokusatsu series Dennou Keisatsu Cybercop. I never really got into it because...well, I didn't really like how it was shot. It's BGM and song collection are actually really decent though!
I briefly talked about the Perfect Music Collection from this series in this post. I didn't go into great detail over the song collection on Disc 2, so here we go...
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DISC ►2
01. Ashita e no sakebi~Cyber Heart [Hiroshi Nishikawa]
Weak vocals aside, I actually really enjoy this theme song. Think about how crowded 1988 was with Tokusatsu series. You have the majority of Kamen Rider Black airing along with it's sequel, Black RX. There was Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya and Chojuu Sentai Liveman as well. Out of all of them, I think the only one of those theme songs I don't like belongs to Kamen Rider Black...and that's only a mild disliking thanks to Tetsuo Kurata's godawful singing.
Cybercop's theme also suffers from some questionable vocals. Hiroshi Nishikawa isn't bad, I just don't dig his dopey-sounding style. He can hold a note at least. Beyond that minor criticism, this song is a banger. Certain years have certain sounds and I think 1988 was the year of 'The Band' in Japan. One of my all-time favorite albums has a similarly bare rock sound to it...and it also came out in 1988. Minimal synthesizer input, maximum rock.
I wouldn't say that I like this better than the majority of the Toei themes of the same year, but I really, really like this theme song. It doesn't get enough recognition!
02. Ashita e no sakebi~Cyber Heart [Karaoke]
03. Ashita e no sakebi~Cyber Heart [Mero-iri Karaoke]
04. Aku! [BGM]
05. Honoo no Messenger [Norio Sakai]
Huh... I always thought it was kinda weird to see this name in this series...
Toei/Columbia regular Norio Sakai provides a single song to the Cybercop song collection the same year that he also provided songs for Kamen Rider Black. Without looking into it, I'm sure this sort of thing never really happened after the 70s where singers would provide songs for competing studios in the same year.
Again, I love the rock sound of the songs in this series. Norio Sakai provides some excellent vocals here over a pretty basic, yet very slick track. The bass is incredibly smooth to counter out the jerky drums. I recommend sticking to the vocal version as Sakai's singing is the focal point of the entire experience.
06. Honoo no Messenger [Karaoke]
07. Kanashimi [BGM]
08. Shooting Star - Band Version [Mika Chiba]
This is a remix of the series ending song, Shooting Star. Since the regular version of the song appears a little bit later (Track 12), I guess I'll just point out the difference.
This is a remix in a literal sense. The backing vocals were removed as well as some guitar parts and lingering effects. The whole thing sounds a little more bare...and I actually prefer it this way. Mika Chiba has a really decent singing voice, so it's great to hear it uninterrupted. Even this version's Karaoke track is better than the normal version.
09. Shooting Star - Band Version [Karaoke]
10. Tsuioku no Jupiter [Hideyuki Nagashima]
This is more of an action song, but done in the style of the other songs in this collection. The main difference is that the horns are BLARING. Like...blaring from the very beginning and rarely letting up. Regardless, this is a fun track with a ton of energy.
Oh, and the Karaoke version of this song was included...it's just on the first disc for some reason.
11. ZAC no nijijo [BGM]
12. Shooting Star [Mika Chiba]
As you may have guessed from my take on the Band Version of this song, I like this one a lot. I do think this is the inferior version of it, however. It's just a little bit too crowded. The backing vocals are unnecessary along with a lot of the random little sounds that pop up here and there. The only thing I think this version does better is it masks the dull bassline.
This is a great song to have as an ending theme song. It has the DNA of other songs from the series, but is a bit peppier in tone. I think Jiraiya did it similarly it's opening theme song and it's smooth ending song SHI-NO-BI '88.
13. Shooting Star [Karaoke]
14. Let It Go [Hiroshi Nishikawa]
This is the B-side to the single for Ashita e no sakebi~Cyberheart.
Again, I'm not the biggest fan of Nishikawa but I can't help but like this track as well. It's funky, that's for sure. It starts pretty slow, but picks up momentum to make for a pretty great complementary track to the theme song.
Sure, this track only makes it in on a technicality, but it's definitely worth having here. It's pretty solid.
15. Into The Night [Mika Chiba]
This is the coupling track for the single to Shooting Star. Again, this song is included as a technicality but happens to be really great. The only thing that is has against it is that it's quite different from the rest of the Cybercop songs. Maybe a lone pop track is a nice little change of pace, but it's hard to ignore how different it is.
That said, I love this song. It's very slick.
16. BRAND NEW TOMORROW [Mika Chiba]
Mika Chiba's second single and a song that was featured in the series during the thirty-fourth episode.
While this song is a bit on the lighter side, it definitely fits in pretty well into the series. It may sound a little more professional, but the rock sound is definitely here...if a bit on the softer side. I'll admit, this is the catchiest song outside of Shooting Star.
Why the B-Side to this, Jamashinaide, isn't included is beyond me. I have the single and thought about including it, but I guess it doesn't belong here...
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I think I did a pretty good job giving the CD set that these songs came from a fair analysis in my previous take, so I'll just stick to what I think about this song collection.
I feel kinda guilty about doing song collection posts about series with only a handful of songs. Tokusou Robo Janperson and Blue SWAT only have eight songs thanks to the shithouse record label they were on. Battle Fever J, which I might review with Denjiman someday, only has five songs.
By some miracle they were able to cobble together a song collection for Cybercop. Even stranger, this is one of the most consistent sounding song collections out there. Series composer Ichiro Nitta was only truly responsible for Honoo no Messenger and Tsuioku no Jupiter. with the other tracks being songs provided by Toshiba EMI and CBS Sony respectively. It's kinda amazing how it all kinda fit together so well.
I would give this song collection a go if you're in the mood for something else. Yeah, it can get a little boring listening to work from Columbia over and over. This song collection is a breath of fresh air.
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That's that for that. Be sure to check out the CD Collection page for more.
-CC
Previously...
