Song Collection: Kamen Rider Black RX

Welcome to yet another Song Collection post. I feel the need to complete the circuit when it comes to both Kamen Rider Black and 1988 in general. This time I'll be giving a listen to the classssssic Kamen Rider Black RX Song Collection! This one has always been a favorite of mine for a few reasons, so I'm happy to listen to it once again for this review. Is it as good as I remember, though?

For this review I'll be listening to the song collection via the Kamen Rider Black RX Song & BGM Collection from 2015. I previously talked about this here.

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01. Kamen Rider Black RX / Takayuki Miyauchi

What is there to say about this theme song? 

I can't say that this is my all-time favorite Kamen Rider theme song, but it truly is up there among the best. Takayuki Miyauchi's bold voice cuts through the entire song like butter. The song itself is almost the polar opposite of the Kamen Rider Black opening theme song. With that one you had a novice singer with this weird herky-jerky beat going on. Sure it had some smooth undertones, but the RX theme is 100% smooth.

It's kinda unconventional, but I think it's a wonderful theme song.

02. Unmei no senshi / Takayuki Miyauchi

Here we have the first of many action songs on this song collection. It isn't my favorite, but holy hell this is a great theme song. This one would chime in when RX got the upper hand. The cool guitar part would kick in when he's bludgeoning his enemy with the Revolcane...and then the song would end just as the explosion would. 

While he did an awesome job on the slick theme song, THIS is Miyauchi's bread and butter. Force and soul together. If you take Miyauchi away from this song, it's almost generic. The guitar part near the close is awesome, but otherwise this song is pretty generic. Miyauchi makes this one...

03. Senjo no Rider RX / Takayuki Miyauchi

I've always been a little perplexed by this one. It sounds likes it was the first thing they recorded for this series. It name drops RX's equipment and attacks like any good Tokusatsu song...but it has one glaring omission. 

Black.

Yeah, this song refers to RX as "Kamen Rider RX" during the entirety of the song. As far as I've been able to work out, this is really the only time he's ever referred to as such. I mean...everyone in Crisis called him "RX", but nobody ever said "Kamen Rider RX".

The song itself reminds me of a song from the Winspector Song Collection called Yume no hitotsu o nakamatachi. Weirdly that was one of the handful of non-Miyauchi songs there.

04. Kuroi Yuusha / Tetsuo Kurata

Oh no. They gave him a song again.

This is the lone song on the Black RX song collection from Kotaro's actor Tetsuo Kurata. His two songs from the Kamen Rider Black song collection were...dismal. And one of them was the series theme song! 

His singing is still bafflingly awful, but at least the rest of the song is great. The music is good and the background singers save his ass at some of the more critical moments. I appreciate it for the novelty...this probably would've been kinda boring as another Takayuki Miyauchi song. Maybe this should've been an Ichiro Mizuki song. THAT would've made it special.

05. Subete wa kimi o aisuru tameni / Takayuki Miyauchi

Ehhhh this song is a little too strange for it's own good. The synth is a little too artificial and the backing vocals are...haunting. Miyauchi sells the song, though. It's a ballad, but it feels more like an endurance round. It's just under four and half minutes, but if you told me it was seven I would absolutely believe you.

Yeah, I don't rock this one often...but I also don't always skip it over.

06. Hikari no senshi / Takayuki Miyauchi

This is another banger of an action song. RX gets the upper hand...and they fire up this song. It too ends when the explosion ends. 

Much like Unmei no Senshi, this isn't my favorite action song on this song collection...but it's still amazing! I could go on and on about how perfect everything is, but considering this song collection is pretty much legend-tier, there is a good chance you already know how great it is.

07. Gekishin RX / Takayuki Miyauchi

This one is good, but nothing to write home about. 

I wanna say that this is another early song. Miyauchi doesn't call him "Kamen Rider Black RX"...but he also doesn't quite call him "Kamen Rider RX" again. Give it a listen and you'll hear what I mean.

It may verge on generic, but it has some nice guitar work and really has some great singing.

08. Battle oh! RX / Takayuki Miyauchi

Another great fight song, but not quite up there with Unmei no Senshi or Hikari no Senshi. It does have some really great percussion and bass work, but is a little wacky for me. It's a shame because this is the only one that REALLY has series composer Eiji Kawamura's fingerprints all over it. 

It's also really short. Not even three minutes!

09. Towa no tameni kimi no tameni / Ichiro Mizuki

This...THIS is the best song on the song collection. I may be very biased in this assessment, but hear me out.

I'll talk more about it in my assessment of this song collection, but this song is something of spark to me. Kamen Rider Black RX is one of my earliest Tokusatsu experiences. Plenty of people just consume television...but this song is what awakened me. I was introduced to the world of Tokusatsu songs and music from this song. It's likely my first experience with Ichiro Mizuki, or at least the first that I remember. Episode forty is when I first flipped the switch and I think I fully woke up to this song...and the music of the series in general. It's just such a great jam.

So yeah...totally unbiased.

If you're unfamiliar with this song, I really recommend checking it out. Eiji Kawamura did an amazing job on the music. I mean...no duh. He has this amazing talent of capturing the sound of fire in his compositions. Emotion! That's the word. Whatever happened to emotion in Tokusatsu music??

Even if I remove my bias from this one, it's a great action song from a singer who was at the peak of his powers.

10. Darekaga kimi o aishiteru / Takayuki Miyauchi

The series ending song. I love it. It may not be as memorable as Kamen Rider Black's Long Long Ago 20th Century, but it's the one I prefer. Yep. I said it. I like this more than Long Long Ago 20th Century. 

It's a great song on it's own, but it also spawned some great BGM variants. The instrumental version with the horn is one of the best instrumental Tokusatsu themes out there. It has a great beat, what can I say?

I even like the video that went along with it. Sure, the ending video to Black was way more iconic, but the static pose and slow motion walk down a damp runway from RX was so baffling that it was almost funny. No Acrobatter in sight...it's just RX walking toward you like Jason Voorhees for no reason after spending a wacky day of hijinks with the Sahara family.

Great song, though. What a great year for theme songs...

Bonus 1: 11 Rider Dai sanka / Ichiro Mizuki

So this isn't *officially* part of the Black RX song collection, but there is literally nowhere else to talk about this song. It wasn't even included in this three-disc set! It did end up on the Complete Song Collection from the 90s, so it has seen some love at least.

I kinda love this song. It's a bit on the bland side, but it's one of those recap epics covering the history of all eleven Kamen Riders to date. Yeah, suck it Kamen Rider Black. You don't exist. Haha

I wouldn't call this a masterpiece...I really have to be in the mood to listen to all eight minutes (!) of it, but it is a decent amount of fun when he acts out a lot of the calls and sound effects.

Bonus 2: Kamen Rider 99 no uta / Ichiro Mizuki

This is another one that isn't part of the Black RX song collection, but is included in certain sets due to it's proximity to the series. It was released as a single with Maho tsukai Sally 99 no uta. 

This is basically the multiplication table in Kamen Rider-flavored song form. It's...bizarre...and funky! If you want to read a little bit more about this single and the 11 Rider single, check out this post.

Perhaps the title to this is the true origin of the 99 in CCLemon99...perhaps.

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OVERALL: I have very few unflattering words to say about this song collection, I really don't feel at all weird about saying that this is one of the best Tokusatsu song collections out there. Largely in part due to the amazing combination of Takayuki Miyauchi and Eiji Kawamura. The clutch assist by Ichiro Mizuki really cemented it into legendary status. 

It really should come as no surprise that this was the very first Tokusatsu song collection I purchased. I had some singles earlier, but this is where my obsession really kicked off. All the stuff you see in my CD Collection was spawned by my young hands getting ahold of this. Hearing the crisp CD quality full size version of Towa no tame ni kimi no tame ni for the first time... It's all a big part of the CCLemon99 story.

If this CD does one thing really well beyond my story, it's immortalize the amazing Takayuki Miyauchi. I know he's in poor health these days, but we have to remember that his name in the credits is as good as any quality guarantee. I ragged on his Bioman songs a bit (which wasn't even his fault really), but when you look at every other Tokusatsu song collection he appears on, it's easy to see the pattern. Flashman, Winspector, Solbrain, Exceedraft, Kakuranger, Gingaman, GoGo Five...all made so much better thanks to contributions from Takayuki Miyauchi.

Rock on you handsome devil!

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Thanks for stopping by once again for my thoughts on this song collection. Like I said in my Jiraiya review, I'm sorry I don't have something of more substance this time. I have something awesome planned for early 2021, though!

Bye for now!

-CC

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