I would count myself among Dairanger's biggest fans. It made "S" tier when I did one of those trendy Tier lists. I have nothing but fond memories of the series from my youth that I will take with me for the rest of my life. Great show, great designs, great action, great music. 10/10.
...I just wish I could say the same for it's tragic Song Collection...
For this post I'll be listening to my copy of the Gosei Sentai Dairanger Complete Song Collection from 1997. I briefly talked about that disc here in the past.
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01. Gosei Sentai Dairanger / NEW JACK Takuro (Hirokazu Umeda)
The Dairanger opening theme song is on a level of amazingness that I think may be unattainable for any other TV show. Think of how incredible the accompanying video sequence was as well. I have to give Toei credit...they pulled off concise editing when they put it together--those images of Ryuseioh roaring out and breathing fire to this soundtrack are perfection.
There is no way to not be hype when this song is playing. NEW JACK Takuro's labored singing was kinda revolutionary if you think about it. We've had some powerhouses sing Sentai theme songs in the past like Akira Kushida, Takayuki Miyauchi, and Hironobu Kageyama, but none of them were able to open the floodgates this much. I think the closest we got was that little *boom* in the Liveman opening theme song. Or maybe Mojo's yell in the Battle Fever J ending. This is appropriate hype for the series it's attached to.
Check out the demo version of the song here. You can catch the madness in it's infancy...
02. Ai no Solider / Gouji Tsuno
Here is where it all goes wrong.
You know what, I've never hated this song as much as some of the ones we're going to explore going forward. It's a bad singer with the most generic rock song attached to it. It's just there...not the worst, but NOWHERE near good.
The best part of this song, obviously, is "I LOVE YOU! ON THE FIRE!".
Huh??? Alright, my man.
03. Utsukushi hana no youni / Gouji Tsuno
When I was early in my Youtube channel I genuinely worried about what songs I would use for Dairanger toys. Some songs are painfully limited (Won Tiger, Gorma, Ryuseioh/Dairenoh, Daibuster, Rin's song) and the rest...were this slop.
The badass imagery in the Dairanger opening video? It's related to this deep, dark, forgotten song hell.
If I could aptly describe this song, I guess I could say this is a peaceful meadow of lameness that somehow wandered into a fierce battle for the planet.
As limited as this song collection is, I really hate this for wasting precious space on the disc.
04. Ikki ni shuuchuu! / FUNKY Y.K. (Yasuo Kosugi)
This is the lone decent, unaffiliated song in the song collection. I don't think FUNKY Y.K. is all that great, and kinda verges on sucking on this song with his hamminess. I appreciate the energy and classic rollcall! It's a little retro in that sense, even if Zyuranger also has a song with a rollcall. It's something that kinda went out of fashion at some point.
Yeah, I like this one.
05. Gorma Gorma Gorma / Gouji Tsuno, Pythagoras
I have a hard time getting into villain songs. Sometimes they're great, but mostly they're just obnoxious. This song can definitely be filed under the latter even though it has a pretty slick beat.
Credit where it's due at least, it's incredibly modern. Songs would sound like this for pretty much the remainder of the 90s. The mopey singing from Gouji Tsuno is a big holdback. We also have the return of Pythagoras, who you probably don't remember from the Zyuranger ending song. He provides the rap portions here...it's pretty fun.
06. Kaze no senshi / Yoko Ishida
Overrated.
For a song that had an episode's plot wrapped around it, this is a bland 'ole time. It's just boring. It isn't terrible, but it's farty beat never really did anything for me.
Yoko Ishida did a fine job in one of her early songs. She's one of those singers where I've seen the name plenty over the years, but then realize that I only know her from this song and a song from B-Robo Kabutack that I'll probably cover some day. Still active...but just not into Tokusatsu much.
07. Hi no fuke Daibuster / Nobuhiko Kashiwara
A great action song--one that finally fits the series perfectly. It's almost as if it shares DNA with the theme songs. This one is rad. Definitely best of the series.
08. Ryuseioh ~Dairenoh no theme~ / FUNKY Y.K. (Yasuo Kosugi)
While Funky Y.K. was a fun guy to listen to in Zyuranger's Dragon Caesar no uta, this song is just...dreck. The singing is just...bad. Or at least he was the wrong singer for the job. Not only that, but the music is pretty weak outside of the guitar work. How lazy is it that Ryuseioh and Dairenoh had to share a theme song?
There is so much wrong with this half-assed theme song that I really just never consider this to be a mecha theme song. Ryuseioh and Dairenoh deserve way better than this...
There is so much wrong with this half-assed theme song that I really just never consider this to be a mecha theme song. Ryuseioh and Dairenoh deserve way better than this...
09. Chikai / FUNKY Y.K. (Yasuo Kosugi)
The very beginning 20 seconds of this song are painful. I've edited it out of all versions that I use for portable music. After that...it's a decent enough song. Again, I don't think the Funkster was the right choice for singing, but here we are. If you can stomach the beginning, you'll be rewarded with a modestly alright song.
The only thing that can make this song worse is the cast singing it...which totally happened on that Promotional Drama CD...let's not talk about that.
10. Oretachi muteki sa!! Dairanger / NEW JACK Takuro (Hirokazu Umeda)
The amazing ending theme song to the series. Like it's Opening counterpart, this one gets it right from beginning to end. It's just so slick and perfect. There are few better songs out there to bring Super Sentai episodes in for a landing. Catchy, exciting, but also pretty damn chill. Especially the instrumental bits.
11. Won Tiger no uta / Nobuhiko Kashiwara
This is the Dairanger mecha theme worth listening to.
We have a better singer this time around...and even an up-beat song with some Won Tiger sound effects thrown in. It might not be the best mecha theme song, but it's certainly a nice return to form that had been lacking in some of the years prior to this.
We have a better singer this time around...and even an up-beat song with some Won Tiger sound effects thrown in. It might not be the best mecha theme song, but it's certainly a nice return to form that had been lacking in some of the years prior to this.
12. Gosei Sentai Dairanger [Original Karaoke]
13. Ikki ni shuuchuu! [Original Karaoke]
14. Kaze no senshi [Original Karaoke]
15. Hi no fuke Daibuster [Original Karaoke]
16. Ryuseioh ~Dairenoh no theme~ [Original Karaoke]
17. Oretachi muteki sa!! Dairanger [Original Karaoke]
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This is a rough listen as a Song Collection. The great songs are the ones you know and the bad songs are BAAAD. Everything in the middle is pretty forgettable.
I know I haven't reviewed every Super Sentai Song Collection of the 90s, but I need to make this perfectly clear here and now. This is the worst...by far. Zyuranger is down there in lameness, but this is a whole new level of weak. I want to say this mostly stems from sheer disappointment since I didn't hear all of these songs until years after the series was over. Toei wisely left a lot of these songs to rot, but not smart enough to just not bother releasing them. I guess they needed to put *something* out for a song collection.
Skip it. Amazing theme songs with completely uninspired junk around it.
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If you enjoy the Dairanger theme songs, make sure you check out the post I did where I uncover the demo versions of both theme songs...along with Changeman for good measure.
I'll be back soon with a brand new post about a newly released thing. It's some stuff that kinda snuck in under the radar, so we'll see how it really is.
See ya next time.
-CC
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