Heisei Era Soundtracks

[Jorzilla]

What is everyone's favorite and least favorite sound tracks on the Heisei era?


I'm going to start off with something controversial: Aside from Destroyah I feel like almost all of the Ifukube scores are recycled too much and feel phoned in compared to their original compositions in the Showa Era. Especially after the original and very well done scores for Godzilla Returns and Biollante, most of the scores seem so cookie-cutter.

[jellydonut25]

Agreed. G85 or Biollante might actually be my favorite, given the amount of recycling done on all the other soundtracks...

[Pkmatrix]

Hm...I'd say:

1. Biollante
2. RoG
3. Super-Mechagodzilla
4. Space Godzilla
5. Destroyah
6. King Ghidorah
7. Mothra

I find Biollante, Super-Mechagodzilla, and Space Godzilla to have the most memorable soundtracks overall, while RoG's (moreso in the G85 version) was incredibly effective. Destroyah and King Ghidorah each had one or two memorable tracks, but overall were "eh". Mothra was utterly forgettable.

[eabaker]

I'm torn. RoG is, overall, probably the most effective, atmospheric, story-appropriate score of the era.

But the Ifukube scores just make me happy. They evoke so much memory, so much excitement.

I think I'm gonna go with GvsKG. When I listen to that score independently, it makes me think about all the best things in the movie, and none of the worst.

[H-Man]

I really like all of the Ifukube soundtracks so it's hard to pick between those.

The Return of Godzilla
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
Godzilla vs. Mothra
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Godzilla vs. Biollante/Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (Not a big fan of either of these.)

[briizilla]

85, mechagodzilla, destroyah, KG, Mothra, bio.......









Space Godzilla

[Gman2887]

As much as I appreciate and respect the '84 score, I'm actually not a huge fan of it. What was Godzilla's theme in it? The opening sequence? Or the four note build-up when we first see him? It's certainly perfect for that movie, but it doesn't exactly sport the most memorable melodies.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is probably my favorite. Ifukube's return was very, very powerful-- maybe even too powerful for that movie. Everything from it really pops on a standalone listen. Admittedly, his later 90s scores aren't quite as grandiose, but vs. King Ghidorah had just as much energy and bombastic strength that any of his scores had in his prime.

[Jorzilla]

I don't think Godzilla is closely tied to the Ifukube scores as much as fans like to think it is. Sure, it is the ORIGINAL Godzilla theme, but they only really work in Ifukube movies. Any other time its used it almost always stands out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the score (G2K and GMK are great examples). There are plenty of movies that don't utilize it all and the movie still sounds great (RoG, GxMG, Tokyo SoS, GFW....jk). It's one of the reasons I'd like to see G'14 utilize or be inspired by Ifukube, rather than just remake the song.

Maybe I'm just hating on Heisei and it's creeping in. But with the start of the Ifukube's score in GvsKG you can kind of see Toho say to themselves: "Oh, this is how you make a successful Godzilla movie!" and just started cranking out paint by numbers Godzilla films with an Ifukube score to supplement the on screen action.

[Gman2887]

I agree, Godzilla's Ifukube theme isn't as sacred to the character as some like to think, but I do find Ifukube's score for vs. King Ghidorah more compelling and energetic than G'84 or vs. Biollante.

My complaint isn't that Godzilla has different themes in non-Ifukube movies, my complaint is sometimes those themes are weak or unrecognizable. I still can't decide which melody is Godzilla's in G'84 and Sugiyama's "Jaws theme" for Godzilla in vs. Biollante wasn't very interesting and had even less variation than Ifukube's themes. I'd go as far to say that I liked Hattori's Godzilla theme in vs. SpaceGodzilla more simply because he was able to do a lot of interesting things with it, musically. (I say that fully understanding it doesn't really fit Godzilla.)

As for the complaint for Ifukube's recycling... he was already doing that by the 60s. Destroy All Monsters had, what, one new melody in it? Varan's theme later became Rodan's. The military march in Godzilla '54 was reused in both War in Space and Monster Zero. I have no idea why Godzilla's theme showed up in Frankenstien Conquers the World. Or was it War of the Gargantuas? Having larger orchestrated, stereo versions of all these melodies in the Heisei series never bothered me. I think it was fairly expected.

[MekaGojira3k]

Favorite is EASILY Reijiro Koroku's Godzilla 1984 score. That's just one of my favorite G-scores regardless of era.
2nd place would be the score for vs. Biollante.
The middle is just Ifukube's stuff, although I really feel like vs. MechaGodzilla and vs. Destroyah are the two Heisei era Ifukube scores I like most.
Least Favorite is probably Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla.

[Dr Kain]

My favorite is either the opening theme from GvsMG or GvsD. My least favorite is most of everything from GvsSG.

[Gman2887]

I actually enjoy vs. SpaceGodzilla for a standalone listen. Some of Hattori's pieces ruined some scenes, but the music on its own is quite good. And I really enjoyed SpaceGodzilla's, even though it was probably too dark and sinister for that monster...

[ILL GREEN]

The outro of Godzilla heading to sea and followed by Baby Godzilla in Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II is my favorite haunting tune along with the outro to Destroyah.

[Jorzilla]

[Dr Kain]