Ifukube music in new Godzilla series?
Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:07 pmAnother thing to consider:
The Zatoichi film series had a variety of composers, Ifukube doing the most scores for the series. But notice that Ifukube only used the same Zatoichi theme twice (in New Tale of Zatoichi and Zatoichi on the Road)! He composed different themes for the rest of his work for the series! Other composers in the series had their own unique theme for each film.
And notice that from Monster Zero to Destroy All Monsters, Ifukube had a slightly different theme music for Godzilla. (Terror of Mechagodzilla had a different variation of the 1954 theme!) So Ifukube didn't use the same theme over and over and over again. He knew when to keep it fresh.
Different composers sometimes use the same theme music (Riichirou Manabe, for example), whereas others like Masaru Satou came with different themes for each film, and each theme was memorable.
Personally, as the Showa Series showed, I think Godzilla can still survive without Ifukube music. When the Millennium Series used token Ifukube tracks, it seemed so forced, and detracted from the film. (I agree that GMK had the one best use of stock Ifukube tracks.) New composers rearranging Ifukube would be a much better option, or that composer's going to have to bust his chops to come up with something to match Ifukube (I thought Reijirou Koroku and Michiru Ooshima were good examples).
If Godzilla's gonna' come back, he gotta' stay fresh!