Search - Various Artists :: Music From Monster Movies & Super Heroes Too

Cool Godzilla music!

Stuart M. Paine | Arlington, VA USA | 07/07/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First, I don't know where the "super heroes" (in the site's title) are - maybe two products' specs have been inadvertantly conflated. My disc is entitled MUSIC FROM THE MONSTER MOVIES with the American Festival Orchestra conducted by Andrew Lane and it looks precisely like the image here. The label is not "Showtunes"; it's "Show Piece". CD tracks are the same as listed above.

1. Arnold - Godzilla (3:14)
2. Ifukube - Godzilla and the Three-headed Monster (2:13)
3. Ifukube - Godzilla vs. Gigan (2:12)
4. Ifukube - Godzilla vs. Mothra (1:19)
5. Young - Godzilla 1985 (2:35)
6. Kaun - Frankenstein (2:30)
7. Tchaikovsky - exerpt from SWAN LAKE (2:56)
8. J.S. Bach - Gavotte from Partita no. 3 for violin (3:20)
9. Beethoven - "Fur Elise" (2:55)
10. Steiner - King Kong (4:27)
11. Williams - Jurassic Park Suite (12:45)

I got this for the Godzilla and the Frankenstein and have not been dissatisfied. They are performed well and the recorded sound is bright, loud and clear. Then follow three short classical selections used in DRACULA, THE HUNGER and ROSEMARY'S BABY. Now, I like classical music and, sure, classical music was an ingredient in gothic (19th Century) horror, but these selections do break the mood of the program - being stuck between GODZILLA/FRANKENSTEIN and KING KONG. All of those opening titles are exhilaratingly heavy-handed, pounding, threatening cues and then... SWAN LAKE? Not such a great idea.

Nearly as long as all those first six tracks combined is the lengthy suite from JURASSIC PARK. Again, it's a good orchestra and this sounds just as good to me as the OST. (Actually, JURASSIC PARK doesn't sound much like "monster music", either.)"