You know, I’ve got a lot of original television soundtracks. Some series span two dozen or more CDs, and others release one title and then vanish into one-season-wonder obscurity. Either way, I’ve got a ton of ’em. And very few of them hold together as well as Hiroshi Miyagawa’s original score from the first season of Space Battleship Yamato (better known in the U.S. as Star Blazers).
It could be that these cues and songs have been a part of my film music consciousness since before the age of ten, making them part of a small number of lifelong soundtrack favorites which also include Doctor Who, Star Trek (the original series) and Star Wars. But as I listened to this somewhat rare soundtrack, I realized that the whole thing is incredibly cohesive from a musical standpoint. Miyagawa utilizes leitmotives as effectively as any Western composer in the John Williams vein of film scoring, and by the end of the forty-four minute duration of the CD, I was amazed by how many permutations the show’s theme music had been put through. From heroic to somber to suspenseful to mournful, it’s a very versatile piece of music. And while I may make a modern-day comparison to John Williams, it’s important to remember that Space Battleship Yamato originally hit Japanese TV screens in 1974…before Star Wars, Superman, Close Encounters, or even Jaws.
Some of the incidental cues are solidly planted in a disco/funk idiom, but they still age well (especially since that whole millieu is well on its way to a comeback). The more orchestral cues also stand up to the test of time. My only regret about this soundtrack? It’s a mono recording. It would’ve been glorious to hear this stuff in stereo. The first incidental track on the CD, “The Universe Spreading To Infinity”, is a lovely choral piece which justifies the purchase price of the whole album.
Several other Star Blazers/Yamato soundtracks and re-recordings (akin to Varese Sarabande and Label X’s classic Trek re-
recordings) exist, but for those fans who only plan on buying one Yamato CD, make it this one. Like Star Trek, Yamato “tracked” scenes frequently with music from its library of cues recorded for early episodes, and these pieces of music will strike a nostalgic chord for anyone who fondly remembers the series – these are the cues from early in the first season, and were re-used the most frequently. You’re sure to get a memory jolt from something on this CD! Highly recommended.
- Space Battleship Yamato opening theme (1:18)
- The Universe Spreading To Infinity (1:52)
- Yamato Sleeps In The Setting Sun (1:18)
- Yamato Launches From The Earth (2:19)
- Enter Desslar (1:31)
- Woman of Iscandar (1:00)
- Sorrow (1:28)
- Sortie of the Enemy Fleet (1:07)
- Gathering The Fleet (1:21)
- Black Tigers (2:50)
- Search Ship (1:05)
- Romance (0:47)
- Shocking Scarf (0:45)
- Scarf of Sorrow (0:56)
- Yamato’s Bolero (0:57)
- Large River Theme (1:32)
- Crossing The Beautiful Ocean (2:49)
- The Silence of Space (1:21)
- Meadow (1:02)
- Ghost Town (0:45)
- Suspense A (1:02)
- Suspense B (0:48)
- Launch of the Search Ship (1:04)
- Original Yamato Theme (1:07)
- Yamato’s Sorrow (1:44)
- Assembling The Carrier Fleet (1:58)
- A Desperate Situation (1:07)
- Warp (0:43)
- Pathetic Yamato (1:48)
- Ending Music Selections (cues) (1:32)
- Procession of Yamato’s Crew (1:27)
- Scarlet Scarf (ending theme) (1:24)
Released by: Nippon Columbia
Release date: 1995
Total running time: 44:04