Star Blazers Soundtracks
Star Blazers fans! Welcome to the Wave Motion Web Page's Sountrack section! This section is designed as a brief, concise reference to help the Star Blazers fan find and order the Yamato soundtrack and theme music CDs.
Since the Yamato craze began, soundtrack and theme music albums have been produced by companies such as Nippon Columbia, Tokuma Shoten, and Sony (which is handling the Yamato 2520 releases).
The new CD releases by Nippon columbia are probably the hottest items right now. Currently, they are bought through import stores. Most of them cost 2,700 ¥ (Yen) in Japan, so you should expect to pay at least the equivalent in your native funds. Last I checked, 2,700 ¥ were roughly equal to $25 (US). Most US retailers will sell the CDs at around $30 (a 20% overhead and profit), plus shipping. Some will sell them for as much as $40, perhaps thinking that you don't know that you can get them for less elsewhere. My advice: Don't pay more than about $33.
For a list of places to get Yamato CDs, see the Dealers page.
Without further delay, on to the CD lists:
The Eternal Edition "files" are the latest releases on CD, and most other CDs are now out of print. You can get them from CD Japan and several other retailers.
Files 0 and 1 COCX-31082->3 Files 2 and 3 COCX-31154->5 File 4 COCX-31156 Files 5 and 6 COCX-31157->8 File 7 COCX-31159 Files 8 and 9 COCX-31160->1 File 10 COCX-31162
Symphonic Suite Yamato COCC-12227 ¥ 2,700 Arrivederci Yamato COCC-12228 ¥ 2,700 Yamato New Journey Theme Music Album COCC-12229 ¥ 2,700 Be Forever Yamato Theme Music Album COCC-12230~31 ¥ 5,000 (2CD set) Symphonic Suite Yamato III COCC-12232 ¥ 2,700 Final Yamato Theme Music Album COCC-12233-35 ¥ 7,500 (3CD set) Final Yamato Best Collection 27ATC-124~5 ¥ 5,068 (2CD set)
These are "soundtracks" in the truest sense. They feature music tracks which were actually used, in whole or in part, in film production. As such, they offer a larger selection than can be found on the Theme Music Albums (TMAs), though the quality of the performance is sometimes slightly less polished. There are also some pieces that can be found both on the BGMs and the TMAs, with differences as aforementioned.
Original BGM Collection: Yamato Part 1 COCC-12869 ¥ 2,700 Original BGM Collection: Yamato Part 2 COCC-12870 ¥ 2,700 Original BGM Collection: Yamato: New Journey COCC-12871 ¥ 2,700 Original BGM Collection: Be Forever Yamato COCC-12872 ¥ 2,700 Original BGM Collection: Yamato III COCC-12873 ¥ 2,700 Original BGM Collection: Final Yamato COCC-12874 ¥ 2,700
Drama recordings are script re-enactments set to sympnonic music and sound effects. These were quite popular in the days before they started making films with stereo sound built in (such as for the TV Seasons, in mono). These days, we simply plug our TV systems into our stereo speaker system. At any rate, the drama albums can be fun to have, listen to in the car, &c. Note that the dialogue for these albums is in Japanese.
Space Battleship Yamato, Drama COCC-12477 ¥ 2,500 Space Battleship Yamato 2, Drama COCC-13035-36 ¥ 5,000 (2CD) Arrivederci Yamato, Drama COCC-12478-79 ¥ 5,000 (2CD set) Yamato New Journey, Drama COCC-12480-81 ¥ 5,000 (2CD set) Be Forever Yamato, Drama COCC-12482-84 ¥ 7,500 (3CD set) Yamato III, Drama COCC-12485-86 ¥ 5,000 (2CD set) Final Yamato, Drama COCC-12487-89 ¥ 7,500 (3CD set)
The following CD album releases feature various renditions of Yamato theme music recorded during live performances, special artist covers, synthesizer music, and narration suites. For most of them, I will not go into detail about their contents. Please see Steve Harrison's Space Webzine Yamato 1 for details.
Yamato Song Collection COCC-12875 ¥ 2,700 Romantic Violin Yamato COCC-12668 ¥ 2,500 Mellow Guitar Yamato COCC-12669 ¥ 2,500 Fascinating Piano Yamato COCC-12670 ¥ 2,500 Suite for Choral and Piano Yamato COCC-12671 ¥ 2,500 Symphonic Yamato-Live Concert COCC-12672 ¥ 2,500 Prologue to Final Yamato COCC-13262 ¥ 2,700 Sound Fantasia Yamato COCC-13263~64 ¥ 5,000 (2CD) '80 Yamato Festival in Budokan COCC-13037~38 ¥ 5,000 (2CD)
Some of you have asked about music for the new Yamato 2520 OVA series. I have not heard it, but have seen at least one of the following CDs in stock at various stores. These albums are published by Sony.
Yamato 2520 Original Theme ST + SRCL 3118 ¥ 3,000 (with picture) Yamato 2520 Original Theme ST SRCL 3126 ¥ 2,800 (regular) Yamato 2520 Original Theme ST 2 SRCL 3487 ¥ 2,800 Yamato 2520 Original Theme ST SRYL 7187 ¥ 2,800 (Sony minidisc)
If I had to make a recommendation as to which albums to buy first or foremost, I would put the Symphonic Suite Yamato (TMA) at the top of the list. And, to get a good sampling of the music, I recommend the following
ESSENTIALS (in order of relative importance):
1) Symphonic Suite Yamato (COCC-12227) 2) BGM Yamato, Part 2 (COCC-12870) 3) BGM New Journey (COCC-12871) 4) BGM Yamato III (COCC-12873)
If you still have money, the following are also good ones to have (I really consider them secondary "must-haves"):
1) BGM Yamato, Part 1 (COCC-12869) 2) BGM Be Forever Yamato (COCC-12872) 3) Symphonic Suite Yamato III (COCC-12232) 4) BGM Final Yamato (COCC-12874)
I actually would have listed BGM Yamato, Part 1 in the first list, but it contains many of the same tunes as Syphonic Suite Yamato. Actually, it contains MORE than that album, but the BGM is unfortunately in MONO.
Space Pirate Captain Harlock is another Matsumoto character who is popular with Star Blazers fans. For those of you who know who he is, and are interested, Nippon Colombia has issued two CD music albums. They are:
My Youth in Arcadia Theme Music Album 2,500 COCC-13215
My Youth in Arcadia Theme Music Album 2,500 COCC-13268
1Only the new CD releases are included on this page. For a look at older LP albums (most likely unavailable today), and for some details which may not be covered here, I suggest you also look at Steve Harrison's Space Webzine Yamato Website at http://members.aol.com/swy01/index.html
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