“Godzilla Raids Again” Score Review

I’ve always been a fan of Maestro Sato’s various Showa era Godzilla scores. He usually brings a variety of themes and tunes that fit the setting and type of film that the director is looking to create. He had surfer-type music for Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster. He brought island themes to Son of Godzilla. Sato attempts to match what is visually captured on screen and usually succeeds.

His first outing, Godzilla Raids Again, is a more somber, ominous sounding score than any of his future Godzilla scores. Riding off the coattails of the highly successful Gojira, Toho wanted to quickly cash-in on the horrors that made that film so successful. Within months, Godzilla Raids Again hit theaters. While successful, it wasn’t nearly as successful as Gojira.

Sato was brought in to score the movie after Akira Ifukube created a grand score for Gojira. Many of those themes will be tweaked and re-used by Ifukube for his later kaiju scores and would go on to be synonymous with Godzilla and much of the kaiju genre.

With that being said, I cannot say that Sato’s Godzilla Raids Again score even comes close to Ifukube’s Gojira score; nor should I make an attempt to compare to Ifukube’s, or any other maestro’s, Godzilla score. But even when I compare this score to Sato’s later scores (Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla), I find it to be incredibly inferior.

That’s not to say that there’s nothing to like on this score. On the contrary, there are several tracks that are enjoyable to listen to, but that’s about it. Many of the other pieces of music are highly forgettable and there’s even one song that appears in the movie, “Couple on the Lakeshore,” that is beautiful, but not done by Sato. I have to remind myself, however, that this film was a very rushed project and I’m positive that affected Sato’s ability to sit down and construct music that would really stand out.

Much of his music for Godzilla Raids Again reminds me of the music I’d hear for some of Universal’s classic monster films and other science-fiction films of the 1950s. That’s not a bad thing, per se, but it does signal that there isn’t much originality here–and I hate to say that considering, again, I don’t really think this score is Sato’s fault as much as it is Toho’s for wanting to rush another Godzilla movie into theaters.

The only pieces that standout are the “Main Title” (and that is even re-used for a later track titled, “Fighter Sortie”), an ominous Godzilla theme that’s used for such tracks as “Godzilla in Osaka Bay” and “Flares & Godzilla,” and the song I mentioned earlier, “Couple on a Lakeshore,” which is performed by a different artist.

That’s not a lot of memorable pieces, sadly. The body of the actual score is quite forgettable–and I really hate to say that, but it’s true.

The bonus tracks are a bit interesting but mainly provide variations of tracks that were used in the movie. The most notable variations include “Main Title” and “Godzilla’s Theme.” Which is great considering those are the two pieces of music that I enjoy the most from this score. The “Main Title” variation isn’t anything special, really. It adds a brief string-instrument flare at the beginning of it before continuing with the theme that many of us know.

The various “Godzilla’s Theme” pieces offer more differences from what actually was used in the film but have a very short runtime.

Most of the bonus tracks are quite useless and, to be honest, a bit annoying. There are two tracks that deal with testing the harp, cymbals, and gong. Then there’s a five-plus minute track of different Anguirus roars. The first minute-and-a-half of this track was absolutely irritating as it sounded like a cross between someone tuning his violin (and doing a poor job of it) and a broken birthday noise maker. It’s grating on the ears. The rest of the track isn’t as irritating, but is, more or less, boring. It’s interesting, I admit, to listen to these different attempts at creating an Anguirus roar, but when it’s a five minute track, it just gets tiresome to listen to.

The final two bonus tracks contain songs titled, “Godzilla-san” and “Angillas Strike.” I am not sure as to what these were used for, but my guess is promotional events. Strangely, though, they seem to have a more lively tune to them that we will later find with Godzilla songs in the late 60s and into the 70s. Perhaps Toho was also wanting to get children to come to the movie? I’m not sure as the insert for the score is all in Japanese and I cannot find any information pertaining to these two tracks elsewhere on the Web. They are interesting tracks nevertheless.

While most film scores are put together to present the music as it’s heard in the film, some of the scores can be quite enjoyable as a standalone experience. Godzilla Raids Again isn’t enjoyable on its own. Outside of the lackluster music, many tracks are several seconds to a minute in runtime. Without the bonus tracks, we’re probably looking at a score that wouldn’t quite hit the half hour mark.

Again, I cannot put the blame on Sato for this score. I place the blame squarely on Toho for wanting to rush a sequel to cash-in on the success of Gojira. Sato, and others who worked on the film, had to work with the limited time they were given. Only a couple of tracks are memorable on this score and nothing else.

I cannot recommend someone picking up this score unless, like me, they’re a completest. Sato will end up producing better scores in the future, and I’m sure part of the reason for that is that he was given more time to produce better music.