For all of you Godzilla and vinyl record fanatics, Waxwork Records is set to release GODZILLA: The Showa Era Soundtracks, 1954-1975, an 18 LP Box Set in March 2021; you can pre-order the box set now which will set you back a gargantuan amount of $450. So this is definitely not for casual fans unless you happen to have a large sum of money burning a hole in your pocket the same way that Godzilla’s “fire breath” aka “atomic breath” burns down Japanese cities and monster foes in many of these movies. It’s actually significantly cheaper to buy all of the movies from this era on The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray Set.
So what exactly do you get in this box set? You get the soundtracks for Godzilla (1954), Godzilla Raids Again (1955), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963), Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965), Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966), Son of Godzilla (1967), Destroy All Monsters (1968), All Monster Attack (1969), Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), and Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975).
Holy shit that is a lot of Godzilla vinyl; it’s the soundtrack for 15 films with three of them being double vinyl albums so that is why it comes out to 18 pieces of vinyl for those of you keeping score at home.
Let’s be honest: you have to be kind of a huge geek to even consider buying this thing and in the era of COVID-19 when so many people are struggling to survive economically it seems crazy that this product even exists; then again it’s still safer for those of you who can afford this to stay at home and listen to it then to venture out into the real world.
But Waxwork Records seems to have cornered the market on releasing remastered soundtracks on vinyl of obscure and not-so-obscure genre movies, as well as some genuine classic films. For example the Waxworks Records vinyl catalog includes soundtracks to sleazy, mostly forgotten slasher films like Don’t Go In The House (1979) and The Prowler (1981). Don’t get me wrong; I happen to love those movies and most of the movies Waxworks has released soundtracks of; I bought the soundtrack to Black Christmas (1974) for myself a few years ago as well as the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) for my brother this past Christmas.
So yeah if you are a huge fan of cinema, grindhouse or otherwise, I would definitely recommend you check out the Waxwork Records website as I am sure you will find something of interest. As mentioned, the soundtracks are always remastered and they often come with great new artwork on the covers as well.
Speaking of that, back to the Godzilla set. It is “a lavish collector’s box set with remastered audio for vinyl, new artwork by Robert Sammelin, eighteen 180 gram colored vinyl discs, heavyweight matte laminate coated album jackets, an LP storage box with a fold-down magnetic flap featuring an album cover glossary, a turntable slipmat, all housed within a slipcase box with matte satin laminate coating,” as described by the Waxwork Records website.
So you do get some bang for your many bucks.
It should be mentioned that many of these Godzilla soundtracks are being released for the first time on vinyl in this set and we should give credit to the wonderful composers of this music, Akira Ifukube, Masaru Sato, Kunio Miyauchi, and Riichiro Manabe. Due to licensing restrictions this box set will ship within the United States only, so this could be a good investment for future resale, as Godzilla collectors around the globe are sure to want this.
To be completely honest I don’t remember any of the music from Godzilla movies personally, although I was always a casual fan of the films as a child, more specifically, I was a big fan of the scenes where Godzilla was destroying a city or fighting other monsters, and then fell promptly asleep during the other parts of the movies.
As I was finishing writing this article I received an email from Waxwork Records announcing another new release; Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. You have to love this company in all its weirdness.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2021.
