Tomita related odds and ends

Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/

I saw one of those infamous CDs "Tomita in Surround" new in a NYC shop,
before you get excited the back cover and spine revealed what it really
was, a "Pictures at An Exhibition" CD with the booklet folded wrong.

Just bringing that up because the booklets to the US released dolby
surround CDs of the early 1990s had all the covers printed on the
gatefolds and then a final one called "Tomita In Surround" which was
just filling up the last panel though many have been confused that this
might be an album.

An interesting thing I learned from Tomita related soundtrack albums is
the continuing use of dates based on the Emperor's reign in 1990s CDs. I
kept seeing these odd numbers like 41, 56, etc. in the booklets. Clearly
they weren't tracks from 1941, the music was decades newer, so I was confused.

Then on another album there ware a lot of S## numbers by each track,
like S43, etc. then I realized these 2 digit numbers were Showa era
dates. The Showa era started in 1926 so just add them up. Someone might
want to research, I might be off a year but its a good approximation.

I checked out "Shin Nihon Kikou" (the BMG Japan released mid 90s album
of many of Tomita's well known TV soundtracks) and most of the tracks
list the years the series were on in Showa era dates... but to add a
little twist, even if you can't read Japanese, The Showa Era (Hirohito)
ended 1989 so dates after that will be Heisei Era dates and low numbers.
Shouldn't be too hard, its pretty obvious if somthing is dated 65 to 75
years ago or 11 or less.


nick

http://welcome.to/synths
lots about Japanese synth albums


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Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/

In a message dated 10/12/00 12:56:19 AM Central Daylight Time,
ndkent at optonline.net writes:

> I checked out "Shin Nihon Kikou" (the BMG Japan released mid 90s album
> of many of Tomita's well known TV soundtracks) and most of the tracks
> list the years the series were on in Showa era dates... but to add a
> little twist, even if you can't read Japanese, The Showa Era (Hirohito)
> ended 1989 so dates after that will be Heisei Era dates and low numbers.
> Shouldn't be too hard, its pretty obvious if somthing is dated 65 to 75
> years ago or 11 or less.

Has anybody heard these TV soundtracks by Tomita? Are they along the same
lines (musically and sonically) as his early RCA releases?

Just wondering,
Andrew


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Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/

IXQY at aol.com wrote:
>
> Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/
>
> In a message dated 10/12/00 12:56:19 AM Central Daylight Time,
> ndkent at optonline.net writes:
>
> > I checked out "Shin Nihon Kikou" (the BMG Japan released mid 90s album
> > of many of Tomita's well known TV soundtracks) and most of the tracks
> > list the years the series were on in Showa era dates... but to add a
> > little twist, even if you can't read Japanese, The Showa Era (Hirohito)
> > ended 1989 so dates after that will be Heisei Era dates and low numbers.
> > Shouldn't be too hard, its pretty obvious if somthing is dated 65 to 75
> > years ago or 11 or less.
>
> Has anybody heard these TV soundtracks by Tomita? Are they along the same
> lines (musically and sonically) as his early RCA releases?
>
> Just wondering,
> Andrew

Well yes, I've heard them, I'm trying to read the booklets, which is
where the Showa Era date system I'm talking about came up.

He's been dowing soundtracks definitely since the early 60s, probably
even the late 50s. It really depends on the point of the individual
soundtrack... like if its about science fiction its more likely to be
similar than if its about Kimba the White Lion.

Breifly the (hard to find) 2 soundtracks to "Catastrophy 1999:
Nostradamus's Prophecy" is a lot like his early albums with the addition
of some rock blended in(!). You have "Misty Kid of Wind" (long out of
print) and "Storm from the East" (recently out of print) which are from
his 80s digital era and use piles of synths.

"Shin Nihon Kikou" is orchestral though with a bit of synth. Its
recreating a lot of his famous TV themes.

captain ultra from '67 or so uses a lot of space effects but sounds much
earlier than the synth albums.

Most compilations of famous old TV themes will have a few Tomita tracks
(since he did some still classic TV themes, especially the music for
Jungle Taitei -- Kimba the White Lion), but of course they vary widely.
I just ran into one piece of theme music from '68 or so which is called
(something I haven't translated but ending with 008, its not the still
famous Cyborg 009) anyway it has a woman singing and hip music but the
real calling card is the whole thing is fed through some kind of giant
flanger/phaser effect so there is the classic whoosh you hear on many of
the later synth albums. Its not going off randomly on this track. Its
timed with each verse to make a giant one directional whoosh as she
sings "zoom zoom zoom zoom"

nick
anyway there is more on my site
http://artcontext.com/music/artskool/jem/it.html


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Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/

In an edited message dated 10/12/00 10:53:35 AM Central Daylight Time,
ndkent at optonline.net writes:

> Breifly the (hard to find) 2 soundtracks to "Catastrophy 1999:
> Nostradamus's Prophecy" is a lot like his early albums with the addition
> of some rock blended in(!). You have "Misty Kid of Wind" (long out of
> print) and "Storm from the East" (recently out of print) which are from
> his 80s digital era and use piles of synths.
>
> "Shin Nihon Kikou" is orchestral though with a bit of synth. Its
> recreating a lot of his famous TV themes.
>
> captain ultra from '67 or so uses a lot of space effects but sounds much
> earlier than the synth albums.


Wow,
I would like to hear Catstrophy 1999 someday. Sounds interesting! I also
didn't know that he Tomita did the music for Captain Ultra. A drummer from
the last band I was has lots of Captain Ultra on videotape. Some harder to
find episodes were sent to him from a fan from Japan. I'll have to have a
listen...

Thanks for the reply,
Andrew


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Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/


> Wow,
> I would like to hear Catstrophy 1999 someday. Sounds interesting! I also
> didn't know that he Tomita did the music for Captain Ultra. A drummer from
> the last band I was has lots of Captain Ultra on videotape. Some harder to
> find episodes were sent to him from a fan from Japan. I'll have to have a
> listen...
>
> Thanks for the reply,
> Andrew


A recently published American book I have says the "Nostradamus'
Prophecy" film (aka "Catastrophe 1999") is out on Paramount Home Video
in the U.S. retitled as "The Last Days of Planet Earth". I'd make sure
its a japanese film from the '70s before you buy it though. I think some
other films have similar names, also not having seen it in its
amaerican version who knows how intact the soundtrack is. I've not
gotten around to tracking the film down yet. The book seems reliable so
I'm not doubting its out.

I already mentioned that Tomita did the music for Kimba the White Lion
and its spinnoffs, though there is a bad remake tape floating around
regular U.S. video shops which is 1980s or 1990s color re-animations of
presumably black and white 1960s shows Its been confirmed these inferior
remakes don't have Tomita's music. The real episodes and the better
grade spinnoffs do and some are U.S. released (I also saw a Sony U.S.
tape called "Jungle Emperor" which is a whole other bad animation,
having nothing to do with the classic series)... so the key is, if its
Kimba and it looks like decent Tezuka animation it probably has a Tomita
score. The Japanese tapes have his name on the box

There's a '60s Tsubaraya adventure series Mighty Jack which has a lot of
Barry Gray/Gerry Anderson style music, but done original by Tomita.

Princess Knight (a.k.a. Princess Saphire) everyone's favorite gender
confused young heir to the throne animated series by Tezuka is also
Tomita scored. It played in the U.S. at some point.


nick


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Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/

At the mention of the album Catastrophy 1999
it always reminds me of a list of Synthesized albums
provided by Compact Disc Services up in Scotland
maybe 10-15 years ago, who credited this album
to 'Electric Samurai'. Was this Tomita recording
under another name? Has any one else heard of this?

Dave Bassett

-----Original Message-----
From: ndkent [mailto:ndkent at optonline.net]
Sent: 12 October 2000 16:41
To: Isao Tomita Mailing List
Subject: Re: Tomita related odds and ends


Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/

IXQY at aol.com wrote:
>
> Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/
>
> In a message dated 10/12/00 12:56:19 AM Central Daylight Time,
> ndkent at optonline.net writes:
>
> > I checked out "Shin Nihon Kikou" (the BMG Japan released mid 90s album
> > of many of Tomita's well known TV soundtracks) and most of the tracks
> > list the years the series were on in Showa era dates... but to add a
> > little twist, even if you can't read Japanese, The Showa Era (Hirohito)
> > ended 1989 so dates after that will be Heisei Era dates and low
numbers.
> > Shouldn't be too hard, its pretty obvious if somthing is dated 65 to 75
> > years ago or 11 or less.
>
> Has anybody heard these TV soundtracks by Tomita? Are they along the same
> lines (musically and sonically) as his early RCA releases?
>
> Just wondering,
> Andrew

Well yes, I've heard them, I'm trying to read the booklets, which is
where the Showa Era date system I'm talking about came up.

He's been dowing soundtracks definitely since the early 60s, probably
even the late 50s. It really depends on the point of the individual
soundtrack... like if its about science fiction its more likely to be
similar than if its about Kimba the White Lion.

Breifly the (hard to find) 2 soundtracks to "Catastrophy 1999:
Nostradamus's Prophecy" is a lot like his early albums with the addition
of some rock blended in(!). You have "Misty Kid of Wind" (long out of
print) and "Storm from the East" (recently out of print) which are from
his 80s digital era and use piles of synths.

"Shin Nihon Kikou" is orchestral though with a bit of synth. Its
recreating a lot of his famous TV themes.

captain ultra from '67 or so uses a lot of space effects but sounds much
earlier than the synth albums.

Most compilations of famous old TV themes will have a few Tomita tracks
(since he did some still classic TV themes, especially the music for
Jungle Taitei -- Kimba the White Lion), but of course they vary widely.
I just ran into one piece of theme music from '68 or so which is called
(something I haven't translated but ending with 008, its not the still
famous Cyborg 009) anyway it has a woman singing and hip music but the
real calling card is the whole thing is fed through some kind of giant
flanger/phaser effect so there is the classic whoosh you hear on many of
the later synth albums. Its not going off randomly on this track. Its
timed with each verse to make a giant one directional whoosh as she
sings "zoom zoom zoom zoom"

nick
anyway there is more on my site
http://artcontext.com/music/artskool/jem/it.html


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Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/

"Bassett, David" wrote:
>
> Isao Tomita Mailing List - http://listen.to/tomita/
>
> At the mention of the album Catastrophy 1999
> it always reminds me of a list of Synthesized albums
> provided by Compact Disc Services up in Scotland
> maybe 10-15 years ago, who credited this album
> to 'Electric Samurai'. Was this Tomita recording
> under another name? Has any one else heard of this?
>
> Dave Bassett
>


Actually I and a lot of people are calling this soundtrack "Catastrophe
1999" when the actual name is something like "Nostradamus no Dai Yogen"
or something with the sort of sub-title being "Catastrophe 1999"... like
"Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" The thing is "Catastrophe
1999" is in English (though in small print) and the rest isn't.

I've heard of Electric Samauri somewhere but don't have info. I think
what you found is something else though I can't say 100%. The soundtrack
seems to have Tomita on every track though there are session musicians
some instruments. An english credit backs this up (composed, arranged,
conducted and synthesizer by Isao Tomita")

The album was never released outside Japan and exists in 2 versions. A
soundtrack album of 2 long suites in stereo and another album of about
40 mono film cues. There was also a single mix which is now included on
the mono film cue CD. The Stereo version is currently out of print on CD.

But who knows since theres little info on the Electric Samauri release
assuming it exists, it might be no releation, it might be a mistake, it
might even be a cover version!


nick

nick's own movies at:
http://members.nbci.com/zaum/


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