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 |
Title |
| The Devil's Temari
Ball Song - Original Soundtrack |
| International Title |
| Lullaby
to Kill |
| Music By: Kunihiko
Murai |
| Record Label:
Culture Publishers |
| |
|
| Running Time: 42:07 |
Discs: 1 |
| Release: December 1998 |
CD Number: CPC8-3011 |
|
| Comments |
 |
Anthony
Romero |
 |
|
|
First off,
huge thanks goes out, once again, to Robert Storch for
sending this disc for review!
This disc, released by Culture Publishers under their
Volcano label, contains the score to the 1977 movie
Lullaby to Kill, an entry in what is now generally
regarded as the Kosuke Kindaichi series. I will be
honest: first time I heard this soundtrack I wasn't
too impressed. Nothing really grabbed me except the
fairly creepy "The Temari Ball Song of Onikobe-mura",
which falls into line with other similar slightly
unnerving melodies heard in many horror films. The
singer has a sweet voice, but just something is distinctly
off. Perhaps due to the lack of background music,
but it hits the desired effect of seeming out of place
and strange. The second song, "Temari Ball Illusion",
is even creepier. The lyrics are enunciated in a very
slow tone, almost like speaking rather than singing.
This song does have music in the background, that
slowly builds until it overtakes the lyrics before
a chorus kicks in.
Songs aside, thankfully upon further listens I did
start to gain appreciation for Kunihiko Murai's work
on the score itself and the themes he composed. His
melodies started to stand out and become more distinct
amongst each other, while clear favorites started
to present themselves.
Of the themes present, the opening "Ballade of
Pathos" would have to be the stand out. It has
that rustic feel to it, very distinct for the period
that the movie was released, while the background
chorus does a nice job to make the theme a memorable
one. The score on a general is a bit on the slow side
in terms of pacing, outside of the slightly more rousing
"Blood" and "Murderous Intent"
themes. It's a pleasant listening experience, as Murai
uses a lot of chorus work sprinkled throughout to
good effect, such as in "Between Love and Hate".
A number of the cues also have a nice "countryside"
type of flavor to them, a type of theme that would
feel right at home while driving through a rural stretch
of road at a leisurely pace. Themes like "Sen-nin
Pass" and "A Day at Onikobe-mura" fall
into this category, and simply excel at conveying
a laid back sense. On the downside, a few of the trumpet
heavy cues, like "A Time of Twenty Years",
kind of clash with the other soothing themes present
and present a slightly "clunky" feel to
the disc as a whole.
Overall, its a fairly diverse body of work, but doesn't
always transition too well from theme to theme on
the disc itself. The running time is also on the short
side. Despite this, anyone who loves contemporary
music from the 1970's would be well off to check this
out, as it's unmistakably from that period and Murai
does well to make a few cues here hallmarks in the
Kosuke Kindaichi series, to which this is the second
entry behind The
Inugami Family (1976).
Now, in regards to this release in particular, it's
not the first time this score has been issued on CD,
with the first instance being back in 1993 (SLCS-5012).
This reissue was part of an effort on Culture Publishers'
part to re-release the series, under the "Ko-suke
Kindaichi series" branding, for those who might
have missed it the first time. Unfortunately, while
other CDs in the new line tended to have additional
content added to them, the one for Lullaby to Kill
has the exact same 16 tracks across the disc that
its 1993 counterpart did.
Rating:  |
|
| Tracks |
- Ballade of Pathos
- Old Woman's Shadow
- Sen-nin Pass
- Six-way Crossroads
- Swamp
- The Temari Ball Song of Onikobe-mura
- Combing the Mountain
- A Day at Onikobe-mura
- A Time of Twenty Years
- Between Love and Hate (Interval)
- Murderous Intent
- Temari Ball Illusion
- The Farthest Reaches of Hate
- Storehouse
- Blood
- Separation
|
|
|
|
