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Title
 Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro - Music File
International Title
 Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro
Music By: Yuji Ono
Record Label: Columbia
 
Running Time: 77:36 Discs: 1
Release: May 2003 CD Number: COCX-32227
Comments
Anthony Romero
Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro is no stranger to soundtrack releases. The most famous of the Lupin films, and the first movie by landmark director Hayao Miyazaki, the production is one of the most famous animated films to come out of Japan. However, this release marks the long awaited debut of the entire soundtrack for the movie, from the new music to the stock cues this CD has it all.

Sometimes called Lupin the 3rd Chronicle: Chateau de Cagliostro as it appears in English on the front, this disc is packed with 65 tracks and over 77 minutes of music. Nothing is left out that was featured in the film, while the disc also contains numerous outtakes. In regards to the music itself, it's a little mixed. Yuji Ono's effort here is contemporary: sometimes great, sometimes a noticeable miss. His style at times harks back to the experimentation demonstrated by Riichiro Manabe in the same decade on films like Lake of Dracula (1971) or Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), using an approach to scoring that is totally alien to traditional methods. Be it infusing a slight jazz-like flavor or using instruments one would never expect to find as part of a theatrical score, Ono attempts it all here and his efforts come off as mixed. On the plus side, one has amazing tracks like "Lupin '80: Car Chase 1" or "Inspector Zenigata Arrives"; cues that are very energetic in tempo and work well to set a more action or foreboding sensation to the listener. Cues like "Advancing on the Counterfeit Workshop" also work well, and benefit successfully from Ono's more experimental approach. The trumpet supported, and almost Spanish sounding, "There Will Be No Mobilization..." is another success from the composer, and manages to convey a more somber note without coming off as cheesy.

Sadly, for all the great cues there are a few that fail to impress. "Evil Glory" is a perfect example, as it feels like a collision of instruments playing without a strong direction to it until the saxophone kicks in toward the end. "History of the Goat Bills" follows in these same footsteps, lacking a clear direction with the insturments and sounding like it clashes. "Deal at the Clock Tower" is yet another example, as it just seems to meander around and create a totally unmemorable experience. In fact, unwittingly or not, that tends to be a strength of Ono. His work is mixed, but his lesser work tends to remain unmemorable while his stronger themes truly stand on their own, giving an overall more positive impression than what one might expect.

Still though, the showstopper of this disc is not one related to Ono, but instead the wonderful song "The Treasure of the Flame" by Bobby. The vocal track is a real gem, as Bobby has a wonderful voice that really conveys a sense of majesty to the lyrics. The song is present on two tracks, the opening and the ending. Both are edited to how they appeared in the film, while numerous instrumental versions are woven into the score as well. Sadly, the album version of the song, which is three minutes in length, is not included. In fact, the disc is so full that it really can't permit its addition without taking out some content, although I'm sure many wouldn't have missed the rather awkward sounding six minutes of music related to the organ playing, called "Hamm.Org", that was included as bonus material.

Speaking of bonus tracks, the disc contains 13 different ones that were previously unreleased. Most of these are outtakes, which are quite interesting for a few being very distinctly unlike what was used in the film. The last cue, though, is a synthesized version of "The Treasure of the Flame" using a Oberheim, which is very different from the movie arrangements.

Overall, for completists, as long as they don't mind tracking down the album version of "The Treasure of the Flame", this is probably as close to perfection as one will get for the score for this late 1970's gem.

As a side note, the track titles given are a little odd on this release. Only a handful have the actual cue number mentioned. This is to be expected as many were pulled from other sources, such as "Lupin the 3rd '80" which was actually originally used as a commercial background. However, this gets to be a little disappointing when it comes to the outtakes for the opposite reason, as many don't have any titles beyond the cue numbers. Sadly, it would have been nice to have actual titles for this, since M4 doesn't mean a whole lot to people since the cues were mostly played out of order in the film and there is no clue as to its original placement or intent as part of the movie.
Rating:
Tracks
  1. Prologue
  2. Jump! (M15 Edit)
  3. Hitting the Street in the Day
  4. The Treasure of the Flame (Opening)
    By: Bobby
  5. On Cloud Nine (M11)
  6. Lupin '80: Car Chase 1
  7. Lupin '80: Car Chase 2
  8. Evil Glory
  9. Meeting Clarisse
  10. To the Castle
  11. Mysterious (M6)
  12. The Count Appears
  13. The Man in the Restaurant - Spaghetti Scramble
  14. The Group in Pursuit
  15. Fujiko's Search
  16. Goemon Appears
  17. Inspector Zenigata Arrives
  18. Strategy Time (M18)
  19. Lupazen Operation
  20. Tiptoe (M3)
  21. Lupin Gone
  22. Mystery Zone (M20)
  23. Jumping from the Roof (M15)
  24. Clarisse's Room (M6 Bridge)
  25. The Treasure of the Flame Variation III
  26. Clarisse's Crisis
  27. Night of Terror (M21)
  28. Clarisse and the Rose (M16)
  29. Shadows of the Dungeon
  30. The Baron's Conspiracy (M1)
  31. Cordon Breakthrough Variation (M15)
  32. History of the Goat Bills (M2)
  33. Find Lupin (M22)
  34. Samba Temperado
  35. Clarisse Takes the Ring
  36. There Will Be No Mobilization...
  37. Gluttonous Lupin
  38. Lupin's Recollection
  39. Wedding
    By: Johann Sebastian Bach
  40. Different Intent! - Lupin's Whisper - Seizing the Ring - The Priest's True Colors
  41. Lupin the 3rd '80
  42. Advancing on the Counterfeit Workshop
  43. The Treasure of the Flame · Arrangement
  44. Tonight the Conspirators Face Zantetsuken
  45. The Lone Wolf of Pathos (M5)
  46. Deal at the Clock Tower
  47. Lupin Falls
  48. Save Clarisse!
  49. C-DAG
  50. Mysterious Journey
  51. The Treasure of the Flame Variation III
  52. The Treasure of the Flame (Ending)
    By: Bobby


    53. Alternate Takes
  53. Cordon Breakthrough (M15 Bridge)
  54. History of the Goat Bills (M2 Bridge)
  55. The Lone Wolf of Pathos (M5-T1)
  56. M4
  57. Bridge-1
  58. Bridge-2T4
  59. M12
  60. Hamm.Org A
  61. Hamm.Org B
  62. M17B-T2
  63. Jump! (ME-T1)
  64. Jump! (ME-T2)
  65. The Treasure of the Flame · Arrangement (M16 Oberheim)
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