A lot of details this month have been pouring in concerning Toho's much delayed fourth CD box set in the "Godzilla Perfect Collection." Reportedly, this set will be the largest yet at a total of nine discs, but will only be featuring four Godzilla movie soundtracks: The Return of Godzilla (1984), Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989), Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) and Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992).

The exact breakdown of all nine discs isn't set in stone at this point, although most of it has been revealed. The standout presentation of the set should be the coverage for Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989), which will be featured in a two disc presentation that includes: the ten extended album pieces found on the earlier Toshiba disc (TYCY-5361), bonus material including outtakes that have never been released before and also the complete score as it appears in the movie (sadly, in mono though). The Return of Godzilla (1984) is also being given the royal treatment here, as it includes: the full score, outtakes and the complete recordings to the songs from the film, which will actually be featured on the second Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) CD.

The Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) score is also being featured here in its entirety, and being given a single disc presentation that dwarfs earlier music selection that has been available on CD. Unfortunately, the music will be all in stereo, so it won't include the surround tracks found on the Bandai Visual release (BCCE-9001R/2R) or the "drama" stuff, for those interested.

Sadly, Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) seems to be getting the short end of the stick here. The most of the score will be featured, along with numerous outtakes and some songs previously released for the movie, but the selection won't be nearly as complete as Toshiba's two disc set (TYCY-5267/8). Something that is extremely unfortunate as a lot of the outtakes from the movie are actually very diverse from what ended up in the movie, as opposed to the normal variant themes that sound almost identical unless played back to back.

The box set will also continue the tradition of featuring CD presentations of earlier LP releases. The one included here is King of the Monsters: Godzilla (pictured to the right). Unfortunately, this LP is dedicated to the same songs found on the bonus disc in the third box, along with the selection taken from single record releases for the 1971-1974 Godzilla films. The bonus tracks on this disc are at least unique to the set, although are still readily available on the Godzilla Song Book CD.

Suffice to say, its inclusion here for more avid collectors is redundant; however, at least it contains some music not found elsewhere in the "Perfect Collection," unlike the compilation LP found in the first box.

The big news, though, are the details that have arisen for the second bonus disc. It starts off with three pieces dedicated to "We are Monster Unit", a story record that featured Godzilla along with original kaiju like Kirasuta and Buruwara. The rest of the bonus disc is related to the 1973 show Zone Fighter. The selection will include music from the TV series along with "drama" pieces based around the Godzilla and King Ghidorah episodes, which look to be featured on a seperate disc. The presentation of the show won't be nearly as complete as what was showcased on VAP's excellent release (VPCG-84210), although its inclusion is still sure to interest a number of collectors.

The set is overall shaping up nicely. Sadly, right now the box is undated, after being delayed again from the last "Late August" release change. It can be assumed that the box will follow a similar release pattern of the previous three and will likely be featured exclusively on Toho Music's site and Ark Square. The price will probably be around $100 as before, although could possibly be more given the inclusion of more discs.

Update: The release of the fourth box set appears to be finally underway, as reservations begin on September 20th while the set will be officially available on October 20th, 2006.