Gradius IV -Resurrection- Original Soundtrack

	Album Title: Gradius IV -Resurrection- Original Soundtrack
	Record Label: King Records
	Catalog No.: KICA-7947
	Release Date: March 5, 1999
	Purchase: Buy Used Copy

Overview

When there’s a Konami popular series around, there’s also likely to be a slurry of redundant soundtrack releases associated with it. Among them is the Gradius IV -Resurrection- Original Game Soundtrack, a once excellent purchase due to its inclusion of both the then-latest score to the series and a compilation of tracks from earlier games. Now its release has been made obsolete by the Gradius Arcade Soundtrack, which features all the music from the first four Gradius Arcade games as well as some excellent bonus arrangements. If you love Gradius music, consider that soundtrack as I can’t recommend you purchase this out-of-print one. If you’re a Gradius IV music enthusiast that doesn’t care about earlier music in the series, still seriously consider the Gradius Arcade Soundtrack as the earlier Gradius Arcade titles are still stylistically continuous with and often superior to IV’s score.

Still, the two releases of the Gradius IV score are not identical. The Arcade Soundtrack features excellently remastered music that injects significantly more life into the score and not at the sacrifice of authenticity. On the other hand, the Original Game Soundtrack is exactly as it was on the Arcade and was, at best, technically average for 1999. The track times are shorter in the Arcade Soundtrack, meaning pieces don’t become so quickly engraved in the listener’s brains, though this isn’t at the sacrifice of looping. The Original Game Soundtrack also has the advantage of featuring two bonus arrangements and some superfluous extras. It’s great to see the Gradius IV soundtrack receiving arrangement treatment when it has been otherwise neglected, but I still don’t think it’s enough to tip the balance. All that said, the obligatory review of this still excellent and collector-worthy item…

Body

The first thing Gradius fans will notice about this CD is that it preserves the sound established by its predecessors. The trademark Gradius arpeggios of “Demo BGM” provide a promising start to the CD, though the very brief flash of semi-orchestral clamour that follows isn’t indicative of the rest of the score’s style. The “Select BGM” track sounds like it has been composed by Motoaki Furukawa in his rock-jazz fusion style; so much so that it sounds more like Furukawa’s style than Gradius II Gofer no Yabou‘s “Equipment” music he actually composed! Overall, it is this score that Gradius IV Fukkatsu‘s sole composer Atsuki parallels rather than Miki Higashino’s Gradius and Gradius III, since rock and jazz seem to be his personal speciality. Sometimes the score lacks its own individual character as a result, but there is greater jazz touch here and some riveting melodies. The tributes tend to be more stylistic than melodic, though exceptions are the “Game Over” and “Ranking BGM” track that make a surprise return from Gofer no Yabou 12 years later. The infamous Gradius “Boss” theme and Gradius II Gofer no Yabou “Take Care!” are arranged here to accompany the penultimate ‘boss rush’ stage. It’s amazing how far one ascending chord progression and a few repeated decorated orchs hits have gone. The arrangements stick closely to the original but are more powerful due to enhanced articulation and percussion created by the superior sound systems. The main boss theme, “Titans”, is styled in a similar way but is an original creation. Overall, Atsuki does a good job ensuring Gradius II Gofer no Yabou‘s legacy is secured.

The secondary themes covered, time to look at the highlight of the score. The navigation themes “Apollon” and “Feiton” are great fun; their gliding light rock electric guitar melodies is well-supported by straightforward accompaniment to stimulate the listener. The 1st and 2nd stage themes, “Hydra” and “Demeter”, are busy but crisp; their constant sense of ascension elevates any listener’s mood, the former being especially good. The music for the bubble stage “Oceanus” integrates some novelty sound effects of bubbling and, after a somewhat boring introduction, becomes dominated by delicious sleak jazz synth work. In contrast, “Cronos” and “Hades” for the magma stage are quite beat heavy and rhythmically jagged, having erratic tendencies like some of the intermediate Gradius stage themes. I think these are some of the most musically rich themes on the score, though they’re not as melodically juicy. The 5th stage’s percussive “Uranus” and the 6th stage’s dissonant jazz fusion “Hera” are also quite experimental and inaccessible, but preserve the Gradius sound. The manic but repetitious “Dupon” restores the optimistic sheen of the score and brings it towards its climax. After the two ‘boss rush’ pieces, the two themes for the final stage are offered. “Prometheus” is a fast-paced jazz piece with a melody perfectly suited for air guitar parties. “Athena” doesn’t feel especially climactic, but is probably the best of the jazziest pieces and the melody from 0:35 is just pure gold. Overall, the stage themes are either downright enjoyable or respectable from a creative perspective.

The final three tracks constitute over 30 minutes worth of ‘Gradius Sound History’. They are medleys of original game music from the first three Gradius games. Given I’ve already reviewed these scores in full for the Gradius Arcade Soundtrack, I won’t elaborate much on their styles now. However, each is deservedly a classic for different reasons. In 1999, the original game albums for Gradius that had been released were mostly out-of-print and would have been problematic purchase even if widely available. Thus, at the time, this ‘sound history’ would have been a bigger draw to some fans than Gradius IV‘s music, while also serving the purpose of introducing newbies to older scores in the series. It has since been made redundant by the Gradius Arcade Soundtrack soundtrack, however. The main problem is that the pieces are presented as medleys of original game music here. To navigate through 15 minutes of music to find, say, Gradius III‘s “Sand Storm”, is rather frustrating. Added to that, the transitions between the tracks are mixed; while some have a definite pause, some themes run-on from each other to emulate the fluidity of gameplay, but this creates more abruptness overall. Due to most of the important tracks looping, this doesn’t stop themes from becoming well-established, however. If the aforementioned format isn’t bothersome to you, the biggest drawback will be that the compilations are incomplete and many of the superfluous pieces of stage music are omitted; the medleys thus tend to be ‘best of’ compilations rather than complete collections and some absences will sadden even the non-completists.

The soundtrack also features two arrangements at the start of the album. The first is the final stage music, “Athena”, an excellent choice given the multifaceted nature of the original. It’s a rock-jazz fusion arrangement a little like what you might expect from Motoaki Furukawa except with a thinner sound overall and less emphasis on the electric guitar as a lead instrument. The melodies are nicely emphasised while their accompaniment is beefed up, but there are no particularly radical changes. The biggest additions are multiple neat but predictable solos. The other track arranged was “Dupon”, one of the more impacting stage themes but also probably the weakest due to excessive repetition. The arrangement is quite creative and the distinctive revolving chord progressions of the original periodically take a back seat to give way to some dynamic improvisation from various jazz instruments. While the solos are really great and just get better and better, the track is still hindered by the sparse original material that cumbersomely returns between each act of extravagance. The track nevertheless helps Gradius IV Fukkatsu get straight to the action and reflects its jazz core. Over two minutes of sound effects follows the Gradius IV staff roll music “Gaia”. The sound effects collection will appeal to those who have played the games due to the nostalgia associated with it and the soundtracks are all well-implemented. Many will find it interrupts the flow between the original score and sound history, however. I’ve personally never listened to it in full…

Summary

Overall, the Gradius IV -Resurrection- Original Game Soundtrack is an excellent 71 minutes of music but nevertheless an unrecommended purchase due to the existence of the Gradius Arcade Soundtrack. The overall quality of the Gradius IV score is very good, particular highlights being the navigation and stage music, weaknesses being the boss themes as usual. The score still largely ranks behind the two previous instalments to the series as it represents stylistic continuity rather than evolution, but is still a fine effort. The score is remastered and featured in full in the Arcade Soundtrack, though the Original Game Soundtrack features the original somewhat dubious sound quality and additional loops to the standard two. As for the sound history, it is incomplete and tracks are troublesomely clustered into medleys, whereas their presentation on the Arcade Soundtrack is flawless. The two arrangements and the sound effects collection are pretty good original additions, but nevertheless easter eggs one could survive without. The soundtrack was a great purchase until 2002, but more suited for the obsessive collector rather than a Gradius fan these days. Try the Gradius Arcade Soundtrack instead.

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Chris Greening. Last modified on August 1, 2012.

About the Author

Chris Greening I've contributed to websites related to game audio since 2002. In this time, I've reviewed over a thousand albums and interviewed hundreds of musicians across the world. As the founder and webmaster of VGMO -Video Game Music Online-, I hope to create a cutting-edge, journalistic resource for all those soundtrack enthusiasts out there. In the process, I would love to further cultivate my passion for music, writing, and generally building things. Please enjoy the site and don't hesitate to say hello!

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