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So, just doing some random Amazon browsing, I happened upon Symphonic Suite Gatchaman, and remembering what a fantastic, I’d-give-it-five-stars-if-the-ratings-didn’t-only-go-up-to-four listening experience Symphonic Suite Yamato was, I jumped on it. Surely this would be some great stuff, reinterpreting Bob Sakuma’s 70s-era-Chicago-inspired rock-orchestral incidental music into a bigger, bolder, fuller form. (You’ve heard Sakuma’s outstandingly atmospheric music even if you’ve only seen Gatchaman’s English-translated, heavily-edited counterpart, Battle Of The Planets.)

And I still think that’d be a great idea. But that’s apparently not what Symphonic Suite Gatchaman is. With the exception of a new arrangement of the Gatchaman theme song, and a couple of fleeting nods to Sakuma’s style (but not his actual compositions), Symphonic Suite Gatchaman has nothing to do with the original music. It’s a completely new, unrelated work. To say I was disappointed with this revelation would be an understatement.

Now, stepping back and trying to keep some objectivity, I did enjoy some of the music. And if someone was going to step in and rescore some of the original Gatchaman adventures with a large orchestral ensemble playing new compositions to keep the show more in line with major motion picture music…I could see this material fitting the bill nicely. It’s not bad music in and of itself, though it suffers when compared to Sakuma’s dynamic original cues. This stuff may be nicely arranged, performed and recorded, but it’s bland by comparison - think of the difference between classic Star Trek music and the much more subdued sound of Star Trek: The Next Generation. And that comparison is sadly inevitable. I’m just not sure how accurate it was to bill it as a symphonic suite of the original music (which is at least implied by the album’s title). It is a symphonic suite. I’ll give it that much.

It’s decent music, but considering that the album’s billing had me primed to let a grand, sweeping reinterpretation of Bob Sakuma’s original scores wash over me, Symphonic Suite Gatchaman is still a bit of a letdown. Think of it as “Music Not From, But Still Inspired By, Gatchaman,” and you’ll be okay.

1. Prologue: Introduction For The Story (2:41)
2. The Theme Of Gatchaman (3:42)
3. Lullaby: The Theme Of Red Impulse (6:14)
4. The Night Of Great City (0:58)
5. The Battle (5:05)
6. The Song Of Gatchaman (1:10)
7. The Theme Of Joe (3:27)
8. Elegy: Joe’s Death (4:50)
9. The Theme Of Governor X (5:59)
10. Epilogue: Peace And A Premonition Of A Crisis (2:50)

Released by: Columbia / Sony
Release date: 2003
Total running time: 37:00

Before A Mighty Wind, before This Is Spinal Tap, there was Lenny and the Squigtones.

Michael McKean and David Lander first created the characters of Lenny & Squiggy (then known as Lenny & Ant’ny) while members of the comedy troupe The Credibility Gap. When they were hired as writers for the Happy Days spin-off Laverne & Shirley (along with fellow Gap member Harry Shearer) they lobbied for their creations to be included as recurring characters.

After the show had gained success, an album was released, Laverne & Shirley Sing, featuring Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams performing in character. It sold well enough to justify a follow-up featuring the show’s other duo. On the show Lenny and Squiggy had often been shown performing with their band Lenny and the Squigtones, so an album by the erstwhile greasers actually made more sense than one by two bottling plant employees. Lenny & Squiggy present Lenny and the Squigtones is presented in the form of a concert and was, in fact, recorded live at the Roxy in Los Angeles. McKean and Lander stay in character throughout. The only thing that breaks the fourth wall is a joke that revolves around the “Happy Days gang” and a musical version of “In Cold Blood”.

The comedy shows an edge to the characters that is, no doubt, more in line with the original Credibility Gap version than the tamer presentation seen on Laverne & Shirley. The between-song sketches are perfectly tailored to the actors and they never fail to milk the most out of the jokes.

The music is also top-notch, expertly capturing an authentic 1950’s feel. Like the music in This Is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind, the songs never make fun of the style, but have fun with it. And in an interesting connection to Spinal Tap (the one that lands this in the Tap canon), Christopher Guest plays guitar for the band and is credited in the liner notes as Nigel Tufnel. His guitar work is actually noticeable, most clearly on “Foreign Legion Of Love”, which bears distinct similarities to Spinal Tap’s “Stonehenge” and “Clam Caravan”.

Run, don’t walk, to your favorite record store to get Lenny & Squiggy present Lenny and the Squigtones. Then walk quietly home when you realize it’s long out of print, extremely difficult to find and darn expensive if you do. But by whatever means you employ, you must find this album. No fan of the Spinal Tap genre of recordings should be without it.

1. Vamp On* (:50)
2. Night After Night (2:30)
3. Creature Without A Head (3:49)
4. King Of The Cars (2:11)
5. Squiggy’s Wedding Day (5:55)
6. Love Is A Terrible Thing (2:52)
7. Babyland* (For Eva Squigman) (3:16)
8. (If Only I Had Listened To) Mama (2:10)
9. So’s Your Old Testament* (1:29)
10. Sister-In-Law (3:05)
11. Honor Farm* (2:08)
12. Starcrossed (2:59)
13. Only Women Cry* (1:30)
14. Foreign Legion of Love (4:20)
15. Vamp Off* (:36)
    note: tracks with a (*) are spoken word tracks

Released by: Casablanca
Release date: 1979
Total running time: 39:40

The year is 1985. Euro-pop has taken hold, but is rapidly giving way to watered-down hard rock “hair” bands. And despite having a fine and, it must be said, multi-colored head of hair, if you’re old school rocker Roy Wood (founding member of The Move and ELO), you fit into neither of these categories.

Not that he didn’t try, mind you. Woody’s always been an advocate of reinventing his sound, of trying to do something that either hasn’t been done before in rock ‘n’ roll or trying to bring back something that’s fallen out of favor. After trying to give rock music a full-time string section with Electric Light Orchestra, he moved on to create groups like Wizzard and Helicopters, centered around a 50s-style wall-of-saxophone sound. (It’s this last permutation that seems to have stuck, as Wood still tours to this day with Roy Wood’s Big Band.) But in ‘84, Wood returned briefly to what he did with his underrated 1975 classic Boulders - recording everything by himself - only with much more modern tools at his disposal.

The sole drawback to this: Starting Up probably could have charted in 1980 or 1981, when the sound of synths and drum machines was fresh where the mainstream was concerned. And Wood’s voice isn’t a million miles away from, say, Gary Numan’s. It wouldn’t have been a bad fit for the early days of synth pop. But in 1985, most of the songs on this album already sounded dated, and 20 years later, time hasn’t been much kinder to them.

Oddly enough, one of the only two tracks that stand head and shoulders above the rest suffers (or perhaps benefits) from a near-total sonic disconnect from every other song on the album. Featuring Louis Clark (of Hooked On Classics fame, and longtime orchestral arranger for ELO) and a full orchestra backing, “On Top Of The World” is a catchy song with a snazzy tune, and easily Wood’s best vocals on the whole album. It’s like this song dropped in from a better-written, better-produced album that we’ve never gotten to hear. The other standout track, “Turn Your Body To The Light”, is a nice melding of synths and Wood’s trademark sax, and it’s a catchy tune too. These two songs easily eclipse the rest of the album.

And let’s set one thing straight - drum machines alone don’t doom a song to cheesiness. Two demos Wood recorded with old friend and former bandmate Jeff Lynne circa 1990 have leaked out, very simple, low-tech productions showcasing a couple of beautifully written nuggets of rock ‘n’ roll that most of the world has never gotten to hear. And that’s what Starting Up is really missing: well-written songs. This is the same Roy Wood who gave us “Blackberry Way” and “Fire Brigade” back in the Move days, and has peppered his solo career with lesser-known but equally-worthwhile songs like “Dear Elaine”…not that you could tell from listening to Starting Up. To put the cards on the table: his songs this time around either weren’t as inspired, or the intent got lost in the execution.

A real curate’s egg, this one, and it’s also Woody’s last solo album to date. Considering what his former bandmate was able to accomplish with Zoom under the ELO banner, I’d really like to hear Roy Wood come back and zing us with a solo project now. Because, as hard as I’m sure he tried to accomplish something unique with Starting Up, he’d almost certainly do better with the technology and techniques available today…and he’s had time to write some new songs too.

1. Red Cars Are After Me (3:56)
2. Raining In The City (4:17)
3. Under Fire (4:24)
4. Turn Your Body To The Light (4:31)
5. Hot Cars (3:13)
6. Starting Out (3:20)
7. Keep It Steady (3:49)
8. On Top Of The World (3:30)
9. Ships In The Night (5:04)

Released by: Castle
Release date: 1985
Total running time: 36:04

The soundtrack to an almost unreasonably fun video game, Katamari Fortissimo Damacy is one of the most varied soundtracks I’ve ever heard to any multimedia entity, and it’s also one of the few soundtracks consisting of the works of multiple artists that I’ve ever heard rise to this level.

To give just a little bit of background on the game itself, Katamari Damacy is a Japanese import from Namco, the folks who brought us Pac-Man, Dig Dug and other almost illegally addictive video games down through the ages. You control a diminutive Prince, whose father, the King of All Cosmos, has apparently obliterated all the stars in the sky. You’re sent on a mission to create “katamari” - balls of objects all rolled up into a big clump. In the early stages of the game, you pick up pencils and paper clips and other small objects, but if you’re good enough you can eventually roll your katamari over entire oceans, picking up giant squids and islands. Nothing is safe. Everything can be accumulated. But if you try to pick up something that your katamari simply doesn’t have the mass and momentum to accumulate, you’ll either dislodge a few precious items from it - or lose it altogether. The object is to grow the katamari big enough to launch it into the night sky as a new star.

This zany, cartoony fun takes place against the backdrop of some simply wonderful music, making the package even better. (I highly recommend the game too - unsure of whether or not anyone outside of the Far East would “get it,” Namco dumped this game in the U.S. at a budget price of $20 and it promptly sold out its first print run just on word of mouth alone.) The music is whimsical, light-hearted, and has a great energy to it. Few CDs have made me smile as much while listening as this one does on a regular basis.

Yu Miyake’s “Katamari On The Rock” serves as a recurring motif throughout the various songs, and it’s as versatile a tune as you could ask for. Not every song features that element, though. Highlights range from the J-pop stylings of “Lonely Rolling Star”, “You Are Smart” and “The Moon And The Prince”, to the almost Sinatra-esque “Que Sera Sera”, to the New York jazz-flavored “A Crimson Rose And A Gin & Tonic”, to the meandering remixed guitar of “Angel Flavor’s Present”, to a Michael Bolton-style power ballad called “Katamari Love”, to “Last Samba”, which sounds a bit like someone’s been listening to John Williams’ Naboo celebration from the end of Star Wars Episode I. That every syllable of every lyric on the album is sung in Japanese doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of it one bit. Frankly, if anything, this CD gives me a nice, long list of artists whose other works I’ll be keeping an eye out for, if their work here is any indication of their usual output.

It’s a wildly infectious listening experience and, like the game itself, it has the almost inexplicable effect of brightening my day every time I come into contact with it. It’s almost hard to explain. Even harder to explain is how Namco might possibly top this collection of music for the upcoming sequel, Everybody Loves Katamari Damacy. My first Damn Near Perfect Album List addition in a long, long time. Katamari Fortissimo Damacy is that good.

1. Nananan Katamari performed by Yu Miyake & Yuusama (1:21)
2. Katamari On The Rock: Main Theme performed by Yu Miyake & Masayuki Tanaka (5:57)
3. Overture performed by Yu Miyake & Asuka Sakai (0:49)
4. The Moon And The Prince performed by Kenji Ninuma & Akitaka Tohyama (5:30)
5. Fugue #7777 performed by Asuka Sakai (1:22)
6. Lonely Rolling Star performed by Yohihito Yano & Saki Kabata (5:44)
7. The Wonderful Star’s Walk Is Wonderful performed by Yuri Misumi (3:12)
8. Katamari Mambo (Katamari Syndrome mix) performed by Nobue Matsubara, Yuri Misumi & Sakamoto-chan (5:35)
9. You Are Smart performed by Akitaka Tohyama (3:32)
10. A Crimson Rose And A Gin & Tonic performed by Ado Mizumori & Asuka Sakai (4:29)
11. Wanda Wanda performed by Yu Miyake (3:23)
12. Que Sera Sera performed by Charlie Kosei & Asuka Sakai (5:31)
13. Angel Flavor’s Present performed by Yu Miyake (5:08)
14. Katamaritaino performed by Yui Asaka & Hideki Tobeta (5:54)
15. Katamari Stars performed by Hideki Tobeta (2:28)
16. Cherry Blossom Color Season performed by Yu Miyake & Katamari Company Jr. (6:14)
17. Lovely Angel performed by Yu Miyake (1:27)
18. Stardust Fanfare performed by Akitaka Tohyama (0:08)
19. Last Samba performed by Yu Miyake, Asuka Sakai & Katamari Samba Company (1:00)
20. Katamari Love (Ending Theme) performed by Shigeru Matsuzaki & Yohihito Yano (4:09)
21. Katamari March Damacy performed by Yu Miyake (2:21)

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