Written by Ross Locksley on 28 Jun 2023
An exciting new project has been announced for Kickstarter bringing the 8 vinyl LP recordings of the original Bubblegum Crisis soundtracks together in a box set for release worldwide. The campaign includes coloured vinyl for the first time, a unique box set and some extra add-on goodies if you're feeling flush.
The albums were re-mastered and rereleased by Universal and Futureland last year, indeed I picked up the entire run myself, and can certainly attest to the quality. Costing around £25 each if you shopped smartly, the new set is rumoured to cost $200, which is a fair saving when you convert back to pounds - of course you'll have to factor shipping into the mix too.
The original anime was lauded for it's very 80's rock soundtrack and has a fascinating history. Youmex made sure that each episode had an album's worth of music, and hired popular singer Kinuko Oomori for the role of Priss. Music after the third album would do away with Oomori's lone vocals as a new contract with her music label prevented her from singing solo. However, this didn't stop the rest of the series having equally amazing tracks and continuing the trend of creating some of the best anime soundtracks of all time (in our humble opinion!)
It's worth mentioning, as fun trivia, that a lot of the tracks were inspired or almost completely plagiarised from other artists of the time. S'envoler Jusqua'au bout by French pop star Jeanne Mas is copied almost note by note for episode 5's opener Mysterious Night, Mr Dandy is uncannily similar to Four in the Morning by Night Ranger and perhaps the original and most famous Bubblegum Crisis track, Konya Wa Hurricane, bears an uncanny resemblance to Desire by Akina Nakamori.
In each case, I have to say I prefer the music from Bubblegum Crisis.
The project should be starting today (Thursday 30th June) and you can check out the project here:
Ross founded the UK Anime Network waaay back in 1995 and works in and around the anime world in his spare time. You can read his more personal articles on UKA's sister site, The Anime Independent.
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