BUKIMISHA: FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE GARGANTUAS

CD includes Digital Download / Digital Booklet

BSX Records presents a thrilling 2-CD set featuring Bukimisha’s “a Capella” recreations the Akira Ifukube scores to both FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD and its loose sequel, WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS! During the mid-1960s, Toho Studios partnered with film producer Henry Saperstein to create several films starring American actor Nick Adams. The first release resurrected Frankenstein’s monster, now a giant-sized protagonist, created after the creature’s immortal heart, irradiated during the bombing of Hiroshima, is eaten by a starving child survivor.

Unlike his compositions for previous genre epics, this film offered Ifukube a unique opportunity to create several poignant melodies. Rubber-suited monsters featured in earlier projects were replaced with the anguished, human-like, face of a mutated vagrant. This allowed the maestro recall the pathos of the Hiroshima survivors.

Even before the release of the first film, Toho and Saperstein began plotting out a sequel from an outline entitled FRANKENSTEIN’S SONS, though the resulting effort ended up having only vague connections to its predecessor — particularly in the original American theatrical edit, which eliminated all references to the heart of Frankenstein’s monster. WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS also replaced Nick Adams with Russ Tamblyn, now as a doctor who years earlier studied a gentile yeti-like child. When a gigantic humanoid rises out of the sea, eating people, he and his team refuse to believe it is related to the one who escaped their lab. Under assault by the Self Defense Force’s deadly maser cannons, this Green Gargantua is rescued by a Brown haired one.

Many respected filmmakers including Tim Burton, Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, and Shunsuke Kaneko speak highly of the film and its influence on them. Once again, Ifukube is able to blend horror and pathos, interlinked with his popular military marches.

A plethora of bonus tracks can be found on each disc. CD 1 contains two alternate motifs composed for the international version — “No. 33 Music for Overseas Edition,” and “Frankenstein vs. Giant Octopus,” used for the unused alternate finale. Also included is the music assembled for theatrical trailers and the eerie SFX of “Frankenstein’s Immortal Heart.” CD 2 features the song “My Hometown,” and “Battle at the Docks,” a music cue that was tracked into the original American edit. Finally, a “Bonus Suite” and “Bonus Track” contain alternate mixes assembled from Bukimisha’s performance of the GARGANTUAS score.

Shipping the week of August 16, 2024.

CD 1
FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD (1965)

  1.    Main Title 1:35
  2.    Cardiac Transport Route 1:07
  3.    U-Boat Sinking 1:13
  4.    Hiroshima 0:30
  5.    The Vanishing Shadow  0:44
  6.    Encounter in the Rain 1:01
  7.    Miyajima 1:05
  8.    Protected Vagrant Child 1:45
  9.    TV Go-Go Dance Music 1:13
10.    Sueko’s Pendant 0:42
11.    Phantom in a Cage 0:46
12.    The Phantom’s Rampage 1:19
13.    The Phantom’s Getaway 0:39
14.    Separation 1:45
15.    Discovery of a Wrist 0:12
16.    The Remaining Wrist 0:30
17.    Liquid Culture Medium 0:30
18.    Dance Music of Lake Biwa Sightseeing Boat 0:58
19.    Frankenstein at Lake Biwa 0:55
20.    The Whereabouts of the Wrist 0:32
21.    The Tank Brigade Swings Into Action 0:27
22.    The Incident in the Forest / Search Marc 3:04
23.    Shirane Mountaineer Hunt / Surfing Music 1:12
24.    Tragedy at Shirane 1:07
25.    Fear of Baragon 0:49
26.    Frankenstein at the Quarry 1:45
27.    Akita Yuda’s Memories 0:24
28.    Search in the Fog 2:25
29.    Frankenstein vs. Baragon I 4:01
30.    Frankenstein vs. Baragon II 0:57
31.    Frankenstein vs. Baragon III 2:43
32.    Frankenstein vs. Baragon IV 4:35
33.    Ending 0:33
34.    NO. 33 Music for Overseas Edition 1:56 
35.    Frankenstein vs. Giant Octopus 2:53
36.    Frankenstein Conquers the World Trailer BGM Suite 2:01
37.    War of the Gargantuas Trailer BGM Suite  2:23
38.    Frankenstein’s Immortal Heart FX 1:01

CD 1 TOTAL TIME: 53:17

CD 2
WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966)

  1.    Main Title 1:45
  2.    Large Sea Demon Daiko 1:37
  3.    Fear of the Sea Storm 1:13
  4.    Coast Guard Department 0:28
  5.    The Tragedy of Daikaijin-maru 0:46
  6.    Akemi’s Memories 1:06
  7.    Disaster in the Uraga Channel 0:24
  8.    The Fear of the Miura Peninsula 0:30
  9.    Frankenstein’s Cell I 0:19
10.    Snowy Mountain Footprints 1:00
11.    Haneda Airport Emergency  2:31
12.    L Operation March I  2:58
13.    L Operation March II 1:29
14.    Wiring Completed 1:03
15.    L Operation March III 3:07
16.    L Operation March IV 2:42
17.    Sanda’s Appearance 1:09
18.    Sanda and Gaira 0:49
19.    Frankenstein’s Cells II 0:21
20.    Sanda and Akem 0:55
21.    The Anger of Sanda 1:09
22.    Gaira Escapes 0:45
23.    Gaira Landing 0:37
24.    Sanda to Tokyo 0:23
25.    Sanda vs. Gaira I 1:53
26.    Attack Gaira 1:31
27.    Sanda vs. Gaira I 4:10
28.    Submarine Volcano Death Battle 1:24
29.    Ending 0:32
30.    My Hometown 1:21
31.    Battle at the Docks (U.S. Tracking Cue) 2:26
32.    Bonus Suite 28:29
33.    Bonus Track 1:37

CD 2 TOTAL TIME: 72:29

TOTAL ALBUM TIME: 125:46