Robotech: (Ulpio Minucci/Arlon Ober/Various) Most
cartoon series on television in the 1980's only aimed at kids to the
extent that they could convince those youths to ask their parents to buy
the toy versions of the characters on screen. In every regard,
Robotech was a different breed. Producer Carl Macek wanted to
adapt a Japanese anime series and translate it to English, but in order
to reach the episode number required for American syndication, he was
forced to purchase the rights to three distinct anime series and rewrite
them into one relevant, overarching storyline. The resulting
Robotech series resulted in a spin-off film and secondary series
in the following years (both complete failures), and eventually yielded
another television series in 2006 for which Macek contributed his
services once again. The important difference between the
Robotech universe and those of other cartoon series running at
the time was the fact that Macek and his team weren't afraid to kill off
major characters and serve up concepts of mass death and such that
similar series (like
Star Blazers) were more content to gloss
over. What's most surprising about this different attitude towards
animation was the adult musical approach to the show. A mixture of
symphonic, synthetic, and vocals, the soundtrack to
Robotech was
wildly diverse. Primary composers Ulpio Minucci and Arlon Ober were
inspired by John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith in their efforts to
provide futuristic music for the series, though neither came into the
project with lengthy credentials. In fact, their involvement in
Robotech would mark the height of their respective careers, with
only Ober reaching out into the B-horror film genre for other
substantial work. While songs by both composers for
Robotech
would be adapted into the 2006 resurrection of the concept, only Minucci
would live just barely long enough to see the follow-up series produced.
Their music for the original series is, in retrospect, badly dated, and
only devoted fans of the series should even humor this review any
further.
When you go back and listen to the synthetic music
often provided to these mid-80's cartoons, you're horrified by the fact
that you once considered them even marginally cool. In the case of
Robotech, you have so many different sounds, from the
faux-
Star Wars fanfares to the light rock songs, that it's
surprising that so little of the material survives as being enjoyable
twenty years later. The ensemble for Minucci and Ober consisted of a
small orchestra, rock band elements, and unaccomplished vocalists. They
composed a variety of themes for each character and scenario, a
surprising amount of complexity in development. But each theme is
strikingly amateurish and simplistic, with their performances
two-dimensional in style and betraying their inspiration more often than
not. Their downright cheesy renderings are the death blow, however, with
drum pads and ridiculous 80's synth sound effects killing and lasting
power this music may have had. Recording quality of electronics was
already far beyond these dorky levels by 1985. The performances
themselves are atrocious in parts. The songs, led by elegant piano
performances, often contain distracting errors that make them difficult
to digest outside of the fact that they seem so badly out of place to
begin with. The vocal versions of the songs are equally painful,
especially those performed by actress Reba West, who only reluctantly
agreed to sing while intoxicated. On the whole, only true enthusiasts of
Robotech will be able to tolerate this vast variety of music,
particularly after twenty years. On album, a 2-CD compilation of music
from both the original and "Sentinel" series (the latter of which is
even less tolerable!) was released by a specialty label in 1996. In
2006, a remastered 20th Anniversary follow-up compilation would add a
handful of tracks and an additional 12 minutes of material. The sound
quality of the
Robotech music has always been wide-ranging, often
changing significantly from track to track. This problem applies not
only to the score, but also the songs, which suffer from master tape
distortion in places. Overall, there is little music from the
Robotech world that will satisfy most soundtrack collectors; only
people who grew up loving the series will enjoy this music with fond
memories.
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The 1996 Perfect album insert includes no extra information about the score or series.
