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Review of Robotech (Various)

1996 Album

2006 Album

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... only if you have fond memories of growing up with the series as a child.

Avoid it... if you expect any of the score or songs to survive the test of time, for they are badly rooted in the era of cheesy 80's synth operas.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

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.  **

TRACK LISTINGS:

1996 Perfect Album:
Total Time: 145:30

CD1: (72:29) The Complete Background Music Collection • 1. Main Title (1:33) • 2. Macross City (1:32) • 3. The Mysterious Ship (1:25) • 4. Zentraedi Theme (1:37) • 5. Confrontation (1:08) • 6. Musica's Theme (2:44) • 7. The Way to Love (1:55) • 8. Bobbytrap (2:58) • 9. Biomechanical Theme (0:39) • 10. Ineptitude (1:17) • 11. Love Themes (2:11) • 12. Miss Macross (1:04) • 13. Stepping Out (2:04) • 14. Victory (1:34) • 15. SDF-1 Theme (1:13) • 16. Battle Stations (2:28) • 17. The 15th Squadron (2:03) • 18. Desolation (2:45) • 19. The Robotech Masters (2:43) • 20. Broken Heart (1:58) • 21. Private Time (2:03) • 22. Earth Government Theme (0:48) • 23. Eyecatch (0:08) • 24. Minmei's Theme (2:02) • 25. Sweet Sixteen (1:23) • 26. Lifeline (3:22) • 27. Rick Hunter's Theme (1:37) • 28. The Robotech Follies (1:53) • 29. Earth Government Debriefing (1:40) • 30. Khyron's Theme (1:34) • 31. Roy Fokker's Theme (2:16) • 32. Alien Attack (1:23) • 33. Reconstruction Blues (0:45) • 34. It's You (2:04) • 35. A New Dawn (0:47) • 36. Invid Theme (2:50) • 37. Cyclone (1:03) • 38. Catastrophe (1:33) • 39. We Will Win (2:08) • 40. Love Triangle (1:47) • 41. Mission Accomplished (1:09) • 42. End Title (0:43)

CD2: (73:01) The Complete Vocal Song Collection • 1. My Time to Be a Star - performed by Reba West (1:02) • 2. The Man in My Life - performed by Reba West (1:23) • 3. To Be in Love - performed by Reba West (1:45) • 4. It's You - performed by Reba West (2:14) • 5. We Will Win - performed by Reba West (4:01) • 6. In my Heart - performed by Three Dog Night (4:24) • 7. Underground - performed by Michael Bradley and Joanne Harris (4:27) • 8. Saved by Science - performed by Joanne Harris (4:41) • 9. Only a Fool - performed by Gigi Agrama (3:21) • 10. Call on Me - performed by Joanne Harris (5:20) • 11. The Future is Now - performed by Joanne Harris (3:37) • 12. Together - performed by Sunny Hilden (3:10) • 13. Look Up! The Sky is Falling - performed by Michael Bradley (4:53) • 14. It Don't Get Any Better - performed by Michael Bradley (3:46) • 15. Lonely Soldier Boy - performed by Michael Bradley (4:17) • 16. The Way to Love - performed by Michael Bradley (1:59) • 17. We Will Win - performed by Michael Bradley (2:32) • 18. Robotech II: The Sentinels: The REF March (2:15) • 19. Robotech II: The Sentinels: The Young Warriors (2:36) • 20. Robotech II: The Sentinels: The SDF-3 (1:28) • 21. Robotech II: The Sentinels: Invid Strike (2:09) • 22. Robotech II: The Sentinels: The Regent (2:35) • 23. Robotech II: The Sentinels: Love Theme (3:09) • 24. Robotech II: The Sentinels: The Sentinels (1:58)

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2006 20th Anniversary Album:
Total Time: 157:09

CD1: (78:14) • 1. Main Title (1:34) • 2. Macross City (1:34) • 3. The Mysterious Ship (1:26) • 4. The Zentraedi (1:38) • 5. Confrontation (1:07) • 6. Musica (2:45) • 7. The Way to Love (1:56) • 8. Boobytrap (2:58) • 9. Robotechnology (0:40) • 10. Ineptitude (1:18) • 11. Love Themes (2:11) • 12. Miss Macross (1:06) • 13. Stepping Out (2:04) • 14. Victory (1:35) • 15. The SDF-1 (1:13) • 16. Battle Stations (2:27) • 17. The 15th Squadron (2:05) • 18. Desolation (2:47) • 19. The Robotech Masters (2:44) • 20. Broken Heart (1:59) • 21. Private Time (2:04) • 22. The United Earth Government (0:50) • 23. Reflections* (1:13) • 24. Eyecatch (Commercial Bumper) (0:09) • 25. Minmei's Theme (2:03) • 26. The Cosmic Harp* (2:11) • 27. Sweet Sixteen (1:24) • 28. Lifeline (3:22) • 29. Rick Hunter's Theme (1:37) • 30. The Robotech Follies (1:54) • 31. Earth Government Debriefing (1:42) • 32. Khyron's Theme (1:34) • 33. The Hive* (1:28) • 34. Roy Fokker's Theme (2:15) • 35. Enemy Attack (1:25) • 36. Reconstruction Blues (0:47) • 37. Hard Times* (0:53) • 38. It's You (2:05) • 39. A New Dawn (0:48) • 40. The Invid (2:51) • 41. Cyclone (1:04) • 42. Catastrophe (1:35) • 43. We Will Win (2:09) • 44. Love Triangle (1:48) • 45. Mission Accomplished (1:11) • 46. End Title (0:43)

CD2: (78:57) • 1. My Time to Be a Star - performed by Reba West (1:04) • 2. The Man in My Life - performed by Reba West (1:24) • 3. To Be in Love - performed by Reba West (1:47) • 4. It's You - performed by Reba West (2:15) • 5. The Right Move* - performed by Reba West (0:30) • 6. We Will Win - performed by Reba West (4:02) • 7. Lifeline* - performed by Joanne Harris (3:29) • 8. In My Heart - performed by Three Dog Night (4:24) • 9. Underground - performed by Michael Bradley and Joanne Harris (4:26) • 10. Saved by Science - performed by Joanne Harris (4:39) • 11. Only a Fool - performed by Gigi Agram (3:30) • 12. Call On Me - performed by Joanne Harris (5:20) • 13. The Future is Now - performed by Joanne Harris (3:37) • 14. Together - performed by Sunny Hilden (3:08) • 15. The Flower of Life* - performed by Joanne Harris (1:57) • 16. Look Up! The Sky is Falling - performed by Michael Bradley (4:52) • 17. It Don't Get Any Better - performed by Michael Bradley (3:47) • 18. Lonely Soldier Boy - performed by Michael Bradley (4:17) • 19. The Way to Love - performed by Michael Bradley (2:00) • 20. We Will Win - performed by Michael Bradley (2:33) Robotech II: The Sentinels: (Composed by Michael Bradley and Steve Wittmack) • 21. The REF March (2:12) • 22. The Young Warriors (2:33) • 23. The SDF-3 (1:27) • 24. Invid Strike (2:07) • 25. The Regent (2:34) • 26. Love Theme (3:07) • 27. The Sentinels (1:56)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The 1996 Perfect album insert includes no extra information about the score or series.

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