Akira: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Soundtrack]

The film Akira is probably the best anime film of all time. The soundtrack adds so much depth to the film, its a must own for soundtrack.

Most of the songs are ten minutes long, a bore for some people, but it allws you to relax. Songs such as Kaneda and Winds Over Neo Tokyo are an excellent listen, with good use of oriental sounds and vocals to portray sequences such as the bike chase.

On the album my favourite track has to be Dolls Polyphony, a trio vocal section, probably put through a computer, adds a very freaky edge. If you have seen the film, you will understand it very well, and why that section is freaky.

The one song which I feel lets the album down is Illusion, which is aproximatley 12 mins of what sounds like a man shouting something in Japanese while a game of ping pong is being played. I find this a struggle to get through without skipping. Apart from this, it is an excellent sound track.

A truly magnificent soundtrack for an animated film which is by itself a masterpiece. Then again, maybe this score is part of what made it great to start with...

Make no mistake, though - this is no "easy listening" kind of music! Don't play this as background music, because this soundtrack demands to be heard.

But it's worth it. All of it.

I must admit I've never heard anything like this before, and the sheer uniqueness of this album (to my ears anyway) is its greatest strength. If I had to describe it, I would say it sounds somewhat like tribal & buddhist music crossed with Tangerine Dream/Vangelis style ambience, with some creepy children's vocals added in to create a fittingly disturbed atmosphere. There appears to be an almost spiritual ambience to the album, with buddhist-style prayers/chanting, and yet this is frequently interupted by fast paced, visceral drum beats and use of synths, percussions and choirs that create violent, dysopian imagery. The contrast between the relatively calm "Illusion" and the visceral tour de force of "Battle Against the Clown" illustrate the spontaneous nature of the album. It fits in well to the thematics of the film in terms of Tetsuo fighting (in vain) the uncontrollable demon within him - and this theme is ever-present throughout the album. On longer tracks especially, such as "Tetsuo" and the closer "Requiem" there's an unpredictable nature to proceedings, with frequent peaks and troughs that serve to maintain interest despite lengths approaching 15 minutes. "Requiem" for example starts of calmly, and then suddenly explodes, making it feel like the soundtrack to the end of the world (which is what's happening) before then ending on an ambient, metaphysical note. This is repeated on "Tetsuo", which mirrors the character perfecly, as there's a threatening feeling that things can go crazy and explode and at second, which indeed happens. And then you have the shorter tracks, such as the mysterious "Winds Over Neo-Tokyo" and downright disturbing "Mutation". Throughout the whole album there's the feeling that the very foundations of this universe are falling apart and losing focus, which is accentuated by the spiritual/metaphysical chanting, along with ever-present and sinister drum beats, evoking imagery of a sacrifice or inevitability that adds to the apocalyptic nature. Highly reccomended for anyone who appreciates experimental music.