Saturday is "Music Day" on Ghibli Blog, but I didn't want to completely alienate our regular readers, so let's take a look at one of the Studio Ghibli soundtrack LPs from Japan.
In Japan, multiple vinyl LPs associated with the Ghibli movies were released by Takuma Shoten. These include "soundtrack," "image album," "symphonic," and "drama records." 45-rpm record singles were also released for the films if a pop song was attached.
For collectors, these record albums are a prize catch, featuring full-color artwork, sometimes exclusively created for the specific album, and screenshots from the movies. Prices on Ebay range from as little as $15-$20 to well over $600. A recent Ebay auction of Isao Takahata's 1982 Gauche the Cellist asked for a whopping $150 (he didn't get any bids) - Ack!
These photos for Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service come from a regular contributor to the Buta Connection forums in France. He has a very nice collection of Ghibli LPs. Kiki's comes with a single LP, with text and photos on both sides of the sleeve. An extra paper advertising the other Ghibli soundtrack albums is also included. It's very nicely packaged, was probably very affordable back in 1989, and should remain so today. I wouldn't expect to spend more than $15 or $20.
Kiki's Delivery Service was Studio Ghibli's first box office hit in Japan, and it's a charming, quiet little movie, much closer in spirit to My Neighbor Totoro than anything. It remains a little underrated in the Miyazaki canon, which only goes to show there's no accounting for taste. I'd be very happy to have this album in my collection, just to hear Yumi Arai's terrific theme song (it reminds me so much of Karen Carpenter, God Rest Her Soul).
(Photos: Buta Connection, "jrd1")
2 comments:
If you like Yumi Arai's voice, you should really check out her 70s album: Hikokigumo. It was listed quite highly in Rolling Stone's Top 100 Japanese Rock Albums. The title track is also used in the credits of Miyazaki's The Wind Rises. It's pretty brilliant!
I just recently bought this album and pretty pleased with my purchase. I paid 600 for it and I bought it with no shame because of what the album meant to me! I have only heard rumors years ago that there was an o.s.t out there for this movie and the actually be able to hold it is an experience.
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