Geeky Gift Guide #5: Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack
"3, 2, 1, let's jam!"
Wow, I get so pumped just thinking about that opening bar to "Tank!", the Intro song for Cowboy Bebop, which is my #1 favorite anime EVER. One of the biggest reasons that it's my favorite is its genius incorporation of music into the action choreography and in the structuring of the story. Each episode has a musically-themed title that jives with that point in the story or with the characters in that episode. The music is of fantastic quality and cuts across many different genres and time periods.
Now you might understand why the Cowboy Bebop Original Anime Soundtrack Box Set is one of my favorite Christmas presents OF ALL TIME. I have enjoyed it so much since I received it several years ago. The main act is Yoko and the Seatbelts, a fabulously talented band that wrote and performed a lot of the music for the show. One of my favorite things about the soundtrack is that there are bits of Japanese dialogue from the show sprinkled here and there. Jet's voice always gives me a shiver! Here's the info on this box set edition:
"This limited edition 4-CD set contains all 96 tracks that appeared in the 5-CD set. Each disc is nested in its own tray which is housed in a digipak cover which opens like a book with 2 discs on each side. The discs are imprinted with color images of Spike, Jet, Faye and Ed. The set also contains a booklet with lyrics in both English and Japanese."
Disc 1
1. Dialogue, 2. Tank! (TV Edit), 3. Dialogue, 4. Want It All Back (clavinet hater version), 5. Sax Quartet, 6. Dialogue, 7. Encore un Verre, 8. March for Koala, 9. Dialogue, 10. Felt Tip Pen, 11. The Egg and You, 12. Dialogue, 13. Pot City II (Yab's Dub), 14. Dialogue, 15. NY Rush, 16. Dialogue, 17. Fe, 18. Piano Black 19. Dialogue, 20. Spokey Dokey (alt. take), 21. Forever Broke, 22. Dialogue 23. Road to the West (with rhythm), 24. Dialogue, 25. Meteor, 26. Dialogue
27. Digging my Potato, 28. Dialogue, 29. Rain (demo version), 30. Dialogue, 31. Green Bird
Disc 2
1. Dialogue, 2. Cats on Mars, 3. Doggy Dog II, 4. Doggy Dog III, 5. Dialogue, 6. Piano Bar I, 7. Give and Take, 8. Dialogue, 9. Cat Blues, 10. Dialogue, 11. The Singing Sea II, 12. Dialogue, 13. Elm, 14. Waltz for Zizi, 15. Dialogue, 16. Kawaisou na Faye, 17. Farewell Blues (alt take), 18. Dialogue, 19. Words That We Couldn't Say, 20. Dialogue, 21. Space Lion, 22. Waste Land, 23. Dialogue, 24. Goodnight Julia, 25. Space Lion
Disc 3
1. Dialogue, 2. Go Go Cactus (guitar version), 3. Dialogue, 4. Too Good Too Bad, 5. Dialogue, 6. Eyeball, 7. Dialogue, 8. Amusement Park, 9. On the Run, 10. Dialogue, 11. 23 Hanashi, 12. Dialogue, 13. Don't Bother None (long version), 14. Dialogue, 15. W0 Qui Non Coin, 16. Kawaisou na Faye, 17. Call Me Call Me, 18. Dialogue, 19. Memory, 20. Adieu, 21. Dialogue, 22. See You Space Cowboys Not Final Mix Mountain Root, 23. Dialogue, 24. Blue
Disc 4 (tracks 1-9 are live)(*bonus tracks)
1. Tank!, 2. Rush, 3. What Planet is This?, 4. Too Good Too Bad, 5. Bad Dog No Biscuit, 6. Call Me Call Me, 7. Mushroom Hunting, 8. The Real Folk Blues, 9. piano solo, 10. Ask DNA, 11. SF Game Center, 12. Rouya, 13. Old School Game,
*Sasurai no Cowboy (Tada Ed Aoi)
*Miwaku no Horse Riding
*Sasurai No Cowboy (Inu To Utau Karaoke)
It's a bit of a splurge, but it's totally worth it - especially for die-hard Cowboy Bebop fans.
See you, Space Cowboy...
