完美原声专辑背景介绍

Robotech Perfect Soundtrack Album

策划人汤姆·贝特曼(Tom Bateman)对专辑的背景介绍
译: kiki

在太空堡垒首次播映以来的十年, 音乐成为了这部剧集中最受爱好者喜欢的部分. 无数呼吁要求金合声, 也就是太空堡垒的制作公司发行一张新的, 完整的太空堡垒音乐专辑.

太空堡垒音乐制作本身就是一项很大的工程, 是许多人努力工作的结果. 不同的作曲家与他们不同的音乐风格, 融合成了一个统一的声音, 赞颂着太空堡垒这部革命性的史诗.

乌皮欧·米努奇(Ulpio Minucci)和阿隆·欧伯(Arlon Ober)早在金合声准备直接将日本动画片超时空要塞: Macross的英文版发行到北美录像带市场的时候, 就参与到原声音乐的制作中了. 乌皮欧和阿隆最初只是参与制作英文版的Macross主题曲. 然而这一切在金合声将几部日本动画片合并成一个标题:ROBOTECH的计划下改变了. 卡尔·梅塞克加入了制作, 编写了后来成为电视动画片标志的太空堡垒. 除了此前提到的超时空要塞: Macross之外, 另外两部超时空骑团与机甲创世纪也合并在一起, 构成了如今众人所知的85集太空堡垒传奇.

将三部不相关的作品组合, 并不是一件容易的事情. 每个故事都有自己独立的故事情节, 更不用说音乐了. 每一部都有独特的动画, 情节, 音乐风格. 超时空要塞是一个现代的爱情浪漫史诗, 背景音乐有交响乐风格. 而超时空骑团和机甲创世纪更多的具有当代合成乐与摇滚风格. 在太空堡垒制作的早期, 便已经决定了用一个统一风格的音乐来将三部动画联合到一起.

面对为一个85集的连续剧作曲的任务, 乌皮欧和阿隆必须创作很多主题来适应太空堡垒故事发展过程中不同的情绪和场景. 先是为麦克罗斯传奇谱写了动作场景的配乐, 其它的一些主题旋律是为剧中人物而谱写的, 有不同的紧张, 悬疑以及爱情主题. 米努奇和欧伯的作曲, 再加上阿尔博托·鲁本·埃斯特维兹(Alberto Ruben Estevez) 的一些补充作曲, 最终将片中的音乐发展得与整个剧集一样的多样与复杂.

除了在背景音乐上的工作, 作曲家们还面临着为剧中人物林明美谱写歌曲的任务. 她在第一部中是个关键性的人物. 从乐观的 "My Time To Be A Star" 到鼓舞人心的凯旋曲 "We Will Win", 明美的歌曲反映了整个人物的性格与她在剧中的角色.

当剧集进展到机器人统治者和新的一代的篇章时, 为了反映故事上的变化, 新的声音也需要加入进来. 音乐组合斯蒂夫·威特麦(Steve Wittmack)与麦克尔·布莱德利(Michael Bradley)贡献了数个音乐, 包括奇妙的 "Flower of Life" 和非常受欢迎的黄舞者的歌曲. 威特麦/布莱德利组合为继续谱写<太空堡垒电影: 未说的故事>与<太空堡垒续集: 哨兵>留了下来. 出于多种原因, 这两个项目一直也没有完成.

对所有的作曲家而言, 一个重要的任务是将音乐做的尽可能多样化. 时间限制与发行的日程使照着影片谱曲成为不可能的事情. 最终决定为那些没有事先计划的场景建立一个音乐库, 由资深的影视音乐编辑约翰·莫塔罗迪(John Mortarotti)完成这具有挑战性的大任务, 将这些相对独立的主题音乐, 挑选安排并编辑成为适应整个太空堡垒85集的音乐.

太空堡垒在电视台播放非常成功, 爱好者们对买到任何一件太空堡垒的商品热情高涨. 在这种情况下, 诞生了太空堡垒完美原声精选LP唱片, 由 US RENDITIONS 在 1987年发行. 这个专辑呈现了一小部分电视剧的音乐, 非常受欢迎, 直到如今仍然是收藏家们的目标. 尽管这张LP唱片以及重新印发的CD版本(太空堡垒原声精选CD) 非常成功, 此后却再也没有发行过第二张专辑.

时隔7年之后, 才又有了发行原声音乐的郑重考虑. 对于很多爱好者而言, 太空堡垒音乐是原作品中保留的为数不多的尚未发掘的地方. 一个全新的, 更加完整的, 重新后期制作的音乐看来对于10周年而言非常合适.

新的专辑包含了超过90分钟此前未出版的音乐. 制作这些音乐需要大量的工作来定位和恢复原始母带. 制作的结果就是在质量和多样性方面无可比拟的作品集, 反映了整个太空堡垒传奇的视角.

太空堡垒原声音乐并不是那种强制要求隐藏在角色后面或者是那种衰弱的纯背景声响. 它的音符嘹亮充满能量, 吸引观众们进入剧集的宏伟气概, 并且对于设定整个故事的背后基调非常重要. 您手中的太空堡垒完美原声专辑代表了为这部划时代的剧集和它的续作而编写的最完整的背景音乐与歌曲集,


附原文:

In the past decade since ROBOTECH was first broadcast, no other facet of the original series has been the subject of more fan interests than its musical soundtrack. Over the years, Harmony Gold, the original production company, has been deluged with numerous requests regarding a new, more complete release of the show's music.

The ROBOTECH music project itself was a major undertaking involving the hard work of many people. Combined together, the talents of these many different composers and their accompanying music styles became a single unified sound that appropriately complimented a series as revolutionary and epic as ROBOTECH.

Ulpio Minucci and Arlon Ober's involvement with the ROBOTECH soundtrack began when Harmony Gold went forth with plans to produce an English-language version of the original Japanese animated television series SUPER DIMENSIONAL FORTRESS: MACROSS for a direct-to-video release in North America. Ulpio and Arlon were brought in, originally, only to compose an English version of the MACROSS Main Title Song. Everything changed when Harmony Gold decided to go ahead with their ambitious plan to syndicate several of their Japanese animation properties under the banner title: ROBOTECH. Carl Macek was brought in to produce and write what would become a landmark animated epic for television. In addition to the aforementioned SUPER DIMENSIONAL FORTRESS: MACROSS, two other Japanese animated shows were selected to help meet the 65-episode minimum requirement for daily strip syndication; these other two series were SUPER DIMENSIONAL CAVALRY: SOUTHERN CROSS and GENESIS CLIMBER MOSPEADA. Combined together, these three series became the eighty-five episode saga known as ROBOTECH.

Assembling three completely unrelated shows, each with its own independent story, not to mention musical score, was no easy task. Each one had its own distinct style, in its animation, plot and music. MACROSS was a modern day romantic epic set against a backdrop of a strong orchestral soundtrack, whereas SOUTHERN CROSS and MOSPEADA featured more contemporary sounding synthesizer and rock-oriented scores. It was decided early on in the production of ROBOTECH to unify the three shows with a single musical direction.

Faced with the task of composing music for what would eventually become an eighty-five episode series, Ulpio and Arlon had to come up with many themes to match the various moods and settings in which the ROBOTECH story took place. Initially for the MACROSS section, several pieces were composed to depict action. Other specific themes were composed for characters, along with different tension, suspense and romantic cues. The compositions of Minucci and Ober, along with additional material provided by Alberto Ruben Estevez, evolved into a soundtrack as diverse and complex as the series.

In addition to coming up with extensive Background Music (BGM), the composers were also faced with the task of having to write songs for the character Lynn Minmei which formed a key element of the first story cycle. From the optimistic "My Time To Be A Star" to the inspiring and triumphant "We Will Win", the Minmei Songs were written to reflect the character's persona and role within the overall storyline.

As the series progressed to the ROBOTECH MASTERS and NEW GENERATION chapters, a different sound was needed to reflect these changes in the storylines. The musical team of Steve Wittmack and Michael Bradley contributed a number of pieces, including the eerie "Flower of Life" and their very popular songs for Yellow Dancer. The Wittmack/Bradley team was retained to compose the songs for ROBOTECH THE MOVIE: THE UNTOLD STORY, as well as compose the score for the sequel series ROBOTECH II: THE SENTINELS. For various reasons, these two projects were never completed.

An important task for all of the composers was to make the music as versatile as possible. Time constraints and release schedules eliminated the possibility to score to picture. The decision was made to build a musical library adaptable for situations and scenes for which the music may not have been initially intended. Experienced film and television music editor John Mortarotti was given the enormous and challenging task of choosing and placing all the individual cues within ROBOTECH's eighty-five episodes.

With the success of the series' initial and subsequent broadcasts in syndication, fans clamored for whatever ROBOTECH merchandise they could obtain. Out of this demand came the ROBOTECH PERFECT COLLECTION LP produced by US RENDITIONS in 1987. Featuring a small sampling of the series' music, this release proved to be quite popular and has until now been a desired collector's item. Despite the obvious success of the LP soundtrack and its later CD rerelease, a second volume was never released.

It would be over seven years until another serious attempt at a soundtrack release would be made. To many fans, the ROBOTECH soundtrack has remained one of the last unexplored facets of the original series. A new, more complete, remastered edition of the musical score seemed fitting with the show's tenth anniversary in 1995.

This new compilation contains over ninety minutes of previously unreleased music. Those involved with the production went to great lengths to locate and restore the original master tapes. The result is a collection unequalled in quality and variety, reflecting the scope of the entire saga.

ROBOTECH's soundtrack score is one of those film scores that isn't forced to hide behind the characters or languish as mere background noise. Its bold and energetic notes draw the viewer into the spectacle of the series and are essential in setting the tone for the story being told. The release of ROBOTECH: PERFECT SOUNDTRACK ALBUM that you now hold in your hands, represents the most complete collection of the background musical score and songs recorded for this ground-breaking series and its various sequels.

T. J. Bateman
Anaheim, CA