THE ALFEE -- Brave Love 〜 Galaxy Express 999

 

I only got the news earlier today through the regular NHK News broadcast, but veteran seiyuu and actress Masako Ikeda（池田昌子）passed away on March 3rd from an intracerebral hemorrhage at the age of 87. In her long career, she had a lot of roles of course, but one of her most famous roles was as the beautiful if enigmatic Maetel in "Galaxy Express 999"（銀河鉄道999）. She was certainly one of the first anime characters that I got to remember as a young kid.

What I didn't know was that Ikeda had also been the regular actress for Audrey Hepburn when creating the Japanese dubbed versions of the latter's movies such as "Sabrina".

Now, my first instinct was to see whether I could find anything that Ikeda had sung during her long career but I realized that she had just stuck to her voice roles and work as a narrator. Therefore, I did some searching within the "Galaxy Express 999" franchise for any songs there. Up to this point, I've only seen several episodes of the original TV anime and then the first movie in 1979 featuring Godiego's（ゴダイゴ）big hit.

If I'm not mistaken, there were two other motion pictures featuring anime's most famous train with the second of these being "Galaxy Express 999 ~ Eternal Fantasy" which came out in theatres in March 1998. Ikeda returned as Maetel but the band taking care of the theme song this time wasn't Godiego but rock band The Alfee. Comparing "Brave Love 〜 Galaxy Express 999" with Godiego's "Galaxy Express 999", whereas the latter was all about the excitement and adventure of being on such a special train, the former which was written and composed by Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）was a very Alfee-esque song with its triumphant anthemic style. It would almost be like yelling out "Galaxy Express 999...ASSEMBLE!".

The single was released in February 1998 as The Alfee's 45th single and it peaked at No. 9 on Oricon. My condolences go to Ms. Ikeda's family, friends and fans.

Galaxy Songs

 

Recently, when I posted my article on a Candies'（キャンディーズ）tune, commenter AL noted that there were a lot of kayo kyoku with "ginga"（銀河...galaxy） in the title. I agreed and wondered whether I should put up an Author's Picks about those galactic songs. Well, I'm no longer wondering. Here are some of them.

(1978) Isao Sasaki with the Suginami Junior Chorus -- Ginga Tetsudo 999（銀河鉄道999）

(1979) Godiego -- The Galaxy Express 999 (銀河鉄道９９９）

(1988) Hikaru Genji -- Paradise Ginga (パラダイス銀河）

(1977) Candies -- Gingakei made Tonde Ike!（銀河系まで飛んで行け!）

(1980) Hiromi Iwasaki -- Ginga Densetsu（銀河伝説）

Isao Sasaki with the Suginami Junior Chorus -- Ginga Tetsudo 999（銀河鉄道999）/Aoi Chikyuu（青い地球）

The very first anison article I did for "Kayo Kyoku Plus" back in early 2012 was the epic theme for "Space Cruiser Yamato" by Leiji Matsumoto（松本零士）. The second article was for another Matsumoto sci-fi franchise, "Galaxy Express 999" via a lovely ballad that was featured in the first motion picture treatment for the most famous train in anime, "Yasashiku Shinaide"（やさしくしないで）by Kumiko Kaori（かおりくみこ）. Since then, I've done a couple of more articles for the main themes for the movie by Godiego（ゴダイゴ）.

Well, it's time to talk about the theme songs for the original TV series which ran from 1978-1981 on Fuji-TV. The opening theme, "Ginga Tetsudo 999" still manages to raise the hair on the back of my neck even though the melody by Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）comes across as milder when compared to the Yamato theme but I think that's the wonder of the professor emeritus of anison Isao Sasaki（ささきいさお）with the Suginami Junior Chorus（杉並児童合唱団）. He could make "Happy Birthday" sound like the finest battle anthem!

And not to put down the melody...it may be milder in comparison but in its quieter but no less epic way, Hirao and lyricist Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）have been able to convey the incredible adventures that the Three-Nine has experienced. I also enjoy how the song just fades in after the train starts chugging down the tracks. Furthermore, I'm not sure whether Hirao had been aiming for this combination, but I could pick up hints of Mood Kayo and City Pop through the arrangement such as the percolating bass. "Ginga Tetsudo 999" is the musical passport for your voyage through the stars.

I still get rather verklempt whenever I listen to the ending theme, "Aoi Chikyuu" after all these years, again thanks to the triumvirate of Sasaki, Hirao and Hashimoto. The title might mean The Blue Earth, but it strikes me as being a lullaby between mother and son or Maetel and Tetsuro. As soon as the whistle and the strings begin before Sasaki's voice enters, I sometimes have to set the Kleenex box near the computer. I guess in a way, it would make for a fine Mother's Day kayo.

"Aoi Chikyuu" was actually the first song that I had heard which was connected with "Ginga Tetsudo 999" via the instrumental version in the trailer for the first movie in 1979. The single, and I'm assuming that the two songs occupied the same 45", became the No. 1 song on Oricon in the Anime/Children's Songs category for that same year.

I borrowed the videotape of the original first movie only having seen certain pictures of the mysterious Maetel and the train along with catching some scenes here and there from the TV show. So I didn't know too much about what "Ginga Tetsudo 999" was all about and since my copy of the movie had no subtitles, I couldn't understand everything about the plot. However in compensation, the animation and soundtrack were just gorgeous so by the end of the movie, I really wanted to live in the far future. The above video shows the movie, and at the 2-minute mark, the orchestra ramps it all up with what I think is a short but magnificent tribute to "Aoi Chikyuu". Fans couldn't have asked for a finer musical introduction.

Godiego -- Taking Off

I was reminded of "Taking Off" by Godiego （ゴダイゴ）when I was at my friend's house yesterday, and he gave me a trip down anime Memory Lane by showing excerpts of the first and best of the "Galaxy Express 999" （銀河鉄道９９９） movies from 1979. I may have already mentioned this in my other postings concerning the movie such as "Galaxy Express 999" and "Yasashiku Shinaide" （やさしくしないで）, but the songs and the score were just wonderful. I'm glad to say that I was able to get the soundtrack a few years ago.

"Taking Off" was the Side-B song for Godiego's "Galaxy Express 999" when it was released in July 1979, and is a bit lighter in tone than its "big brother". However, it's appropriately titled since the song, written and composed by the same people behind "Galaxy Express 999", has that feeling of expectation as the legendary train takes off on its journey through the stars. The keyboards also reflect that feeling of innocence (or as much innocence as a future street urchin whose mother was slaughtered can have) and regret within young Tetsuro as he looks out the window and mentally waves goodbye to his buddies and his old life. I think just hearing that song for myself brings back memories of Japanese music back then and when I took off for Japan in 1981 with my fellow graduates from Japanese school.

Godiego -- The Galaxy Express 999 (銀河鉄道９９９）

I remember watching the first movie in the "Galaxy Express 999"series on an old VHS video, and was impressed with the overall animation, the various environments, and simply the entire epic feel of this old 19th-century locomotive traveling through the stars. The symphonic score was fabulous, but there were also the two contributions by the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）.

This song, which appeared at the end of the movie, was composed by vocalist Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ） and written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介） to reflect the 999 taking off on its journey. Initially, though, arranger Mickie Yoshino（ミッキー吉野）, the band's keyboardist, had envisioned a ballad for the movie but with this vision of the train soaring through the galaxy, the song took on a far more uptempo structure.

A version with English lyrics was also created with Yoko Narahashi（奈良橋陽子） as the lyricist. The song was released in July 1979, about a month before the movie's release, and quickly entered the Oricon charts at No. 6. It would eventually peak at No. 2 before finishing off the year as the 14th-ranked song for 1979. As was mentioned in the first entry for Godiego, the year reaped a lot of success for the band since four songs would end up on the high end of the charts.

The Galaxy Express 999 soundtrack

It will never happen, of course, but if there were ever a live-action version, I'd pick Gwyneth Paltrow as Maetel, with a de-aged Shia LaBeouf as Tetsuro. Considering Hollywood's track record of filming anime as live-action, though, I think seeing an actual 19th-century locomotive fly through the sky would enjoy better odds. But seriously, folks, if you want to see a great anime, "The Galaxy Express 999" is definitely one to catch.

Kumiko Kaori -- Yasashiku Shinaide （やさしくしないで）

Keeping on the Leiji Matsumoto bandwagon after my entry on the "Space Cruiser Yamato"(宇宙戦艦ヤマト） theme song last night, I offer this much more low-key and beautiful song by Kumiko Kaori（かおりくみこ）, a veteran anison singer. "Yasashiku Shinaide"(Don't Be Gentle) made its appearance in the first film made of "The Galaxy Express 999"(銀河鉄道９９９）, arguably Matsumoto's most famous work after "Yamato". I remember watching the adventures of the mysterious Gwyneth Paltrow-lookalike Maetel(メーテル） and her young companion, Tetsurou Hoshino(星野鉄郎）, on board the fantastic Galaxy Express on VHS years ago. The movie was accompanied by rousing orchestra and Godiego's(ゴダイゴ） hit eponymous tune throughout it. But then in the middle of the movie, young Tetsurou creeps into this hole-in-the-wall saloon on hearing this ballad being sung and strum. And the movie just stops. Not in a bad way but in a magnetic one as Ms. Kaori sings of someone who has just gotten tired and embittered of love. The characters in the saloon all look tearful or mournful, and I'm sure a number of the movie audience were feeling the same way. Considering the theme of the tune, it came off as very enka. The movie went back into adventure mode soon after but for those 2 or so minutes, there was a respite of some depth. And in fact, there was an instrumental reprise of that song later in the movie.

The above is the full song. Regrettably, for some reason, it never got onto the original soundtrack for the movie, but my old friend The Anime King played it for me, much to my surprise, in its entirety a couple of days ago after not having heard it in over 20 years. Apparently, it did get onto the Eternal anniversary edition of "Galaxy Express 999".

I'll make this half-joking recommendation. Listen to it while sipping down a tumbler of whiskey-on-the-rocks.