Re: SWAT Kats soundtrack CD and casette

From: Kevin L. Knoles <klknole_at_rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu>
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 20:31:52 -0500 (CDT)

> Hmm... Possibly if I get enough sigs/names from people who would
> like an SK soundtrack, I could e-mail toonnet and ask for an sk sound
> track, like a petition. Please help, lurkers! We need all the names/sigs
> we can get ! Please e-mail me with the subject "SWAT Kats Soundtrack" or
> something similar.
>
> A.J. Freda If you don't know what SWAT Kats is, please

    All Right! Good idea! Back when I started up that merchandise thread I
way overestimated myself by assuming that I'd jump "write" in with lots of
detailed descriptions of merchandise that I'd like to see, hence the weird "part
one" subject line. Allow this to be part two:

    I'd love for there to be a SWAT Kats CD Soundtrack made available. Ideally
it would have *all* of the show's music, listed and grouped in the most logical
fashion as to make the straight listening experience the best possible (The
music wouldn't sound misplaced if there was no cuing up of any specific
selections), and taken from the pristine(?) masters in HB archives. I haven't
counted or timed any of the music except for the opening themes, so I'm
guessing that they, however many selections that may mean, would all fit on a
76 minutes CD, but if not, then the soundtrack should be a dual CD like that
recent 146 minute Robotech Perfect soundtrack from Streamline.
    As for the art reprinted on the actual CD(s) itself/themselves? Some
of the better looking illustrations of the Kats to the left and right, the
logo above, and the tracks contained listed on the bottom would be swell.

    But while the music is of course the most important thing about the
release, I'd like to see a little extra effort given to making the
soundtrack the best possible, which means a good booklet should be included.
I've seen CD soundtracks without any kind of booklet or even a decent cover
included (the American release of the Robot Carnival soundtrack comes to
mind.) and it bugs me to think what could have included been instead. Often
when I'm listening to a CD I'll flip through its booklet, so including one can
improve the overall experience. Rather than just be a simple slip of paper than
has lettering on one side, I'd like to see a hot illustration of the SWAT Kats
on the cover of the booklet, and I know just the artwork for it. The best
piece of SWAT Kats artwork I've ever seen was shown at the beginning of the
commercial breaks during the twin episodes; Cry Turmoil/SWAT Kats Unplugged and
Volcanus Erupts/The Origin of Doctor Viper. If you're not familiar with what
I'm talking about, cue up your tapes and see for yourself. That'd be the
perfect cover, just have the SWAT Kats standing above the words (In a red
version of the same font used for the episode titles) "SWAT Kats Original
Soundtrack". Inside you'd find a brief write up about the musicians and series
itself, possibly a description of each selection and what it was used for, as
well as the selection length down to the second (I *hate* when that's not
listed everywhere.) Each page would have a bit of artwork, such as cels or
promotion art in the background and maybe off to the side. I'm thinking the
layout would be like that of video game manual
( http://rat.org/pub/kats/images/snes ) - in other words, whatever
looks cool. And at the end of the booklet, an added bonus, 2 or more pages of
images, some small, some large, of the series best artwork, both promotional,
and taken directly from the master prints and selected by somebody who knows
what looks good. The best example I've ever seen of this can be found in the
Macross Plus Original Soundtrack Volume 1 from JVC. The back cover would be
more of the same - done right, not just coldly "sufficient" as is often the
case.

    Does it sound unlikely that a soundtrack may be released? Well, other
merchandising came out after the show's demise, including the videos. SWAT Kats
has by far *the*best* music of any H-B show, and an increasing number of
soundtracks based on animated series are coming out (the AEon Flux soundtrack
is said to be the most recent one.) H-B recently release sets of soundtrack
from many of their older series, yet none those H-B properties can measure up
to SWAT Kats music (Or anything else about the series for that matter.) Fred
Seibert even commented on how different (and good) the music would be for SWAT
Kats in Wild Cartoon Kingdom #1, "The music will be very different". With
a flashy cover and halfway decent distribution and marketing, a SWAT Kats
soundtrack could be a smash hit. And what do the beancounters stand to lose
from such a venture? Nothing, it'd be another opportunity to rake in the
money from a series previously thought deceased, and I'd be one of thousands
with cash in hand.

  |\ __ /| Kevin L. Knoles klknole_at_rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu |\ __ /|
  | | | |
   \ / Check out SWAT Kats on the Web: \ /
     \/ http://rat.org/kats \/

Received on Tue May 07 1996 - 21:38:17 PDT

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