Macross music & video collection
Music had been a critical component of anime since the very beginning, with theme songs leading the charge into the record industry and soundtrack scores gradually following after. The Space Battleship Yamato series revolutionized anime soundtracks with fully symphonic scores in the 70s, and Macross took it to another level in the 80s by making pop songs part of the story. From then on, an entirely new frontier was open for exploration. Macross itself capitalized on the trend in its sequels and essentially created its own subgenre.
This is only a sampling of what’s available, so consider it a starting point.
マクロス・ザ・コンプリート
VICL-40031-33
Victor Entertainment, 1992
超時空要塞マクロス Jam Trip 1800シリーズ
COR-11068
Columbia, 1993
The discs shown here are all related to the original TV series, which spawned five “numbered” albums and six “other” albums. These consisted of song collections, compilations, and covers. Rhapsody in Love, an “image album,” was the fifth of the numbered albums. The other four are contained on Macross the Complete, along with the soundtrack to Do You Remember Love. Jam Trip is one of the cover albums.
All music for the first TV series and the movie were composed by the mighty Kentaro Haneda, who got his start under Hiroshi Miyagawa on Space Battleship Yamato and moved on to his own solo efforts. Hane-Ken Land is a 2-disc best-of collection that includes one Macross track and many, many others.
VICL-40119-20
Victor Entertainment, 1995
COCX-32379-80
Columbia, 2003
マクロスプラス オリジナルサウンドトラック 1
AT9303
Victor Entertainment/Animetrax, 1990
マクロスプラス オリジナルサウンドトラック 2
VICL-571
Victor Entertainment, 1995
The Macross Plus soundtrack locked in a new generation of fans all by itself thanks to the progressive and expansive artistry of composer Yoko Kanno, who went on to become an industry all by herself by scoring Brain Powerd, Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, and more. She returned to Macross world to score Frontier in 2008.
マクロスプラス オリジナルサウンドトラックプラス
VTCL-60347
Victor Entertainment, 1995
GM-194
Ever Anime, 1999
VICL-572
Victor Entertainment, 1995
VICL-573
Victor Entertainment, 1995
Macross 7 took the in-universe music to another level altogether by fusing it with the act of piloting Valkyries in battle. The on-screen band Fire Bomber was the show’s hero, winning hearts and minds by the power of their rocking. The two leads were also pop artists in real life, which led to many years of recordings (both live and in studio) that went far beyond the scope of anime.
I bought more Macross 7 discs than I truly needed, because there were a LOT of them in Tokyo’s second-hand record stores when I finally started looking, and they were cheap. There’s heavy crossover from one to the next, so you’ll pretty much get the hits no matter which one you buy.
マクロス7 ドッキングフェスティバル
VICL-575
Victor Entertainment, 1995
VICL-803
Victor Entertainment, 1996
マクロスダイナマイト7 RADIO FIRE!!
VICL-60259
Victor Entertainment, 1998
VTCL-60052
Flying Dog, 2008
マクロスダイナマイト7
VTCL-60056
Flying Dog, 2008
VTCL-60059
Flying Dog, 2008
VTCL-60150
Flying Dog, 2009
マクロスゼロ オリジナルサウンドトラック 1
VICL-61042
Victor Entertainment, 2003
マクロスゼロ オリジナルサウンドトラック 2
VICL-61518
Victor Entertainment, 2004
Pop songs played less of a role in Macross Zero (composed by Yutaka Fukuoka) since the story was set on a Pacific Island instead of a city environment, but the score is a strong contender without them with strains of electronica and native rhythms.
マクロスF O.S.T. 娘フロ
VTCL-60060
Flying Dog, 2008
マクロスF O.S.T. 2 娘トラ
VTCL-60061
Flying Dog, 2008
Frontier elevated things again with a powerhouse of a soundtrack. This was due to the return of Yoko Kanno for score and the double blast of two competing female vocalists who start as friends and become rivals for the heart of the galaxy itself. Like Fire Bomber, they enjoyed a thriving real-world music career with Macross as their launch pad.
ライオン May’n&中島愛
VTCL-35033
Flying Dog, 2008
マクロスF 娘たま♀
VTCL-60100-1
Flying Dog, 2008
劇場版マクロスF ユニバーサル・バニー シェリル・ノーム
VTCL-60177
Flying Dog, 2009
劇場版マクロスF シェリル・ノーム/ランカ・リー
VTCL-60230
Flying Dog, 2010
劇場版マクロスF サヨナラノツバサ
VTCL-60260
Flying Dog, 2011
超時空アンセム2009 息をしている 感じている
VTCL-35080
Flying Dog, 2009
マクロス20周年プレミアムコレクション
A 45-min. compendium of promos, OP/ED titles, game cutscenes, and more.
BCBA-1286
Emotion DVD, 2003
マクロスF 娘クリ MUSIC CLIP
38-min. collection of animated music videos from Macross Frontier.
VTBL-15
Flying Dog, 2010
Macross Do You Remember Love Blu-ray
超時空要塞マクロス 愛・おぼえていますか
BCXA-1058
Emotion, 2016
