I recently purchased a copy of Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works · Seiji Fujishiro Shadow Puppet Play: The Humpbacked Pony (VPCD-81191), something I was absolutely thrilled to have. I'll admit, I only had a CD rip (shame on me) of the album for years. However, I actually spent eight or so years trying to buy a copy. Every time I placed an order at an online retailer, they didn't have copies left ans my orders were always effectively canceled. A contact in Japan even tried to track down a copy for me, but to no avail. On top of all of this, a friend of mine (who unfortunately passed away during August last year) tried to help me out. This was surprising (and still is) as the album is still in-print to this day. While used (and sometimes new) copies were listed at Japanese auction sites and other places, high shipping costs have always prevented me from bidding/purchasing them. See, EMS shipping costs to the U.S. for a single album averages approximately $15 USD, which would have made an album that already had cost $30 USD to be quite expensive at around $45 USD. Yes, I could have used a cheaper shipping option, but EMS is the way to go for shipping CDs, vinyl, DVDs and Blu-rays. This is to avoid damage during transit. Long story short, I thought my chances of obtaining this album were going to be next to none.
Fast forward to the end of June 2019, after looking over my Amazon Japan wish list, I noticed that they ended up getting a copy in stock after God knows how long (I was keeping an eye on it over there for about two years). I quickly took advantage of the opportunity and grabbed the thing. I couldn't believe that I actually ordered it! It arrived arrived in perfect condition a few day later. I thought I was dreaming when I opened up the package in which the album was contained. Even my hands were trembling during my disbelief, which made taking photos of the album somewhat difficult, but I managed to get it done. At last, after years of attempts to acquire it, I finally have a copy of Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works · Seiji Fujishiro Shadow Puppet Play: The Humpbacked Pony!
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| Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works · Seiji Fujishiro Shadow Puppet Play: The Humpbacked Pony (VPCD-81191) © VAP © Seiji Fujishiro © Brandon O'Brian |
Now that the album was finally in my collection, I started to update the old blog post for it. In fact, it's one of the first posts on my blog. I updated the post to fit my current format for posting albums to the blog (Album Information, Additional Notes, etc.). I also went ahead and made fresh translations of the album's track list. Thankfully, not many changes to the translations were needed. While working on the updates, I decided to update the remaining five volumes of the Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works series. Unfortunately, I no longer have copies of the albums. Regardless, I went ahead with the much needed updates as the posts utilized my old (and crappy) format for posting albums. As with all of my posts prior to 2017, they lacked the Album Information portion among other things. Essentially, all they had were brief descriptions and tracks lists.
Unlike the post for Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works · Seiji Fujishiro Shadow Puppet Play: The Humpbacked Pony, I decided not to revise the track lists for the five remaining posts for the Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works series, although I did make some slight tweaks such as changing titles for films (I typically use literal translations of film titles rather than official English titles) and whatnot. The reason behind my decision is that I wanted to update the track lists as I replace the copies of their respective albums. Also, photo galleries won't be included in each post as I currently don't have copies of each respective album. Obviously, the only exception is Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works · Seiji Fujishiro Shadow Puppet Play: The Humpbacked Pony. I do plan to replace the other volumes, but I won't be getting them in any particular order. I will notify my readers at the blog's Facebook page as I get each album replaced.
Unlike the post for Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works · Seiji Fujishiro Shadow Puppet Play: The Humpbacked Pony, I decided not to revise the track lists for the five remaining posts for the Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works series, although I did make some slight tweaks such as changing titles for films (I typically use literal translations of film titles rather than official English titles) and whatnot. The reason behind my decision is that I wanted to update the track lists as I replace the copies of their respective albums. Also, photo galleries won't be included in each post as I currently don't have copies of each respective album. Obviously, the only exception is Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works · Seiji Fujishiro Shadow Puppet Play: The Humpbacked Pony. I do plan to replace the other volumes, but I won't be getting them in any particular order. I will notify my readers at the blog's Facebook page as I get each album replaced.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention another major update. I changed the names of each album from the rather incorrect Film Composer Selection series, to the correct, long winded name for the six volume series: Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works. The titles for each specific album are far more long winded, as you'll soon find out.
I also want to add that there are other updates I made which I decided not to mention to avoid making this post become too long winded.
I also want to add that there are other updates I made which I decided not to mention to avoid making this post become too long winded.
After working on them for week, the updates for all six posts are more or less done for the time being. I may make small tweaks to them for the next few days, but their updates are more or less complete.
Anyway, I apologize for this lengthy post, and I hope I haven't potentially confused anyone who have read this thing, as my writings have a tendency to confuse others. Links to each album in the Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works series as well as my blog's Facebook page, are listed below. Simpy click on an album's title and you'll be redirected to it's respective post.
Anyway, I apologize for this lengthy post, and I hope I haven't potentially confused anyone who have read this thing, as my writings have a tendency to confuse others. Links to each album in the Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works series as well as my blog's Facebook page, are listed below. Simpy click on an album's title and you'll be redirected to it's respective post.
Links:
Akira Ifukube Unreleased Film Music Complete Works · Daiei Edition: Zatoichi Series/Nemuri Kyoshiro Series (VPCD-81186)
Facebook page for The World of Japanese Film Scores:
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