Review Summary: IT'S MORPHIN TIME!!
Alpha, Rita's escaped! Recruit a team of teenagers, with attitude!! With these words from the mighty Zordon, the phenomenon known as Power Rangers was born. If you were between the ages of two and thirteen from 1993 to about 1997, there is a great chance you caught an episode of Power Rangers. Based on a long running Japanese series called Super Sentai, Power Rangers was created Haim Saban during the summer of 1992. Within 3 years these creation would be a worldwide craze with all of the videos, games, and action figures. By 1995, a major motion picture was finished and with that came the official soundtrack.
So, how does this soundtrack standup to the movie? Well I’d take the movie any day, as this is horribly average and sometimes painful to listen to. That is quite a shame as well because of all the A-list artists that are on here. We are blessed with the presence of artists like Devo, Shampoo, Fun Tomas, Van Halen, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Ok, so maybe only the latter two hit it big at one point and time, but you get the picture. For instance, Devo should not have been put in here. Their only hit (Whip It) wasn’t even that great in the first place. The song that was chosen for this is quite cheesy, and in the bad way. The lyrics are atrocious too.
“Action boy now
Action girl now
Be prepared to climb another mountain
Are you ready?”
An attempt of being uplifting fails during this effort.
There is good on this record though. While I am not a fan of the Chili Peppers, their song
Higher Ground is a decent tune and fit flow of the movie quite well. The standout of the song is easily the chorus. Anthony Kiedis is completely in the background as the choir takes the center of attention. The catchiness, plus the great chorus makes this a standout.
Kung Fu Dancing is a nice Asian-influenced synth song that adds a new touch to the original 1974 hit
Kung Fu Fighting. Lyrically, it is obvious why this was put into the movie. Again the highlight is the chorus. It’s catchy hooks to combine with the HA’s and WHO’s provided by the back-up singers make this song a nice addition to the record.
Even with the good on here, more bland and mediocre tracks appear. Aside from the cool guitar solo by Buckethead,
Firebird doesn’t do much else but provide filler.
Sensurround is like a b-side REM tune. They Might Be Giants were the group that recorded this song, and their singer is terribly monotonous. There isn’t any emotion portrayed. One of the few songs that were recorded for the album,
Ayeyaiyai sounds a bit like a Pearl Jam song, only it’s not good and is very painful to hear just like Sensurround was. Lyrically I found this a tad funny. This song is about stopping Rita Repulsa from doing her evil deeds. There is a tiny little problem with that; Ivan Ooze was the antagonist in the movie, not Rita. So there is one screw up they didn’t look at.
One thing the gatherers of this collection got right is that there are two really superb songs on here. The first being Van Halen’s hit
Dreams. Now I haven’t listened to much Van Halen, but if they are anything like this song I need to check them out. This was a song released during the Sammy Hagar period of the band, and his vocals are a combination of smooth and raspy at the same time. Eddie Van Halen steals the song though with his killer guitar riffs and synth hooks. The solos, especially the second, are great. Catchy throughout and Eddie giving an amazing performance makes this song memorable.
With all the praise for Dreams, one may be stunned to read that there is an even better song. Yes folks, this is the song that everyone knows from just the four simple words of
Go Go Power Rangers. Easily the best theme song of all-time, this one got a reboot with the movie and it was definitely for the better. Even though the snare drum is beaten to a blood pulp, the guitar is dealt with a bit more carefully. Tim Pierce is known for being an in-studio guitarist and is quite good at his job. The riffs are conducted much better than in the television show. The solo is dripping with cheese, but it’s so awesome at the same time. There is even a drum breakdown for all those who are in love with technicality. I may feel like a dork for the five minutes this song last, but it still rules pretty hard.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie: The Original Soundtrack Album overall is an average listen. Plagued by horrendous songs and average tunes, they degrade immensely from the quality songs on here. Aside from the two flawless songs and the two good songs, everything else on here either blows, or gets boring extremely fast. I wouldn’t recommend buying this or even downloading this in its entirety. The only two tracks worth downloading are the Van Halen song and the Movie theme. The Rangers needed a bit more attitude worthy songs on here to make me cherish this as much as I still cherish the Power Rangers in my heart.
