Aile De Honneamise: Royal Space Force (Soundtrack) vinyl

Almost everything about 'The Wings of Honneamise', to use the English-language title, has been slow burning, despite the 1987 film being described by legendary critic Roger Ebert as "one of the most ambitious of all anime productions" and a "visually sensational two-hour extravaganza". A massive movie, but even that review was written eight years after its original release, when the Japanese flick finally made it to US cinemas. Here we are then, almost 35 years on, and the score is available to own on its own, conceived and created by the Ryuichi Sakamoto - composer, curator, producer and owner of a hive mind's worth of musical knowledge. Introductions aside, the soundtrack makes perfect sense with or without watching anything, luring us in onto another cosmic plane through epic synth adventures, playful piano polkas and operatic overtures, resulting in what you could describe as a meeting of classical and RPG chip music.