GATCHAMAN OVA (1993-1995) CD SOUNDTRACK
(Animex 1200, 197/ Nippon Columbia COCC-72277)
.
I think anyone could guess my age when I said that I grew up with the U.S. dubbed GATCHAMAN series, renamed Battle of the Planets. At that time, the series was considered to contain some adult theme that required certain episodes be removed from the U.S. audiences…that serious?!
.
The series got remade into a short Original Video Animation series that comprised of only three episodes that started in 1993 and ended in 1995 (almost a year wait for an episode,…but it was worth the wait).
That time around, the producers of the series got Maurice White and Bill Meyers to produce the soundtrack which was a right move in my fan book,…and for wider appeal too. The music produced was mainly electronic based with some jazz flavored into it,…almost fusion jazz-like.
.
.
The highlight of the playback of the aforementioned CD soundtrack was the use of the Aries Cerat Kassandra 2 Limited Edition Digital to Analog Converter that truly brought about a level of ‘Audio Magic!‘ Even though most of the tracks here were electronic based, but what I heard was nothing near (the noisy) ‘electronic’. There was no irritation, but well separated, spaced and positioned tunes all around that spanned out soundscape. The mid bass was punchy, well-articulated, well-defined, and well-delineated. Here, the dynamic and transient were beyond my expectation, the bass attacks coupled with sumptuous quantum of energy and lightning speed…indeed a fun ride for anyone! The extreme low frequencies were never rush, but maintained a ‘rightful presence‘ throughout certain passage of a track that lent a believable scale to the presentation, especially at the track, “X“.
.
.
One of favorite song which turned out to be the last track here, “Let’s Fly” performed by Lance Matthew. I would say the Kassandra 2 LE DAC brought about a very different (high) level of transparency to his voice that I did not experience from the Blu Ray. Literally, I could experience his presence,…with all the thick density, palpability and weight to his voice,…which popped out, spaced, and separated from the accompanying back up singers and musicians. Even at certain passage/ lyrics, there was transient of energy from his voice that reached all the way to my listening position,…it was a sensation of rawness and purity!
.