A collection of secondary and independent releases
TV Anime Best 10 Theme Song Collection came out from Asahi Sonorama in December, piling 15 tracks onto two 10″ records. The Yamato theme and The Scarlet Scarf shared vinyl with songs from Cyborg 009, Triton, Lupin III, Gatchaman, and many more contemporary classics.
There was also a deluxe Manga Shonen edition (below) that came in the form of a hardcover book with pictures and story info from each show represented in the collection.
More oddballs from the 1977 record bin:
This rare find is one of those low-press run recordings from a school. Specifically, it’s the First Chorus Festival of the Metropolitan National High School, recorded some time in 1977 at Tachikawa Citizen’s Hall. Among many Japanese standards, it includes two performances of Roman classics and two anime themes: Mighty Atom and the Yamato theme. What makes it special is that it’s the only recording on LP that goes past the first two verses. There is a four-verse version of the song (learn all about it here), and the performance on this album goes through verse 3. So it certainly belongs in the Yamato hall of fame.
Back in 1977, there was another emerging category in commercial music known colloquially as “pachimono” (knockoff thing), basically a semi-professional recording released on cassette. Anime theme collections were plentiful, and Yamato covers popped up on many of them.
