Macross The Complete Disc 3 Track 24

[Shawn]

Was listening to disc 3 the other day and went looking for a title and it just says "Unreleased Movie - M4"
I like this track a lot, it has a slow build up then really takes off sounding all brassy and exciting at the end.

I got to thinking what part of the film it might have been composed for. Did Haneda write this watching the movie?
Not sure how that part worked in an animated film, but assumed it would be similar to a live action movie, so you could get the beats at the right times.
Curious what it might have been timed for.

 

[Bolt]

Hmm. Curious indeed. Doesn't sound familiar. I have that set also, but I haven't listened to the complete set in a long time.  May have to go watching and listening..

[DewPoint]

Feels like an enemy fleet folding in.

[TheLoneWolf]

I always liked that song! My guess is that it was Haneda's audition piece for DYRL. Perhaps someone in Big West wasn't sure that he could score epic pieces that the movie needed and wanted a sample. Or maybe it was just a bonus track to help flesh out the movie OST.

[Shawn]

I think I may have figured it out-check my logic

The disc 3 unused movie tracks are here. My M-4 is right there at the top, 2m59s.

 

If you look at the BGM used music for the movie, M-4 is the opening battle sequence

 

They reused Fate's Arrow (disc 1,track 2) from the TV series...at 2m56s (3s shorter than the M-4 track from disc 3)

So my unreleased disc 3 M-4 was going to be used for the opening battle, but instead they went with the TV version.
I'll have to match up the opening scene with this alternate M-4 and look for some timing cues for the sync, could be fun

https://archive.org/download/AnaFTheSuperDimensionFortressMACROSSBD720/Extras/Macross OST The Complete/Scans/

[TheLoneWolf]

That's some great sleuthing! Just played M-4 alongside the opening battle sequence and it fits like a glove.

I personally prefer M-4 over Fate's Arrow in that sequence as it gels with the movie's overall melodramatic score.

[Shawn]

It does time out quite well indeed!
The drum marching build up in the beginning are the valks heading towards the zentradi forces
The build up with the missiles on the valks displays
that drum hit when screen flashes white as the pods break through
Hikaru launches his missiles right when the music goes epic
the high flourish as hikaru and focker's missiles hit their targets
and fade out just as the ger's break in

With some minor timing/shifting cuts of this scene you could hit some other big cues in the piece as well. 

We need a Haneda special edition cut

38 years still finding cool things!