I believe this a bootleg, even though it's listed as a legit Victor Japan release on Discogs. It seems to be a low-quality dupe of the CD album on Victor, including the same catalog number, but without any company logos or copyright text anywhere on the LP. As the final insult, the black vinyl has heavy, whooshy surface noise on the first few tracks on both sides. Some of the cymbals and percussion sound distorted as well.
Very disappointing for what I feel to be an enormous accomplishment from Kenji Kawai, who managed to equal if not surpass his work on
Ghost in the Shell. I was fortunate to see Innocence during it's brief US theatrical run, and Kawai's new score was a large part of the enjoyment for me. Even through the murk of this vinyl, the powerful moments still shine through and inspire. I will probably keep listening to the CD/digital versions for now, but unless any experts want to chime in, I feel this should be filed under the unofficial Victor label:
https://www.discogs.com/label/496895-Victor-4
I would still love to see what Tiger Lab or Milan could do with Kawai's two scores for GitS. The original CD's have plenty of liner notes and production photos, but all the text is in Japanese. It would be great to have some liner notes in English. Total support for labels doing proper vinyl releases of these albums.
Hypoxia - Unwilling Suspension of Disbelief
Umberto - Temple Room EP
