Following my review of Sailor Moon: Songs from the Hit TV series, I’d like to review the second North American Sailor Moon soundtrack released through Kid Rhino / DiC Tune-Time Audio: LUNAROCK.

Released on 15 June 1999 on both CD and cassette, Lunarock was the soundtrack to the second season of the series and covered the Dark Moon portion of the Sailor Moon R arc after the domestic dub of Sailor Moon R The Movie: Promise of the Rose. Jennifer Cihi returned as the singing voice of Sailor Moon / Serena with Sandy Howell and Patricia Tollett returning as Sailor Mars / Rei and Sailor Jupiter / Lita respectively. The album also features songwriter Ronald Wasserman as the singing voice of Tuxedo Mask / Darien.

Consisting of 6 new English-language songs, LUNAROCK also included two of the original Japanese tracks, the series original Japanese theme “Moonlight Legend” (Moonlight Densetsu/ムーンライト伝説) recorded by DALI and “Guardians of Love” (Ai no Senshi/愛の戦士) by Yoko Ishida.

There are two versions of Lunarock. The other, technically issued before the Kid Rhino / DiC Tune-Time version, was released through EMI Canada and contained different mixes of two English tracks. 

“I Want Someone to Love,” written by Evan Roberts and Ronald Wasserman, the Canadian version, which is just a second shorter, fades to silence where, whereas the American version (Raw Re-Mix) includes a short cappella portion from Chihi. 

A cover of the Beetles’ 1963 hit “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, also appears on both versions of LUNAROCK, with the EMI version being sped-up and slightly pitched. 

Neither song was included in the series, though “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was released as a promotional single that included 5 different remixes of the song (in addition to the standard EMI version). 

“The Power of Love,” written by Michael Benghiat, Evan Roberts, and John Miyagi Author, did appear in the series during the final battle between Sailor Moon and the Wiseman for the series as well as the final battle between the Scouts and Fioré in Promise of the Rose. It’s probably my favorite song from the English dub of the Sailor Moon franchise. 

“Nothing at All,” written by Matt McGuire, Evan Roberts, and Sandy Howell, is featured in both the English dubs of the second and third feature films, Sailor Moon Super S: Hearts in Ice and Sailor Moon Super S: Black Dream Hole with Howell also singing the vocals. 

If I am being honest, “Daddy’s Girl,” written by Michael Benghiat, Evan Roberts, and Billy Martin, is the weakest song on the album. Tollett sings it beautifully; it’s just not a great song, and it is not featured in any of the films or anime. 

LUNAROCK may not pack the punch the first soundtrack did, but Power of Love makes it worth it. 

Long out of print, the CD can still be found on second hand sites like eBay and Discogs.

More Sailor Moon music reviews soon so…

Stay Tuned!