The Seatbelts – Cowboy Bebop (2xLP, Coloured, Original Series Soundtrack)

Cowboy Bebop is a soundtrack album by The Seatbelts, released in 1998. It features music composed by Yōko Kanno and performed by The Seatbelts, showcasing a mix of jazz, big band swing, bebop, blues, Latin inflections and cinematic flair. Tracks like “Tank!,” “Rain,” “Space Lion,” and “Bad Dog No Biscuits” offer a wide palette—some high-energy, some atmospheric, some mournful—so the album works as both a companion to the anime series and as a vibrant standalone jazz record.

The arrangements are bold and dramatic, with brass, woodwinds, percussion and rhythm section weaving in and out with a sense of spontaneity. The style shifts from hard bop and Latin-touched swing to softly ambient passages and emotional balladry. Despite being created for a visual medium, the album holds when heard alone—its storytelling is musical, its performances confident and imaginative.

Reviews

"The soundtrack is so wonderful, so groundbreaking, and so unique … everything from the story and mood, right down to the episode titles is affected by music.” — Sputnikmusic

“Composer and pianist Yoko Kanno has brought together a sharp band in the Seatbelts and they hit hard with thunderous opener ‘Tank!’ … a charging blast of hard bop but with that Latin touch via the percussion bringing it something extra.” — Jazz Music Archives