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View Full Version : Star Ocean - Till the End of Time OST Vol. 2 - Impressions!


Rince
04-12-2003, 04:46 AM
Yes, finally it's out, the more rocky part of the OST. And I have to say: Sakuraba didn't disappoint me at all!

OK, some tracks are off-key as usual from Motoi, but most of them are VERY nicely executed Rock/Fusion/Jazz/World Music Tracks.

You could immediately tell what tracks are battle tracks because Sakuraba always manages for those to be driven and upbeat, so you get the distinct PRESSING feeling of a battle situation. Also, on Disc 2 you get a VERY nice treat in Form of a 10-Minute-Long-Track called "Highbrow" in the translation from GMROnline. This is a 10-Minute journey through Sakuraba's Musical Universe and a nice one at that! Progressive beats at their best the whole track long, like a Medley of sorts.

Most noticeable Tracks - for me - are:

Disc 1 :

01 - Cutting Edge of Notion (Battle!)
It's Sakuraba Battle Goodness!

05 - Fly Away in the Violet Sky
One of the Demo Tracks on starocean.net - and now it's complete you know why.

14 - Bird's Eye View
Great "Airshippy" kind of music, lighthearted and yet biding you to explore.

Disc 2:
10 - Highbrow
A great "Medley" - could best be compared to Sakuraba's solo album "Gykyoukuonsou" where there are very similar renditions of progressive music.

11 - Star Ocean Forever - JAZZ Version
This is simply utterly amazingly jazz-funky Star Ocean goodness!

12 - Mission to Deep Space
Sakuraba's favorite it seems, and one of mine too. It's a damn nice melody, and in this version you get a progressive guitar and some very nice beat. Most probably Band-Played with real instruments, because this sounds damn hot! A Saxophone jazzes the whole thing up pretty good.

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Well, there are certainly MANY good tracks here and it's hard to pick, but overall I give this one a much higher score than Vol. 1 had from me. I just like Sakuraba when he does progressive and rocky tunes. Best thing to come is surely when he arranges something on Volume 3 and you get the best of both worlds.

Naka
04-25-2003, 06:40 PM
I really really want to buy this OST, but I just cant afford it right now. I guess I will have to settle with listening to mp3s in the mean time. Reading what you have to say about it, it sounds as if its an awesome volume. I will listen to it when I get home.

Carl
04-26-2003, 06:37 PM
Agreed, this Vol.2 is very enjoyable

While some people said Vol.1 wasn't motoi-ish ENOUGH, that was a good album too, but this is probably the album they were expecting =)

Yeah I certainly like the Jazzy pieces also, and the way they change up the song as it's going along.

I really liked this ~Rhythm Version~ of the So Alone, Be Sorrow track, more than the other versions of it on the Vol.1

Yeah the airship track and one other track sounded very Nobuo-ish, haha

His battle tracks certainly are instantly recognizable, as they're always very driving and 'pressing' as you said.

Plenty of Good stuff to go 'round.

GoldfishX
04-27-2003, 08:50 PM
Well, the problem I had with Vol. 1 is that I thought it was boring, regardless of who composed it. Even if it had been Koichi Sugiyama, I still wouldn't think too highly of it. I was going to do a review for it, but after two listens, I felt no attachment to it-It wasn't memorable, nor was it enjoyable. I really have nothing to say about it. The fact that it was Motoi Sakuraba who was behind such a lifeless album makes it harder to swallow...

That said, Vol. 2 and the arranged album can't get here soon enough to alleviate the bad taste...(checks for CDJapan shipping confirmation)...Damn it!