Distant Worlds is today one of the most respected touring videogame music concert around. With its source being the endlessly amazing Final Fantasy series, and the combined minds of many of the best in the videogame music scene, it’s not hard to see why fans and music lovers of all kinds line up time and time again to hear the concert as it rolls into town. In 2007 we got Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy and like the concerts, the CD is one of the very best videogame orchestra recordings of all time.
Come June 1, 2010, we’ll once again be tickled by Nobuo’s musical mustache and load up Distant Worlds II: more music from Final Fantasy. With this CD, the main focus is on the later titles in the series from Final Fantasy V and up, and some major fan favorites are represented. However AWR decided to release the album in digital form last week, so here we are, giving you an insight into the newest Final Fantasy orchestra album.
Read the review after the jump!
For those of you who bought Distant Worlds, you probably remember the artwork. It was a simple black gradient with the logo and a single white feather floating down. Well, this time it’s simply inverted, giving the two albums some continuity in terms of appearance. The booklet shows pictures from the recording session, and the feather is prominently featured throughout the photos. We also get some nice liner notes from Uematsu and conductor Arnie Roth on their thoughts on the project. The pictures are really nice and add a warm atmosphere to the album as you get a sense of the dedication going into the recording sessions.
This CD was performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, who also recorded the first album. I’ve been traveling since my late teens and have seen many orchestras around the world in places like Poland, Brazil, Germany and the US, but my very favorite orchestra in this world must be the RSPO. I have seen them almost 10 times in my life, and the talent and passion they emit is stronger than any other I’ve experienced, and I think that shines through on this CD even though some of the arrangements themselves aren’t exclusive to this CD.
The first track, “PRELUDE,” is actually the same arrangement that opened the VOICES concert in Japan, but the performance here is incredibly strong. The mixing is perfect, making the slowly building melody even more powerful. As “PRELUDE” ends, we quickly jump into the fast paced and energetic “The Man with the Machine Gun.” I’ve always loved this song in orchestral form, and it’s no less good here than anywhere else.
Long time fans and collectors will probably be able to detect the sources of the arrangements better than I can by ear, and you may be slightly disappointed that they’ve re-used arrangements from other concerts and albums, but make no mistake about it: the emotional depth of the RSPO’s performance and the other talents makes it an excellent listen that distinguishes itself from past performances. One talent in particular to note is Susan Calloway. She was featured on the first album doing vocals, and she’s back one more time to perform two songs, “Melodies Of Life” and “Suteki Da Ne.” The former is quite emotional, and the slow and almost heartbreaking vocals combined with Calloway’s pop-aligned voice is somewhat of a mixed bag. The talent is definitely there, and it does shine through, but the performance can take a little away from the value of what is there lyrically. The latter, however, is much more of a fit as “Suteki Da Ne,” while also quite slow and emotional, is more adjusted to her voice and range. The lyrics here are actually in English, which surprised me at first, but I actually would say I prefer this version by Calloway more than the original.
The longest track clocks in at 11 minutes, and it’s a grand epic “Dancing Mad” arrangement. Not only is this performed by the orchestra, but a certain individual of milkman proportions joins in on the fun. Yes, Uematsu performs keyboards along with his band, the Earthbound Papas (is he a Mother fan?). While this may sound very impressive, I actually believe this is by far the weakest track on the album. The reason is mainly because of the over use of the organ, which sounds a bit iffy. The track also does not pace itself well over the 11 minutes, and I found myself zoning in and out as the track progressed. It’s certainly interesting with all the different elements and styles thrown in, and the Earthbound Papas section was especailly awesome, having an almost 90s Konami vibe to it.
Another song that struck me was “Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII.” While I’m not the biggest fan of the game (or any Final Fantasy game for that matter… they need more Cho Aniki), this was one of the first orchestral arrangements I heard back when I downloaded Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks off Napster. While this is the same arrangement used on that album, the performance and mixing here is far superior, and suddenly all the good memories I had of the game came rushing back. “Dear Friends” is another extremely beautiful track, combining acoustic guitar with the orchestra. It’s a very simple arrangement, yet so powerful because of the way it blends the elements. The last song on the album, “J-E-N-O-V-A,” is actually an all-new arrangement that was included after a vote by fans, and it has not been featured any other other album. I love the beat they’ve worked in, as it feels very similar to “The Man with the Machine Gun.” It also has excellent percussion and horn sections, but it does feel a bit too long.
In a way, I don’t feel this is as strong as the first CD. While the majority of tracks here are quite excellent, it is hurt by some odd choices to the overall layout. “Dancing Mad” also takes a hit on the CD, because with such length and intensity, it breaks up the flow of the album. Tracks like “Dear Friends,” “Suteki da Ne,” “Ronfaure,” and “Terra’s Theme” help make it an overall great musical journey. Distant Worlds II: more music from Final Fantasy may not be as great is it could have been due to some of these issues above, but it’s damn sure wonderful when it works.
Available At: Distant Worlds
Tags: Arnie Roth, AWR Productions, Distant Worlds II, Final Fantasy, Music Reviews, Nobuo Uematsu, Orchestra, Reviews, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Square Enix
I would have to agree with you on all points about “Dancing Mad.” For me it seems the organ/orchestra/band sections are all really distinct and lose a lot of continuity over the course of the track. Considering the length of the song it ends up being detrimental to the overall quality of the arrangement. Other than that it is pretty awesome!
Edit: thoughts on the cd itself after a few listens…oh dear, friends. Sordid stuff indeed. ‘Dancing Mad’ seems determined to become drowsy about halfway; the mispronunciation of ‘Suteki da ne’ (it’s not ‘nay’, ‘kay?) really got on my nerves. The start of ‘Man with the Machine Gun’ is a tad cut-off and the rest sounds just like the ‘Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec’ version, only higher quality, which is moot since the Black Mages’ version is just so much better given the original’s ‘techno’-ish style. ‘Terra’s Theme’ is always nice, but better blended with ‘War of the Magi’ per the beginning of the game. The FFVII: ACC versions of both the ‘FFVII Main Theme’ and ‘J-E-N-O-V-A’ were superior in my eyes: choir doesn’t always beat out serious hard rockin’, kids. ‘Zanarkand’ doesn’t go anywhere we haven’t heard elsewhere and it is sort of hard to screw up. I liked ‘Ronfaure’ despite never having touched XI. Uhm… ‘Victory Theme’ was good! Actually, I lie — it should have been longer. All in all? Kinda bland, considering what else we have on offer FF-wise these days. This isn’t a live concert performance, so I feel no scruples comparing it to any other FF album: orchestral, rock/metal, doujin, etc. And I think Uematsu himself raised the bar with a few of these tunes by introducing rock/metal elements. To return to primarily orchestral feels a little like a step backwards, even if it is (and here I agree with you, Audun) spectacularly performed.
And now I’m going to bitch about Dancing Mad a bit. Sorry.
The one time I heard ‘Dancing Mad’ live was with Play!, performed by a painfully mechanical, uninspired Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The choir fell way behind the organ, which itself started to sound sloppy and samey. I have managed to wipe the majority of it from my memory but I stand firm that this is one piece that almost should not be performed live by an orchestra — at least not without some severe rearranging.
I can’t figure out if it’s sad or awesome that my favourite versions of ‘Dancing Mad’ are doujin works such as Hellion Sounds’ interpretation — somehow they managed to drop a 15+ minute piece to just under 7 minutes and made it more exciting and compelling than the Mages’ prog-metal rendition, and definitely entirely more worthy of ‘Kefka’ as an endboss than Distant Worlds II’s tepid affair. Also worth mentioning is the 3-part OCR Oren/Robson monster, which is painstakingly faithful to the original but emphasises the choir and melody in ways that seem almost intuitive and yet are clearly original.
I mean, it hasn’t quite reached the oversaturation of OWA, but I think Dancing Mad is *done*.
So, am I the only one who actually likes this version of “Dancing Mad”?
Wes, while I agree with many of your comments, why were you expecting so many rock components on clearly an orchestral album?
Uh, I liked the Dancing Mad track, Edwin. You’re not alone.
I really don’t understand why the victory theme is only 8 seconds. There is a song that comes after that!
Chris: I wasn’t expecting them so much as saying if the rock versions are better, why continue to output orchestral ones? That’s why I stipulated that I felt no scruples comparing them. You have one studio album, you have another. They’re both performing the same track, but one just does it better.
The basic point is…well, I’ll be blunt (ahaha, when am I not?): orchestral arrangements of old FF games have had their day. And what a day it was! So many cds, oodles of concerts, encores, cheering, whooping, eyes watering that first time you hear OWA live…but seriously, I think we’ve moved beyond all that. There’s a dead horse out there somewhere that hasn’t yet been flogged, and FF I-XI’s music in an orchestral environment isn’t it.
Mind you, I’m totally willing to be wrong, but this album doesn’t weigh too heavily against my beliefs.
Suteki da NEIGH…
I personally don’t agree and think that, if you’ve decided that already, you probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the album either way.
I feel the issue is that, for hardcore fans at least, the repertoire has become overplayed. I think they could safely scrap some of the other existing program and add new arrangements instead. While some tracks such as OWA will always be fan favourites and should stay, I think both hardcore and casual fans would find a range of new arrangements appealing too. This was what most expected from Distant Worlds II and they were disappointed…
I think it’s time to replace some of the rest of the program with new arrrangements by people such as Shiro Hamaguchi. For example, why not expand Symphonic Fantasies’ The Phantom Forest into a stand-alone piece? How about producing orchestral arrangements of Matoya’s Cave, Cosmo Canyon, Vivi’s Theme, Silence Before the Storm, and others that are begging for it? There are plenty of possibilities and just a handful of new tracks would be enough to keep the hardcores at bay.
‘either way’ — which either? If it had been different arrangements of songs previously not touched? Or if it had been just a bit…oh gosh, I dunno, BETTER? Of course there were plenty of ways for me to enjoy this cd. I loved Symphonic Fantasies *to death* — even if it hadn’t been extremely cleverly arranged, the FFV-VI-VII pieces were just beautifully played and downright interesting. And for all my railing against superfluous choir, the choral part of ‘Tatakaumonotachi’ still rocks my world. So no, there were ways I could have enjoyed this album. It just didn’t go those ways, and guess what? Quite a few people agree.
I was going to say at some point that the entire series does still have more to offer in terms of orchestral arrangement, particularly from VI, but clearly I feel it’s all starting to look a little old hat. A little too self-congratulatory. It was awesome when it hadn’t been done to death five years ago, and it was all about bringing this movie-score-neo-classical music to the masses — and for a while, that’s what it looked like might happen. But as you’ve pointed out, this is for the hardcore fans. And fair enough, there’s still a market there.
But the appeal of this stuff being innovative and ‘artistic’ is sorely lacking right now. You just have the same people performing the same stuff. I love me some classics, but honestly, there’s just so much more out there waiting to be discovered, played, shared and promoted.
Also, ‘OWA should stay’? Yeah, not even the creators of this CD seem to agree with that one, and ‘Dancing Mad’ was pretty obviously supposed to be the equivalent here.
i agree! first CD is much better than second one.