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Review: Distant Worlds IV: more music from Final Fantasy

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We’ve written about Distant Worlds quite often, and here we are with another collection of Final Fantasy music with Distant Worlds IV. There’s a track from just about every game in the series, most of which are arrangements that have appeared on other albums in the past.

Starting sequentially from the beginning, there’s Final Fantasy III’s “Legend of the Eternal Wind,” which is measured and determined and takes on a more somber tone towards the end with a rendition of “The Prelude” on harp. Final Fantasy IV’s “Battle with the Four Fiends” is ominous and tense, incorporating hand percussion, tumultuous woodwinds, and regal brass with some great rhythmic variation. Final Fantasy V’s main theme is upbeat and lighthearted with woodwinds and triangles, and majestic at times with the inclusion of brass. Final Fantasy VI gets the mysterious pizzicato-laden “Phantom Forest,” and Final Fantasy VII’s “JENOVA COMPLETE” is featured, starting low and exploding with rolling percussion and powerful brass. Also included is Final Fantasy VII’s “Cosmo Canyon,” which is accented with its tribal percussion, its memorable woodwind melody, and emotional string swells. “The Oath” from Final Fantasy VIII is resolute and stirring, Final Fantasy IX gets the rambunctious “Festival of the Hunt,” and Final Fantasy XII’s “The Dalmasca Eastersand” gets sweeping strings and rolling snares in a playful arrangement. Final Fantasy XIII’s “Fang’s Theme” is adventurous and energetic, retaining Hamauzu’s strong piano backing, while Final Fantasy XIV gets the bombastic “Dragonsong” with Susan Calloway’s beautiful vocal work and the amazing take on the Final Fantasy prelude, “Torn from the Heavens.” There are two Final Fantasy XV tracks, including “Apocalypsis Noctis,” which is rather straightforward and true to the original, and “Somnus,” with its heartrenching piano, strings, and blend of regal and desperate moods.

In all, this is another strong collection of orchestral music from the Final Fantasy series. Many of the arrangements can be heard elsewhere, but it’s nice to have them compiled here in a nice, tidy package. The album is available from multiple sources, from Bandcamp to imports from Japan.

Reviews

Review: Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY THE JOURNEY OF 100

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Ask, and you shall receive? When we reviewed the Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY THE JOURNEY OF 100 Blu-ray disc back in 2015, my only gripe was that the MP3 files weren’t housed on the disc. Well, this year, to celebrate 30 years of Final Fantasy, Square Enix released the music on CD.

I’ll simply quote our 2015 review here:

They play many of the classics, including the iconic “One-Winged Angel,” a lovely healing rendition of “The Prelude,” the rousing “Final Fantasy” theme, and the wondrous “Main Theme from Final Fantasy VII.” Some new arrangements come courtesy of Piano Opera Final Fantasy pianist Hiroyuki Nakayama, and are a real treat. “Balance is Restored” from Final Fantasy VI stands out in particular, visiting several of the game’s key themes, along with Susan Calloway’s rendition of Final Fantasy XII’s vocal theme, “Kiss Me Good-Bye,” “Roses of May” from Final Fantasy IX, an explosive “Torn from the Heavens” from Final Fantasy XIV (with Masayoshi Soken in attendance), singer Emiko Shiratori reprising her role as vocalist on Final Fantasy IX’s “Melodies of Life,” and an amazing battle medley covering Final Fantasy I – XIV which picks some often-missed tracks, including the final battle theme from Final Fantasy V and a jazzy rendition of the Final Fantasy VIII battle theme. The orchestra reacting to the fan reaction to “Swing de Chocobo” was cute, too, as well as the upright bass player really getting into the piece. Finally, the encore “J-E-N-O-V-A Complete” was also fantastic, really pushing the orchestra to adopt an aggressive battle sound.

Unfortunately this album was sold only at their Tokyo Game Show 2017 booth. While that means it’s not widely available at the moment, I’d suggest keeping an eye on their website to pick it up if you’re interested.

Reviews

Review: SQUARE ENIX MUSIC Presents Life Style: Up!

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After checking out the cry volume of Square Enix’s Life Style series, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the other albums. Fortunately Up! brings in some more familiar tunes and actually does what it sets out to do, which is lift your mood!

The opening “Fanfare” comes from Dissidia, and is bouncy and upbeat, while “Siren Song” from Final Fantasy XIV is a bossa nova track that actually comes from Nanashi no Geemu, which Soken also composed. “Battle Theme 1” from Unlimited Saga is energetic and funky, while “Girls, We Have to Win!” from Crystal Chronicles offers playful surfer rock. There’s silly hip hop-infused rock from The World Ends With You, exotic flamenco from Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song, chill out from Final Fantasy XIII-2, and joyous and infectious with an SQ Chips remix from Chrono Trigger. The Distant Worlds version of “Man With the Machine Gun” is an interesting pick for sure, but it’s back on track with the bubbly and bumping “Mysidia Sky Garden” from Chocobo Racing, smooth jazz with “South Yokohama” from Racing Lagoon, and swing with “Crystal Bearers Ramble.”

Overall, this volume is way more on point with the theme. Unfortunately they’re event exclusives and hard to come by, but if you’re at a used CD shop in Japan, pick this one up!

Reviews

Review: Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY THE JOURNEY OF 100

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Wow, I can’t believe Distant Worlds has hit 100! I caught one of the first few shows, and I’ve never been disappointed with a performance since. Their album recordings have also been fantastic, and in recent years, they’ve ventured into video. It’s great that they’ve made available their 100th show on Blu-ray for long-time fans and attendees like myself and those who haven’t been able to make it out to a show.

Arnie Roth conducts and hosts the show, recorded in front of a Japanese crowd. They play many of the classics, including the iconic “One-Winged Angel,” a lovely healing rendition of “The Prelude,” the rousing “Final Fantasy” theme, and the wondrous “Main Theme from Final Fantasy VII.” Some new arrangements come courtesy of Piano Opera Final Fantasy pianist Hiroyuki Nakayama, and are a real treat. “Balance is Restored” from Final Fantasy VI stands out in particular, visiting several of the game’s key themes, along with Susan Calloway’s rendition of Final Fantasy XII’s vocal theme, “Kiss Me Good-Bye,” “Roses of May” from Final Fantasy IX, an explosive “Torn from the Heavens” from Final Fantasy XIV (with Masayoshi Soken in attendance), singer Emiko Shiratori reprising her role as vocalist on Final Fantasy IX’s “Melodies of Life,” and an amazing battle medley covering Final Fantasy I – XIV which picks some often-missed tracks, including the final battle theme from Final Fantasy V and a jazzy rendition of the Final Fantasy VIII battle theme. The orchestra reacting to the fan reaction to “Swing de Chocobo” was cute, too, as well as the upright bass player really getting into the piece. Finally, the encore “J-E-N-O-V-A Complete” was also fantastic, really pushing the orchestra to adopt an aggressive battle sound.

My only criticism would be that the MP3s are not hosted on this Blu-ray disc! Still, I enjoyed watching it from start to finish. Given the recent Distant Worlds III album release didn’t feature many of these new arrangements, I’m hoping we’ll see yet another Distant Worlds CD release in the future with these new arrangements on them so I can listen on the go.

The Blu-ray is definitely worth your time. The booklet is stuffed full of comments from the creators, all in English as well as Japanese. Grab it from CD Japan if you’re interested.

Reviews

Review: Distant Worlds III: more music from Final Fantasy

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Distant Worlds has always been exceptional, from the live concerts to the album recordings. I figured after the first two albums and the live Blu-ray concert recordings, however, that we wouldn’t be seeing more from the series. Then came along Distant Worlds III with a mixture of new arrangements and old ones that have been hard to come by.

Can Distant Worlds do it a third time? Read more below. Continue reading Review: Distant Worlds III: more music from Final Fantasy →