Tracklist

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Review: The opening notes of “So Ra So Mi” ooze absolute contentment. Its tempo moves at a languid pace, wafting a pleasant, dreamy aura through a repetitive motif carried first by the clarinet, then the violin, to evoke an image of a more idyllic era. Never too fast nor too slow, it channels a mellow sound which works well to immerse us in a charming atmosphere as the piece fittingly depicts the relaxed pace of life on display in Ikoku Meiro no Croisee.

So Ra So Mi

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Ko-ko-ya, the group responsible for Ikoku Meiro no Croisee’s soundtrack is no stranger to the realm of anime soundtracks, especially in sculpting that image of an idealistic, romanticized Europe. Their members are talented, including the likes of violinist Yuki Etoh and clarinetist Saeko Kurokawa, but the biggest influence by far comes from the Choro Club’s Shigeharo Sasago. With Sasago’s involvement, the ARIA-esque sound makes a wonderful return as Croisee’s music ebbs, flows, and ripples forth serenely and wonderfully. Ko-ko-ya’s prior work on Ristorante Paradiso’s soundtrack captures this unhurried ARIA-esque atmosphere nicely but I daresay that Croisee’s OST takes that earlier effort and does it one better.

Croisee’s soundtrack beats Ristorante Paradiso’s largely through the slew of emotions on display, bringing with it a greater level of variety to keep the listening experience fresh. Its melodies follow the gamut of emotions Yune feels as she adjusts to her new life in Paris. The mood that follows from “So Ra So Mi” is one of excitement, brought about by “Hanasaku Machi wo Waltz” which exudes the joys and thrills to be had in discovery. Its spritely, animated melody imparts the sort of childish curiosity and delight, with a dab of pleasant whimsical excitement. Although other tracks like “Soup Kakimazete” also captures those moments of euphoria, nothing quite hits the excitement quota quite like “Lady no Otanoshimi,” with its lively violin and accordion melody that rains energy through its festiveness as it makes you want to get up and join in the celebration.

Hanasaku Machi wo Waltz

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Lady no Otanoshimi

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As the excitement dies down, the measured pace of life and routine settles in. In “Hannari,” the mood of the soundtrack moves towards the introspective, and with it, a daydreaming sound delivered by the clarinet and violin which floats on the piano and acoustic guitar’s harmonic layer to envelope the listener with contentment. The energy moves up a few notches in “Hizuru Tokoro no Shoujo” as the piece adopts a brisk, upbeat tempo while the violin and clarinet showers us with the warmth and joy to be had through the simple pleasures life offers up.

Hizuru Tokoro no Shoujo

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Starting with “Sore wa Yokatta ne,” the lonelier moments materialize, fitting in with Yune’s sense of isolation and initial homesickness as she adjusts to Paris. The piece, carried through the xylophones, is somber as it rides atop the acoustic guitar to draw out that desire to find a sense of belonging. “Tooki Hi no Omoide” is also poignant. Its clarinet introduction already feels spiritually burdensome, but once the violin enters with its wails of anguish, it’s enough to bringing the listener to the brink of despair as they empathize with the piece’s despondent sentiments. And yet, there is hope. “Kazoku ni Naritai,” coming in near the end of the soundtrack, soothes the soul with a contented piano melody, instilling a sense of optimism and belonging while easing the pain as the characters look forward with a sense of confidence.

Tooki Hi no Omoide

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Kazoku ni Naritai

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
While the instrumental pieces shine most wonderfully, the vocal tracks are a mixed bag, but are, at worst, mediocre. Of the songs featured on this album, Megumi Nakajima unsurprisingly succeeds in winning listeners’ hearts with her excellent version of “Tooku Kimi he.” The way she delivers her vocals taps into the sense of longing not unlike the one brought forth in Macross Frontier’s “Aimo.” A.m.u., for her part, does well in exuding a positive feeling through “Tomorrow’s Smile,” as she captures the sense of quiet optimism through her soothing singing that sees a bit more energy in the chorus. Nao Touyama’s songs are appropriately sung in a child-like voice, fitting, given that she is Yune’s seiyuu. There are moments during which I found it charming, but Touyama’s singing never engages my emotions quite like the way Nakajima is capable of doing. As for Mamiko Noto… well her vocals aren’t much of a revelation. Noto has always been a two-bit singer at best despite her accomplishments as a seiyuu and her performance on “Takaramono” only confirms this. Here, her delivery is a bit too breathy for my tastes, making it just slightly distracting from what is an otherwise catchy melody.

Tooku Kimi he

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Still, the instrumentals eclipse the songs by a fair bit and yield a most enjoyable offering. The melodies contained within, especially “So Ra So Mi” and its various arrangements, go a long way towards making Ikoku Meiro no Croisee’s soundtrack a memorable experience. Between ARIA, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, and Ristorante Paradiso, it’s probably safe to say that any project Shigeharu Sasago touches can be counted upon to deliver with the relaxing vibe that makes for music that soothes the soul, allowing you to temporarily escape the stress and pressure of day to day life by relaxing and unwinding to such calming fare.

Rating: Very Good

Tracklist

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Review: Director Junichi Sato’s record with quality anime is mixed, but the common thread that runs through all of his titles is wonderful music. If you’ve read any of his interviews, you’ll notice that he places music upon a high pedestal, thinking, correctly, that it plays a major role in immersing the audience into the anime. This is especially true when he directs iyashikei anime, with its calming, character-centric focus, and healing touch that always hovers about. This wondrous interweaving of healing and music is exemplified most brilliantly in his work on ARIA and its celebrated soundtrack and is demonstrated once more in Tamayura. As Tamayura’s story is smaller in its scope than ARIA’s, so goes its soundtrack. But that smaller scale does not mean a diminishment of quality as its music shines as an example of a simple, yet effective soundtrack.

The theme Tamayura focuses upon is in preserving precious memories, with an emphasis on a girl’s love of photography. This concept leaks over to the soundtrack, which brims with the nostalgia one gets from seeing an old snapshot, taking memories once thought to be forgotten, and unveiling them where they regain their clarity and form once more. “Introduction” depicts this process through its murmuring piano phrases that slowly reveal the crystalline facets of the past until the full radiance of one’s childhood joys are lit and restored by the process of recollection.

Introduction

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As the memories take form, “Tamayura ~ Main Theme” comes in with its twinkling piano introduction and ushers me forward with its sunny disposition. The measured steps amble along with a hop and a skip through a structure far from complicated, but nevertheless gets me into the proper mindset by conveying the characters’ eagerness and joy along with a dab of curiosity as they explore the world around them. This piece, so subdued in its softness and lightness, succeeds in capturing the show’s serendipitous, heartfelt nature as it invites me to share in the characters’ discoveries and moments of happiness.

Tamayura ~ Main Theme

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The pleasure that the characters derive from their short journeys is reinforced through tracks like “Maigeru Kimochi” and “Kuresen ni Notte” which bring out their zest for life in similar ways. “Maigeru Kimochi” waltzes with whimsical abandon through a bright and cheery piano melody to establish an atmosphere rolling with delight. This mood is heightened further by the oboe in the second half which exults in the characters’ light, boundless spirit. Augmenting that is “Kuresan ni Notte,” a track that is more sprightly because its staccato melody skips along enthusiastically, but it knows when to slow down to cultivate the rustic setting through the bandoneon’s folksy sound.

Maigeru Kimochi

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

“Kuresan ni Notte

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When it moves away from the joys that come from days spent romping around with friends, Tamayura’s soundtrack grows more introspective, focusing upon the characters’ hopes as predominantly piano pieces like “Akogare” nudge them gently forwards. As I listen to that track, the image conjured is of the characters making steady progress towards their goals. Its tone is confident, carrying with it a certainty in the passions the characters wish to pursue. This effort culminates in the serenity that “Mirai no Jibun e” radiates. Its piano melody starts slow to depict the characters’ slight hesitation, but the piece sheds that hesitation, growing stronger ever so slowly until the strings resound with the sound of success. The way “Mirai no Jibun e” ends is inspiring, filled with optimism and euphoria, and is uplifting through this expression of hope and joy.

Akogare

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Mirai no Jibun e

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Through its slow-paced fare delivered by a mix of piano, acoustic guitar, and strings, Tamayura is yet another strong entry in a long line of wonderful iyashikei anime soundtracks. The music is soft and serene, with a nostalgic air that collects memories thought to be fleeting and exposes them to full view where they can blossom and be cherished once more. It’s altogether fitting for a show centering upon a snapshot of a little girl’s life.

Rating: Very Good

What you’ll get here is a brief rundown of the questions that were asked at the panel and the answers they gave. The questions don’t exactly follow the order in which they’re asked (else it’d jump around a whole lot), so without further ado, check out what they had to say after the jump!

On the Anime Expo Concert:
No surprises here; they definitely had a lot of fun and enjoyed every minute of it. Both of them put in a lot of work to prepare themselves for the concert and they felt that doing so contributed a lot to making the experience an enjoyable one for all. May’n did take the time to learn a few English phrases to rouse the audience (that wasn’t necessary since the crowd was plenty excited). Megumi Nakajima didn’t go that far, but she did work on her image a bit so as to match her personality to her performance. From the language standpoint, Nakajima felt that her singing was more than capable of bridging that gap because music is a universal language.

If memory serves, this was also Nakajima’s first international concert, and she was worried about how the fans would react. Those fears evaporated once she took the stage and saw how enthusiastic the fans were.

One interesting point that May’n did raise about the concert was the difference between Japanese and American fans. Fan behavior in Japan tends to fall under a sort of group mold, where the swaying and reveling is done in unison. American fans contrasted themselves by being more individualistic. While there were pockets in the crowd who moved to the music in a same manner, on the whole, Americans did whatever struck them at the moment and so, there’s greater freedom for individual self-expression. Megumi Nakajima chimed in by adding that this had the effect of making her concert experience feel as though she was communicating to each member of the audience rather than to a group, and so, the distance felt much closer and the event was more personal.

On Their Career Trajectory:
Both seemed pretty content with how their careers are coming along. May’n in particular is happy where she is and isn’t looking to explore other musical genres with any urgency aside from spontaneous ventures into stuff like rock music. This characterizes her tendencies in general, so when she moves into different types of musical genres, it’s not consciously planned. More often than not, she just sings whatever she wants to sing. And despite the success of artists such as Nana Mizuki, May’n has no plans to go into voice acting.

Likewise, Nakajima doesn’t have any long-range plans to branch out beyond idol-pop. She’s a big fan of 80s-era idols and wants to sing music that hearkens back to this time period. She particularly admires Kawai Sonoko’s because Sonoko’s music is varied, each with its own character. If given the chance, she’d love to perform a duet with Sonoko someday.

From the voice acting side, there’s no planned movement there either since Nakajima is very much content with the way things are. In her various roles, she always strives to serve as a good role model. This goes back to her childhood where the manga she enjoyed often featured a main character who was a star, and she often looked up to those characters.

No mention of Nakajima’s career is complete without a talk about how successful her GUMI Vocaloid has become. She feels honored to know that people will use that character’s voice to make music for years on down the line.

On How Well Their Characters Represented Themselves:
The conversation slowly turned to their work on Macross Frontier, specifically, how well they were able to relate to their characters. May’n really thought that Sheryl Nome’s personality was a good fit for her because of how she enjoys the stardom that Sheryl experiences. In addition to that, May’n feels that both she and Sheryl take great pride in their music and when they perform, both will express their emotions freely, passionately, and with full confidence.

Nakajima gave a more general response in that her inexperience of being a seiyuu somewhat parallels what Ranka felt like when her stock began to grow. Beyond that, she felt like their lives were too different to make for a worthwhile comparison.

On Working with Yoko Kanno:
This segment was probably the most interesting to me personally because the relationship between composers and performers, I think, plays a major role in determining whether a song will flourish or fail. And Kanno’s ability to get the best performance from her vocalists by composing music that fits their idiom has been shown time and time again with the likes of Maaya Sakamoto being the most prominent example.

With that kind of reputation under Kanno’s belt, May’n was pretty nervous, but through working with Kanno, May’n found her to be a very warm, caring person. Their relationship progressed to the point that May’n was comfortable enough to go to Kanno with thoughts and suggestions with regard to Sheryl’s songs and establish a good rapport.

Nakajima saw Kanno more of a motherly person who was very supportive as the two were quickly able to gain a mutual understanding of one another while they worked.

One thing that they did confirm about Kanno is that she’s quite the lively personality. Nakajima describes times where Kanno will dance around and May’n confirms that this is especially the case when a recording session goes particularly well.

On Visiting America:
May’n's biggest surprise was in seeing the food portions and how big they were. I actually hear this a lot from friends from Europe who come over to the US and how everything looks and feels super-sized. In May’n case though, she was very pleased with the size of the portions and rates her dining experience rather highly.

For Nakajima, the surprise was in seeing the amount of open space. I guess that in Tokyo, everything feels cramped and so, all this free space that we take for granted was a total revelation to her. She was especially startled at how beautiful the blue sky was as she got off the plane. That event was noteworthy enough for her to enter into her diary.

For those of you with a lot of time to spare, the full-length version of the concert report can be found at OSV. This report is for those who want a quick run-down of my thoughts of the event.

But before we get to that, I’m sure you guys will want a set list. Unlike the MELL Concert, I actually knew most of the songs; the only one that I didn’t know was May’n's performance of “Kimi Shinitamou Koto Nakare” since I never watched Shangri-La. If there are any mistakes, I’ll blame that on my horrendous notetaking skills.  Anyhow, the set list based on my notes is as follows:

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

So the big takeaway from this concert was something that Taka had mentioned in my AX schedule post; namely, that May’n is an outstanding live performer. She did have a bit of a shaky start when a few phrases were out of tune, but once she got her rhythm going, she was completely unstoppable. The way she sang completely exuded passion, confidence, and energy, and in doing so, made her stage presence impossible to ignore. Though I’d criticized her before for her vocals, which feel somewhat lacking in emotion, by actually being there and seeing her movements and facial expressions as she sang went a long way towards bridging the gap.

Most of her songs are characterized by high doses of energy and passion, but she also did a great job bringing out that nostalgic, longing feelings in “Diamond Crevasse,” which demonstrates her ability to shift tones to match the song during the middle of a concert. To draw the crowd in, she also learned some English, and you can probably guess how thick her accent was. Still, I’ll give her points for trying, and the audience appreciated that quite a bit.

Megumi Nakajima brings out the softer, cuter side, which nails Ranka Lee’s personality to a T, and as a result, her songs were much bouncier. That said, she doesn’t have quite the experience, and therefore stamina, to hold out for very long. And since she was performing 15 songs, it was inevitable that her voice would break. I started hearing it around “Jellyfish no Kokuhaku,” but it really became noticeable when she sang “Ao no Ether,” and that stuck out enough to be a bit distracting at times, especially when I wanted to take in the poignancy that the song had to offer. Oh well. I’ll give her a break for hanging in there and seeing the concert through to the very end.

You’ve all heard by now that Yoko Kanno made an appearance, and that proved to be a really awesome surprise. During the course of the concert, she played the piano, put an instrument that mimicked bird noises up to the microphone and played with that for awhile, sang along with May’n and Megumi Nakajima, and tossed a “Kira!” here and there during “Seikan Hikou.” While seeing her was great, having her on the piano really made songs like “Ai Oboete Imasuka” even more heartfelt and engaging. Though I understand the necessity of having singers sing to some background instrumental track, having live instrumentals there to back up the vocals is even better.

Of the two concerts I attended, this one was the most enjoyable mostly because I was familiar with the music. With 23 songs in tow, the singers kept the pace going strong and kept the audience engrossed with the overall presentation. My respect for May’n's singing has grown since her voice closely matches those of her recordings and Megumi Nakajima did well enough in spite of her relative inexperience. The word I’ll keep using to describe this is phenomenal, and so far, its magic still sticks with me.

I’m not the only one who wrote about this event, so if you’re looking to get some other perspectives, you can always check out Tim Sheehy’s thoughts on Japanator and Yoruko’s report over at C’est la Reve Qui Chante.

EDIT: Looks like the Anime Diet guys have posted their report too!

With the July 4th weekend just hovering around the corner means yet another trip to Anime Expo with all the madness of making the schedule just tight enough so that I can maximize whatever utility there is to be had by interacting with fans, industry, and of course, meeting people who have been nothing more than internet screenames with all the personality and such encapsulated in those virtual identities. Unlike last year, the concerts this time around are actually worth going to. Also unlike last year, there will be a bit of work involved since I’m on assignment for Original Sound Version. Which effectively means that any enthusing over the concerts will be found there once the dust settles. Of course, if anyone else wants to write up a concert report for Anime Instrumentality as a guest post, do let me know!

Anyway, the plan is to hit up Friday and Saturday. Specifics? Well, here’s the plan given the schedule I have on hand:

Friday:

Not much in the morning though I might go to half of Eri Kitamura’s panel before making a hasty exit to beeline towards what is the must-see event of the day.

Megumi Nakajima/May’n Concert
Is anyone really surprised I’m looking forward to this? Though I might not have liked some of Macross Frontier’s pop music, most of that falls under May’n's performances; I’m perfectly happy listening to Megumi Nakajima’s stuff since she puts a solid effort in all of her songs. Somehow, I don’t think we’ll see any of her non-Macross Frontier material, but who knows, we could be in for a pleasant surprise there. It’d be cool is something like “Jellyfish” from Kobato pops up. So yeah, mostly going for Nakajima, but if May’n's as good a live performer as rumor says she is, it’ll exceed my expectations by a huge amount!

Maybe after that, I’ll hit up the Rightstuf/Nozomi panel? I guess it’d be interesting to see if they have anything down the pipeline since I’ve stopped paying attention to their releases since the ARIA franchise finished. No Danny Choo though. Not even for the Black Rock Shooter OVA and I’m not sure Chinka is in the cards for me.

Yui Horie
You can’t really go for that long without having heard her voice work or vocal performances. Anyhow, a lot of this is nostalgia since one of the earliest series I remember watching is Love Hina. Plus, her recent work has been solid, even if I can’t claim to have been awed by her singing like I once was. Maybe that has something to do with the composers/lyricists who write her songs.

MELL Concert
No, I wasn’t all that fond of “Red Fraction” or of I’ve Sound in general, but hey, if she’s here, might as well make the most of it. And if she sings “Proof,” that’ll be enough to make me a happy person. That should about do it for my Friday.

Saturday:

Megumi Nakajima Panel
Why not, right? I’ve already gone to the concert. Might as well grab more tidbits. Guess that means I’ll miss out on the Toradora! panel, but that’s not a total wash since seeing Yui Horie makes up for that.

That’s really about the only thing that demands my attention at this point. If any of you have suggestions for how to fill up Friday or Saturday, do let me know. Probably a lot of that time that I don’t spend wandering the convention hall will be spent in putting faces to names as I meet up with people I’ve only conversed with through online platforms, so that’ll be pleasant since there are quite a few people I’d like to meet in person. (Anyone else I’m forgetting? A meetup might be in the cards as long as people tell me when/where.)

Tracklist:

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Review: It’s a given that sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason why I pick up an album and though it isn’t entirely the case here, it’s pretty close. It was a comment on twitter that made me curious enough to check out Kämpfer’s soundtrack despite not having seen the anime mostly because I wanted to see how terrible a listening experience I’d get out of it. I was prepared to expect the worst out of Tatsuya Katou’s compositions, and yet, I still found myself pleasantly surprised by the sheer diversity of music that he serves up. Here is an album stuffed to the brim with different genres from rock to jazz to Spanish dances and organized somewhat haphazardly, but I could not resist this wonderful musical hodgepodge since it was so different from the albums I was used to. After the first run-through, I knew I had to have more and this time, listen to it and savor each note and chord as I went.

That was a mistake and my hopes did not survive a second listen.

The problem with Kampfer’s soundtrack materializes rather quickly if you pay any attention at all to its music and admittedly, I did not the first time through. Katou’s messing around with musical genres is a double-edged sword and while Kanno and Iwasaki are able to draw forth memorable music by doing so, Katou displays no such skill and ends up cutting himself badly because he’s simply not good enough to deliver wide-ranging music that consistently engages the listener.

And it shows when you listen to Kämpfer’s music. The task of composing a diverse musical portfolio taxes him to the limit and he doesn’t have a whole lot to give. In the early part of the track, there’s a glimmer of promise; the melody is solid, catchy even, and just when you enter the bridge, you come back face to face with the opening melody. Development? What development?

Take “Aa, Sakura-san” with its soft, jazz-lounge flavor or “Iya na Yokan’s” use of the flute backed by the rhythms for instance. Both of these tracks aren’t standouts, but they’re not bad either and had Katou been able to develop these pieces at all, we could have had an enjoyable if not groundbreaking soundtrack on our hands. But he does not. The snippets that you hear are pretty much all that the track consists of: an attention-grabbing introduction followed by the main melody which then proceeds to repeat itself. It skirts the edge of droning except the jazz/rock/whatever melody Katou uses more often than not keeps it from being too monotonous, but not by much.

Aa, Sakura-san
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Iya na Yokan
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What a disappointment and a waste of potential! An eclectic album such as this should be bold, but fun, but alas, it falls far too short of what it could have been. As you can probably guess, most of the BGM all have this same problem. There are a few that buck the trend like “Koigokoro’s” pleasant piano melody and there are a few that are nonsensical like the weird, seal-like noises tacked on to the synth in “Natsuru no Kunou” that you wouldn’t ever touch, but those are the exceptions. There is not much that can redeem this soundtrack aside to provide us an excellent lesson on how to make jazz sound boring and uninspiring. It’s a lesson that I don’t care to hear more of at any rate.

Koigokoro
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Natsuru no Kunou
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Rating: Not Good

Review: Those who have read my review for the Macross Frontier Original Soundtrack will have noted my discontent with May’n's vocal talents. The major issues that I had with her performances is that her voice doesn’t catch my attention because she doesn’t really convey much in the way of emotion through her singing and her songs tend to have this generic bland pop feel to it. While this single does not assuage my opinions about her, it is a touch better than the songs that she performed on the soundtrack, making this album enjoyable even if doesn’t blow you away.

Thankfully, “Lion” does an excellent job of grabbing your attention right off the bat with an elegantly-written exposition that sets the tone for the introduction of the electric guitars which charge to set forth the forceful rhythm and tempo that remains for the rest of the song. May’n's voice is clear as she comes through and already, the amount of energy and emotion that she’s putting into the piece is an improvement over most of her songs on the first soundtrack even if that doesn’t really mean all that much. Megumi Nakajima entrance around 0:42 gives her more soothing and enjoyable voice a chance to shine before she and May’n combine their efforts. If there’s anything that’s readily apparent with “Lion,” it’s that May’n and Megumi Nakajima complement each other really well because May’n's deeper voice contrasts really well with Megumi Nakajima’s lighter tone. It also helps that the melody is fairly catchy and enjoyable for the whole way through with its jamming guitars that set the song in motion in a fast-paced manner that will hold the listener’s attention. Although it’s not the absolute best OP ever, “Lion” manages to be enjoyable all the same by showcasing one of May’n's better performances.

“Northern Cross’s” introduction carries with it a harder edge provided by the electric guitars, an electronic rhythm in the back, and a full percussion set to carry the rhythm and harmony. This piece presents May’n on her own and here, she starts off with a light ballad-like introduction before speeding up the pace at which she sings, which piques the listener’s interest through her ability to go through the lyrics at a rapid pace without slurring the lyrics. As you keep on listening to this piece, it sounds mostly like an effort to showcase May’n's ability to sing the lyrics without really showing off her ability to fuse much emotion into the music itself. In fact, that’s probably the biggest issue that I had with this piece is that its emphasis on vocal virtuosity comes without the emotional connection that makes songs generally enjoyable. While this song is, on the whole, a good listen because of May’n's performance, I’m just not seeing this one hold up to multiple listens on its own.

May’n's performance in both tracks continue to demonstrate that she still has difficulty making that connection with the listener and because of that, her music tends to require more enhanced effects to keep the audience interested rather than being strong based on the strength of her vocal talents. Megumi Nakajima’s performance also doesn’t bring anything new to the table in that we know she’s not quite an experienced singer as May’n, but is certainly willing to put in a solid effort which shines even more in conjunction with May’n. Their performances aren’t good enough to single this album out as being excellent, but at least it’s passable and fits in with the show.

Rating: Good

Opening – Lion

Ending – Northern Cross

Review: Yoko Kanno’s latest effort into the realm of soundtracks is another winner with many pieces that succeed at sweeping me off my feet with their sheer force and intensity. This is among the grandest works I’ve ever listened to in the world of anime soundtracks and the epic feel that many of the orchestral tracks carry with them can be seen as a tribute to the best that movie soundtracks have to offer. As you listen, you can hear a smattering of Hans Zimmer, John Williams, and even Bruce Broughton (who worked on Rescuers Down Under) throughout this album. Although the orchestrated and instrumental pieces are all excellent, the vocal tracks are generally mediocre and leave the listener wanting, which brings down the overall quality of the album.

As befits a Macross Soundtrack, many of the tracks have a militaristic and space opera bent to them. The opening track “Frontier 2059” does just that with an opening dominated by drums and trumpet before moving into a sweeping orchestrated fanfare which evokes the image of spaceships embarking upon a grand journey. “Vital Force” is also an epic piece with its fanfares that would fit just fine serving as theme for the Olympic Games.

Spread throughout the album are some other interesting tracks such as “Private Army” which has a Latino flavor to it with the guitar work and “Alto’s Theme” which is fairly solemn. There are also some soothing piano pieces like “Innocent Green” and “Kira Kira,” both of which consist of a repeating melody. They don’t particularly push any bounds, but that’s OK since they serve their role more as introspective pieces.

It’s only a matter of time before the orchestral tracks return in full force, and return it does with the likes of “Tally Ho,” which has all the feel of a battle preparation theme as the lines are being drawn. I’m awed by the sheer emotions presented as the moments of discordant chords which increase the tension. It’s definitely a grand, epic, and powerful piece that will carry you through fortunes and misfortunes until the piece resolves by closing on an optimistic note.

However, “Tally Ho” just really does not compare to “The Target” which may be one of the best action pieces ever. It opens very much with a mood that screams of an intense space battle that draws comparisons to the music played during the Battle of Yavin from the original Star Wars. Of all the superb pieces scattered throughout this album, this track is probably the best of the lot.

The main problems with this soundtrack lie in the vocal tracks, many of which have decent background music and production values but are saddled with terrible vocalists. While the various renditions of “Aimo” are calming and enjoyable, the rest of the vocal tracks that don’t involve Megumi Nakajima are terrible. I often found myself skipping through May’n’s tracks because her voice is just terrible and the melody was never all that interesting to because of how utterly generic it was. Maaya Sakamoto’s poor performance with Triangular was also a shame since her work has been a lot better in the past. Listening to her sing that opening was painful.

The majestic melodies in the orchestral and instrumental tracks just cannot be understated for they represent the pinnacle of anime music. Few soundtracks are able to match the degree of intensity and awesomeness contained here. Although, the vocal tracks by and large are washouts, the Macross Frontier soundtrack delivers a solid performance and is definitely worth your time.

Rating: Very Good

Music Sampler