[Categories: Music]
11 Oct 2006
Macross Plus OST II
The second half of the Macross Plus soundtrack is much more varied in style than the first, although inevitably this means that it is less consistent in quality. At least, unlike its predecessor, this CD is still available outside of Japan without going to too much trouble with importing.
Idol Talk is an impressive way to open the album, being lifted straight from that legendary Sharon Apple concert scene. Imagine early Madonna fast-forwarded fifty years and you'd be halfway to imagining what a superlative piece of J-pop this song is: an insistent synthesised drumbeat mixes with electronic samples and Akino Arai's sweet, seductive vocal delivery that really sounds like the future of music.
The two following tracks, Jade and Nomad Soul, are background pieces that show the record's variety to great effect. The former is a carefree 'marching' type of tune with jolly whistling, drums, warbling hammond organ and a dash of bluesy acoustic guitar here and there; the latter is a three minute jazz-inspired saxophone solo. *grins* Nice.
The feel of Welcome to Sparefish will be immediately recognisable to anyone who is familiar with the music from Cowboy Bebop: the lazy, twangy slide guitar brings in the carefree blues vibe once again. I always think of that tune as Isamu's theme. ^_^
Go Ri a Te is a strange one, kicking off with a tribal-sounding vocal chant then pan pipes and taiko drums, except the instruments are all electronic! A keyboard performing a jaunty oriental melody tops of a decidedly strange piece. Let's News is odd too, but is over just as you're thinking "what the...?" about the vocal samples. It wouldn't be missed if it were omitted from the tracklisting, but it isn't long enough to try your patience.
Pulse on the other hand is a beautiful track that is not unlike the chilled-out electronica from Royksopp and Massive Attack: a soaring vocal harmony plays out over the slow-paced beat with electronic loops and samples murmuring beneath. A definite highlight of the album, which could easily stand alone outside the album itself.
3cm is a variation on the first OST's More than 3cm, this time performed on piano and sax; this above all others on this disc highlights Kanno's Debussy and other similar influences, adding the only classical offering on the album.
Akino Irai returns for the sublime acoustic version of Voices, arguably the best song on the whole disc. With the instumentation stripped down to mere piano accompaniment, this version loses none of its power and haunting beauty; I'll leave it up to you to decide on which of the two versions you prefer because I love them both - mainly because the instrumentation adds a more sombre and introspective spin to the song.
Pu Qua O is more strongly driven by piano melodies before those electric pan pipes return, and serves as a relaxing and light interlude before the dark and brooding Sweet Feather (which retains its feeling of foreboding because I associate it with its moment in the OAV) - it would be better titled as 'Ominous Night' or similar.
A Sai En marks that moment where the Macross begins to re-awaken, i.e. it's that searing, dramatic vocal chant that teeters tantalisingly on the edge of melodic. Emotionally charged indeed. Bad Dog, with its bizarre and quite frankly annoying vocal samples (also used on Santi U) is best left out of the discussion: take my advice and press the 'skip' button because you'll only lose patience before the more pleasant harmonies fade in towards the end.
Child Myung re-uses the distinctive melody used on both Myung Theme and Voices, this time played on a harp-like instrument. Coma is a rather slow and gloomy way to end the album, being quite low-key and directionless. Like many of the tracks here, it's better as BGM than a stand-alone, sit-down-and-listen type of track.
Summary
The second OST follows on from and compliments the first one well, but as before there are a small number of stand-out tracks with a lot of interesting but less outstanding incidental music in between. There are still one or two songs I would have like to have seen included (namely Sharon Apple's The Borderline) but overall the disparate range of influences and styles is a help rather than a hinderance. It's far from Kanno's strongest album to date but there is enough stand-out material to warrant a place in any fan's collection.
Tracklisting
- Idol Talk
- Jade
- Nomad Soul
- Welcome to Sparefish
- Go Ri A Te
- Let's News
- Pulse
- 3cm
- Voices (acoustic version)
- Pu Qua O
- Sweet Feather
- A Sai En
- Bad Dog
- Child Myung
- Coma
Posted on February 5th, 2008 @ 9:10 pm
Ohhh! thank you so much for a wonderfully in depth review of this OST - it just enabled me (after much internet scouting) to find the name of the song that left a big impression on me from way back when…! it featured on a manga video trailer for macross…
as it turns out, it was A Sai En!!!
and now i can scurry off to aquire it for myself!
thankyouthankyouthankyou xxx
Posted on November 1st, 2008 @ 9:15 pm
Good review,no doubt…and also no doubt about Voices’ greatness…the point is: what the hell did you say about BAD DOG?!?!?!?!?!? You can’t just ignore YK’s creativity because of the weird and noisy sounds it produces! Moreover I’d definetely say it’s a good example of avant-garde(not the only one) drawing inspiration from Pink Floyd-see “several species of small furry animals gathered togher in a cave and grooving with a pict” by Roger Waters…Remember also on Cowboy Bebop OST Limited Edition Box 3rd disc, where Yoko plays Pink Floyd’s “On The Run” in a revisited version.