Album Review: Distant Worlds II | Nobuo Uematsu (the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic)

Three years after Distant Worlds concerts began and the first CD was released, the CD Distant Worlds II was revealed.

Composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

Conducted by Arnie Roth.

Orchestrated by Kenichiro Fukui, Shiro Hamaguchi, Adam Klemens, Sachiko Miyano, Arnie Roth, Eric Roth, and Nobuo Uematsu.

Track	Game	Notes
Prelude	FF series	Harp Soloist: Laura Stephenson
The Man with the Machine Gun	FFVIII
Ronfaure	FFXI
A Place to Call Home - Melodies of Life	FFIX	Vocal Soloist: Susan Colloway
Zanarkand	FFX
Dancing Mad	FFVI	Organ Soloist: Oskar Ekburg With: Earthbound Papas (Uematsu's band)
Victory Theme	FF series
Suteki da ne	FFX	Vocal Soloist: Susan Colloway
Terra's Theme	FFVI
Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII	FFVII
Prima Vista Orchestra	FFIX
Dear Friends	FFV	Guitar Soloist: Per Skareng
JENOVA	FFVII

Where the first Distant Worlds CD contained the absolute favorites of many fans, this second compilation of favorites unfortunately gives the impression of leftovers or second pickings. It's a reasonable conception of the album, but a rather unfair.

But not wholly. This compilation just isn't quite as good as the first: Susan Colloway remains vocal soloist, though I can't say I'm particularly fond of her voice. "Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII" is orchestrated well, but there's a spot in which it borrows a little too much from Star Wars.

The most egregrious offender, perhaps even the big failure, is "Dancing Mad." It lacks any obvious, damning killers: it flows together reasonably well. But it just doesn't really work. The orchestration is not nearly as inspired as anything else, while the pre-emptive usage of toms during the 'orchestral' first part interrupts the flow of the orchestra. The organ, in my opinion, could also have done with pointier attack.

The part performed solely by the Earthbound Papas is actually very good: the rock organ is marvelous. Once it gets properly flowing with the percussion it really shines, masking the slightly dull accompaniment.

It just the orchestral part that disappoints.

Another complaint I have is that the "Victory Theme" is, quite astonishingly, not the complete piece of music but just the beginning fanfare! A major disappointment.

This is a solid album otherwise: "The Man with the Machine Gun" is an impressively good rendition of a track which initially was not even so much as faux-orchestral. Its departures from the original track do not work quite as well as they did in "Don't be afraid," while the muted trumpet in one section will probably divide opinions. I thought it was interesting, but probably unsuitable.

Though I brought it in for criticism, the "Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII" sounds absolutely fantastic, ending quietly.

My favorite, though is "JENOVA," a stunningly powerful orchestration, backed by a drumset - this time, however, it works very well: not too loud, but just there enough to bring that rhythm. It really deserves to be heard on its own terms - you can find all four of the Distant Worlds albums on Bandcamp.

A strong first album is followed up by a somewhat disappointing successor, a compilation of "other favorites, leftovers, and second-pickings," of which the most-looked-forward-to of the tracks, "Dancing Mad," is marred by uninspiring orchestration and the second-most-looked-forward-to "Victory Theme" is incomplete, just eight seconds long in its entirety.

However, not all is lost as "The Man with the Machine Gun," "Ronfaure," "Zanarkand," and "JENOVA" all receive marvelous performances.