Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy [Import]

I, like many others, didn't think much of this album when the track listing was announced. Many of these same pieces and arrangements are repeated here that have been performed countless times before, and fans of Final Fantasy would already have one or more of the many recordings of each of these pieces. With only one new piece featured, this album does not boast a particularly strong lineup for longtime fans of the series.

However, once one gets past the specs and actually listens to the product, the intent of the producers becomes instantly clear. Most of the recordings that have been available thus far have been live concert recordings, and as such have suffered from several technical flaws, ranging from muddy sound and musical errors, to crowd noise covering up whole sections of music. In addition, every Final Fantasy album ever released has been Japan-only, leaving us American fans having to import them at often very high costs. Availability has also been problematic, given Japan's limited release schedules.

This is the first Final Fantasy album intended for and released to the American Final Fantasy fans, and this alone gives the CD a great deal of credit. But this album goes far beyond that; it is the first time since the Japanese album "Fifthos Lusec Vicos Vinosec" that an orchestra has been assembled in a controlled studio environment to record Final Fantasy tunes without a crowd in attendance, simply for the purpose to record note-perfect renditions of these fine pieces. A truly world-class orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic has been employed to infuse these works with a raw orchestral power unmatched in previous recordings, all captured with state-of-the-art recording equipment.

The final product? Nothing less than the final, definitive performances of the pieces represented on this album. No glaring mistakes, no crowd noise, no hiccups. Indeed, the recording quality rivals that of high-budget movie soundtracks, and succeeds in making some of the more overplayed pieces on this album sound fresh and new.

Some of the highlights:

Aerith's Theme: Even as tired as I am now of hearing this piece played on every Final Fantasy album that has come out to date, this is by the best recording, offering a level of warmth and emotion that blows away every other performance to date.

Fisherman's Horizon: Not recorded since "Fifthos Lusec Vicos Vinosec", this version takes the piece up a notch, adding more choral parts and offering a new take on the dynamics. The climax is truly something to behold.

Memoro De La Stono-Distant Worlds: I have only two words to describe the first three minutes of this piece: "Absolutely Breathtaking". Flowing strings and perfectly executed Gregorian Chant-style chorus, this track lifts one into another place and time. It almost makes me regret having never played Final Fantasy XI. The arrangement flows nicely into the following section, "Distant Worlds", one of Uematsu's better vocal pieces, and is performed well here.

Vamo'alla Flamenco: Aahh,, now here's a piece that really deserved a new recording. Released on 20020220 in 2002, this marks the first time it has been given a proper treatment, and the performance and sound quality here easily bests the original concert recording. Kudos to the producers for including it!

Opera "Mario and Draco": Yes, many fans are tired of hearing this one, being performed at every concert and included on every orchestral concert recording of Final Fantasy music. But Like Aerith's Theme and One-Winged Angel, it has been given the Hollywood sound treatment, and the pure sound quality and level of performance alone make up for the mere fact of its presence here. Taking it a step higher, the lyrics are performed in English for the first time since the release of "More Friends", and the orchestral performance is by far the best, sounding truly epic throughout.

One-Winged Angel: The original orchestral arrangement has been all but forgotten in the wake of Advent Children, which added a hard rock band element to the music, and it has been primarily in this form that it has appeared in the FF concert series. This recording brings back the original arrangement, featuring the original lyrics, and for my money that is the way it should be. No guitars, no altered lyrics, just epic orchestral power and choir. Easily the best recording yet of this piece.

In summary, this album easily transcends its ho-hum track lineup, offering fresh new recordings in the highest quality to date of any Final Fantasy album. In addition, it is easily available to American Final Fantasy fans, and one that has been LONG overdue. Having now sung its praises, I wish to add one final thought: Given the sheer quality of both performance and sound, I feel this to be the definitive recording for these tracks, and as such should be the last. If this album does well enough to warrant further releases of its kind, I encourage the producers to let this album be the final curtain call for these tracks, and look into creating fresh, new arrangements. Given the wealth of FF tracks in the series' long history, there should be no shortage of pieces to choose from, many just begging for this kind of orchestral treatment. Perhaps a medley of battle tunes?

Highly recommended!

Although there are a lot of orchestral CDs and DVDs of Final Fantasy music at this point, this recording stands out among them due to it's amazing sound quality. It was recorded at 24 bit, 88.2k by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. It has a very "live" sound instead of sounding exactly like the studio recording which gives it a bit of flair. FF music regulars will hear instrument parts they could never hear before.

I was at first disappointed by the track list since they can all be found on one CD or another. I was hoping to see some exclusive recordings that we haven't had a chance to hear at this quality. Specifically, I would like to see Not Alone, Prelude, Final Fantasy V Main Theme, and Dancing Mad if they decide to record a second volume. Still, I'm extremely impressed with this CD and recommend it to anyone - even the most diehard Final Fantasy music fans.

Track-by-Track Review:
9.5/10 Opening~Bombing Mission - A great song to use as an opening, the recording does very well what past recordings have not. It has a strong bass, unlike Tour de Japon, and doesn't sound full of spaces like the More Friends recording. It could easily pass as part of a film score.
8/10 Liberi Fatali - An obvious choice for a Final Fantasy compilation album, I found this recording to be a pretty decent take on the original studio recording. However, the choral parts seem a little too soft for this piece. I always considered them to be the main focus of the song. I think I prefer the studio version over this version.
10/10 Aerith's Theme - Another classic that demanded to be on this album. It easily bests previous recordings at this quality. It's much slower than other recordings (45 seconds longer than the original), but I find it a lot more satisfying.
11/10 Fisherman's Horizon - One of my favorite Final Fantasy arrangements of all time, I wouldn't be surprised if the managed to make this song even more epic in a future recording. This version has added choral parts that were first used at the VOICES concert, except at a much better recording quality.
8.5/10 Don't be Afraid - To me, this song has really been overplayed. The recording of it is beautiful, but I really wish they would move on to some new songs. Still sounds excellent, though.
10/10 Memoro de la Stono~Distant Worlds - Again, the choir seems a little soft, but the arrangement is still great. It brings out a lot of focus on parts that the studio version fails to do. It's interesting to note that the original vocalist, Izumi Masuda, was replaced by Susan Kalloway. I like her a lot (not necessarily better than the original, but it is nicer to be able to understand what she is singing.) This arrangement is simply stunning. It's a shame that so many people did not play Final Fantasy XI, as I feel that this is Uematsu's greatest vocalist piece he has written.
10/10 Medley 2002 - This is the Final Fantasy 1,2,3 medley from the 20020220 concert CD and I am actually glad they chose to re-record this version, if only for the sound quality. I have my doubts they'll even perform the 2004 medley at concerts since a large chunk of it is the same as the Final Fantasy III DS arrangement they plan to play at all of them. I prefer the song choices on this medley anyway.
8/10 Theme of Love - A classic, but I think it has also been a bit overplayed. There are many very old Final Fantasy IV arrangements that they could go back to, or several songs to choose from that they could arrange. Sounds great, but it's gotten a little old for me.
10/10 Vamo' alla Flamenco - Another song that deserved a higher quality recording. The guitar is a lot more prominent on this recording. For some reason, I never listen to the orchestral arrangement much, although I love The Black Mages rendition.
10/10 Love Grows - I love both the French Horn and Piano a lot, so naturally I'd have to like this song. It really has a lot more emotion in it than any other previous recording in the same way that Aerith's Theme does.
9.5/10 Opera "Maria and Draco" - Pretty similar to the previous recordings. It's cut a bit short from the original game version to fit it in to a concert-friendly format. The vocalist choices seem pretty good to me, although it's hard to decide if I really prefer them to the More Friends performance. I've never been a big fan of the Japanese vocalists on previous recordings.
10/10 Swing de Chocobo - A jazz arrangement of the Chocobo theme that seems to take it's inspiration from Final Fantasy X's Brass de Chocobo. The solo is great to have since many of the Final Fantasy arrangements don't really stray too far from the main melody. Arnie Roth did an excellent job on this and I hope he does some more arrangements in the future.
9/10 One-Winged Angel - After hearing the Advent Children version many, many times. This version now comes off as being a bit plain. Still, it's the best recording of the original arrangement, so I can't really complain too much. The brass does have a good punch to it that makes up for the lack of rock band.

This CD is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, the orchestra arrangement is impeccable and powerful. On the other hand, the album is horribly mastered. Most of the reviews focus on the individual pieces, and for the most part, I agree that the tracks are great, especially highlights such as Liberi Fatali, Aerith's Theme, Memoro de la Stono, the Mario and Draco Opera, and One Winged Angel. Instead, I will focus on the mastering problem, which diminishes the enjoyment of listening to these otherwise wonderful pieces.

The album is far too compressed during the mastering process. For those of you who are not familiar with audio compression, I am not referring to compression of CD or WAV to some lossy format such as MP3. Audio compression is the process of taking a recording and making everything louder, and in the process, loud peaks within a track gets cut off, which means you're essentially losing audio data. For an idea of its effects, please refer to:

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One (out of many) example of this heavy compression killing the music is in One Winged Angel, at 0:39, when the big drums hit. In a live setting, that produces a loud, thundering bass sound compared to the rest of the sounds. Instead, what we get in the CD is a distorted mesh that only sounds nominally louder than the other sounds, in essence, losing whatever dynamics the original sound had.

It's unfortunate that the producers of this album decided to go this route, especially considering that classical recordings (the closest genre this album comes to) typically have the most dynamic range and least compression.