CHRONO TRIGGER!
Also commonly referred to as "the King of games," "the best RPG ever," and "whoa damn," Chrono Trigger seems like a very logical place for me to start my reviews/studies. Note that some of this will be a bit more observational than critical/journalistic. I'm studying video game music, not telling you what OSTs to buy. PSSST buy this one RIGHT NOW I also probably won't review all video game soundtracks with near this level of attention to detail; no way. This is a special case.
DATA
Composer: Yasunori Mitsuda
Console: Super Nintendo/Super Famicom
Interesting Facts: Mitsuda was put on the project as the result of an ultimatum to Square: "Let me compose, or I quit." He lost around 40 tracks in progress due to a hard drive crash. He also developed stomach ulcers from stress, and fellow composers Nobuo Uematsu and Noriko Matsueda helped him fill in some tracks and finished the project for him.
TRACKS
1. Premonition
I think the track is quite effective in simply but in a unique way setting the opening tone. It's not brooding strings, it's just a clock, then a piano arpeggio based on a kind of unusual harmony (a suspended 4th, maybe?). The timpani roll is almost cheesy, but it's saved by the movement of the chords afterward, which is unique and jazzy. The chords in the voice/strings are carefully spaced so they sound resonant and not crunchy, but not too far apart that they feel unsettling in that manner, either. The use of limited instrumentation is also impressive. Ignoring the clock sound, 4 instruments are used.
Rating: 9/10
2. Chrono Trigger
This track is very carefully constructed. It doesn't repeat back on itself like most video game music. It has an intro, an A section which repeats itself, a B section, and then a C section which refers to both the preceding sections, and a coda. This makes it very interesting. The use of harmony in all instruments is careful and very well-managed. The opening is very convincing - timpani used as a bass voice with syncopation is a very fresh effect.
Rating: 9.5/10
3. Morning Sunlight/Glow
I have to say, I don't care for the sounds, but I don't think it's Mitsuda's fault. Even if he did those sounds, replicating a gull and a seashore on a SNES audio system seems like something I don't want to try. I don't really understand the balloon sound, but it may be that the sound was added as a reaction to the fact that balloons actually do seem to be "bursting" out of the Millenial Fair. I don't know how that works, but it's appropriate. But the rest of the track is fairly good. Its purpose is to be short and to describe Crono being woken up, and it does that. I wish it were longer so that I could enjoy it longer, but then it would cease to have the transitional function it does. I really like the effect of the reverb on the English horn and the arpeggio. The harmonic movement is also choice.
Rating: 8.5/10
4. Peaceful Days
I quite like this track. The harmony is pleasant, although some chord voicings seem a little stagnant,especially the bass line at a couple points. It doesn't have any huge fantastic tricks, but the idea of the second section imitating so similarly the first was a pleasant surprise.
Rating: 8/10
5. Memories of Green
It's simple, it's minimal, it's effective. I think especially if it had a good re-sampling, it could really come to life. For me, I think it could use another section -- the idea that the strings can play the exact same thing the flute did and that can make filler space so that we don't admit we're just repeating 1 minute of (slow) music. I really like the atmosphere he creates harmonically and by displacing the melody over it, but that's kind of a buzzkill. Basically, it's too short.
Rating: 7/10
6. Guardia Millenial Fair
Wow, that was a lot. I think it's kind of obvious I went into this track review biased, since I gave it so much special love. But I really think this track is fantastic. Every section has a very discrete and well-executed function - the intro provides the feel, the A section is the melody, the B section propels forward and avoids "do", the C section changes the feel to a more thoughtful one and foreshadows the very ending of the game, and then the whole process starts almost seamlessly back over. If I can learn to write VGM like this, I'll be very happy. His use of rhythm throughout is astonishingly catchy, never feels forced and also never feels like any rhythm is stagnant.
Rating: 10/10
Also, a side note and monument to this track's ballerness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9ceATx7UJg Blue Skies Over Guardia from the Chrono Symphonic Project off of OCRemix. All I really have to say about it is that it's in 7/8 and doesn't feel contrived in the slightest to me. That's sweet.
7. Gato's Theme
I have metal joints!
Beat me up
And earn 15 Silver Points! "
There's not much to this track. It's cute. It has a short, defined function. It shouldn't be any longer. The instrumentation is very well done - the timpani bass kind of suggests Gato's largeness, while the trumpet mimics his brashness. I think this track does what it's supposed to and there's not really much room for it to be a masterwork.
Rating: 7.5/10
8. A Strange Happening / "Strange Occurences"
I think this track is very effective. In my experiences it sticks with a lot of people, and the simple, almost pedestrian harmonic movement from one chord to its diminished and of melody from the fifth to the tritone is very straightforward and easy to understand. The second section gives a nice contrast with movement in a kind of non-diatonic, chromatic way. However, I wish the second section were longer -- the first section is twice as long and the track as a whole is just deceptively short. This track is used at many points throughout the game, and I feel like if it were longer, it would be better. It really pains me, because it's very well done. It's just insufficient.
Rating: 8/10
9. Wind Scene / Yearnings of the Wind (what?!)
I love this track. It's wonderful. It's one of the natural-minor anthems of pure catchiness that Mitsuda seems to have been born to write. The many adaptations on YouTube and OCRemix give testament to this fact. The repetition of the A section, while almost kind of cheating, is acceptable due to the wide variance between the two feels. One is almost playful, and music-box-like. The repeat romanticizes it with flushed out harmonies and a very different texture. The B section is also very well crafted, creating, as I mentioned, an unsettling feeling due to the absence of the tonic, which is resolved by the strong major V at the end of the section. It also features one of my favorite kinds of sequencing - taking a theme and repeating it over different widely contrasting harmonies until it resolves, then moves on (the melody goes "sol, fa me re, me fa sol, fa me re, me fa sol, fa me re do ti do re..." over the entirety of the last eight chords". I don't know why I wrote that out, it won't help any of you. Just listen to the end of the B section). Overall, it's almost flawless. It's not as long as Guardia Millenial Fair, though,
Rating: 9.5/10
(yeah, I'm biased)
EDIT: There was a lot of vacuous analytical crap in here that I realize in hindsight that nobody but me wants to read. I'm going to stick to opinions from now on.
TO BE CONTINUED (edited)
Rating: 7.5/10
8. A Strange Happening / "Strange Occurences"
I think this track is very effective. In my experiences it sticks with a lot of people, and the simple, almost pedestrian harmonic movement from one chord to its diminished and of melody from the fifth to the tritone is very straightforward and easy to understand. The second section gives a nice contrast with movement in a kind of non-diatonic, chromatic way. However, I wish the second section were longer -- the first section is twice as long and the track as a whole is just deceptively short. This track is used at many points throughout the game, and I feel like if it were longer, it would be better. It really pains me, because it's very well done. It's just insufficient.
Rating: 8/10
9. Wind Scene / Yearnings of the Wind (what?!)
I love this track. It's wonderful. It's one of the natural-minor anthems of pure catchiness that Mitsuda seems to have been born to write. The many adaptations on YouTube and OCRemix give testament to this fact. The repetition of the A section, while almost kind of cheating, is acceptable due to the wide variance between the two feels. One is almost playful, and music-box-like. The repeat romanticizes it with flushed out harmonies and a very different texture. The B section is also very well crafted, creating, as I mentioned, an unsettling feeling due to the absence of the tonic, which is resolved by the strong major V at the end of the section. It also features one of my favorite kinds of sequencing - taking a theme and repeating it over different widely contrasting harmonies until it resolves, then moves on (the melody goes "sol, fa me re, me fa sol, fa me re, me fa sol, fa me re do ti do re..." over the entirety of the last eight chords". I don't know why I wrote that out, it won't help any of you. Just listen to the end of the B section). Overall, it's almost flawless. It's not as long as Guardia Millenial Fair, though,
Rating: 9.5/10
(yeah, I'm biased)
EDIT: There was a lot of vacuous analytical crap in here that I realize in hindsight that nobody but me wants to read. I'm going to stick to opinions from now on.
TO BE CONTINUED (edited)
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