Final Fantasy IX Melodies of Life

I really wasn't sure what to expect when I got this single. All I had heard was the fragment of the English version of the piece featured in the single "Melodies of Life", and it sounded pleasant enough.

The highlight of the single is definitely the first track, the Japanese version of the piece. Emiko Shiratori shows off her talents in a warmly lyrical voice and the instrumentation serves as a perfect backdrop. Even if you can't understand the lyrics, the feeling shines through.

Unforunately, the same can't be said for the English version, which not only has very strange lyrics, but the whole feeling of the song is changed by them. Instead of sweet and caring, the rambling lyrics and intonation just sound ill-suited to what was a very beautiful song in its native language.

The instrumental track serves its purpose, which is basically for you to sing along to. The instrumentation remains unchanged (which is a shame, because listening to basically the same song three times in a row is not my idea of a good time), but it's fun to sing whatever version you want.

Finally, we come to "Galway". This piece is a completely different animal, for it's not from FF9, and I'm not completely sure what it actually *is* from. It does give Shiratori a chance to show off her beautiful voice though, and that's worth it in my book. Besides, it's actually a very pretty piece, with a nice beat (in the last half, at least) and nice instrumentation.

If it wasn't for the atrocious English version, I would recommend this single without a single thought, but as it is it's still worth buying for the Japanese "Melodies of Life" and "Galway".