Music from Legend of Xanadu 2

When I first ordered Music from Legend of Xanadu 2, I didn't know what to expect. I'd never even heard of the series before. When I popped the first CD into my computer, I got slightly annoyed by what I heard. Immediately I hated the Falcom employee who gave Sound Team JDK the trashy samples that were used to write this music. The sounds were horrible and very obviously took up very little of the game space. I flipped through the first CD rather quickly, trying to find some decent tracks with basic Falcom rock on them similar to the Ys games. Disappointingly, I didn't find any. Some of the tracks on disc 1 were enjoyable, but still not up to my expectations for Sound Team JDK.

I was in for a *huge* surprise with disc 2, which has a very different sound. These tracks seem to have been recorded from very good synthesizers. In fact, almost every track from the PCM selections (disc 2 tracks 1-24) is *incredible*, especially "Triumphal Hymn" and "Last of Dragon Slayer". Although this music is not typical Falcom rock, it does use an excellent synthesized orchestra. "Final Awakening" is notable because of its incredibly evil sound. The ending tracks (20-24) are very impressive, with "Following Wind" being your basic Falcom ending theme.

The JDK Band arrangements sound similar to something you'd hear on the Ys Renewal CDs. They illustrate how the whole disc 1 probably would have sounded if Sound Team JDK had had decent samples to use.

All in all, this is one of my favorite game music CDs because of disc 2. While I could care less about the first disc, disc 2's incredible music makes up for the whole thing, and I've listened to it time and time again. If you like Sound Team JDK at all, you should get this CD and check out a different side of their music. It is a very succesful change in style for them.