Opinions on the Katamari soundtracks?

The whole concept of what Katamari is began with the first game and soundtrack; we were introduced to concepts not typically used in video-games, namely J-Pop, and lots of it, beat-boxing, and a whimsicalness the likes of which is usually only found in children's cartoon shows. If you cared about the concept of Katamari at all, this's the one you cared about.

Perhaps this's why the second following Katamari soundtracks (Everybody Loves Katamari / We Love Katamari / Minna Daisuke Katamari - 2005 - and Beautiful Katamari - 2007) didn't sit too well with fans.

Me, what I REALLY liked off of the first Katamari were the jazz compositions: "Crimson Rose and Gin Tonic," "I Want to Roll Around" (especially this one, with the smooth jazz, sexy, sultry female vocals) and "Que Sera Sera." Don't get me wrong, the Katamari main theme, "Moon and Prince," and "Lonely Rolling Star" were also endearing.

But, this's probably why I took to the newer Katamari soundtracks better: my taste of jazz/lounge.

Let's go to Everybody Loves Katamari first.

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The stuff that was reminiscent of the first Katamari, well, I thought it sounded retarded: "Introduction," "Katamari on the Rocks," "Kuru Kuru Rock," and "Katamari Holiday." What WERE they THINKING?! Was the director jut like, "Eh, do whatever." Just these few tracks were probably what made people give up on this one so quickly, especially when two of them were at the beginning of the album.

But then "Overture" picks up, and we're treated to a nice, instrumental jazz piano version of the Katamari theme. Then "Katamari on the Swing" comes up, and it's Katamari party-time...swing jazz version, complete with male vocalist! "Everlasting Love" is next, with a peppy, female J-Rock vocalist.

"Blue Orb" and "Beautiful Star" are perfectly spacey instrumental pieces, "Angel's Rain" picks up the sort of French, guitar and accordion style we had in "Beautiful Star," and "Houston" is rife with Bossa Nova style, yet still keeps up the spacey motif.

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Now, Beautiful Katamari, has a lot of stylistic similarities with Everybody Loves Katamari, namely with the choice of lounge-style compositions.

I definitely dig the beats and spaciness of "Bless My Stars," along with the sexy, sultry female vocalist and beat-boxing; "Sayonara Rolling Star" has a lot of the same lounge style as the aforementioned track.

A lot of the soundtrack (6 tracks) are instrumental only, and are probably background music for various menus, and all-in-all, it's a short soundtrack to begin with, with only about 10, maybe 11 vocal tracks.

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All of that said, Everybody Loves Katamari and Beautiful Katamari are definitely two of my latest favorite soundtracks, hence my need to blather on about them as I have.

I mean, hey, maybe not everybody loves Katamari, but I know I love Katamari, even if you don't! XD

Love the first one.
Really like the second one.
Haven't heard the third one.
Indifferent on the fourth one.

Katamari Damacy: one of my favorite albums ever. Not just VGM, but overall. I have probably heard this soundtrack a few hundred times by now and never tire of it

Minna Daisuke KD: very lopsided. There's a lot of awful shit on there, like "Scorching Savannah" and the beatbox songs, but there is also a lot of awesome shit on there, like "DISCO PRINCE", "Bluffing Spirit" and "Blue Orb". There's also a lot in between. I listen to this fairly often, and usually just end up skipping around a lot.

Katamari OST Damacy: the first disc is pretty damn good, with a nice solid mix of throwbacks and new stuff. I love how Miyake references his own "Pulse Phaze" in "Katamari on the Funk". Then there are goodies like "Meadowtron" and "Shabadoobie". However, disc two isn't worth your time - it's all orchestral stuff from cutscenes or whatever. Someone needs to fire Katsuro Tajima.

Beautiful Katamari: gag. You know something is wrong when the first three game's sound director is not even on board, and almost all of the funk and charm and personality of the series is replaced by soulless JPop. All set with this one; biggest disappointment of 2007 for me.

So - I can't picture a VGM collection without the first KD, recommend the 2nd and 3rd to those who liked the first one but aren't expecting the same level of quality, and only recommend the 4th one to people who are into generic JPop-ish stuff and don't mind the fact that Katamari sold its soul to a little devil girl with big anime eyes.

Other than the fact I've been addicted to Kuru Kuru Rock and Everlasting Love from the start, seems like all the good music in the series comes from the first one. Solid "alternative" listen with some real classics in there, although there are a couple tracks on it I can't quite stand ("Angel's Flavor Present" and the track with kiddies singing).

I love the first Katamari soundtrack, and I even introduced it to a number of non-gaming friends who now consider it one of their favorite albums.  If I had to sell off my whole collection, it would definitely be one I'd keep.  The second game's soundtrack is... okay.  I agree with those who say it's hit-or-miss.  I could do without a lot of the tracks, but I LOVE stuff like Blue Orb and Everlasting Love.

I haven't heard any of the PSP game's ost, and the only thing I've heard that I've liked from the 360 one is the main "Katamari Dancing" track (I think that's what it's called).

YES! Everlasting Love is awesome! I've been hooked to that one from the start too.
But, as you said, the first game had a larger number of great tracks, so it wins.
I have to disagree on the track with the kiddies though, I LOVE that one.
I guess it helps if you know what they're saying, cos it's incredibly cute, and it WILL make you happy, whether you like it or not.

The third one I don't really remember. Seemed to be a lot of orchestral stuff in it, I think, and the fourth I haven't heard yet, and I'm not too interested anymore after 3.
I think I prefer letting the memory live on instead of having it bleed to death.

Alright, here's a download link for Beautiful Katamari: http://www.sendspace.com/file/3ysj1i

If you like Everybody Loves Katamari, I don't see why you wouldn't like tracks like "Bless My Stars" (09), or "Sayonara, Rolling Star" (10) at the very least; I definitely dare say they're in the vein of "Everlasting Love."

Thanks for taking the time to upload this album, man. I just gave it another once-over, and while the in-house stuff is still pretty decent and funky, the vocal songs just kill it for me. There isn't anything here in terms of personality, which is what Katamari is all about. You could take any of those songs and throw them on a Love Hina soundtrack (or vice versa), and I doubt that anyone would notice either way.

I liked all of the Katamari OSTs except the PSP one -- once I found out it didn't have vocal songs, I didn't bother listening to it. These games are for me another prime example of liking music as a complement to the game -- I cracked up when I found out how most of the songs related to rolling up things or stars or other space-related items. As such, it didn't matter so much to me the style of the music or most other aspects.