Cave has announced that the Ibara spinoff Pink Sweets will get an OST on 11/20.  The music was composed by some of the same arrangers for disc 2 of ESPgaluda 2 OST.

http://www.cave.co.jp/gcommerce/CVST-00 … -0005.html

From the shmups forum:

MICHI"PAD-A" -> Stage 3, 5
N.Sightow -> Stage 7
Daisuke Matsumoto -> Stage 2, 4, Character Select
KIZIKURA -> Boss themes
MASAKING -> Stage 1
Rieko Kakinuma -> Stage 1
Natsuko Naito -> Stage 6, unused track "IBALOVE" (vocals and composer)

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph … a&start=30

Only two words come to mind...

f---. Yeah.

While I'm normally all hung-ho about any Cave release, there is something which might put a little damper this one...

"The music was composed by some of the same arrangers for disc 2 of ESPgaluda 2 OST."

Hopefully they'll compose better than they arrange, since Disc 2 of ESPG2 was majorly lacking in enjoyability compared to the awesomeness of Disc 1.

I'll have to sample this one first, rather than green-light the automatic purchase.

Fear not, their work on Pink Sweets is nowhere near as abstract as their arrangements; it's actually similar to ESPGaluda I & II, but is a bit more on the happy/peppy side.

How do I know this ?  I came accross a super-play video of someone going from Stage 1 to Stage 5, I found all the music to be very enjoyable. I'm willing to mail out a CD-R with this video (It's the only way as the video is nearly 600 MBs !!). It's closer to the original ESPGaluda OST than the ESPGaluda II OST in the sense that the music approach is more akin to Eurobeat, but it is a diffrent flavor altogether. Now that I think of it, E.S.P. Ra. De.'s music is a better comparison to Pink Sweets.

Anyways, I hope this will shove those fears and doubts away.

For the record, I did enjoy the ESPGII arrangements a good deal, but the actual OST is still the better disc of the set.

I was interested in Pink Sweets after I saw the character art for it, tucked into the back of the Ibara OST liner notes.

My next question is: how easy will it be to actually buy this album?

I kinda got shafted on the Espagluda II album (I do have it in mp3 format, but I want the cds) Play Asia got the album, but either they only got one, or all the employees bought it, as I kept watch on it, and I never saw it open for pre-order.  It was always "coming soon" and then it was out of stock.  And, unfortunately, Play Asia doesn't replenish their OOS items.

Where did you guys get yours?  I want that album, but it averages 5,800 yen on Yahoo Japan Auctions.

I had to enlist Jerold's help for it.  I did see it in stock on the Play-Asia site, but only because I kept checking for it about twice a day, and by the time it was available, I had already run out of patience and committed to buying it through Jerold.

I had sent a request to Play-Asia to stock it and then they replied back and said they would and had it as "coming soon" for about 3 weeks.  Once they had secured I'd estimate 100-150 copies from a market sale (it was never sold in stores even in Japan), they put it up for sale I believe on a Friday. And it didn't even take a whole week to sell out.  As mentioned in another topic, I bought 2 (even though they had a 1 per customer policy). =0 I know, I'm a horrible person.

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-na- … -1ogk.html

Holy heck man, thanks a lot! 

Mmmm... more Cave shmup goodness, I can't wait.

Now how do I get ahold of that Espagluda II CD...? 

No prob, I'm not too excited about the Pink Sweets music myself, but of course I'll buy it because Cave OSTs are so desirable.   I'd like to get the PCB though once it gets down around 50,000 yen.

Play Asia is accepting orders now:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-nb- … -1ogk.html

The album has been delayed to December 4.

The reason for the delay (apparently) is because they're adding in an extra remix disc. Instead of letting the composers do these arrangements, they've asked the following:

Yuzo Koshiro
Shinji Hosoe
Ayako Saso
Masaharu Iwata
Mitsuhiro Kaneda
Kimihiro Abe
Saitama Seishuu Heiki (Yes, SSH himself)

That's just pure chocolate frosting on an already delicious chocolate aural cake to me

Oh my goodness! That list of arrangers gets me all warm and fuzzy inside. Consider this baby pre-ordered.

Nice, a 2nd disc of arranges, that "sweetens" the deal a bit more 

Here is a sample for now: http://www.sendspace.com/file/33fuo6  A direct rip of a superplay video that goes from stage 1 to stage 5. SFX included, of course.  Enjoy.

O_o   ... headache!

I got the opportunity to hear Pink Sweets Ibara for the first time this week, and I've gotta say, after a number of listens, I'm positively hooked.  Of course, I'm an absolute sucker for upbeat peppiness, but when coupled with the sensibilities of a Cave shooter score, well...... magic happens.  I'm not the biggest fan of Kizakura's boss themes, but the rest of the OST and remixed arrangements are gravy.  Pink, sweet gravy. 

Like Crash, this one has quickly risen among my favorites ranks.  So help me, I almost have the lyrics to "IBALOVE☆SONG" committed to memory.

I also love this album for the main reasons Angela mentioned, however, I'm completely enamored by the boss themes, especially Drago Blu, although I'm sure Angela agrees with me that "Per Salvare la madre" kicks ass.

The boss themes are growing on me, actually.  "Tigre bianca" is probably my fave, but I'm really digging Iwata's arrangement of Tartaruga nera in "Sweets Nerd."

yea, this is one my favorite soundtracks from cave. i consider both the original and the arrange CD equally good.

have you tried CAVE ATTACK! doujin? it includes a few heavier PS arragements, among others. very addictive.

Angie: since you're liking the IBALOVE☆ song, why not try out the whole Cave Songs collection.  http://vgmdb.net/album/13182

An album featuring nothing but Cave vocals?  I'm there.

I'll send you another email about the vocal collection. It has some great stuff on it.

(double post...)

just skip the mushihimesama futari image song, it's amongst the worst ever!

Thanks to Don, I've been offered the chance to listen to the Cave Song ~Compilation Image Song Album~.  It really is a lot of fun; a venerable collection of vocals, with each track as enjoyable as the last.  "IBALOVE☆SONG" still remains my favorite, followed by "Mad Symphony" from Deathsmiles and "A Zillion Awakenings Anniversary" from ESPGaluda II.  "Kizuna Sakura" is tremendously beautiful, and "Dodonpachi Da-ondo" surprises with its traditional bon dance introduction, which then evolves into a terrific high-energy eurobeat outing.  "Boss's Numbers Blues" and "Tons Samba", meanwhile, are just goofy, good-hearted fun.

Are we talking about "The Golden Star Fallen During a Short Night"?  If so, I gotta disagree; I mean, how could you not love the overly jubilant and impossibly catchy melody of this one?  You'd have to be dead inside.

No, if there's a single track on this album that proves just a rung or two below tolerable, it would be Awa-Odori with Tako and Kingyo. o_O

Agreed. That song...is just...yeah...

yes, if it's the same track as on the OST. that voice kills the song for me.