Sometimes the Japanese do certain things better. This statement stands out for Secret of Evermore, the first and only game to be developed by Squaresoft's U.S. branch. Even though I honestly liked the game the first time I played it, I found it to be bland in comparison to some of Square's other games. The music was one of the reasons why. It lacks the spacious beauty of Secret of Mana and the powerful assets of Final Fantasy. It also sounds pretty flat, with lame, unmemorable music dominating most of the album. This is probably the weakest of Squaresoft's soundtracks, mainly because it lacks the magical touch.

Not that there are no saving graces about it, however. There are eight orchestrated (I presume arranged) tracks at the beginning which pick up the pace for an otherwise unlively album. Some of them sound almost identical to the game, such as the jig-like "Pirate Theme", piano sonatas of the castle themes, the ambient "Ocean Theme", and "Merchant Theme". The other five tracks are completely unrecognizable. On the other hand, they sound a lot better than the game's music.

As for the original game music, there is actually only one excellent track. That is the last one, "The Return". It starts out with a lonesome, suspenceful dirge, and then comes to a beautiful, uplifting ending. To touch it all up, there is an eerie wind blowing in the backround throughout the whole song. The rest of the score, however, is... well, below average. It's somewhat hollow in composition and seems to be missing the big "oomph" that an adventure score like this needs. In this case, the tracks (yes, even the boss battle themes) drag at a snail's pace and never come to life; they seem to be more ambient and less melodic. Music like this doesn't really bother me all that much (I did like several other "atmospheric" game soundtracks, such as Riven, Myst, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Castlevania 64, and Resident Evil 2), but after listening to it a second time, I felt I had only a bad taste for my mouth. I guess Jeremy Soule didn't have the magical, musical touch of Square when he produced the music for Secret of Evermore.

Due to the fact that there are so many better game soundtracks out there, I can find no way or excuse whatsoever to recommend this one.

The sound system in Secret of Evermore easily beats out that of the Japanese SNES game soundtracks. The music is very clear and beautiful sounding, and - like my sister commented - a few of the songs on this album would be good for the "Pure Moods" CD. The arranged tracks are the best part of the disc. When I heard the first track, I was blown away! The orchestral sound of it was simply awesome, although the track is a bit short. "Variations of Castle Theme" is an exquisitely arranged and played piano piece, and "The Secret of Evermore" has a great jazz sound to it.

My complaints against this CD are that many of the OSVs are, for the most part, kind of boring, with not much instrumentation and not as much variety as the Japanese composers put into their pieces. One thing I was very upset about was that they left several OSVs out of this soundtrack! The opening music, the big boss music, and some others I liked are gone.

All in all, this soundtrack is pretty good! I personally liked the music from the game, and the arranged tracks are a definite bonus.

Secret Of Evermore is an odd one. While the OSV tracks, like the game itself, are drab and forgettable, the arranged tracks may surprise you. After listening to track 1, "10 Print 'Hello World'", my first thought was "Why?! Why couldn't they have put music like this in the game?!" What I heard in track 1 was melodic, stirring, epic - an orchestral onslaught falling somewhere between Star Wars and Stargate. Funny thing is, I don't remember the OSV track that it is based on (nor do I care to). If it even exists it's extremely subdued in comparison and arranged in a totally different style. The same goes for "Variations Of Castle Theme". This emotional and climactic piano solo is light years ahead of its OSV counterpart. While a couple of the arranged tracks are more environmental and Solitudes-sounding, the remaining tracks are well-done and nice to listen to. Wish I could say the same for the OSV tracks. Not much to say about them except... they're there.

It is unfortunate that the game score was not nearly as polished as the arranged tracks on this disc. In fact, it was this Secret Of Evermore CD that made me realize just how integral music is to my game-playing experience. I bought, played, and beat the game - and was bored every second of it. In retrospect, I would offer that an OSV score comparable to that of the Seiken Densetsu series (which is clearly what the game itself was modeled after) would have made Secret Of Evermore much more enjoyable.