With Street Fighter IV but a stone's throw away from home release (along with an accompanying new soundtrack!), I thought this would be a great time to come back to one of my favorite Street Fighter II albums.  Toriyama indulges us with the Alph-Lyla classics, utilizing some tight guitar and electronic synth work that results in some ridiculously kickass arrangements.  This 1994 release saw the opportunity to gave us a first-hand taste of arranged material for the new Super Street Fighter II characters: T. Hawk, Fei Long, Dee Jay, and Cammy.

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Save The Holy Place takes T.Hawk's theme to a place smooth and mellow - a soothingly pleasant listen that, midway, reverts into some seriously bitchin' improvisation.  On Your Mark gets trippin' with a funky electronic backbeat played to a blues-style like rendition of Fei Long's theme; the mid-section to the end improvises with an uplifting guitar section and a sprinkle of orchestral-like sensibilities.  On His Beat mixes up growling synths, an appropriate reggae backdrop, and an almost mystical lead performance for Dee Jay.  And then there's Cammy's Remembrance, which, in my opinion, is the true gem of the CD.  Toriyama doesn't hold back for our favorite Delta Red gal; the lead and backing guitars are among the finest on the album: uninhibited, thrashing, yet completely focused.  The song is just badass in every sense of the word.

As for the original World Warriors, the privileged six are also bestowed with Toriyama's good graces.  Most notable are Hearts of Fire and Breathe Again, searing renditions of Ryu's and Ken's themes.  They're both performed with slowly-churned relish, made nearly poetic by their legendary melodies.  Splendor turns the other cheek, opting for a full acoustic set, castanets, and Latin chanting to bring Vega's theme alive.  Its stab at Spanish ethnic music is beautiful and genuinely classy.

The appreciation is unanimous, based on my observations. There are few vgm albums that non-vgm listeners approve of with abundance - this is one of them.

I appreciate why most popular video game albums are liked, but I've never understood the fuss with this one. The guitar work is pretty good, but most tracks just bore me on an emotional and technical level. I'm a big Street Fighter II fan and I love a lot of the arranged albums (Hyper Street Fighter II Remix Tracks and Street Fighter II Image Album especially). However, I find it really difficult to listen to the Yuji Toriyama one all the way through.

I actually just had the dubious pleasure of reviewing this album as part of some big update. I really didn't want to, as I knew my opinion would contrast with most VGM fans, but I put a plea out in the accompanying update for a fan of the album to submit an alternative. If Angela or anyone else would like to, this would be doing me and Yuji Toriyama a big favour.

This is my favourite SF album but I still don't find a copy of it on ebay and related. I hope to get it easily in the next future.

You're not alone on this one, the album never really grabbed me either. The Rockman X album was more to my liking but even in that case it wasn't an album I listened to on a consistent basis.

This album is actually my favorite arrange album for Street Fighter II as I was also exposed to this one before any others.

I think it's main flaws were a few tracks were a tad insipid and perhaps a bit slow; Dee Jay's had too many obnoxious samples and Ken's was rather bland, lethargic (and no sax on Ken's theme? C'mon!). I think Balrog's, too, fell into that camp of being a snoozer. It's a bit disappointing there couldn't be more instrument appointments like Rockman X Alph-Lyla with Toshiaki Ohtsubo had (an entire horns section for one track and Masato Honda!) but that doesn't damage what's already here.

Ryu, but specifically Cammy's (so badass it hurts), Guile's, T.Hawk (almost as BA as Cammy) and Fei Long's are all excellent -- hit it right on with all of them. Seeing as this one came out at the cusp of Super Street Fighter II, I can see why he did "the new challengers" themes, (thankfully) leaving out some of more ho-hum anthems like E.Honda, Zangief, Dhalsim and Blanka stages (all clunkers on the later Tribute Album).

Finally, Yuji Toriyama is mainly a jazz-oriented guitarist so hearing mainly rock-based arranges here was a little unexpected but does not disappoint. As an arranger choice, it proves his scope isn't limited to jazzier edges not without his style intact; the smooth synth (Pat Metheny-style) guitar on Chun-Li and the sharp acoustics on Fei-Long and a bit of fusion for Sagat.

The album that makes second in line is probably the Tribute Album, but that one managed to disappoint with at least half of the offerings. Well, Tribute Album gets a super nod for the amazing "Vega Stage" arrange by Hosoe.

Image Album reigns number one as my all-time favorite Street Fighter II arranged album.  It amply covers the SFII music spectrum, from title theme to all twelve of the original world warriors.  I would say if they'd included an arrangement of the Staff Roll theme as a finale capper, it would've exceeded perfection. 

Anyway, a well-written review on the Toriyama album, Chris -- even if we're not quite riding on the same wave of likability. :)

Well, the appreciation is not entirely unanimous. My observations were conducted offline only, with people that didn't know it was video game music. I only ran into two strange opinions. One guy thought it was "good techno" and another told me he couldn't listen to it. He said, "I don't listen to guitars anymore." (That would be one of my cousins, who is bizarre. He won't play any video games that are 'fighters'. He also won't eat cheese or peanut butter, despite the fact he's not allergic to them.)

Don't listen to guitars anymore? And who stole this guy's soul?

T.Hawk, Fei Long and Cammy are all great on this disc. i've never heard of any better arrangements on these. Dee Jay's theme, while funny, isnt bad either. but those voice samples sure do their best to distract you from the (good) music. its very hard to do a bad job at Guile's theme, so this one is also very good. i never get any urge to skip a track, so the rest is pretty solid. i think i can safely say this CD will last me a lifetime.