I've always been meaning to get around to checking out the larger body of Motoi's work, as I've generally enjoyed what I've heard, but I've never actually really listened to any album of his besides the bizarre and fantastic "Beyond the Beyond OGS". The actual nature of the game and perhaps the original game audio aside, it's always been one of my favorites....but I was under the impression that his recent work was less like Beyond the Beyond and more like Tales of Phantasia and Star Ocean 2 (two other games he's composed that I've played). I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy the music of those games, but they always kind of struck me as....different than Beyond the Beyond and the arrangements that came out of it.

Recently, I listened to the arranges from the Star Ocean Blue Sphere AST/OST, and some of the tracks - especially the first track, "Myth of Fate", as well as "No Mercy" - had bits and pieces that strongly reminded me of the rather surreal mental journey the BTB OGS tended to take me on, and I was reminded how much I enjoyed them compared to what else I've heard of his work.

So my question is.....do any of Sakuraba's other original compositions or arrange albums seem a lot like his work on Beyond the Beyond, original or arranged? He's composed for a lot of series that I haven't taken time to listen to - the older Shining games, a lot of the Tales series, the third Star Ocean, the Valkyrie Profile games, and probably a dozen other games I can't think of the names of right now.

Thanks!

man, I really need to play some more Sakuraba-scored games. His battle themes are pretty consistently awesome.

I recommend his solo record, Gikyokuonsou. I would say it's a cross between his older battle theme compositions with some "normal" (Rush/Yes) prog rock influences and some other things mixed in here and there. After hearing most of Sakuraba's work I got pretty sick of him, and aside from the Live Concert (which is excellent), his OSTs haven't done much for me. I just got Gikyokuonsou last week, and it's equally familiar and fresh.

"Beyond the Beyond" is Sakuraba's typical Camelot composing style, still pure at that time. "Shining the Holy Ark" is a solid follow up in that style (and its arranged "OST" is a fan favourite for many), but starting with "Shining Force 3" the brassy influence from Star Ocean is starting to show as well (of which again the two Golden Sun games are solid follow ups, but those never made it to any arranged CD with improved sound quality).

If you like Sakuraba's battle theme you may also want to listen to the Mario Tennis 64/GBC/GBA rips since those are full of high paced pieces. The Mario Golf series stuff (64 and GBA are most recommended) serves the slower paced catchy side which seldomly make it into other Sakuraba scores.

I think Sakuraba's Camelot works deserve the attention usually only the tri-Ace works gets (I guess it can't be helped with the lack of Camelot OSTs). Camelot's Sakuraba has an unusual high rate of playful and catchy pieces, and the progressive composing style is way less constrained than with most other works.

I wholeheartedly agree.  Sakuraba's work with the Golden Sun series was fantastic.