Yuzo Koshiro doin' some sweet sweet arrangements? Apparently, in September, yes.

http://www.gmronline.com/info.asp?CatNumber=VGCD-0104

w00t. So l33t.

Sounds good. I just it's not the Wangan-trance Koshiro that shows up here. But if he can duplicate Actraiser Symphonic Suite or throw some decent rock arranges together, I'll definitely get this.

Here's some other discs you should know about.

Sekaiju no MeiQ sound track - PROTO-TYPE (Preorder Privilege Soundtrack) -- (7 Tracks)

Sekaiju FIGHT - Ready GO! - Sekaiju no MeiQ Remixes Album [Golden City Factory] -- (GCFT-0035, Doujin, 7 Tracks)

Sekaiju no Omocha Hako - Sound box of MeiQ [Iosys] -- (2 disc Doujin Arrange)

Good, I be buying.

I thought Koshiro didn't like arrangements?  I could've sworn I read that in an interview with him at some point.

Considering Falcom bought the rights to his early work and arranged the living hell out of them afterwards...I can understand why he'd be slightly jaded towards arrangements.

Was he the actual arranger for Actraiser Symphonic Suite?

http://www.gmronline.com/info.asp?CatNumber=VGCD-0104

I'm fairly sure I'm not interested in this anymore. Hibino is an odd choice for an arranger and I can't say I'm a fan of his...We'll see hopefully.

It's out now. Yuzo Koshiro arranges nothing but in an unexpected turn in the credits, H. (Sega Sound Team) did one track, and even "The Black Mages" artist did something. Hibino plays his signature saxophone on only one track, despite his influence, this is something different for what you might be used to Hibino being involved with.

Funny, I was just gonna post something about this.  It's kinda too early to tell yet but this is definitely a contender for my favorite arrange CD of the year thus far, even though it doesn't have much competition, heh.  I need to listen to it a few more times to get a real feel for it but so far it completely surprised me.  This is what an arrange album should be though.  Take a little Metal Gear (Takahide Ayuzawa, Yoshitaka Suzuki, Takahiro Izutani), add some sweet jazz sound (Norihiko Hibino), then a dash of Black Mages (Michio Okamiya) and OutRun (Hiroshi Miyauchi).  Top it all off with two beautiful vocal tracks (Rebecca Evans) and bam, you've got yourself a kick ass CD!  Let's not forget the base of the whole thing either, Mr. Yuzo Koshiro creating killer PC-88 music more than 25 years after the system was introduced.  I also love how true the arrangers stayed to the originals while at the same time adding their own styles.

-Mike

Hey, can anyone tell me more about H/Hiroshi Miyauchi?

Is he definitely the same person as Hiroshi Kawaguchi?

It seems he was behind a lot of the real classic Sega tunes (Space Harrier, After Burner, Out Run, etc), but has he composed anything new after 2000, or does he just arrange his old work?

Dais, I've been looking for more works by Hiroshi "Hiro" Miyauchi following the arranges done under his relatively new band "H.". I believe Miyauchi and Kawaguchi are the same person thought I'm not certain why or how he's credited with both names (on the internet, it seems only MobyGames makes the claim? My guess: translation error).

He's been with SEGA for a long time and is considered one of the fathers of SEGA sound (like Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, plays the keyboard and guitar but does not do vocals). He was apart of the S.S.T. Band in the 1990s and he's done a bevy of top-tier franchise titles for the company since. He prefers to be refered to and credited widely today as "Hiro."

He's further been behind some recent SEGA works; featured on the Sega Rally 2006 sound team alongside some fellow top-level composers (credited as his nickname "Hiro"; tracks 5,14,19,24).

I've been intrigued by the recent surface of his band "H.", which brims on fusion-jazz themes and brings fourth an otherwise unique sound and take on some classic SEGA tunes. For one, I really dig the trumpet and flugelhorn found in many of their arranges by Mitsuhara Fukuyama (who also does work, one track featured on Sega Rally 2006 Original Soundtrack - the trumpets on the album are likely his work).

Like the_miker, I liked the touches of jazz but wanted to hear more jazz themes on this arrange (like Tr. 7, done by H.). Like Sakuraba, infusing jazz in RPGs is something obscure, little explored. Ultimately, the "Black Mages" member and H. have the best and brightest tracks featured on the disc. Very surprised Hibino didn't employ more of his jazzy style in there.

Lastly, here's a great article with pictures of H. from 2005
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/doc … 0/gj_h.htm

I've also heard this explained as his surname originally being Miyauchi but it changing upon marriage to Kawaguchi, but only just mentioned in passing a few times. I've never actually seen anything official or definitive about this, and everything nowadays that gives his name in English (albums, After Burner Climax credits, etc.) just use "Hiro," so I dunno for certain.

Thanks!

Hmm, I'll definitely have to hope we keep seeing work by this guy.

I figured it *could* be a Gendo Rokubungi/Ikari situation but I read that even in Japan (where, culturally, I suppose it rarely occurs) for the male to inherent the wife's surname. Either way, I discounted it because he's still known as Miyauchi in credits today. Sounds to me like possible mistranslation on SEGA's (Japan to U.S./Europe) behalf; note how the names end in "uchi" on both.

No synths from the original DS game or PC-88 stuff, right? This game is truly an arrange album?  I've seen "arranges" where they mix in original synths or chiptunes, and I'm not really into that.

It was all too intolerable for more than an initial listening, but all arranged from what I recall.

what the shit?

The album is entirely arranged with studio quality sounds and instruments by their respective artists. There are no "hybrid" sounds a la Hudson Premium Audio Collection or partially (if I must) Gradius Tribute.

Thanks for this information.  I might check this out later.

As a big fan of Etrian Odyssey it was only a matter of time before I got this CD. In my personal opinion it's superb! First, there is a range of music, from fairly routine classical to rock. However, for the most part, it remains true to the spirit of EO. Also, there are plenty of real instruments used, so the quality is wonderful. And... Rebecca Evans wrote her own lyrics and sings!! She not only sounds heavenly, but the songs are totally perfect and match the spirit of the game

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Evans

Is it a perfect album? No, there's one or two tracks I don't really care for, but then again, I'm going to do some relistening and perhaps I'll change my mind (even so, it's barely a hassle). My other gripe -it's too short! I want more...
So there you go, those are my thoughts. In summary, damn it's good! Consequently, this is the only arranged album I've picked up in a LONG time... and it kinda reminds me of classic Falcom goodness...

cheers,

-avatar!