Customer Reviews

Phantasmagoria

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, it is THAT good. Uematsu obviously selected his absolute best work for inclusion in this CD. In fact, you might recognize some of the melodies included here in games released many years after Phantasmagoria (hint: FFX). The arrangements are not overly elaborate, the overall mood of the record is somewhat depressing, and some of the samples he used remind me of an old Casio keyboard, but that is not what matters here. Hell, it's not even that harmonious when played start to finish. It's the emotional content of the individual melodies that makes them so good.

Picture yourself sitting down on the floor in front of a balcony window, with half closed curtains that let a little of the orange afternoon sunlight in. You've nothing to think about but of someone you love and can't have with you. If you've ever experienced that, you know it feels as if a sumotori was sitting on your chest. The air refuses to go all the way into your lungs. You wish your heart stopped beating, but you're not sure if its because it is pumping so hard and beating so noisily. And yet, depressed as you are, you're not about to start crying, because it's not a feeling you want to let go.
Well, that's Angel Eyes.

Remember the happiest moment of your life. Like the first time you heard your son laugh. When your parents took you to the sea as a child. Or simply one of those surreal moments which, in your mind, will always look as if they were illuminated by the brightest white light you can imagine.
Well, that's Dogs on the Beach.

Even the spirit of the rain is marvelously captured in Ame no Hi.

You might not feel so intensely about it when you listen to this music as I did when I bought Phantasmagoria four years ago, but I can assure you that you will, at the very least, like it very much.

I received this cd as a bonus with my purchase of the OST for final fantasy tactics, and was a little skepticle at first. I popped it in, heard the first few tracks, and realized right from the start, this album is really good. After several listenings, one finds out just how complex some of uematsu's work is. He writes music that touches the soul in a way very few artists can. This album is great for relaxing, falling asleep to, or just pop it in to your portable cd-player and go on a walk in the evening on a fall day. It has a certain mood that is wonderful.

Listening to Revival of a Kind Experience as I woke up today, I sort fell into a trance. I was dazed, I didn't know what was going on, everything seemed distant and surreal... and the next hour just floated right by. I could say that about all these songs, of course, but Revival of a Kind Experience would perhaps fit that description perfectly.
Nobuo Uematsu is an absolute genius. He just gets right up in your face and does a number of things; he'll emit the scent of melodious onions into your eyes, he'll tickle your facial features until you're out of breath, or he'll puff a cloud of Fentanyl sleeping gas through your lungs until you doze off into a state of pure, harmonious ecstasy.
As you can tell, this guy knows what he's doing.

Mirrors: Beautiful. This piece is simply piano, but that's simply adequate. The notes are gorgeous, and everything fits together wonderfully. You'll love this song if you adore the piano like myself.

Final Fantasy: Definitely the worst (and only bad) song on the album. The guy's voice just drones on and on meaninglessly, and the music just makes it worse. I guess you could say the music and his voice are almost too well-aligned.

A Rainy Day, The Children: Dazzling. It's a strange, surreal melody, followed by a woman's voice-which, I might add, contributes much value to the song, despite the fact that she's just a talker.

The Small That Was Left Behind: A lot like A Rainy Day, except the woman's voice isn't very pleasing in this one.

Dogs on the Beach: Delightfully happy! It makes you want to get up and dance, and go running around on a playground of some sort. To receive the highest amount of value from this song, associate the music with a childhood memory, or an adulthood memory, or whatever makes you explode with happiness. It works.

The Mayan People: Unfortunately, I'm no musician, so I can't identify this specific instrument at the beginning... but I can say this much: It sounds amazing. Very calm and peaceful; it works wonders.

Phantasmagoria: I haven't heard a song quite like this before. It almost resembles a video game-like song... but it's about twenty times bettter than what I usually hear. This would work well in Final Fantasy, I must say.

Revival of a Kind Experience: My absolute favorite song. It's just brilliant. The basic description is pretty much what I said on top.

Angel Hands: Kind of depressing, and probably the only melancholy song on this album. Still beautiful though... and it's not so depressing that you have to switch to another tune.

Deep Blue Sea: It's better than Final Fantasy, but not quite as good as the rest. It's lacking meaning, somehow. I can't identify with it.

Nobuo Uematsu, the ledgendary composer of Final Fantasy music departs from his FF roots and goes synth music in "Phantasmagoria". After to listning to alot of Final Fantasy OST's and then this, you can tell how wide of a range Uematsu-san has. I'd reccommend this to anyone who enjoys Uematsu's Final Fantasy music and would like to hear the music Ueamtsu loves. I'd sum up the CD by saying it is very relaxing: From the soothing Japanese voice of "Deep Ocean: Blue" to the childish melody of "Dogs on The Beach", Phantasmagoria is a CD for all who love Uematsu to buy

As you probably already know, Nobuo Uematsu is the genius that has composed the music for most Final Fantasy games(except for X-2). This cd is his independant work, completely unrelated to his game music(except for the last piece, which I think is the FF4 main theme, but I don't remember clearly).

This cd is proof of Nobuo's talent and genius as a composer. The music on this cd is deep, rich, and full of emotion. The songs are mostly slower ones(think of the Zanarkand or Macalania Woods themes, and you have some idea of the style), though "Dogs on the Beach" has a good amount of life in it. Instruments used include woodwinds, light string instruments, and piano.

The music is simply beautiful. However, one thing that I was not aware of(and why it got a 4 instead of 5 from me), is that there are Japanese lyrics in half the songs(the other half is purely instrumental). And for most of them, it sounds like they are reading poetry along with the music rather than singing(note that "Final Fantasy" has an energetic singer accompanying the song). I don't mind the lyrics, its just that they are in Japanese and I have no idea what they are saying :). The music behind those particular pieces is still excellent, and I would have preferred that it be purely instrumental, but unfortunately it wasn't.

Somewhat expensive, but if you are a Nobuo fan and dont mind Japanese lyrics, this is an awesome cd.

Nobuo Uematsu, the great composer of Final Fantasy music, has done it again! This music flows with beauty and excellence that is awe inspiring and full of that special touch that he has become quite known for...

If you want a good buy, then get this CD

If you like Uematsu and you can tolerate synth music, I highly recommend this CD.