Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, but..., February 21, 2004
Almost everyone who watched FLCL on Cartoon Network was struck by the excellent music by the Pillows, much of which is available on this soundtrack. The music from the Pillows is fantastic, and this soundtrack is definitely worthy of a purchase, but in terms of American release the track arrangement is unfortunate. Other reviewers have noted the absence of the full-length version of "Last Dinosaur", and of the missing "I Think I Can". Also absent from this album is the catchy "Funny Bunny" and one of my personal favorites, "Blues Drive Monster" (from the fight between Haruhara and gatbot in "Brittle Bullet"). These tracks ARE available, but only on the SECOND soundtrack, which includes several LONG radio drama segments which are of limited entertainment value for the casual anime fan. So unfortunately, if you want to get all the best music from this fantastic OVA, you'll have to invest in BOTH soundtracks. I personally thought the price was worth it.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great soundtrack, abysmal mastering, March 8, 2005
Anyone who's seen FLCL knows why they should own this album. I loved FLCL even though I hate most anime. Sadly, after purchasing the soundtrack, I'm forced to express some disappointment, though I don't know that I regret the purchase. Unfortunately, this CD suffers from a malady that plagues the whole music industry today. Compression. No - not mp3 compression -- dynamic-range compression. The loudness race.
This album has the worst mastering of any CD I have ever heard. Replaygain values on most tracks range from -10 to -12db. The clipping and distortion are actually worse than other CDs I've seen with compression in that range. Some of the best songs, such as "Hybrid Rainbow" and "Ride on a Shooting Star" seem to have been the most harsly victimized. The engineer that did this and the pinhead label exec that ordered it should be taken out and shot. Destroying music to this degree is a crime against man and nature.
The same crooks who are doing this are going to come back in a few years and try to sell us better sounding "remastered" versions of all the music we've already purchased on some crippled format like SACD or DVD-Audio. Make no mistake - it's a scam, plain and simple. The poor audio quality on CDs today is a result of the mastering, not a limitation of the format. SACD and DVD-A have nothing to do with quality and everything to do with selling you the same music twice in a format that limits what you can do with your music and ties you to THEIR choice of proprietary playback devices.
The other flaw, as other reviewers have mentioned, is that there are essential tracks missing from Volume 1 (Addict). Volume 2 (King of Pirates) has the missing tracks, but also has several long "drama" tracks that aren't interesting unless you understand Japanese and are a hard-core anime fanatic. The mastering isn't QUITE as bad on Volume 2, but most of the non-drama tracks are still heavily distorted. I have not heard the Pillows regular releases such as Happy Bivouac, so I don't know if they are mangled to the same degree. Many of their releases are from the early 90s, so it is likely that they do not. If that is the case, less distorted versions of the same songs are probably available.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Musical hooks, August 19, 2004
The Pillows perform hook-infested music, ranging from candy pop to rock, with a bit of metal or punk thrown in here and there. Everything they do is pleasant and addictive, creating a feeling of well-being that should legally require a prescription. This album is sung in Japanese, though some of the songs have so much feeling, you just *know* what they're about. Generally their music reminds me of The Beatles, Cheap Trick, and maybe something I listened to in a previous life, because I sure can't place it in this one.
One Life Is the song you hear after the first few minutes of Ep 1 complete. Nicely evocative pop. A prime example of what I mean when I say you don't need to know what the lyrics are.
I love Hybrid Rainbows. Of course, I see in my mind sequences from the series (All these songs come with my own little FLCL videos), and I see Kanchi rising into the sky, circled by crows, and poor Mamimi thinking he's an angel. It's a really beautiful sequence. It's also when you realize Mamimi is slightly nuts.
The Last Dinosaur--Speedy fuzzy pop--don't know what this reminds me of, but something I used to know.
Sad, Sad Kiddie--Boomfy bassy instrumental, bordering on punk.
Carnival--Ennui abounds. The fed-up main character walks out of class right in front of God and everybody, and the teacher doesn't even notice. She's too busy trying to control her chopsticks.
Runner's High--Here's one for Neil. Punky and cheerful.
Instant Music. Very pop, but I *like* it. Where are these guys stealing their harmonic hooks from? God?
Stalker. Metal-ish and fuzzy.
Stalker in Babylon. Chaotic and a bit more metal than the previous track.
Another Morning--This must be one of those mornings when you wake up late for work. Energetic and chaotic.
Beautiful Morning With You--instrumental, just nice-sounding.
Sleepy Head--Mamimi sprouts a robot out of her head. All hell breaks loose, and is partially solved by feeding the robot really hot curry. People just have robots coming out of their heads left and right in this series, always because they've lost control of their emotions. Think the ID monster in Forbidden Planet.
Bran New Love Song--references to fiber aside, this is a plaintive, lovely tune that reminds me strongly of Tom Petty.
Come Down--Things explode into manga for no apparent reason! The fans object! Good rock.
Blues Drive Monster--cute punk.
White Ash--Reminds me of something by the Pretenders.
Advice--A metallic Joe Satriani/Van Halenish number, merciless but tuneful.
Crazy Sunshine--very pop, but has a good sound. This is one of the fans' favorites but I prefer...
Funny Bunny--Another of those happy tracks, emotionally uplifting in spite of the fact that you don't know what the hell they're talking about.
Skeleton Liar--The Cure on Paxil. I *know* that guitar riff; or at least I think I should.
Little Buster--A lovely little victory song. This sounds like it's in English, but is it?
Nightmare--Yeah! Speed metal!
I Think I Can--Heh, check out that Spanish bullfighter riff. Joyful song heard in the last episode; I associate it with a huge phoenix exploding out of Naota's head and destroying the evil steam-iron.
Ride On Shooting Star--The song that got me hooked on the music in this series. This tune, and its accompanying animation (A jet taking off for parts unknown, Haruko doing trick riding stuff on her Vespa), always makes me feel like school has let out for the summer and wonderful things are awaiting me. *sigh*
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is mainly Children's Music and quite Pop”
