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Me and My Katamari Soundtrack :: Review by Charles
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Album Title: | Me and My Katamari Soundtrack - Katamari Original Soundtrack Damacy |
| Record Label: | Columbia Music Entertainment | |
| Catalog No.: | COCX-33517/8 | |
| Release Date: | December 21, 2005 | |
| Purchase: | Buy at CDJapan |
Overview
Katamari Original Soundtrack Damacy is a bit deceiving of a soundtrack. It basically contains the little amount of original material from the PSP game, Me and My Katamari and then other throw-out and missing tracks from other Katamari games that didn't make it onto previous albums. This is starting to look like a fan-only album already, but maybe there are some worthwhile tunes for other listeners.
Body
The new version of the theme, "Katamari on the Funk" is definitely the weakest of all the Katamari themes and it also overstays its welcome. The chorus is a bit catchy though and makes me want to dance. Too bad it was one of the only original vocal tracks from Me and My Katamari. "Overture III" is also an original tune and it follows the same tradition as the older overtures. If you liked the other overtures then you'll most likely like this one. I usually like the hint of simplicity these piano only tracks bring to the album.
The rest of the Me and My Katamari tracks don't bring anything new to the table. Most of theme are lackluster remixes of the main theme like "Jesus Island" or "Katamari on the Moog", though the latter is a cute idea. "Shabadoobie" is an originally composed quirky level theme, but it also is a bit lackluster. "Shine! Mr. Sunshine" is a bit more full-fledged probably because it is a credits tune. If you like a good ballad, then you will like this. It's nowhere as great as the original credits music though. It also has a cool 8-bit remix of the original theme for its intro, which I liked.
There are a some good missing We Love Katamari tunes, which start at track ten. "Starlight Jamboree" is one of my favorites though it is a bit repetitive. "Dan Don Fuga" was always an appropriate theme for when the King of All Cosmos was around. "Do Re Mi Katamari Do" has a very dream-like feel to it and think it is also a highlight. Other than those the rest are kind of boring throw out instrumentals. It's nice to hear these some of these long lost tracks, but they don't exactly make the album worth getting on their own unless you absolutely need to complete your collection. It's kind of sad that Me and my Katamari didn't have enough original tracks to make it's own original album, and that is what I am left feeling after listening to this album.
The second disc is mostly full of scenario sounds and music from We Love Katamari, but it doesn't add much musically. The ambient sounds probably wont win anyone over but some of the orchestrated tunes are decent. I never felt that orchestrated tunes really fit the Katamari style, but they aren't horrible tunes on their own. "Appassionate", apparently originally from Tales of Eternia Online, is extremely well composed for a classical piece in a videogame. Considering you would barely hear this music in the game (maybe not even at all if you skipped the awful cut scenes), I can't see how it would be that memorable. There would almost be no difference going out and buying a real classical album. In the end, I think only the hardcore fans will appreciate it this missing music or maybe some of you who just craved a little classical with your Katamari.
Summary
The lack of humorous vocal tracks and high quality experimental instrumentals really leaves this soundtrack in the dust compared to the official soundtracks. It may be something that hardcore collectors have been searching for to complete their collection of Katamari music but there isn't too much more to it than that. I would not recommend this to any other listeners, as it just doesn't contain enough full-fledged tunes. You might count some of the nicely orchestrated tunes fully composed tunes, but they feel so disconnected from the actual game that I would recommend just getting a classical album instead because the rest of disc one just isn't fully worth the high amount of money you would have to pay for this album.
