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F-ZERO :: Review by Ersatz
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Album Title: | F-ZERO |
| Record Label: | Tokuma Japan Communications | |
| Catalog No.: | TKCA-30516 | |
| Release Date: | March 25, 1992 | |
| Purchase: | Buy at eBay |
Overview
Almost every single arranged track I've heard from Nintendo is superb, and this album features no exceptions. I didn't even know Nintendo made an arranged CD for F-Zero until my friend, Hailey Megs, gave me the CD saying the F-Zero soundtrack was on here. "And it's Jazz," he added. I didn't know what to expect when going into this. I always identified F-Zero with rock music, and even on the synthesized SNES soundboard, I still thought it to be rock. So I was more than a little skeptical.
Body
My fears were placed to rest when I heard the first track, the "Opening Theme" to the game or title screen music if you will. The band is made up of a guitarist, bassist, drummer, and keyboardist, as well as a saxophonist that leads many of the arrangements. The first arrangement is done pretty sweetly. A horn section — I believe they're called a No Sweat Horn section — plays the little quick section that is found in the original while the sax played the main melody. Not a bad job at all. The arrangement does have a slight echoing sound, as do most of the others, like it was played with the reverb effect or something.
"Fire Field" departs from the usual sax lead as an electric guitar with slight distortion plays lead with a happy head bop melody. It follows the original melody pretty nicely, and it's nice to be able to hear the keyboardist shine for once as well, as he plays throughout its duration. The bass line is quick and he moves around on the fret board, not playing the same notes over and over. This arrangement was a treat to my ears as well.
"Port Town" was already a sweet theme, so they really couldn't mess it up too much. They didn't, thankfully, but rather improved upon it. It starts out with a nice little keyboard and then swings into the poppin' sound "Port Town" always carried. There's nice work with the percussion is found on this track as well, and it really shines, making this arrangement somewhat different from the rest of the pack.
I could care less though how the other songs are if "Big Blue" wasn't done right. One of my all time favorite albums, my fears can be placed to rest as the arrangement was done very finely. The chorus is very, very catchy with the a horn section doing the background music very well. Percussion work also featured and is done excellently. At one point the keyboardist and sax play along together during the chorus and then fade out to let the keyboardist shine once more. A very moving track that was done so perfectly I couldn't ask for more. They exceeded my expectations and took me on new heights with this one.
Summary
Usually at this point of my review, I would spiel on all the negative things an album has, but I don't have to do that with this album! Every piece is a joy and carries along with it some kind of jazzy trait that's wide enough for anyone to enjoy. Each piece throws you for a nice loop and all the instruments gets it's chance to shine, even the bass. A must listen, even if you don't like jazz.
