X TV Soundtrack Vol. #2

By Tiffani Nadeau     July 31, 2005
Release Date: November 04, 2003



What They Say
Fans of the X TV series won’t want to miss this second original soundtrack packed with more songs from the hit series by CLAMP (X, Chobits, Cardcaptor Sakura)!

The Review!
5 out of 5
X Original Soundtrack II
Music found in the X Series.

This CD comes with a ten-page insert. The first page is a title page with small pictures of the characters, and scenes from the series. Second page contains more pictures and the song title list. The next page has the English and Japanese lyrics to “Strength”. The next page is both English and Japanese lyrics to “eX Dream”. Both of these pages also have more pictures. The next two pages feature small character pictures and scenes from the series randomly arranged on the pages. The next two pages have both the English and Japanese lyrics for “Secret Sorrow” and “Crystal”. These two pages also have the small character/scene pictures border. The last two pages are credits for the CD as well as the series. Character/scene pictures are on these pages as well.

Once again the composer shows a great mesh for the X TV series. Again as music goes this one has it all wrapped up into a thing of beauty. The Instrumentals flow straight through to the soul and capture whatever you may be feeling at the moment and intensify it. The vocals have the right quality of bounce versus lyrical truth that make it a good listen all the way through. A great combination of instrumental bliss and vocal levity. The story of X is an epic story, and the music does not disappoint on any level. With this being the second soundtrack of this series, it is easy to let things slide, and make music that was in no way comparative to the true passion first soundtrack. However, the composer has managed to delight with more tracks of pure beauty as well as remakes of some that were on the first CD such as “eX Dream” played by a string quartet. Both the remakes and the originals are truly inspiring. It is hard to listen to this one and not feel every emotion that the characters go through. As the music turns from grief to elation, so do you.

I’d have to say a rare beauty in a second soundtrack.

Fangboy says…
=)

Features
Beautiful Yet sadly Painful Fight4:19Instrumental,STRENGTH5:35Vocal (Japanese),Feelings2:27Instrumental,Battle3:20Instrumental,Requiem2:20Instrumental,eX Dream (TV Edt.)1:23Vocal (Japanese),Simply One Desire2:50Instrumental,Hyper Battle 22:09Instrumental,Collapse3:03Instrumental,The Second Fuma2:27Instrumental,Secret Sorrow (TV Edt.)1:18Vocal (Japanese),Last Battle3:27Instrumental,eX Dream ~ string quartet version3:20Instrumental,Suite (Dragon’s of Earth)8:15Instrumental,Destiny ~ Guitar Version3:53Instrumental,Crystal6:30Vocal (Japanese)

Review Equipment
Total CD Length: 56:36

MUSICIAN

Keyboards & Programming: Naoki Sato

Strings: Gen Ittetsu Group

Flute: Takashi Asahi/ Bob Zung

Oboe: Masakazu Ishibashi

Clarinet: Shoji Sokame

Trumpet: Koji Nishimura/ Mitsukuni Kohata/ Takeyuki Yoda

Trombone: Taro Kiyooka/ Masanori Hirohara/

Tomoki Mitsuka/ Gakutaro Miyauchi

Bass Trombone: Junko Yamashiro

Horn: Hiroyuki Minami/ Hiroyuki Nakajima

Tsutomu Maruyama/ Otohiko Fujita/ Sumiharu Arima

Kensho Hagiwara / Takahito Saijo

Electric Guitar: Hidetoshi Suzuki

Conductor: Koji Haishima



SPECIAL THANKS TO:

CLAMP, Yoshiaki Kawajiri,

Masao Maruyama/ Akira Shinohara/ Takuji Endo/ Yuichiro Saito (Mad House), Joichi Mizuno/ Seiichi Hachiya/ Keiichi Segawa (Kadokawa Shoten Publishing), Shinji Komori/ Takenari Maeda/ Atsushi Kumagai (Bandai Visual), Yasunori Honda(Arts Pro), Fumio Miyata(Music Land), Yoji Sugiyama (Witchcraft), Koji Ono (omg), Akihiro Shimizu/ Yasuko Shimada (K-ROCK), Minoru Ikeda (ARTS VISION), Yuku Sato



US STAFF

Executive Producer: Henry Goto (Geneon Entertainment)

Producer: Nobu Yamamoto (Geneon Entertainment)

Mastering: Mack • Nightjar

English Packaging: KGI • Koyo Graphic



STAFF

Producer: Shiro Sasaki (Victor)

Director: Masao Fukuda (Victor)

Promoter: Shiho Miyai (Victor)

Coordinator:

Hitoshi Shishido/ Napoli Sakamoto (STAY MUSIC)

Recording & Mixing Engineer:

Yoshi Tamura

Naoki Sato

Hideaki Nojima

Takeshi Inaba

Haruo Saito

Masanobu Murakami

Recording & Mixing Studio: MIT studio, studio SOUND INN, VICTOR studio, Studio Sound City, Studio GREEN BIRD, SOL studio, ABS Recording studio, TAI studio

Mastering Engineer: Hiroshi Kawasaki (FLAIR)

Cover Illustration: Kunihiko Hamada

Color Coordination: Ken Hashimoto

Paint: Shinobu Ohata

Digital Works: Yoshimichi Murata

Designer: Satoshi Wakita (Victor)

Editor: Kumiko Wada (Victor)