ReMix: Lunar: The Silver Star 'Meribia Nights'
- Game: Lunar: The Silver Star (Working Designs, 1993, SCD)
- ReMixer(s): Kaijin
- Composer(s): Hiroshi Fujioka, Isao Mizoguchi, Noriyuki Iwadare, Yoshiaki Kubotera
- Song(s): 'Meribia'
- Posted: 2002-10-10, evaluated by djpretzel
Short but sweet piece from Lunar by Kaijin - nice to see a mixer of primarily Squaresoft RPG's venture into the wonderful world of non-SS role-playing soundtrackdom, and what better way to do it than through Iwadare's work. The arrangement itself here is very nice, with some tempo modification work that's a good change of pace, and a lot of emotion - it's basically a rock ballad that's heavy on the pop strings and piano. The jazz guitar patch used here is not up to Kaijin's standards, and did stick out to my ears, though it's played well. There's a tad bit of hiss noticeable at the trailing fade on the ending as well - I think Tim put more energy into the quality of the arrangement than the sound quality / mix itself, though it's certainly still above average and definitely musical. There's always a fine balance between substance & style, content and what one might call "polish" and I think the scales are slightly tipped in favor of the arrangement in this case. Then again, rock ballads ain't a piece a cake to cover with electronic means, and Tim's one of the only fellas that does 'em and does 'em well, so credit given where credit is due. Pieces of this melody actually sound like the beginning of the opener from Mahou Tsukai Tai (anime), "Senobi wo Shite" (just an observation). I'm happy enough that Kaijin's lent his skills to some fine Lunar mixage that I can overlook the nitpicks I mentioned for the larger picture, which is a good, short arrangement of an undervalued piece. Kaijin writes:
"This mix is from the Lunar The Silver Star series, meaning it includes songs from both Lunar The Silver Star and Lunar The Silver Star Story Complete. The track plays them in this order: "Meribia" from Lunar The Silver Star Story, "Meribia" from Lunar the Silver Star, and finally it finishes with a small surprise, my interpretation of one of Dale North's Lunar arrangements."
Recommended, if you're into good rock ballads and Mr. Iwadare's ever-impressive material.
With the Silver Star Story version coming in at 0:46 and the jazz guitar lead, later being utilised for the regular Silver Star version later on in the track, people may not quite be too sure about the quality of it, but I felt that that's actually some good sustain/decay work done towards it for its time; may not sound convincingly like the real thing, but it's something that works well.
Even the little homage to Dale North right at the end, referencing "Dale Loves Mia" (not on OCR though :(), was also a cute way to finalise it, especially considering both artists are in the Bad Dudes camp.
So I'd say it's short but sweet; a charming take on a non-square RPG source, showing its age now due to structure and production techniques, but can still be worth looking into if you feel fond about Kaijin's work :)
- Rexy on December 26, 2011
- Emunator on December 3, 2009
- Bahamut on October 31, 2009
- justinj212 on January 20, 2009
- Wild Armor on October 17, 2008
- DragonAvenger on October 13, 2008
It's really well put together. I'd love to see many more mixes in this vein. KF
- Kizyr on December 9, 2007
I also think it could be a little longer, either with some variation, or with a bit more original material.
Regardless, this is a great mix and I strongly recommend it.
- OA on December 28, 2006
- Liontamer on June 10, 2005
- Frodo on December 1, 2003
- Deryck Khusial on July 7, 2003
4 Stars
Per's OCR Star System:
5-One of my favorites.
4- I'll listen to it a fair amount but it lacks that extra "something" to be great.
3- Above average but not enough so to get much playtime in my list.
2- Average
1- Lacking
- PerLichtman on October 15, 2002
- Emjay on October 11, 2002
Meribia Nights is a very soft, melodic peice with too many chimes, and drum beat that sounds way too "mushy" for me. But, it is of superb sound quality, and it must be an excellent arrangment, because I can find little to complain about besides that which doesn't please my personal tastes. Somebody else pipe in and give this one a decent review. Excellent work, Kaijin.
- Ginnsu on October 11, 2002