In March of 2007, Falcom celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Ys series with a live concert. This concert was called "Falcom Live 2007," and it featured an all-star cast of vocalists, guitarists, and other instrumentalists who had some affiliation with Falcom in the last two decades.

If you wanted to hear what that performance sounded like, you'd want to buy this album...right? Nope. This is Falcom Live 2007 "Original Sounds." The album was released just after the concert date, and though this album contains the entire set list, what we receive is actually a compilation of original recordings, only two of which were exclusive to this album (and they will be un-exclusive in the coming months as those games' soundtracks are released).

If you want to think of a more fitting term for this album, I'd call it "Falcom Vocal Collection V." The first four vocal collections were released over a decade ago, and Falcom's made plenty of vocal albums since. The two reasons that moniker wouldn't fit are: 1) this album includes songs found on the four older Vocal Collections; 2) a few of the songs on this album are instrumental arrangements. But really, I still think it's best to look at it as though it were Vocal Collection V, so you don't get your hopes up.

Now, in all fairness, there is a lot of great music found on these two discs. Some of my all-time favorite songs made it: Endless History, Pandora, Whisper of the Goddesses, Valestein Castle, Silver Will...the list goes on. It's a great compilation. The problem is that, for many Falcom fans, we've already heard this stuff! Heck, many of us already own this stuff! Why bother with a repeat purchase?

It's a nice blend of old and new, but pretty much all VGM fans agree that this album didn't need to be printed; what we really want is the live concert recorded and published. So before you buy this album, make sure you're not fooled by the name. It's not live.

Reviewed by: Patrick Gann