 Revisiting an old review, here, as Sora no Koe is now due to get a US release, to coincide with the R1 release of Stellvia. If there's any JPop CD that's worth picking up, this is it...
I've seen this
album's name listed as both "First Album" and "Sora no Koe" - I've
listed it as Sora no Koe as that seems to be the most popular listing.
Unusual this, as it's half original work, and half songs from Uchuu no Stellvia - and since Stellvia's one of my favourite recent shows, it was a must-buy. So was it worth the money?
Please excuse the babelfish'd translations of the song titles - my Japanese is not l33t. :)
First up, the songs from Stellvia, most of which won't need any introduction:
明日へのbrilliant road (Asu eno Brilliant Road / Brilliant Road to Tomorrow) - OP
Dear My Best Friend - ED3
綺麗な夜空 (Kirei no Yozora / Clear Night Sky) - ED1
End of the World - ED2
Most of these I've covered already in my review of the OP/ED singles, which you can find here. Dear My Best Friend was new to me, though (haven't quite
finished watching the series yet!) - it's the ED theme for the final
episode, and it's as upbeat & catchy a number as you could hope to
hear. Possibly my favourite of the 3 ED tunes, although End of the World gives it a good run for its money...
Moving on to the original songs:
Over the Limits
For the first 10 seconds or so this sounds like it's going to be a
soothing, chill-out kind of tune. Then it kicks up through several
gears & you've suddenly got a dance tune - does kind of throw you
the first time you hear it! The Other Half insists this sounds like an
80's song by Bananarama,
but I don't see it - thoroughly modern dance tune that can be played
repeatedly without wearing thin, and currently my pick as the best song
on the album.
奇跡のRing (Kiseki no Ring / Ring of Miracles)
Possibly the most upbeat-sounding track, this one has an almost retro
feel to it with organs & xylophones featuring in the arrangement.
One that needs to grow on you, but after listening a few times you'll
find yourself tapping along happily.
Pain
Moving down to a more sombre tone, as the track's name would suggest, Pain
is almost a ballad, and I wish I had tanslated lyrics for it. There's a
good bit of emotion that manages to come across in just the music,
though, and this is one powerful track.
幸せの温度 (Happy Temperature)
Staying with the slow feel, this is a simple piano-accompanied tune of
the sort that you can just lie back and chill out to. Not amongst my
favourites, but then it's up against some strong competition...
カレイドスコープ (Kaleidoscope)
Some sort of samba vibe going here as we head back into the upbeat
numbers, but this gets my vote as 'least good' album on the track (I'm
reluctant to use 'worst' as there are no songs here that are truly bad). Just not as pleasing on the ears as it could have been.
How Many?
I swear they were channeling Abba when
they wrote this one - there's a very slight 'cheesy 70's' feel here,
but it's a damn good song. Very upbeat, very catchy, and very enjoyable
to listen to.
Overall, then, the good by far outweighs the bad, with some of the original songs being as good or better than the songs from Stellvia. If you enjoyed angela's work on the Stellvia soundtrack, this really is a no-brainer - go get it.
|
Reviews Archive 
