First of all, to the right, we have a new image of the product from Yahoo! Japan. It looks like a computer-generated image of the front cover. Click the image to go to the Yahoo! Japan item.

And second, there is only one track, as previously reported. The track name is “smooth inside the shell“.

Now, my guess is that it’s called “smooth” because the transitions between each song of the 16 songs are smooth, as opposed to having pauses between each track.

Sources: YKDB + JVC Website + Yahoo! Japan

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AKINO will be releasing a compilation album that contains her works for anime composed by Yoko Kanno.

Album Title: Lost in Time
Release Date: November 7, 2007

Tracklist:

1. Sousei no Aquarion (Aquarion OP)
2. Nike 15 sai (Aquarion insert song)
3. Chance to Shine（Oban Star Racers OP）
4. Kouya no Heath (Aquarion insert song)
5. Go Tight!（Aquarion OP)
6. Pride～Nageki no Tabi（Aquarion insert song）
7. Suashi （Aquarion OVA ED）
EXTRA TRACK：Genesis of Aquarion （Aquarion insert song）

Lyrics: Yuho Iwasato
Composer: Yoko Kanno

Now I’m wondering further if there is a new AKINO song for the Aquarion movie, because it’s not listed here! There might be one with another vocalist though… here’s to hoping

Source: Aquarion Official Site

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Hi All,

Pulseczar has been kind enough to provide us with the English translation of the Japanese “translation” of the gibberish lyrics of Intro Theme from Ragnarok. There has already been a previous post that contains the gibberish lyrics, the Japanese translation in kana, and the Japanese translation in roman letters.

Here is Pulseczar’s translation:

Still absent, still unseen
Escaped from within my grasp
As large as a little finger’s nail
A fluff, a flower
With no sign that it’ll be there tomorrow

Round, round
A world of happiness
Here where my companions fell
Somewhere distant far from here
A song I though I heard yesterday

Watching from a tiny window
Calling out from a tiny window

The Ragnarok from long ago.

The corresponding lyrics page has been updated.

I, however, am being plagued with worrying on how to credit Gabriela for her work in this album. It used to be that I could classify the songs as either having Gabriela as the vocalist or lyricist, or both. And I could take liberties on deciding which songs sound like Gabriela even though it’s not credited to her, and marking them as such in the lyrics page.

But now it appears that she is credited for vocals at the cd booklet, but not specific on what song! What do you guys think should I do?

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UPDATE: I made a midi and a (noisy) mp3 file of the Tank! score as arranged in this album, based on the PDF file with the score in the official site. Download here.

Michael Gluck aka Piano Squall is a pianist who performs game and anime themes in order to raise funds for charity. His debut album, GAME (Game and Anime Music Emotions) includes a cover of Tank! from Cowboy Bebop, originally arranged by Yoko Kanno for a big jazz band.Purchase the album at the Official Piano Squall website.
Price: $9.99
Shipping for Non-US residents: $5

Here is tracklist of the album:

1. Scars of Time - Chrono Cross
2. TANK! - Cowboy Bebop
3. The Athlete’s Rag - Super Mario World
4. Cruel Angel’s Thesis - Evangelion
5. Frog’s Theme - Chrono Trigger
6. Decisive Battle with Magus - Chrono Trigger
7. Sadness and Sorrow - Naruto
8. Vamo’ alla Flamenco - Final Fantasy IX
9. Korobeiniki - Tetris
10. Bratja - Full Metal Alchemist (more…)

This album is one of the Kanno albums that I couldn’t say anything bad about. Each piece evokes the right emotion and fits the scenarios very well. Many songs start off with instrumentals and have chant-like or celtic vocals added towards the end of the piece, adding a childish or ethereal tone to the music.

My favorites would have to be Din Don Dan Dan, Hodo, Clap & Walk, 5 Years War, and Prontera Field.

Now here’s my song by song review of the album. The locations where the songs play is information I gathered over the internet, since I have not yet played the game.

Intro Theme – A celtic song sang by a Korean boy soprano named Yoon Hyeon Soo. The vocal version of the song plays in the character selection screen, and the instrumental plays in the Intro sequence of the game.

Din Don Dan Dan – One of the catchiest songs in the lot, this song’s scathing violins very well depicts enemy battles. But due to the grand tone of the song, it might have well been played only in major battles where you could feel lots of tension.

Hodo – a classic Gabriela song using fast lyrics with mild vocal harmony. The mood is festive and uses ethnic beats. This song is played in the playing environment, during the morning. Oddly, the vocal version is used instead of an instrumental one. (more…)