Guess I should start catching up too.
week#Remix:
the world
Original is classic even with all its rec&mix warts. I can't even comment on it. XD
Listening to "extra ver." today I quite enjoyed myself even if it's a v different mood for the first few minutes. The ending with guitar having a solo still feels a little weird to me but I quite like the violin not coming in after the 1st refrain and having the instrumental continue as is with the og beginning/ending vocalizing - it's quite striking when you're used to the og. If anyone had asked me, I definitely would've ditched the bridge/ending's "liminality" inserts & other vocal samples (though I guess those are there in the og too). XD
+1 og, +1 extra ver.
Kimi ga ita monogatari
Original is my version of choice. I never cared for the Dream Field mix and nothing's changed today. I could say I have an even greater dislike for it now after they denied me a potentially decent remaster of the original version on "See-Saw-Scene" Complete Best (going by how good "edge" turned out compared to its single master). The live drumming during the refrain doesn't work for me (surprisingly I am okay with it during the 1st verse). The extra guitars & bass don't work for me. I prefer the bridge solo in the og too. Iunno, the Dream Field mix feels a mess to me as if everyone was doing whatever they wanted to, whereas everything in the og soars together.
+9999 og
Life Goes On
The original is soooooo infectiously energetic/fun to me. Love how everything flows from one section to the next. The double bridge is wonderful. Mika's vocals are on point. The backing vocal arrangement is sweet. (I'm going to guess Kajiura was mostly responsible for vocal arrangements here & extra kb.)
The bonus intros in tv-sizes type2 & 3 are both pretty good but I like type3 the most. Type2 is cool but seems like it's just reusing the bridge. At the end of the day though, the original's intro is perfectly fine and enough to me. XD
I wish we knew who was responsible for those recently released digital singles for Gundam SEED/SEED Destiny. Maybe I'm in a good mood but I do feel they managed to successfully refresh those tracks without wreaking havoc with their remastering.
As for the ReMix2013, the less I say, the better. Do not like. ;p I think I would've felt okay about the more stripped sound had they at least not chosen to process the vocals how they did. Bleh.
+1 og (recent remaster too)
oblivious
Oh boy. "oblivious" is not just one of my favorite Kalafina songs - it's one of my favorite Kajiura written&produced songs. Everything about it just clicks for me - Hanae's vocals. The bass & beat. Wakana's vocals. All the vocal arrangements. The tinkling guitar & synths. THE BASS. I love it so much that Wakana going off on the sustained "wasureta" before the last refrain does not even bother me. I pity anyone who gets to cover it during YKL eventually, lol. Soooo yea. +1
Fukan fuukei mix is a weird one in that I absolutely adore parts of it... but mostly dislike how it flows as a whole.
-> interrupting the "in the garden of sinners" intro with Hanae's vocals feels super forced to me;
-> the buildup & new beat coming in for 1st verse are kickass BUT then the switch to 1st refrain feels like a cut back to the original version;
-> the transition to the 2nd verse and the verse itself are sweet again;
-> whoever came up with having the lalalas during a stripped refrain2 had a stroke of genius (I sometimes wonder if it would've worked better to have the 1st refrain be the lalala one and 2nd be the og sounding one);
-> the new stripped bridge with Hanae's vocals (maybe a little too long) and then main theme strings with the beat coming in and then the entire first verse & refrain vocals over strings is fantastic (if maybe taking too long to get to the point);
-> then that damn "in the garden of sinners" coming back on is complete BS to me - it just does not flow right to me;
-> the remix does pick itself back up and is pretty cool until the end, particularly with the "itsuka... kimi to..." being used as background vocals to the refrain (though the whole thing didn't need to have that SFXish part at the end; or Hanae for that matter considering you already used them the same way in the bridge);
+1 og, +1 parts of Fukan fuukei mix
Kizuato
Love the og. Don't like the piano mix much today. I know it's mostly the same recording but the piano somehow makes everything feel super rushed.
+1 og
