Nick Hunter
I have reached Yuki nirvana
To make a lot of people speculating their hindquarters off over each episode and deliver one wham after another... not too bad for a monotonous script, huh.
and they were used a number of times, too. SPM! must have been just taken for the leitmotif of the series. I don't think it was there just to express "sadness". It was there to emphasize the topic. And for all we know, Yuki might have been specifically asked to write such a theme, suitable for using throughout the story.
I'll say again, I don't have anything against the use of this track, but I understand why people may do. That's just how I see the logic behind the use of the track. To write it off as a fail, one should assume inexperienced staff, but Shaft are not new in the industry, and I don't remember any of their shows whose OST would make emphasis on a single track. So I doubt they'd have done it just for the sake of using less music, lol.
I'm more expecting the remaining tracks to be split between two volumes (it will estimate to 10-12 tracks in each). There still seems to be one new track in CD drama (not Clementia), plus the CM track, plus possibly more tracks to appear in "Summer Day Life" and other CD dramas to come.
But even if they keep it to the show's OST, three volumes will at least make it Yuki's third work (after .hack//SIGN and KnK) to have all the music officially released. Looking at it from the bright side, there's at least ONE justification for Sony's policy here. 
Like I said, I can't trace these influences to Shaft's previous works. Not to mention that Shaft nowadays is 5/6 Shinbo, and the OST for his previous collaboration with Yuki sports no fewer knockout tracks than your usual Madlax. I can't say anything about the producer, of course, since I'm hardly familiar with him and his approach.
Yep, I did. that was the moment I was hooked to Yuki's music, actually But looping the bridge is no big deal there, considering that Mashimo later used the song regularly with all its segments, one or selected (talking the song itself here, not renditions like Fireseeker).
As to Tsubasa OADs, Tokyo Revelations is a good example, but I'm not even sure if I want to discuss Shunraiki which was a damned recycle.
Sounds slightly contradictory, but oh well.
Traditional soundtrack is not something boring (it depends on your perception of each individual track, and tastes differ), it's a soundtrack where music mostly consists of scene-based tracks rather than general themes. The latter will always be present in some quantity, but most tracks will be instrumental/choral patterns either looped during some process or lacking any structure whatsoever, with the tune following every depicted move/step/action instead. In other words, it's not necessary that a "traditional" soundtrack should be all SFX, it may have a melody but still serve the purpose of complementing the scene rather than carry an overall theme. In Yuki's works, both types of music are abundant, and both sport an undeniable level of quality. But she tends to lean on the theme music side as her style is based on the methods more common for themes and independent instrumentals (and I remember she herself wondered in an interview why anime OSTs didn't quite tend to make use of songs as BGMs). Summing up her style and the demands of the actual projects she works on, it all comes to the balance between music you can enjoy but interpret more clealry after you know the context it was used in (because it's a specific track for this [kind of] scene) and full-fledged themes which usually make Yuki's OSTs resemble instrumental albums, since in theory you could even release these themes separately as instrumental singles without mentioning the source, and few people would suspect it being a soundtrack BGM. The first two lines are a given. The third one may be more debatable, the only thing that connects two OSTs is a comparative lack of vocal tracks.
Otherwise, IMHO Madoka is closer to works like Petite Cossette, Pandora Hearts and perhaps Xenosaga 2 as well. Of course, the latter two have more music to begin with, so if you want a one-cour comparison, Aquarian Age might also be an example.Also a given, although good luck defining Yuki's single best work, really.
I so far consider it one of her best works, but there's no way I expect you to take my opinion for granted. To each his own. 
). Can't say anything about KnK, I had an impression that all the tracks were released on bundled CDs, but I don't remember if there was any issue with the prologue to ARIA... (as well as the beginning of the movie itself - sadly, I liked it the least of all the KnK movies).
however its so short (around than 10secs long) so this maybe explains why they didnt released it) trhen maybe she's saving it for some ARIA live performance (like was the violin arrangement of oblivious in YK live vol 2).
