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Nobuo Uematsu Splitting With Square Enix
FreyarHunter writes "According to Gamespot, Nobuo Uematsu and Square will be separating. Nobuo was the person responsible for the mostly awe-inspiring music for the Final Fantasy games.
The report indicates that he will be moving to a company called "Smile Please". While this was first thought to be a rumor it was later announced on Uematsu 's fansite that it is true.
He states that it isn't "quitting", but more of a graduation. There are hints in this article saying he will still do work for Square, but at his own pace. The good news is that he still plans to write more music for video games, perform more concerts, and produce the second Black Mages Album."
I ran the usual suspects (Google, etc.) but I can't find any good info on Black Mages. I mean, WITHOUT it being a video_game_walkthrough.txt.
So what is this "First Black Mages Album?" Anyone have a link to a site with some samples? I know _I_ love the music, and would be interested in hearing more.
-theGreaterUninformedPublic.
It sounds to me like there's a good chance that some of his music can show up in a wider variety of work now. To me, this can only mean more games with fantastic music. If there's one thing that can add to a game, it's music and the environment it can help create. Seems to be a win-win all around. (I assume it's too late for half-life 2 to get some, eh? 'kidding')
Hope this isn't offtopic, but it is on my mind (since I'm listening to it at work). This website: http://www.ocremix.org/ posts remixes of classic titles. I especially like the Chronotrigger remixes, but it has A LOT of Final Fantasy remixes as well. Most of them are a big salute to Nubuo Uematsu's original mixes. Hope the people who care enough to read this article enjoy the remixes as much as I do.
I think not.
There are several albums that 'regroup' the various music, although most of them are arranged or orchestrated.
'20020220 music from FINAL FANTASY' is a two-disc recording of the February 2002 concert performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. It's got music from all the FF games from the first to the tenth, although the later ones (especially like FF8) get more play time than the earlier ones.
'Final Fantasy 1987-1994' is a collection of songs taken from various arrange albums (like Celtic Moon and Dear Friends) during that period.
There are also 'N Generation' and 'S Generation', which are North-American collections of FF songs broken into two periods (the 'N Generation' being the Nintendo period and the 'S Generation' being the Sony one). I think some of the songs on these are arranged, but i'm not sure.
'FINAL FANTASY SONG BOOK mahoroba' is a vocal album with songs from different Final Fantasy games being sung by Manami Kiyota.
If Vocal Collections count, there are two or three of those, and, while they're entirely arranged and have added lyrics, they're probably my favourite albums out of all the ones i've mentioned so far. They're pretty rad.
And then the only other ones i know of are the 'POTION' albums (there's two of them), which i think are just compilations of arranged versions of the most relaxing songs from Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy: The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Perform The Music of Nobuo Uematsu
There's also a bunch of other soundtracks for the individual games at Amazon, though they're mostly imports.
--
These aren't the droids you're looking for.
One thing to note for Japanese jobs - people in Japan do not job jump as much as we do in the US. In Japan - moving around too much (company to company) is bad for the resume. So when someone leaves a company - it tends to be a big deal.
Ahh FF1 - still my favorite all time...Though FFX is tied or a close second...have yet to play FFX-2, and I won't play FF online due to the monthly membership costs and the fact that they delete your account if you neglect to pay for one month.
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
Frankly, I love Uematsu's work but I'm happy to see him move on to other things and pursue his own interests and goals; I think he's earned the ability to do it. Besides, I see him doing for Square Enix' Final Fantasy music what Amano has been doing all along for their character design: Inspirational pieces from which the main themes are based (particularly those melodies that recur throughout the game, like the Zanarkand theme from FFX or Melodies of Life from FFIX).
Here's to more "inspired by" or arranged albums like The Black Mages, Pray, Love Will Grow, and Celtic Moon, too (I was disappointed at the offering in this department for Final Fantasy X; maybe now it will come out of the woodwork). It sounds to me like Mr. Uematsu retains some rights -- or still has very good relationships with Square Enix -- to continue re-recording those old works, which suits me plenty fine.
I know others have mentioned it in this thread, but do have a look at OCRemix.org and VGMix.com. Both have some very nice remixes of FF music. (OCRemix even has a remix of the FF6 theme in homage to Uematsu from Jeremy Soule, composer for quite a few recent games.) Finally, for the original stuff, I'd suggest having a look at Zophar's Domain. One of the reasons I still use WinAmp and not iTunes or such is for the SNESAmp plugin to play the SNES SPC files.
Uematsu has basically decided to go freelance.
Many ex-Square composers are now freelance.
Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, Xenosaga, etc.)
Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy Tactics, Breath of Fire V, Gradius V, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, etc.)
Yoko Shiminoura (Legend of Mana, Parasite Eve, Kingom Hearts, etc.)
Kenji Ito (Romancing Saga, Saga Frontier, etc.)
Over the past few years Uematsu has been "phased out," if you will, from the Final Fantasy series. He didn't do much for FFX (there were two other composers on the game as well) and IIRC had no involvement on FFX-2. Other than the "Memory" song and the harp prelude in FFXI, Uematsu was only listed as producer. For FFXII I don't even think he's involved (please correct me if I'm wrong). He obviously wants to do other projects -- a few years ago, the CD "Phantasmagoria," and now the Black Mages album -- and is probably taking a hint from other high-profile game industry names (composers, producers, the head artistic people) leaving the large corporations like Square Enix and forming their own small, independent companies, and working on a freelance basis. Uematsu gets more time to produce what he wants with his name on it when he wants, and Square Enix still gets their Uematsu music, just on a freelance basis.
A word of warning: the album mentioned above sucks. Big time. I wish I had read these reviews before wasting my money... (and yes, it is the same album - "Perform the Music of Nobuo Uematsu" is "A Musical Tribute" repackaged and with one extra and sucky track).
You'd be much better with "The N Generation" and "The S Generation" albums - compilations of songs from several arranged japanese albums. They were domestic releases, so finding them at decent prices through eBay is not too hard. Heck, I've seen new copies of them in my local SamGoodie: look for them in the soundtrack section.
If that doesn't work, then your best shot is going to Animenation.com or some other import store and look for the compilation albums. lav-chan's suggestions are pretty good (I'd go with 20020220).
If I recall, this is how LucasArts started sliding too. Their best composer left just as the games started going downhill...
A strain of paranoid prevention can be worse than the disease, whate'er the intention.
I saw it coming too... Another sign was Sakaguchi leaving Square to create Mist Walker. Sakaguchi had expressed a desire to work with old pal Yoshitaka Amano, so I figured that a collaboration with Uematsu wouldn't that far behind, as well. Uematsu going freelance would give him the possibility to work with Sakaguchi without him burning bridges with Square. Chances are Mist Walker's first project will have Uematsu onboard.
(and that said, I wouldn't be surprised if Uemeatsu collaborated in Final Fantasy XIII - Square has no problems working with freelance composers).
reminds me of the vacuous big hair metal bands of the 80's.
For something different, Machinae Supremacy instead. Nothing beats screaming guitars backed by a SID6581...
Not only that, MS have free downloads in ogg format...
Like many around here, I have stacks and stacks of RPG's that I've played through (and still playing, just picked up Dragon Quarter) through my life, but I just cannot understand why people put this guy on a pedestal. While a lot of his music is good, a lot of it is essentially elevator music. Also, have you heard some of the stuff that he has put out seperate from video games? I once gave a listen to his album 'Phantasmagoria,' and it was quite awful . . .