by David Hsing on 9th of January, 2000
Ashita e no Yuuki
The word that describes this remix is "funky." Nothing great but it's okay. I liked the background sounds during the "ga-m-ba-re" and the "a-ki-la-me".
Hikari no Tsubasa
Quick (too quick) poping bass beat accompanied by- get this- a sped-up vocal track! I can't _believe_ they did that! I'm sorry, guys, but I'll have to use the word "suck" here. They could have just slowed down the beat and kept the vocal. I got a headache listening to this song. Good grief.
Taiyou Yori Atsui Kimochi
This song runs much in the same vein as the first song as that it sounds pretty much and feels pretty much the same as the first even when the melody is different (of course, it's a different song... supposedly). Some background sounds are a little awkward in certain spots but I like this one better than the first (even though they're kinda almost the same thing)
Verdict
Do not buy this CD, even if you're a Hikaru fan. Well, unless you're collecting Rayearth stuff or are curious about the CD.
Why
The music does not stink as much as just being just plain bland. It seems to me that D-RAM, the group that does all the MKR extra remixes, did not spend nearly enough time on the music - it just seemed rushed. None of the songs captured my attention (except the second one, but not for good reasons). All of these songs very much reminded me of game music, as in music that plays during those newer first-person shooters like Quake III or Unreal Tournament (I'm not kidding). You can go to the karaoke tracks and just imagine that you're running around some hallway blowing people up, and trust me, if you listen to the Hikari no Tsubasa Extra Remix twice in a row you'd probably FEEL like spilling bloody chunks...
So what's my honest-to-god score on the Rayearth CD extras so far?
Umi - one spectacularly awesome song, then two really STRANGE ones.
Fuu - two very nicely done songs and one that's okay (the original is too good).
Hikaru - two bland songs and one that could drive you up the wall.
Get the Fuu one for the music (and if you like Fuu), the Umi one if you take my word for it and get the CD for that one awesome song (and if you like Umi), and um, get Hikaru for whatever reason but don't expect too much in the musical department.
I wasn't expecting much when I bought this CD but, c'mon D-RAM, you guys could have done a much better job on this CD. There's simply not much volume to the music in the Hikaru remixes resulting in the songs being totally BLAH. I bet Hikaru-chan is shaking her head at the result.
