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Album Information Reviewer Rank
Legend of Zelda: Sound & Drama
Published by: Sony Records
Release Date: June 22nd 1994

Composed by: Koji Kondo
Arranged by: Yoshiyuki Ito, Masumi Ito

2 Discs, 49 Tracks
Catalog: SRCL-2940~1
82

Reviewed by: Ersatz Sobriquet

Now this is something a Nintendo fan can be happy about. Nintendo gives you two CD's. On the first CD, you have the arranged tracks, selected ones, from Zelda 3. On the second CD, you have the OST from Zelda 1 and 3, the two best Zelda's there are. A very nice treat Nintendo gave us.

Unlike the Metroid Sound in Action, I actually enjoyed the original OST of Zelda 1. I actually enjoyed listening to Death Mountain and the Overworld theme in all its four channel glory. Reminded me of better days.

Hearing the melodies that came out of the SNES was such a treat at the time, though. Hearing Kakariko Village was something that I wasn't expecting. The melody was there, the feeling of serenity, everything was perfect with that song.

The Goddess Appears is a nice little melody that plays around on the harp. Very nice and soothing. Finally a song that is played on the harp that doesn't remind me of Final Fantasy.

Hyrule Castle is also another song that showed what the SNES was capable of. Simulated the horn sound pretty well and the melody and the background brass section is pretty nice as well.

The arranged version they treated you with on the first disc is where the real meat of the whole album goes to. They re-did the Overworld theme, not surprisingly. It's very powerful, with proper drum hits here and there. Hyrule Castle is also done well, a nice string ensemble with a nice brass section, though sounding a bit weaker than normal.

Probably the stand-out song is the newly re-done Theme Of The Guessing Game House. A song I wouldn't have thought would be done over. I love the violins throughout the song all the way to the climatic violin solo which builds the song to new heights. A nice way to end the song.

The last song on the album is a 17 minute piece of music and acting. The battle Link has in getting Zelda back. Since I kind of don't know Japanese, I don't know what is going on at all. I do know Link talks to himself a lot and that Ganon took Zelda after a fight. There's a lot of heavy breathing and gasps of air as if they're going to die at any moment when they talk. I don't know what that's all about. It does sounds familiar, like in the anime's, but it was way too much panting going on here.

It's a solid album, and if you never happened to add a Zelda album into your collection, I couldn't think of a better one to introduce yourself to. This one is a classic with all the classic themes to keep you interested.

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