More Friends music from FINAL FANTASY - Final Fantasy Orchestra Concert in Los Angeles 2005 Customer Reviews

Not having the chance to attend the concert itself, this is definitely worth having in the collection. You can feel the nostalgia as the orchestra strum through the melodies and songs that you've listened before on the consoles. Only prettier. Opening up with FFVII's "Bombing Mission" is quite appropriate. RIKKI and Emiko reprise their respective songs, especially a small surprise from Emiko-san on "Melodies". "Maria and Draco" from FFVI is wonderful and fans FINALLY (pun intended) hear how the opera would've end had not for gaming hijinks. The three chosen for the roles do an excellent job on their roles. Though it'd be interesting to hear it in Japanese. However, nothing beats hearing the Black Mages, the World Festival Symphony Orchestra, and CSUF Singers go at it with "ADVENT - One-Winged Angel" on closing. Those knowing their FF music trivia will know what those cheers mean in the middle of the piece. Slightly rushed towards the end of the song but, hey, it's "ADVENT- OWA"! In full orchestral plus choir AND rock!

Ladies and gentlemen, do yourselves a favor and purchase this gem of musical accomplishment. Like 20020220, this album will leave listeners breathless with live renditions of beautiful music from Final Fantasy. Examples of work such as this ensure Nobuo Uematsu's rightful place alongside legendary video game composers of our era such as Koji Kondo and Yuzo Koshiro, as well as the great musical minds of history. The complexity and solid structure of the score guarantee a marvelous experience for fans and musical connoisseurs alike. Vocals provided by Emiko Shiratori and RIKKI easily match if not surpass the standard of quality set by their original recordings. Don't miss your chance to own this excellent CD.

The music on this disc is great. One notable mention on this disc is the FFVI orchestra scene that is being done live. If you're a fan of that scene you should definitely check it out. However, since I actually attended the concert I was quite disappointed by the decision of several things being taking out. First of all, the MC is nowhere to be found. Unlike the 2002002 version of the concert in Japan, the publisher decided to take out the MC. This kind of created a stale mood where you just hear people clapping at the beginning and end of the track. Also, there was one track they played in the concert that was taken out on this DISC. It was one of the songs I look forward to actually listening to when I bought the disc. I forgot what the track is called but it had the orchestra and Black Mages play together at the same time. The reason they took that out is probably because the two groups were out of sync in 3-4 attempts before they got it right. Nobuo Uematsu seemed frustrated and walked back stage for a few seconds before one of the Black Mage members grabbed him back out. All in all, while the music are spectacular, it is just not the same "live" experience I was looking for.

I love Final Fantasy almost as much as I love Nintendo. Hearing many of these tracks brought back great memories of the series for me, especially when the opera scene from FFVI played. It brought tears to my eyes! No other scene from any game captured me as much as this one. To hear it "Live" on cd makes me feel like I was in LA for this concert.

This CD was an excellent collection of some of Uematsu's greatest works. It gives fans who weren't able to make it to the "Dear Friends" concert to hear Uematsu's works live. All the songs were recorded nicely and the melodies almost sound like they weren't even live. It gives fans a chance to hear Uematsu's works in a different light. The wonderful thing about this CD is that it includes some of The Black Mages' music, which is Uematsu's band. I'm sure that many fans are curious as to what they sound like. So this is their chance! This CD is an excellent buy. Grab it before it's gone!