OCR00645 - Lufia II 'Time Preserved ~ April Showers'

[orkybash]

Lufia 2 'Time Preserved ~ April Showers'

Everything about this mix is pretty damn near perfect, is I say so myself. The drums are just understated enough, the samples are high quality, the arrangement is done very well (especially the transition between the two songs), and the ambient rain effects add a lot of depth to the song. Kudos to Matt Pollard. Highly recommended.

[bartkusa]

I :D luv :D this mix too. It's a chill-out for all seasons. Except maybe Winter.

The initial rain is nice and gentle. It reminded me of McVaffe/Quasikaotich's Castlevania "Tempest" remix in form, yet it's completely opposite in function. The drums are mellow and stay out of your way as the flute and guitar give you a rubdown....

Maybe I'm getting too physical with my speakers. But I'm relaxed, dammit, to hell with what other people think...

[mDuo13]

This song is nice and mellow, with some good rainfall effects, a soothing piano, acoustic guitar, and an almost-not-there percussion that's more reminiscent of mp's darker tracks. Not fast or furious, but relaxing, and I love the chord he ends it on...

[Liontamer]

A fairly straightforward piece, but pretty chill and mellow. I'm also a sucker for rain SFX. Cool yo.

[DarkCecil13]

I remember when mp was working on this one. Wow, was that long ago. Anyway, this is a beautiful, smooth, relaxing take on the original. Must download.

[OA]

A little too generic for my tastes, as it doesn't seem to deviate much from the original in any real way, aside from the rain effects. It is a definite sound upgrade from the SNES chip, but that's basically all it is.
Production is pretty good but i think a little more panning and separation would make the whole thing shimmer a bit more.

[avaris]

Gotta agree with OA. For a mix from 2001 this still holds up well today sound quality wise. It def captures the feel of the original. The synth bass at 1:28 was a welcome addition to the soundscape, gave a nice sense of groove. Per usual mp's down tempo mixes are a nice relaxing blend of various elements that stay true to the feel of the originals.

[FlamingTP]

Review 11/1522

Acoustic guitar, piano, soft drums and a classical setup come together to form an extraordinary mix that is smooth and playable over and over again. With the added dash of a small tech beat, this is almost at the top of my massive collection.

Score 10/10 "excellent"

[DragonAvenger]

This mix holds up well. Very enjoyable and relaxing. Everything is put together nicely, although overall it doesn't deviate from the original too much. I don't see that as a bad thing with this mix, however it would have been nice to have a small original section pieced in there somewhere.

Mixed feelings about the darker section that comes in at 1:28. Feels out of place towards the rest of the mix. Not horribly out of place, just not a contrast I really expected or wanted to hear overall.

Overall, nice work.

[Rozovian]

This is indeed another one of those well-preserved (no pun intended) surprises from days of yore. Soft and pleasant. The rain works surprisingly well even in the middle of the track. A lot of tracks use effects like that for intro or outro, and often with poor results. This track uses it successfully. Overall, a successful track.

[Bahamut]

Lufia 2! I remember hearing this song way back in 2002, although I didn't remember it all that well until I listened to it again just now.

Hearing it again, I remember what put me off originally with this song. It didn't deviate terribly much from the original, and is too short. I do love the approach with the calm soothing style along with an excellent use of background instrumentation/effects, but there's quite a bit more that could've been done with this and it just seems like there's so much potential. The ending also rubs me the wrong way as well, and the samples don't hold so well.

[Rexy]

Given the thunderstorm at the start, I'm not so sure if that was the "april showers" direction taken to mind.
But with that aside, the rest of the instrumentation does help escalate that feel and present it in a fitting atmosphere. The flute countermelody at 0:52 does give in a good lease of life towards the arrangement setting, as does in parts the synth bass that shows up at 1:40 giving more ominousness to the piece, which is similarly carried on by the rest of the writing. It may not be the smoothest arrangement idea, but for 2001 it's a fine approach.

I do however think that there could've been more stereo separation within the track. The levels themselves are good though, maybe aside from the flute countermelody being slightly too loud IMO, and the sound quality managed to preserve itself well over time.

It's a good kick for Lufia fans even now; like these elder mixes don't expect anything too spectacular, but as it is for its time I found it to be not bad at all :)