Album: Secret of Mana: Resonance of the Pure Land

Listening to this album makes me feel like I'm getting introduced to a long-lost sibling as an adult.

I never played Secret of Mana when it was new - it was never in stock at the Blockbuster; when I found ROMs as a teenager that wasn't one of the games I thought to get; it isn't one of the games where remakes keep crossing paths with systems I own (ahem, owning three different versions of Chrono Trigger). So I have no attached nostalgia to it on its own, either from when I was a kid or an adult with fewer responsibilities, but even listening to this album of remixes just does such a good job of taking me back to the era, it's amazing. It's like seeing that hypothetical sibling and finding out we're totally into the same stuff and wondering why nobody told me about this before! Having said all that, I guess I better get Collections of Mana on my Switch and see/hear it for myself.

This album is fun in my journey of OCR albums also because there are some new-to-me names like Rebecca Tripp and Jorito who've popped in to do some tracks so not only is this music I don't really know, but the styles of remixes are different as well. Something like 2-05 Beyond the Big Infinity in particular is just like... whoa! I've listened to a lot of stuff in literal decades of lurking on OCR and the first time I heard this track it just blew me away. Even noticing similarities to music I'm more familiar with was fun - the track right before that one, 2-04 Together We Will Stand feels like it has the Super Mario RPG battle music melody in the background (especially 2-01 from the SMRPG OCR album), which is more of that long-lost sibling feeling. Like, oh, yeah, we definitely came from the same place even if the paths we've taken since then didn't intersect before.

A salute to all involved for another great job.

Thanks for the quick response!

Here's your answer:

On 12/16/2017 at 4:47 AM, Jorito said:

No worries, we’re good. We’ll have your track on the album soon enough

Hi @Jorito,
I was wondering if the aforementioned track was ever added to the album?

Thank you!

@djpretzel You're welcome! I can confirm that the torrent now has halc's song. Thanks!

On 2/2/2018 at 9:33 PM, Silverpool said:

The new song by halc is not in the Secret of Mana: Resonance of the Pure Land album torrent, nor are the rest of the songs track numbers updated. I understand that the song wasn't originally on the album, but in the write up for the song in question, djpretzel says "When Secret of Mana: Resonance of the Pure Land first dropped, it didn't include this chill mellow chipjazz ReMix of "Distant Thunder" from the one and only halc, due mostly to passage of time some missed emails. Drew let us know, and we've since added it back to the album, where it rightly belongs."

Just letting you guys know that it isn't there as of today.

@Silverpool @Liontamer Thanks for bringing this to my attention; Larry had provided an updated torrent, but I hadn't yet gone live with it. It's up now, but the old one is still seeding as well until it dies out by attrition, since we get most of our seeders from the initial album release announcement(s).

The new song by halc is not in the Secret of Mana: Resonance of the Pure Land album torrent, nor are the rest of the songs track numbers updated. I understand that the song wasn't originally on the album, but in the write up for the song in question, djpretzel says "When Secret of Mana: Resonance of the Pure Land first dropped, it didn't include this chill mellow chipjazz ReMix of "Distant Thunder" from the one and only halc, due mostly to passage of time some missed emails. Drew let us know, and we've since added it back to the album, where it rightly belongs."

Just letting you guys know that it isn't there as of today.

No worries, we’re good. We’ll have your track on the album soon enough

@Jorito thanks man. Im sorry if i came off as angry or vitriolic but my mind is not in a good place atm and im kinda releasing my pain in places it doesnt belong. I appreciate your candor and helping me be a part of this awesome project. Larry has my wav and comments so all should be well and good whenever the changes go live. Being ex-staff and director i understand the struggle and effort these projects take and im sorry if i personally offended or downgraded the effort you put in, my mind is very clouded at the moment. Thanks again for working with me and im glad i can still be a part of this album. ♡

I've yet to give the album a proper listen, but I had a quick skip around and grabbed a few tracks for my chill playlist. From that impression, it seems a lot of the tracks have nice percussion stuff. Cool, and it adds some cohesion to the album.

Excited to see this album released! From the tracks I've listened to so far, everyone has done a great job with one of the best RPG soundtracks of all time. Major kudos to everyone. Look forward to streaming the rest of the album.

@halc: It would have definitely helped if we would have had the actual track and could have actually contacted you. It's always sad to have to drop a track for reasons such as that; I'd rather have more good music on the album than less. Hit me up with your track, and we can take things from there!

20 minutes ago, halc said:

Would have been cool if the song I made for this like 7-8 years ago was actually on the album... yet instead one of the best sources in the game imo was omitted. :/

Hey Drew, we'll look into it. When a project goes through 2 or 3 different hands, it's not shocking a track got misplaced; not sure how it happened, but I'm sure it's an honest mistake. If you have a WAV or at least an MP3, holler, and we'll see what we can work out with Jorito as well.

Would have been cool if the song I made for this like 7-8 years ago was actually on the album... yet instead one of the best sources in the game imo was omitted. :/

• Preview Secret of Mana: Resonance of the Pure Land: http://youtu.be/DYlf2HK-Vt4
• Download Secret of Mana: Resonance of the Pure Land: http://mana.ocremix.org
• Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Secret_of_Mana_-_Resonance_of_the_Pure_Land.torrent

Welcome to the Secret of Mana album, a project that was started way back in 2011. Kicking life back into a project that has lain dormant for so long normally isn't easy, but when you're talking about a game that is as beloved as Secret of Mana, magic definitely can happen!

Growing up, I never owned a Super Nintendo, but that didn't stop me from playing and enjoying a lot of SNES RPGs. Of course, I did play and beat Secret of Mana, and I still have "Fond Memories" of the game and its music. Especially the calm, sad songs and the whale sounds are still imprinted in my mind, and instantly bring back memories of good times and bouts of nostalgia.

Even though the album restart had its fair share of hiccups/problems, I can't help but be incredibly proud of how it all turned out. Big kudos to the artists who really stepped up their game and created these very diverse and creative but still very recognizable interpretations of the world and sounds of the Secret of Mana, and also to Tabby, who really caught the essence of Mana in her beautiful artwork. I'm sure you'll enjoy listening to it just as much as we enjoyed creating it!

- Jorrith Schaap (Jorito)

The Secret of Mana has always had a special place in my heart -- one of my favorite games of all time. This was one of the first RPGs I ever completed and I've played through this game many, many times since then. The soundtrack for this game has always made me think of the beauty and diversity of nature and the careful balance that maintains them. To me, each track conveys an aspect of this world of Mana and since the center of nature in this world is the Mana Tree, it only made sense that the theme of our album would revolve around the sounds you might hear in the forest surrounding this world-supporting tree -- the Resonance of the Pure Land.

All the remixers have brought their own resonance to this project, often taking their remixes in completely different directions than I expected -- I think this gives the album a distinctly unique flavor that still reflects the themes and values in the game itself. It has been an amazing experience to have worked with such talented and diverse musicians and with Jorrith on directing. I learned a heck of a lot from everyone, enjoyed watching this project grow, and I'm happy I was able to be part of it. I hope you will enjoy this album and hope it becomes as much as classic for you, the listener, as the Secret of Mana itself.

- Mike Postans (The Nikanoru)