I am biased, I must warn you. If I met Ms. Kanno, I would worship the ground that she walks on. I believe her to be the world's most versatile living composer. After hearing Uncharted Waters II: Special Edition, I knew I had to have this CD also.
Four of the tracks are from UWII:SE, and I was a little disappointed at the ones they picked to be on this best-of collection. However, they did pick the best one on the UWII:SE album to put on - "Catalina". This is one of the best jazz piano pieces ever written.
The songs that I didn't know, I grew to love. I am not a big "new age" fan, but there are two new age type songs here that just captivated me. The first, "Aoi Hatou", is vintage Kanno. She can just take any repeating rhythm and use it throughout a whole song and it never gets old. The second, "Yoake ~Jikan no Nakade~", is just beautiful, and also has some vintage Kanno in it as well. Kanno is really good at using nature sound effects in songs, and the sound effects of the birds chirping, along with running water, just goes perfectly with the song. The melody is simple, yet very overpowering.
Kanno also has a few piano pieces in it, one having the same sound as Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor". There is also an opera piece, where the singer overdoes it just a tad. In one other piece, Kanno combines a french melody with a spanish calypso. Very different.
My sound card has 3D sound built in, and listening to all of the songs in 3D is how this CD needs to be listened to. It's almost as if the CD was "3D enhanced".
Bottom line, except for the people who just *have* to rock, I don't see how anyone could not appreciate this CD.
Orchestral Game Concert 4
Uncharted Waters 2 Special Edition