Ys II Perfect Collection

Ys II Perfect Collection is a two-disc set released in 1990, and is basically an arrangement fest of some of the best music ever to be heard as of yet! The first CD is every single song from Ys II arranged by Ryo Yonemitsu (the composer of Ys III's breathtaking score, among other things), and the second CD is a few songs from Ys I, II and III arranged in vocal, jazz, hard rock and classical styles, with live performances by several artists including Falcom's own JDK Band. All in all, it's an Ys II music fan's dream come true.)

The first disc's music utilizes extremely high-quality synths and an occasional recorded guitar solo mixed into the song. The result is an Ys rock fest, in crisp, full stereo. The compositions themselves are amazing, especially when one realizes this CD is from 1990 and the game is from 1987. The style of the music is often quite reminiscent of the '80s too, which makes for a fun little throwback! The arrangements repeat enough to get a good feel for the songs, so you get some good listening pleasure out of the arrangements.

Disc 2 is a varied CD in terms of music style, but all the tracks are very well performed and flow into each other nicely. The CD kicks of with an a capella rendition of "A Still Time" which makes this already beautiful song even better. There are a couple of Super Arrange tracks next, followed by three Classical versions. "Theme of Chester" is a rockin' song, using synth and live drums and guitar.

The vocal song on track 7, "Smile Again" is one of the best songs I have ever heard. Half the song is in English, and the lyrics are great. The vocalist is good, and the ballad style of the song is well fitting. But the guitar solos in the middle and end of the song are what makes this song truly stand out. They are some of the most emotional and moving solos ever! Absolutely grand.

The remaining tracks are JDK Band songs, both of which are great (hey, it's JDK!).

There is no mistaking it, Ys II Perfect Collections is a classic album that has been surpassed by only a few lone soundtracks even to this day (and this set is 11 years old now!). Go out and find it on eBay, yahoo, or in the marketplace board right at this website. You won't regret it.

Ys II Perfect Collection was produced before Ys Book I and II was made for the Turbografx-16 CD. If you are looking for the soundtrack of the TG-16 CD version of Ys Book I and II, this CD set is not it. For the actual TG-16 CD soundtrack, simply put the game CD into a good CD player and skip the first track.

Almost all the tracks heard in Ys II for the TG-16 CD are on disc 1 of the set, but in arranged form. I feel that most of these arrangements are very good, some even better than the TG-16 CD versions. There are a few tracks that sound considerably different from their TG-16 counterparts, such as "Subterranean Canal", "Companile of Lane", and "Pressure Road".

On disc 2 are two vocal tracks, both of which are enjoyable to listen to, even if one does not understand the Japanese lyrics. In addition, there are three new age tracks. These tracks are simply classical interpretations, using strings and the piano. The remaining tracks are all additional arragements and are all worth listening to.

For the person who has not played the TG-16 CD game but is interested in Falcom music and the J.D.K. band, this CD set is a good starter. Ys II music is predominantly rock or heavy metal in flavor, with a few other musical styles employed. Falcom seems to do a good job composing music that can work well with any instrumentation or can be set to lyrics, as this CD set demonstrates.

If you are only interested in traditional Falcom-style arrangements, buying this CD set is somewhat of a waste, since disc 1 has the arranged tracks while disc 2 contains other musical variants. You should buy this CD only if you are willing to listen to disc 2's contents, as I have described them. I for one think it is a solid purchase.