As I type this I’m rocking out to Nobuo Uematsu’s “Man with the Machine Gun”, performed by himself and the rest of the Black Mages. Let’s hope no one is watching cause I will look rather silly. Music makes us feel so much emotion, be it from the terrifying instrumental piece from Jaws to the dreary tones of Coronation Street, music has an effect. So it is important to get it right for the audience to feel excited, scared or even upset.
The Final Fantasy series is the first to spring to mind for me when I think of video game OSTs. Beautiful, haunting, dramatic, inspiring, funny, romantic, the list goes on with the themes each game OST holds. Nobuo Uematsu is one of my favourite composers because of how he makes me feel when I’m listening to a piece he has written. At the moment “Liberi Fatali” is on my iTunes and I’m transported back to the opening FMV of Final Fantasy VIII. Squall picks up his gunblade from the ground and charges at Siefer… I’m right there again for the first time, back in my bedroom in Ireland during my summer holidays 1999. Goosebumps and all. This man has created a opera masterpiece in three minutes and eight seconds of music. It’s truly stunning and makes me want to fire up the PlayStation One again and live Squall and co’s adventure once more.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s9f-M45toE[/youtube]
It’s not just Final Fantasy Uematsu has composed for. His career is 26 years old and his music has featured in games such as “Lost Odyssey”, “Chrono Trigger”, and recently “The Last Story” and “Lord of Arcana”. He left Square Enix in 2004, but still does freelance work for them. The man has achieved so much in his lifetime and I hope he continues to thrill and move us for many years to come. My dream come true would be being in an audience surrounded by Final Fantasy fans, young and old, watching a talent such as Uematsu and The Black Mages perform classic pieces such as “One Winged Angel”, “Otherworld” and of course “Man with the Machine Gun”. I urge anyone who hasn’t listened to The Black Mages to go and Youtube them right now. The original music pieces are of course amazing, but listening to them in a rock ballad style is out of this world.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4SSDXFB_90[/youtube]
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