And for today... I bring you!
Professor Layton & the Bay Harbor Butcher
I believe this murder can be solved... WITH A PUZZLE!
Sites - Home Page. Bandcamp. Facebook.
Type of Album - Video game rock covers featuring an accordian!
Genres - Video Game Music. Rock. Alternative.
Favorite Songs - Running (Mega Man Battle Network) and Tyrian The Level (Tyrian)
Review - Today is a great day in Video Game Band Awareness! Why is that I might add? Because I get to review another magical and awesome album!
But what's so special about this? Beyond it being pretty damn good, this album and review thereof is hopefully a large fire underneath me to get this blog going again... BUT ENOUGH ABOUT THAT! Let's get on with the review.
First off, what's the story behind the album? I took a bit of time to look into this, and this is what I found out. Careless Juja was originally an act consisting of TWO guys... Codename Careless (of Random Encounter) and Codename Juja (of himself). They met online and began to make beautiful music together. Eventually they met in person, struck up even MORE music, and continued onwards into greatness! Now, keep in mind, they're a duo (and randomly sometimes a larger group) that seems to only rarely meet like when a unicorn fights a slightly rarer version of a unicorn. So they don't often get together, but when they do, it's pretty magical. (There's also a pretty epic/amazing/crazy story that goes into the album's making. You get a PDF copy when you purchase it from bandcamp. I won't reveal it here, but it's worth a read!)
Secondly, Careless Juja threw up a Kickstarter back in late 2013 to produce a new album, Professor Layton & the Bay Harbor Butcher. (link here) Basically, they had most of the material together, but they needed the funding to make their wondrous vision a true reality in sparkling high definition CD! With some help of some cool people (Sad to say, I wasn't part of it this time...), they were successful and created the great musical album I'm here to review today!
Now we finally come to the part where I actually review it!
Starting off, this is a pretty large album! For video game music standards, were' looking at 25 tracks if you get the full experience with all the goodies. Keep in mind, some of these are short-style, bonus-type tracks, but it's still a pretty large selection.
When you first being the trek of this album, you're greeted with a very humorous little track involving various animated characters speaking about the successful Kickstarter to fund the album. It's mostly in thanks but pretty funny what all variety goes down. I won't spoil who is all there, but it's definitely worth a listen while going through the album for a good chuckle. Then you're smacked in the face with the title track... and you realize the journey has just begun.
Now, I'll be honest. I didn't get the reference from the album at first, but I just looked it up. It's a cross-reference between Professor Layton (clearly) and Dexter (not as clearly cause I never watched it). Regardless of the lack of reference knowledge, it's still an enjoyable song.
Then we charge into the multitude of great video game music! I could go every single song in detail, but as per my usual standard and rule, that would be a bit much. Instead, I'll list up the songs on the album and highlight some of the greater awesomes and surprises contained within.
In order by track...
- An Introduction... From the Future! (Lots of animated character references here. Namely... "future" ones.)
- Professor Layton & the Bay Harbor Butcher ( Professor Layton mixed with Dexter)
- Puzzle Theme (Professor Layton)
- Electric De Chocobo (Final Fantasy VII)
- Birth of a God (Final Fantasy VII)
- Devil's Lab (Final Fantasy VI) - Easily one of my favorite songs from FFVI!
- Safe Chambers (Resident Evil 1 & 2)
- Ending Theme (Resident Evil)
- Running (Mega Man Battle Network) - Looooove it!
- Tyrian the Level (Tyrian) - Super unexpected and a huge treat.
- Battle Theme 2 (Chrono Trigger)
- Battle Theme 1 (Chrono Trigger)
- SeinSnail'd (Snailiad)
- Lux Lirata (Snailiad)
- Bout (Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!)
- Corneria (Star Fox)
- Protomans' Castle (Mega Man V)
- Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode (Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode) - Pretty straightforward there.
- Miss You (Random Encounter) - It seems that our friends the Random Encounter has made an appearance! Not a surprise considering Careless is a member of that band.
- Onett (Earthbound) - Earthbound is always a treat~
- Miss You [Instrumental] (Random Encounter
- Sherlock Holmes Variety Hour - This and the following 3 tracks are all featured from a web show parody bit involving Sherlock Holmes. I watched it to see what was up. Not really my thing, but I'm not much for Youtube-style shows. The music is good and catchy though~
- Sherlock Holmes Variety Hour [slow]
- Sherlock Holmes Variety Hour [rock]
- Reporter Marcus (Sherlock Holmes Variety Hour)
There you have it! All twenty five tracks listed out and with identifying parenthesis to identify what they're from. I'd like to say I'm incredibly happy with the variety here. I realize it's hard to resist sometimes, but it's nice to see an album that isn't all just the core set of video game music cover-y. Even worse is when someone does the core set of video games, and then they set up for the even MORE core set. (IE doing Mega Man 2 versus any other Mega Man title or... Maybe I'm just nitpicking.) Regardless, it's nice to see a large variety like those above!
As for special mentions, I'm going to start with a track that came with super impeccable and awesome timing. Running from Mega Man Battle Network was just such a pleasant surprise that I didn't know how to react. On top of that, Mega Man Battle Network had just seen a release on the WiiU online store. (They've been re-releasing GBA games on there because that's such a great use of the WiiU's power.) I was playing through it, and then I got this album and... BAM! Greatness achieved.
Following that track was an even GREAT surprise to see a Tyrian cover! I don't always play shoot-um ups, but when I do, Tyrian is easily the top on my list. That game has such great music that I would start it up right now purely for the music. (You can actually buy that album on Bandcamp right here, or get the full game for FREE on gog.com by simply opening an account.) Do yourself a favor and go play it. Classic shoot-um up that holds up even today!
And like previously stated in the listing, the Earthbound track for Onett makes an appearance and proves that Earthbound is always a treat. That game is easily one of the greater SNES RPGs (among a list of many, many great SNES RPGs), and it's a personal favorite for purely the setting. Not many games have been able to pull off the modern-ish setting without throwing in so much fantasy it isn't funny. Only other series I can think of that comes close is Shadow Hearts. (Great looking series but only played the second one. Need to get back on track though!)
Among the special mentions comes a game I ended up looking into since I was clueless about it. Snailiad is a browser game that plays something along the lines of Metroid with Snails. I wasn't sure when I first loaded it up, but I gave it a bit of time and it surprised me. The game was genuinely fun, interesting mechanics with the snail wall climb-ary, and offered a challenge here and there. The music was good too, so I can see why they decided to cover it. I'd give the game more time now, but I just can't seem to spare what time to do what I want as is.
The final mention I'd have is for Devil's Lab. Now... pardon the next statement, but for one who doesn't love Final Fantasy VI as much as the REST of the Final Fantasy community, this is easily my favorite song from the game. I've heard a couple different variances on the cover of the song, and I enjoy all of them! It's a nice evil, brooding laboratory vibe and sound going on. I like it. I really do. Just... not as much in love with the game as other people. /end that thought
Now, as I've said before, I'm not the best at like describe the musical characteristics of the tracks. I will say that, much like in Random Encounter, I do greatly enjoy the accordion being on board. It just works so well with so many video game songs! Beyond the accordion, the song covers are mostly along the sound of rock music.
I can admit... I don't love every song, but that's because I'm unfamiliar with the soundtracks of some of the games included. Despite that though, I will say I enjoyed every single song on the album in one way or another. Just more connected to those I know versus the ones I don't.
Thus, in the end, I'd say that Careless Juja brings us a great video game music cover album. You got a great selection of songs done in the rock style with the addition of the accordion. Once again, I've found myself in another video game rock album that I can't NOT like! I look forward to purchasing their other album (Pixel Glass) and future releases from this crazy duo. If you're looking for a hot new listen in your video game band rock list, then buy you some Careless Juja and prepare to be blown away!
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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