CAL -The Eternal Beautiful Girls-
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Album Title: CAL -The Eternal Beautiful Girls- |
| Record Label: NEC Avenue |
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| Catalog No.: NACL-1082 |
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| Release Date: November 21, 1992 |
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| Purchase: Buy Used Copy |
Overview
From what I’ve gathered, CAL ~ The Eternal Beautiful Girls is the first in a series of dating simulations games or something of that sort. It’s another one of Tenpei Sato’s obscure soundtracks. Although short, it does have its gems. Read on to find out about the album.
Body
The opening theme, “The Eternal Beautiful Girls” is a very beautiful composition. Although it is a bit repetitive in execution, the development of the instruments and the melody is very pleasant. Throughout its course, you’ll hear piano, strings, and choir; however, the solo piano sections are truly the most touching. It’s a nice way to start off the album.
In addition to the opening theme, there are also a couple more beautiful compositions, such as “Tears of the Silver Bell” and “The Setting Sun of a Dancing Girl”. The former is another slow piece with a very mysterious mood. The combination of strings, woodwinds, violin, and harp create a very flowing piece. As with “The Eternal Beautiful Girls,” this track also has a lot of repetition, but as before, the development of the instruments really help to make it really enjoyable. The latter, “The Setting Sun of a Dancing Girl,” has a Spanish flair to it. The reliance solely on flamenco guitar and tambourine gives this track a very distinct sound that separates it from the remainder of the soundtrack.
There are also hints of Arabian tones within the soundtrack, namely in “A Thousand and One Nights” and “Kiss of Blood”. Unfortunately, both of these tracks are extremely repetitive. They have a nice melody, but get fairly old quickly due to the sameness in the instrumentation. There are a few developmental highlights, but they aren’t really groundbreaking.
This soundtrack also houses some rather strange compositions as well. “CAL,” the last track on the album, has an overall playful melody with the standard instrumentation. However, the vocals in this one are rather quirky. Sounding more like distorted notes than vocals, it really sets an interesting overlay to the fantastic melody. Speaking of quirky vocals, “Chess the Cat” takes the prize for having the strangest vocals ever. Before mentioning them, let me say that the track seems to have a style reminiscent of Russian tunes, however, it’s not the exact same. The melody is really enjoyable and is very playful. The vocals, though, are entirely “meows.” It makes sense, but at the same time, it may take some time to get used to.
While there are a lot of other tracks on the soundtrack with many styles, most of them are rather mediocre. However, I will end with my personal favorite on the soundtrack. “The Continent of Time” just seems to represent those days of old school sound. Extremely playful, the melody just seems to bubble along taking the listener for a ride! As the track progresses, the listener is treated to a distorted violin solo. Overall, this sort of sounds like a Gust Sound Team work, but it’s extremely pleasing!
Summary
On the whole, CAL ~ The Eternal Beautiful Girls is a very nice soundtrack. It offers a variety of gems, but at the same time, there are a lot of rather mediocre tracks. It’ll be hard to find, but I think it’s worth a purchase should you find it. There’s enough stuff on here to warrant a purchase. It’s different for Tenpei Sato, but at the same time, there are portions of it that rely on his classic sound.
Do you agree with the review and score? Let us know in the comments below!
3.5
Posted on August 1, 2012 by Don Kotowski. Last modified on August 1, 2012.
About the Author
Don Kotowski Currently residing in Philadelphia. I spend my days working in vaccine characterization and dedicate some of my spare time in the evening to the vast world of video game music, both reviewing soundtracks as well as maintaining relationships with composers overseas in Europe and in Japan.
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