COCA-7049: Dragon Tail

[XISMZERO]

An incredibly rare one these days like many in the Columbia arrange discography, I've just had the "joy" of finally hearing this one. And it's awful.

As with previous Columbia label arranges, it's hard-to-find, mostly synthesizer arranged from an equally obscure Game Boy game nobody's really cared to remember and even gives you a medley of the original music and sound library like other discs on this label.

But it doesn't save it.

There's some awful rap phrases on too many tracks and usual samples of the time thrown in from whomever arranged this album, hiding behind a pseudonym like other Columbia albums. If I had to guess, it's probably Kisho Yamanaka, who was a less-than-stellar arranger who had his hand in most of the Columbia discs. There's lots of ugly sounding synth horns, unlike the Mario Freaks albums, there's no live adlibs mixed in to give it a nice balance of game music brought to life.

Still, little redeemable things about this one -- some touches of live jazz guitar on one and wailing on most, probably by Jun Sumida.

This ended up being the last of those Columbia "Project" albums.

[Jodo Kast]

I had forgotten about this album until Xismzero was asking me about it, so I decided to re-purchase it. It took a long time to find one and the first one to pop up was complete, though at 12,000 yen. I snagged it because it'll be months to years before another complete one shows up, plus the exchange rate will not always be so kind. The obi has sun fading but the rest of it looks new. I suppose the original owner made one attempt to listen to this and then shelved it for the past 25 years.

I knew it was bad before buying it but I like the sound quality, or the mastering. The old Columbia releases are treasures, even if the arrangements are sometimes annoying.