Crimson Dragon

[Jormungand]

This album represents a watered-down, Hollywoodized version of the real Crimson Dragon soundtrack which we may never hear (outside of its use in Crimson Dragon: Side Story). The original version was composed and produced solely by Saori Kobayashi over a year ago. This version was produced solely by Jeremy Garren.

There are many differences, but the most obvious would be the percussion (now the overdone epic pseudo-ethnic big drum sound) and the addition of other live instruments, the most offensive being instances of the duduk (because duduk = "instant exoticism" to Western game and film producers) and the unwelcome and totally inappropriate electric guitar. There's the pointless pint-sized chorale as well.

Some of Kobayashi's music was thrown out entirely, including the beautiful "Camp" music. Other music which does appear in the game does not appear on this album, such as the "Mission Accomplished" music.

One especially notable omission is that of Yumiko Takahashi, the original vocalist for the game. Her voice is nowhere to be heard, and therefore the authentic Japanese folksong flavor is lost.

That's disturbing enough, but it gets worse. The crediting on this album is not entirely accurate. Garren is the only one credited to tracks 8, 9, 11, and 15, but all use the main theme composed by Kobayashi (and in quite an obvious way). If Microsoft credited Garren this way, it's their mistake. If Garren provided his work to MS and it was already credited this way, then it's plagiarism.

To anyone considering purchasing this album, do consider that the original composer won't see a cent. At best this is a (bad) doujin album, a "fan" remix of the real Crimson Dragon soundtrack.

[Phonograph]

plagiarism can be reported?
to some international organism or whatever? (just a general question, not really related to this work)

[Psychonotes]

Wish we had a Like system, so I could Like your comment way the hell up, and I posted much the same thing in the Saori Kobayashi thread. I do have to say, once I got over my initial disappointment at Microsoft for instigating changes to Kobayashi's original material, I'm not *as* down on this album as I was at first. It's basically an arranged album, that at least preserves Kobayashi's melodic and harmonic ideas. But there's no question that her distinctive voice has been significantly diluted by the Hollywood-style homogenization treatment the music's been given, and it's a damn shame.

As for the crediting issue, I wouldn't read much into that. Credits in games are always a peculiar and politically fraught process that often don't represent the reality of who did what. For whatever reason, the tracks which represent direct recreations of Kobayashi's originals are credited to her and Garren, and tracks Garren newly composed are given to him, even though he liberally uses Kobayashi's motifs. I doubt Garren had anything to do with the way MS credited him for the album release, but I do think the credits on the page here should reflect Kobayashi's role in her "uncredited" tracks.

[MiLO]

So basically the soundtrack in its un-edited form is present in Crimson Dragon: Side Story. So anyone who wants to hear what Saori Kobayashi's original compositions were like should do a gamerip or play that game of course.