LoZ Tribute Week: Crowning Music of Awesome ~ Dragon Roost Island

Due to errors on my part, todays article is late. I apologize.

     Welcome to The Legend of Zelda Tribute week here on Lost in the Music. I would like to thank Jessica Harris (you can commission her here) for her amazing title card. This week I will be looking at the following albums.

Monday: ZREO~ The Wind Waker

Tuesday: The Triforce of Bass ~ The Gamechops

Today: Crowning Music of Awesome ~ Dragon Roost Island

Thursday: Beyond Audio-dome ~ Majora's Mask vs Ocarina of Time

     I love this song. Dragon Roost Island is straight up my favourite track from the Wind Waker. I know what I said on Monday regarding the ZREO version and I stand by my statement. But of the original music from the game, Dragon Roost Island is in my opinion, the best song on the album. However being a great song does not necessarily mean it meets the criteria to be a Crowning Music of Awesome. Holding Out For a Hero is an okay song, but given the context when it was playing, it was perfect. Dragon Roost Island however fills the criteria because when you first hear the song, you become immersed in this tropical island.

Dragon Roost Island does away with the typical mid level fantasy style of music found in the series. While the songs have always fit their environment, for the first few songs you hear in the game doesn't stray to far from the Zelda “comfort zone”. The pirate theme could be set to a group of inept thieves living in Castle Town and while Windfall Island has a seaside town feel to it, it doesn't truly embrace the tropical feel of the game. Even the Ocean theme is more akin to wandering Hyrule Field then travelling the ocean. Yes it has some feelings of being on the sea, but it doesn't truly embrace the ocean faring feel of the game.

That is until we get to Dragon Roost Island.

The moment we approach the island and hear the music pick up, you know Koji Kondo and his team was waiting for the right moment to bring the player into the game. This isn't the same Hyrule you know from the past. This ocean world is your new playground to explore. Instead of exploring lush rolling fields and barren deserts, you explore the ocean to uncover relics of the past. Or rupee's.

Dragon Roost Island became the fan favourite the same way the Song of Storms did back when Ocarina of Time first debuted. Like Song of Storms/Windmill Hut, it is a catchy theme that has captured the fans attention. They are both great songs, but you wouldn’t want it to be the main theme. These songs are reserved for special occasions. That is what is important about these songs.

Since the Nintendo 64, The Legend of Zelda team has always made their music uniquem no two tracks are the same. In Castle Town, the music is very uplifitng, medieval market feel. It is drastically different from the music you hear in Kakariko village which is more quiet, reserved and subdued then its “big city” counterpart. There is very little similarities between songs which is what makes the Zelda OST's special.

In the end, Dragon Roost Island is a Crowning Music of Awesome because it brings you into the game. It makes you embrace the tropical island, ocean exploration feel that is The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker.

This Daimo Mac and I am lost in the music.