The Legend of Zelda Tribute Week ~ ZREO: The Wind Waker

     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.

Today: ZREO~ The Wind Waker

Tuesday: The Triforce of Bass ~ The Gamechops

Wednesday: Crowning Music of Awesome ~ Dragon Roost Island

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

     Orchestrated versions of video game music are without a shadow of a doubt some of the best ways to listen to video game music. Various groups have done it with the Video Game Orchestra doing their Live shows and performing for Distant Worlds while, Tour de Japon made the audience tear up with their rendition of You're Not Alone and Aeris' Theme. Even Video Games Live could be considered a modernization of an orchestra.

     So what about Legend of Zelda? Where is their orchestra? Look no further then Zelda Re-Orchestra who recently wrapped up their latest CD Twilight Symphony (Physical copies are limited so pre-order now). I came across the ZREO team a few years back and was impressed by the amount of talent this team has. They share a passion for both orchestral music and obviously the music from Legend of Zelda. Over the years, they have remade almost every Zelda Album into a orchestrated soundtrack and have it posted on their site. I would suggest grabbing them as they are free.

     Today I have chosen their Wind Waker album to cover if only because the game has remained a constant favourite of mine throughout the years. I enjoy the characters, the design, the world and even Ganondorf is made awesome in this game. Yeah some say that the sailing is tedium personified into game form, or the Triforce Hunt is the worst example of grinding in a Zelda game. I myself enjoy the sailing as it brings Zelda back to the adventuring roots and at the time is the closest you could get to a pirate game. The Triforce hunt is a pain and the less said the better.

     As much as I love the Zelda Re-Orchestrated version of Ocarina of Time, I feel that the Wind Waker is where they perfected their craft. Each song feels bigger and far more extravagant then its precursor and I love it. It's a wonderful tribute to Koji Kondo's work.

     Choosing a favourite off this album is difficult because like the original, there are many great tracks and choosing one is hard to do. I could go the easy route and claim Dragon Roost Island and the Redux version are my favourite, but that would be doing a disservice to the other songs such as Molgera, Tower of the Gods and The Legendary Hero.

     The above songs are great to listen to, but there is one song from this album that trumps them all. It would be Ocean and Ocean Redux. This is a song that is perfect for adventuring. Listenign to it makes me want to fire up my Gamecube and play Wind Waker just so I can see what it beyond the horizon. Is it a lost island, a beautiful princess or treasure worth of ten kings? This is that song. It makes it you want to travel the world in your boat so you experience this living, breathing world for yourself. The Ocean is a mystery waiting to be solved.

     Another great song is the Staff Credits song. Whereas Ocean is a song of adventure, Staff Credits is a farewell song. It is such a happy tune that we cannot help but bop your head to it and smile. This is just me, but when I hear the song, I can't help but imagine Link saying goodbye to the player and thanking us for adventuring with him, but is now time for him to go off with Tetra and the crew.

     In the end, the songs off of Wind Waker Re-Orchestrated are pretty solid. The ZREO Team did a fantastic job on it and if you are a fan of Zelda music, it would be amiss to pass this album up. You can download the ZREO catalogue at their site and if you are interested in supporting their efforts, go pre-order their Twilight Symphony CD.

     This is Daimo Mac and I am lost in the music.