Nobuo Uematsu
Final Fantasy VIII Vinyl

Listening notes

Released in 2015 under the Square Enix Music label, the Final Fantasy VIII Vinyl presents a selection of Nobuo Uematsu's score from the 1999 role-playing game across a double LP format. Issued with the catalog number SQEX-10519~20, the release falls within the genres of soundtrack, stage and screen, and video game music.

The set spreads twenty-seven tracks across four sides. Side A opens with "Liberi Fatali" and moves through "Balamb Garden," "Blue Fields," "Don't Be Afraid," "Find Your Way," and "The Landing," the last of which runs to four minutes and thirty-six seconds and is the longest track on that side. Side B is notably the most densely programmed of the four, carrying ten tracks including "Force Your Way," "The Loser," "Never Look Back," "Dead End," "Breezy," "Shuffle Or Boogie," "The Man With The Machine Gun," "My Mind," "Succession Of Witches," and "The Stage Is Set."

Side C contains six tracks, among them "Premonition," "Fragments Of Memories," "Fisherman's Horizon," "The Oath," "Ride On," and "Compression Of Time." Side D closes the album with four of the longer pieces on the release: "The Legendary Beast" at five minutes and fifty seconds, "Maybe I'm A Lion" at five minutes and thirty-five seconds, "The Extreme" at six minutes and forty-five seconds, and the "Ending Theme" at five minutes and forty seconds. The total runtime across all four sides reflects a substantial program of music.

This draft has not been reviewed for accuracy and is intended for editorial fact-checking prior to publication.