Overview

Atelier Vocal Historia is a definitive compilation of vocal tracks from the Atelier series. It features 40 songs spread across three discs all in a very neat package. What's more, the discs are on HQCDs, which are the real deal with noticeable improvements from standard CDs. As for the music itself, it mainly ports over the vocal themes from the various games in the series, ranging right from Atelier Marie and Hermina and Culus all the way to Mana-Khemia 2 and Atelier Annie. However, there are a lot of surprises along the way, including even three exclusives.

Body

The first track "A Once-Beloved Picture Book (Vocal Version)" was originally the title theme of Atelier Marie. I knew that Rivendell — accordionist Yuka Fujino and Irish harpist Rintaro Kimura — were performing this track alongside vocalist Noriko Mitose but to my massive surprise, I discovered in the booklet that Yuka Fujino arranged this! Awesomeness! I have loved Rivendell's performances on Mana-Khemia, Volkslied 2, and Mitose's album Cotton and I really love their performances. Anyway, this track is also pure magic. Mitose, Fujino, and Kimura all perform this track so wonderfully and they all compliment each other so well. There's a real calmness an gentleness to this song. Not to mention that Mitose's vocals just melt me.

Continuing with the exclusives, the second track is "Hill of Beginnings (Vocal Version)", which was originally Atelier Marie's ending theme. Despite adding Yuki Mizusawa's vocals and Dani on electric guitar and bass, Achiwa has managed to remain pretty faithful to the original track, but at the same time, doesn't make it a carbon copy.

The third and final new song for this set is "LA FOLIA", which is sung by Haruka Shimotsuki. At first I thought this was an original song, but after relistening to the Atelier Marie soundtrack, I recognised the melody in "An Adventurer's Song". However, it may also be a vocal arrangement of Atelier Annie's final battle theme as the melody is similar there too. Regardless of the source material, I highly enjoy this track. Haruka Shimotsuki sings in her "powerful voice" alongside Dani on electric guitar and bass as well as what seem to be English choral vocals. I can't make make out every single word though. I also love the short flute segment near the beginning of the main melody. Achiwa doesn't often put flutes into his rock tracks.

I won't be talking in-depth about the rest of the songs, since they were already released and not new songs. The main reason though is that there's so many songs here, even I have my limits. Three discs worth of vocal themes is no doubt extremely impressive. However, I will make a few comments about some of them. Firstly even though I do already have most of them, it's awesome to now have them on HQCDs! Better quality is always a good thing.

"schwarzweiß is the FULL version from Revo and Haruka Shimotsuki's single! It's totally cool that they included this, but unfortunately the opening and ending of the track were unedited. On Shimotsuki's album, all three tracks were gapless, as soon as one track ended, the next immediately began. They didn't edit the track here so the track abruptly starts and ends. "Treasure Words" was a little disappoinmentt given they decided not to put on the version from Ishibashi's album Haruka naru Toki no Utagoe. The album version had all live, real instruments (as opposed to Nakagawa's synth) plus some additional backing chorus. It would've been really awesome if they included that, but it's not a huge deal that they didn't.

In addition, they included those Jazz Arranges of Mami Horie's songs that were originally only on the Salburg Shop! I'm so glad I didn't have to search futily for those. Now, if only they'd commercially release Mana-Khemia's Condition Red and Green....

Summary

Atelier Vocal Historia is an amazing collection for fanatics of the Atelier series and, in particular, its vocal themes. While not everyone will like the music featured here, anyone who has enjoyed the opening and ending themes of Atelier games in the past should find a tonne of highlights waiting for them. The track listings are mostly comprehensive and satisfying while the exclusives were really welcome and the presentation well done. This is a must-have for Atelier music fans.