In 2002, two soundtrack albums were released for Chobits: Chobits Original Soundtrack 001 and Chobits Original Soundtrack 002. The first soundtrack has a white cover, while the second soundtrack has a black cover. The front of both CDs is designed to look like a 7" record (which would probably be better known as a 45 RPM record). The "record label" on the first CD is yellow, and the "record label" on the second CD is blue. The liner notes of both CDs feature stills from the series. The liner notes for the first CD includes the English and Japanese lyrics for "Let Me be With You" and "Raison d’etre," while the liner notes for the second CD includes the English and Japanese lyrics for "Let Me be With You," "Play in the Early Afternoon," and "Mermaid."
While both soundtracks feature music from the series, they have a different lean when it comes to the music on each one. The first disc tends to focus more on jazz-inspired songs, while the second disc tends to focus more on "rock sounding" songs. On both discs, there are occasional spots where some dialogue from the show is placed between songs. On the second disc, I could tell this was basically done when there would be a major tempo shift or change in mood between tracks; usually, there would be a very uptempo number, followed by the dialogue, and then followed by a much slower song. When I listened to the first disc, however, I didn't notice this as much; it felt more like the dialogue was placed between some of the tracks more because the person sequencing the disc wanted to, instead of having a real reason to do it.
One thing I found puzzling was the fact that when putting "Let Me be With You" (the opening credits song) on the CDs, they chose to put the version that actually appears on the television series on the second soundtrack CD. The first soundtrack CD includes a remix version of the song (this remix version not only features a different music track, but it also features a different female vocalist). The first disc also features "Raison d’etre," one of the songs used for the ending credits, as well as one of the versions of "Love of Babble." The second disc features a short version of "Mermaid," as well as a shortened version of "Love of Babble" (this is the version that was used in the background during the preview for the next episode).These CDs are best listened to if you need music in the background while you're doing other things; they really aren't discs you can just sit down and listen to. This makes a lot of sense, since these songs were composed with the purpose of being used as background music in the series. The music composed for Chobits was very well done, and fit the mood of the series quite nicely. If you are a fan of background music soundtracks, then these discs are for you.
I wrote this review after listening to copies of these CDs that I purchased for my husband as a gift.
| Morning, Morning Love Of Babble Let Me Be With You [New Step Mix] And the World Also Starts Today Men's Club Portrait Of Tenderness Touch'n Go Breathless Tedious Scribble Play in the Early Afternoon Two Of Us Raison d'etre | Better Let Me Be With You ~Chii Version~ Happy-Go-Lucky Something Funny Fast Forward Cause And Effect They Come and Go On The Double Touchy Subject Play in the Early Afternoon ~Takako Version~ A Fly on the Wall Company You Never Know A Piece of Cake In a Brown Study That Was Then Spilling Salt Midnight Voyage Mermaid ~Short Ver~ Love Of Babble ~Preview~ |
