The Taiko Team has gone on a birdwatch with their recent Namco Originals, and we're here to cover it! Two very recent, bird-related Namco Original songs are being featured on this blog, with the latest entry for the space-themed SORA song series page and today's Saturday feature, coming from the Sorairo as well.
Phoenix| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (162) | x5 (240) | x6 (388) | x7 (555) |
Taiko 0 S, Taiko Wii U 1, CD Sorairo, CD CC-1
168
none
phoeniThe rocking Phoenix was one of the default new Namco Originals when Sorairo was released, alongside Lisdoonvarna no Tasogare and Zero no Nocturne. The song also holds the merit of being the oldest of the trio, as the Taiko Team said in a recent UStream session about the Taiko arcade.
Besides renewing the vigor in Taiko no Tatsujin, the first quarter of 2013 is significant to another of Namco's legacy game series. Xevious celebrated its 30th anniversary on January 29th this year, and some of the elite composers within Namco celebrated the event with the release of a soundtrack called XEVIOUS 30TH ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE. Released on iTunes, the album includes a wide assortment of Xevious-related songs composed by Yuriko Keino (慶野由利子) and arranged by a long list of different Namco artists. Even Taiko personalities like Yano Yoshito an Linda AI-Cue joined the fun as well!
What does the album have to do with this, you say? Well, turns out that Phoenix is actually one of the tracks in the album, lyricised by Synchronica personality Taku Inoue (井上拓) arranged by Yoshinori Hirai (平井克明). The title of the song itself - Phoenix - is a reference to the game series rather than the mythical flaming bird; in the games's Xevian language, the name of the main ship of the game - the Solvalou - actually stands for 'Phoenix'. The trailer for the Xevious 30th anniversary album proves that the Taiko version of this song features a different singer: the nick-named singman. Recurring iDOLM@STER artist Goto Takanori (後藤貴徳) is Phoenix's guitar player.
Later on, the song was ported on Taiko games in a slightly-different version, also featuring the nicknamed singman as the singer. During Sorairo Version's lifespan, Phoenix got a couple more versions in CD form with the limited-edition Sorairo soundtrack, featuring an off-vocal version and an early version of the song, with Taku Inoue as the singer.
As the fifth Oni chart with 555 notes, Phoenix is more for the mid-tier player, offering repeated sets of patterns at an average speed and with some good places to train for basic clusters with its medium-fast BPM, kind of like a lesser version of DON'T CUT.
