Mother. The original. The Famicom RPG that Americans never saw (and became known as “Earthbound Zero” in some circles, as it was a prequel to Earthbound). This soundtrack is, primarily, a vocal arrange album, arranged and performed by British people. Yeah…that’s strange. But it’s only fitting for the Mother series to do something this offbeat.
Every song has its own style, and represents a different genre. Some sound like the Beatles (seriously!), others sound like a children’s show theme song. The production value is incredible, especially for 1989 (back when game music was still generally lacking the international respect it has since begun to obtain).
Perhaps it’s because of its incredible production value that Sony Music decided to reprint, and extend, this album in 2004. Keeping the same album title, they added 6 minutes to track 11 (the OST track), as well as a demo track for a song from Mother 2 (track 12). Of course, the real reason this reprint happened was to get people psyched up for Mother 3 (GBA). And yet, that game still never came to North America, and its full OST never had a physical soundtrack release (only digital…sigh…).
In any case, I highly recommend this album, and I specifically recommend this version of the album. You get more music, and it’s remastered, and it’s readily available. Be sure to check it out! For more details on the soundtrack, see the review for the original print of the album.
