The Last of Us (10th Anniversary Vinyl Box Set)＜完全生産限定盤/Colored Vinyl＞

大人気アクション・サバイバル・ゲーム『The Last of Us』シリーズのオリジナル・サウンドトラック 10周年記念カラーヴァイナル・ボックスセット『The Last of Us 10th Anniversary Vinyl Box Set』

「The Last of Us」は2013年にゲームの開発会社ノーティードッグがプレイステーション用に開発したビデオゲーム。ビデオゲームの他に、ボードゲーム、テレビドラマなどのメディアフランチャイズを立ち上げ、ビデオゲーム発売から10年経った今でも、そのストーリー性と画期的なゲームプレイを通じて、史上最高のビデオゲームと評価を得ている。
今作はビデオゲームの発売10 周年を記念した、カラーヴァイナル・ボックスセット『The Last of Us 10th Anniversary Vinyl Box Set』。メインテーマを含む、『The Last of Us』『The Last of Us Volume 2』のオリジナル・サウンドトラックを収録。音楽を手掛けるのは『ブロークバック・マウンテン』『バベル』でアカデミー作曲賞を受賞したアルゼンチン出身の音楽家グスターボ・サンタオラヤ。マレーシア出身のイラストレーター、アシュラフ・オマールはジャケットとリトグラフを手掛けた。また、別のリトグラフには『The Last of Us』スケッチ・アートが描かれいる。アウター・スリップケース付きカラーヴァイナル(レッド & ブルー)。

Since the 1980s, Argentina's Gustavo Santaolalla has established a singular reputation as a producer (though he's been active musically since 1969). He's helmed top recordings by Cafe Tacuba, Los Prisioneros, Molotov, Julieta Venegas, and Juanes, to name a scant few. Along the way, he also began scoring films -- Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel, Brokeback Mountain, Motorcycle Diaries, and more. The Last of Us begins a new chapter for Santaolalla; it marks the first time in his career he's written a score for a video game. The 30 brief cues included here -- not everything he's written for the game by far -- are mostly sparse, haunting sketches using the guitar as the central instrument, with various keyboards illuminating his evocative melodies. They evoke the nature of a post-apocalyptic world where there is little left in the way of life, and what there is, is sinister, dangerous, tragic, and foreboding, yet not without hope. This is no mean feat. Santaolalla performed most of the music himself, but there are several intense, percussion-heavy tracks including the original title theme, "The Hunters," "By Any Means," "I Know What You Are," and "Infected." Elsewhere such as on "The Last of Us (Never Again)," "All Gone (No Escape)," "Vanishing Grace (Childhood)," and "Returning," chamber strings play a captivating, balancing role, though they never overcome the guitars, charangos, basses, etc. "The Path" and "The Path (A New Beginning)" touch on the scores of Italian spaghetti westerns, but never lose sight of their Latin harmonic and lyric origins even as they change shape into more pastoral and quietly transcendent themes; their drama remains inherent. Perhaps the most compelling thing about the score is how, even in the midst of suspense, Santaolalla never forgets that it is the melody or circular rhythmic patterns that draw in -- and keep -- the attention of the listener. The Last of Us is all killer, no filler. ~ Thom Jurek