This song is a reprisal of the theme from 'Two Friends' which is the last song on my first album.  In this version, the fast paced intro fades to the melodious string and trumpet refrain of 'Two Friends.  This builds on the idea of 'Two Friends' and the music symbolises, I guess, the theme of discovering true friendship after both parties have come through their struggles together.

The music was inspired by that touching scene where Anakin leaves his mother in 'Star Wars: The Phantom Menace'.  I believe the music played in that scene is a rendition of 'Burning Homestead' originally used in Episode IV.  I'm not sure because I've only seen the movie once. 

Track 7 - The Hooded Gypsy

Some people may recognise the reference to Blizzard's 'Diablo II' because that's where the idea for this song came from.  It's original as far as I can tell, but there is one short phrase which is EXACTLY the same as the Tristram town theme (hope Blizzard doesn't sue me!).  Just to clear things up, I didn't get the idea to write this song from watching Lebanese films on SBS, but I DID say that I thought this song would fit nicely in an independent film!

Track 8 - Don't Look in the Mirror

An attempt at a humorous, ridiculously fast piano piece that was inspired by a couple of things.  First is a very old Nintendo game called 'Chip and Dale' based on the cartoon.  I don't remember much about it, but it was a lot of fun and it had a few wacky songs in the ragtime jazz style.  The other, where the title came from, is 'An American Tail' where the mice were walking behind an assortment of glass jars which made their appearance look distorted - kind of like the funny mirrors you find at a circus.  

Track 10 - Goodbye, I Love You

The title came about when I was reading the papers in September 2001 and there was an article about how some people trapped in the WTC managed to call their loved ones before the buildings collapsed.  The article even mentioned a recorded message on someone's answering machine that said, '...goodbye, I love you'.

The music for this song was not 'written' in the normal sense.  I just thought about it for a few minutes and played it on the keyboard while recording it as it came out.  It's not a political song, not specifically an anti war one, just a terrible, sad one.  

Track 12 - An Evening with Final Fantasy 

Several people I know have requested that I do this - an arrangement of all the main themes in Final Fantasy.  Firstly, it's not possible, since I don't know them all.  Secondly, I pointed out that there already exist many versions of these songs, arranged by the likes of Shiro Hamaguchi,  the Hollywood Symphonic Orchestra, and apparently even the great John Williams has arranged a version of his favourite: the Zelda theme! All of which are way better than what I could hope to do.  So they said, 'good point, maybe we should leave it the professionals'.  Of course, I didn't like that! So I fired myself up and went ahead with this arrangement.  The 'professional' versions are almost all orchestrated, so I opted to arrange it for a string quartet style arrangement.  The result is 9 minutes of chamber music which can be broken down into:

(i) FF X - To Zanarkand

(ii) FF IV - Main Theme

(iii) FF VI - World Map and Terra's Theme (as used at the ending scene)

(iv) FF VII - Main Theme

(v) FF VIII - Waltz for the Moon ('Eyes On Me' as used in the ballroom scene)

(vi) FF IX - Melodies of Life (as used at Garrnet's coronation)

(vii) Theme of Final Fantasy (also known as the 'Prologue')

Track 14 contains another couple of themes from FF VII - an excerpt from the ending scene (when Cloud catches Tifa and says, 'I think I'm beginning to understand...' etc) and another from the fireworks/gondola scene at the Gold Saucer called 'Interrupted by Fireworks'

Although I was never classically trained, I love doing instrumental pieces as they allow for much greater flexibility, creativity and freedom compared to lyrical songs. If a picture paints a thousand words, then music conjures up a thousand images.