Wolf's Rain OST 2 (VICL-61280)

Ok, let me start by saying that I had to watch the series in order to truly appreciate this music. I liked it before I watched Wolf's Rain over winter break, but nowhere as much as I do now. Compare this with Arjuna or Ghost in the Shell SAC, which I fell in love with immediately after listening.

And here's the review.
1 - Heaven's Not Enough: This is the English version sung by Steve Conte, not the Kannoese one by Gabriela Robin (probably Yoko Kanno in disguise) that I found. It's melancholy but nice. I especially like the part after 3:10 (10/10)
2 - Shiro - Long Tail: No, I have no idea what the name refers to. It's like Shiro on the other album, but more suited for an action scene. (10/10)
3 - Cycle: A mixture of Kannoese and English. Kannoese is my name for the made up language that she uses a lot. I can't tell if there is one Kannoese or a bunch of different ones. Anyway, it's a Latin American-sounding song that was good enough for my friend. Except we haven't talked in four months, but that's a story for another forum. (10+/10)
4 - Beyond Me: Guitar and violin. (9/10)
5 - Mouth on Fire: A very chaotic song with diverse percussion and handclaps that morphs into Latin guitar and fiddle music. Yeah, Latin. Even though all the stuff is written with the Cyrillic alphabet and there's a lot of ice and snow everywhere. (10/10)
6 - Hounds: A bluesy guitar and flute song. (10/10)
7 - Rain Of Blossoms: An orchestral piece that brings happiness to an otherwise melancholy soundtrack (10/10)
8 - Separated: Back to the melancholy stuff. This is strings and slow guitar that picks up at the middle, but reverts back (8/10)
9 - Escape: Chaotic action music with lots of percussion and strings. (10/10)
10 - Face On: Opens with some heavily distorted guitar, and builds up with percussion and strings. The guitar leaves towards the middle. I really like it. (10/10)
11 - Tsumi no Suna: No, I can't tell you what that means. This has a reverb guitar playing a single riff throughout and some distorted... something... in the background. Good, if a bit repetitive (9/10)
12 - Flying on You: Ilaria Graziano singing in what I think is French. (7/10)
13 - Night Owl: A horn of some sort (owl) calling out to a fluttery wind instrument. The later part has mischeivous strings (not telling). It manages to be both playful and creepy at the same time. (9/10)
14 - Shi no Mori: This reminds me of the Imperial March, which you should all be familiar with, so there's no point in saying where it's from. (9/10)
15 - Indiana: Flute. That's really all there is to it. (7/10)
16 - Amore Amaro: Franco Sansalone singing in raspy Italian to piano. His voice makes me think of the intro to one of the unreleased songs that plays in Episode 26. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. (7/10)
17 - Friends: Piano with string backing, with the occasional flute. It's very sad, and anyone who's seen the series can tell why. (10/10)
18 - Tell Me What The Rain Knows: A vocal song by Maaya Sakamoto. I have one complaint about this song, and it's that it's too short. (10/10)
19 - Float: Flute and strings! Yay! You can tell I'm getting lazy after reviewing a bunch of songs before this. (9/10)
20 - Trace: Now we're back into downright sad territory. (10/10)
21 - Sad Moon: This sounds like a continuation of Trace, only louder and with the Rakuen theme. (10/10)
22 - Cloud 9: Maaya Sakamoto again. I don't like it as much as Tell Me What The Rain Knows, but I like it more than Gravity, a song that's still pretty good in its own right. It does seem really inappropriate after Sad Moon, though. (9/10)
23 - Go To "Rakuen": A hidden track or something. It's to Rakuen on the first album what Shiro - Long Tail is to Shiro, only better and longer, with some weird echoey percussion like a hammer hitting something large and metal and radio static in the middle. (A MILLION/10)

I have mixed feelings on this album. On one hand, it's damn good. On the other hand, a lot of things are missing from the Wolf's Rain OSTs, which annoys me. I ripped them, but they have Japanese dialogue and it's not the same. This needs a third OST. Seriously.

cloud 9 is all I listen to from this album. Only because I can't get past it's awesomeness, God bless Maaya.

I like Sad Moon, Cloud 9, and Hounds as my favorites, in decending order.

Nice review.

"Heaven's Not Enough" is my favorite song on the OST though. I'll be honest, I used to dislike Conte's voice. But after I heard his works for "Wolf's Rain", he became one of my favorite artists.

"Friends" is my second favorite as the piano is simple but peaceful.

"Cloud 9" and "Heaven's Not Enough," definiately. I love those songs. Those were 2 of my top 25 songs back in fall 2004 to spring 2005. <3. Yoko Kanno is awesome.

I love most everything Yoko Kanno comes up with. She is my favorite anime composer, and is probably the most skilled and versatile composer in the genre, in my opinion. Wolf's Rain does need another soundtrack. I can't get enough of it! I loved every bit of this as I did OST 1. The vocal performances by Steve Conte and Gabriela Robin just get better and better. Of course, Conte is my favorite vocalist, and I never even listened to his solo music until I listened to Cowboy Bebop. The point is, however, that this soundtrack is quite good and contains music for various listeners. Nothing like a nice diverse soundtrack. Kanno gets better with each soundtrack she writes, imo. I can't wait for her upcoming works!

Anyone know if she has released anything new lately? What is she currently doing?

I'm pretty sure she's doing the OST for a movie based on GitS:SAC. Latest things, as far as I know, would be Sousei no Aquarion and Ashura-jo no Hitomi.