One song, three versions

I know most of you reading won't even care about this, but nothing beats having one of your all-time favourite songs being given a fresh look and re-released for more people to listen to.

Came across the third (or forth, see remarks below) version of the song White Album, this time as White Album Character Song 1 - Morikawa Yuki by Hirano Aya, released on April 1, 2009.

And boy this isn't like those remixes where you just change the singer or a little part here and there, or worse make into a techno or dance remix. All three are entirely different on their own and would've been mistaken for different songs if not for the melody. (And the 2005 version even has alternative lyrics)

One version in 1998, one in 2005, now one in 2009.

And this isn't mainstream, western, chinese, nor oldie music, where I understand such kind of remix happens often. Actually, not very often either. This is game/Anime music, a genre with a small market and little publicity and good songs often go unnoticed (see my post 3 posts back).

And actually, even the original 1998 edition has a variant which is just slightly different.

I still prefer the 2005 -Christmas Eve- version most, though this may change as I listen to the 2009 version more. IMHO the newest White Album Anime Character Song version has more technicality and feels more modern (compared to the first version which my brother commented as "very old school", which I agree), but feels too happy and loses the spirit of the original two versions.

This makes a better version for my Christmas playlist though.

And finally I got the lyrics and a karaoke version I can sing to. ^^

And the reason for this release? No need to guess, it's business. Usually character songs or drama CDs for a particular Anime/game are released to get more sales and profit, which shows how effectve this strategy is. Yet I (and all W.A. fans out there) will kill the company if they decide to release some wierd song for Yuki's character album (and Rina's too). I almost want to kill the company when they decided not to use White Album(the song) for White Album(the TV Anime)'s opening, but since the song "Shinai" by Mizuki Nana is so good, I have to thank them instead. Furthermore, White Album is such a great song, it'd be a waste not to reuse it, since a large number of people would not have heard the previous versions yet.

As I type, I'm starting to like the 2009 version more. It can overtake the 2005 version anytime now.