European released CD's

[Dark_Storm]

Hi,

I was just wondering what some of you guys thought about buying european releases of soundtracks.

The track lists for a few eurpoean released ost's seem to be identical to Japanese releases (Resident Evil OST Remix, Castlevania 64). Only the packaging seems to be different.

Would the sound quality on these CD's be more or less equal to the Japanese releases?

I am considering buying these two CD's from SynSONIQ. Resident Evil OST Remix because only the european release seems to still be in print, and Castlevania64 instead of the Japanese Dracula Apocalypse because its cheaper and has the same track list.

Any comments, suggestions about buying european released soundtracks, regarding quality, official-ness etc?

Thanks :)

[Mikal Aganti]

To my knowledge most European discs are official, just under different (legal) publishers. Many EP discs are only promotional items, however, so they are frequently not available in retail online shops (try eBay instead). Make sure you check the track listings as some EP releases are slightly different. (www.gmronline.com is a good source, but they have fewer non-JP listings) In general the Japanese releases are more complete, but I think the sound quality is identical either way. EP booklets are usually in English, which is good for we importers, but they are generally smaller than the JP booklets (EP just has the tracklisting/copyright, whereas the JP has more pictures and staff interviews etc.)
The JP Dracula Apocalypes CD has 39 tracks (36 OST + 3 remixes). Double-check the tracklisting of the EP disc (you already said they're identical). I couldn't find anything about either EP CD unfortunately.