Since the "In Appreciation of the Current Dub Composer" thread got closed, I'll just migrate all my posts on it to here, because I still have lots of compliments to give to it later on down the line:
"Though lots of online places know this about me already, I consider Ed Goldfarb to be the best composer the Pokemon TV series has ever had, bar none (plus, I'm also the guy who wrote a review of the XY/XYZ dub soundtrack). Obviously I'm not his only fan, so I figured it would be nice to have a place here to discuss what makes his music so great. For me, it's mainly the character themes in their various forms, the emotional themes, the opening songs, and the movies' ending themes."
"An adventurous overture for XY and a daring surf theme for SM. I agree; both are great. Though personally, I do like his XY theme a bit better."
"Yet for such a small group, I think they did great. I'll admit better work was put into the movie endings, though."
"I've seen JASRAC be proposed as a factor for why dub music is a thing. Plus, I've heard some rather unpleasant stories from Japanese people I follow on Twitter about JASRAC in general. They can be tough to work with, so some dubbing companies either can't afford the prices they ask for use of certain shows' soundtracks, or don't feel like going through such unnecessarily complicated negotiations. Of course, this is just a theory.
Anyway, as things are now, I'm happy with it, and so are more people than we know of.
To add to my thoughts on Ash's XY theme, my favorite version of it was the one used in the saga's final scene. Said track is also the one I consider his current magnum opus."
"Be that as it may, the dub music is better than the Japanese music in my eyes. It always has been. The Japanese music can definitely be good (in fact, the only time I'd ever say it was truly bad was the XY saga and its corresponding movies), but it never caught up to the dub music in terms of quality.
Frankly, I don't care about what in the business causes dub music to be made. I'm just happy that, whatever the reason (and I've heard so many that I really don't know which one of them to believe, and now I no longer care), the West received a brand-new soundtrack that is in so many ways (at least to me) superior to the original one.
By the way, the SM saga's dub soundtrack is continuing to be amazing. So far, my favorite from that saga was the piece that went over Litten's visit to Stoutland."
"Fair enough. I should've explained what JASRAC is (to those who don't know, they're a music licensing group; think of them as Japan's equivalent of America's RIAA). There is more to the business than I think anybody will ever know unless they're employed in it. Regardless of how it goes, at least Korea, China, and maybe some other Eastern countries preserve the original music, so I think fans of the JP music can be happy that at least one half of the Earth gets the JP music just as how the other half gets the English music. In fact, it's for that reason I sometimes refer to the dub music as the "Western soundtrack".
To add another piece I liked: the original piece that went over the kiss scene. That was magical. To be honest, one dub episode I'm really anticipating is SM021. Emotional themes have always been one of Mr. Goldfarb's biggest fortes (no pun intended)."
"Yes, Shinji Miyazaki is the JP version's main composer (and no, he's not related to Hayao Miyazaki). Occasionally, that version gets some other composers (a few Pikachu shorts were composed by other people, for example, as was one of the Victini movies). The JP music tends to get released in buyable form, which is a treat I wish the dub music would get (at least the dub soundtracks of the first two movies got released, though). I'd totally go Phillip Fry at any store that sells the dub's music.
As for why I in particular think the dub music is better, it's tough to explain. I just feel like it fits with the show's events better and does a better job setting moods. Plus, I also feel like there's more rhyme and reason to each cue's use (including the dub's own stock cues). But that's just me. "
"Done and done.
Now that you bring up the Western compositional style, perhaps that's a factor for me, too. Of course, the East's method is good, too; certainly not disrespecting it."
"I don't recall hearing that theme for any other occasion, so I guess I can call it the dub's Pokemon Center theme. Either that or Nurse Joy's."
"I'm sure there is, but you'll have to look for it yourself."
"I'm comfortable letting all kinds of people know that I think dub music still has a place in the world. Plus, no matter what anyone thinks, TPCi already considers music replacement okay, and their minds are not changing. And I for one don't want them to.
Also, if people enjoy the dub music, then they have the right to do not just that, but also to express how much they enjoy it. Same goes for people who enjoy the original Japanese music. I think the Japanese music is overhyped, easily excitable, and treats everything like a worst-case scenario, but I'm not ordering anyone else to think of it so lowly, no matter how much I stress those problems I have with said soundtrack. So I will most definitely not keep my appreciation of the dub soundtrack (or any dub soundtrack I like) to myself, and if other fans of the dub music want to express their appreciation of the dub music, then they should be allowed to do that, too. Nobody's stopping anyone from hating on either soundtrack, anyway.
I will admit that in the past, I've accidentally made it sound like I enjoyed the dub music only out of spite of the original soundtrack, but that was never the case. I like the dub soundtrack because it's just really good music, plain and simple.
Now then, since the SM dub premiered in the US today, now's a good time to bring up how much I enjoyed that techno-sounding theme that was given to Rotomdex (it starts just before Ash says "What's that?" to the dex he's holding, and ends just as Rotomdex finishes saying "User registration complete")."
"Themes from the new dub episode (as of this post, "To Top a Totem") I like the most: Hala's theme (great mix of Hawaiian and islander tribal motifs), Tapu Koko's theme (very beautifully mysterious), the theme right before the maintained G7 Battle theme (I swear, they segue into Japanese tracks so seamlessly; and just to get this out of the way, yes, said maintained JP track was appropriately used), the battle theme right after said retained theme (gotta say, the stock SM dub battle themes are outshining lots of the stock XY battle themes, which themselves were fine), and the music playing when Totem Gumshoos and his Yungoos crew chased out the infestation (mainly its triumphant finish). It's all coming along great."
It was good meeting fellow fans of the dub's music through that thread, by the way. Our right to like it won't be interfered with.