Perhaps it's more about personal taste, or the fact that the music is now 9 years old and game music has improved in variety and sound quality. Just listening to the differences between the soundtracks for Air and Clannad and then Little Busters! makes this easily apparent. However, I am generally of the opinion that Key were at their best for the OSTs of Kanon, Air, and Clannad. The following OSTs aren't bad, but they lack the luster of those first three. Clannad especially has so many themes that I could never get tired of listening to and of which I listen to constantly. Air was the first of Key's soundtracks I listened to, and at the time I fell in love with Key's themes that by the time I first listened to Kanon's and later Clannad's themes it was all but decided that I'd love them too, and it turns out I love them more than Air's now; Air still ranks third best though to me, behind Clannad in second, and Kanon in first.
The thing about Kanon's soundtrack, and the thing I believe made it so enjoyable for fans of the game, was in its simplicity. A mere 20 or so short tracks for BGMs which only use a short range of instruments and sounds. No, I'm not surprised at the review, but then tastes change and much of the music from the Kanon OST is more or less historic by now in terms of music used in games. Even Key has improved on the range of sounds and beats, as is clearly evident with Clannad's lengthy soundtrack.
However, I still love the Kanon OST to death, and it's still my overall favorite Key-game OST. Just listening to Zankou always makes me depressed when I think how it played during episode 10 when Makoto and Yuichi were on the hill and Yuichi was reciting that beautiful monologue. Zankou is also my second favorite from the OST, and Maeda was even quoted in the Kanon OST booklet has having said that out of the songs he had composed at that time, Zankou was his favorite. My favorite song from the OST is Fuyu no Hanabi, btw (I've listened to it nearly 100 times, so says my iTunes ).
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