The Chrono Trigger Arranged Version: The Brink of Time is an album of jazz arrangements of the music from Chrono Trigger, composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, arranged by Hiroshi Hata, Hidenobu "KALTA" Ootsuki, and Gizaemon de Furuta, and performed by the band Guido. The soundtrack spans one disc and 10 tracks, covering a duration of 53 minutes. It was published by NTT Publishing on June 25, 1995.
The album was the first for which Mitsuda had record live tracks. It was also the first recording which KALTA worked on. Brought into the project through his bandmate Hiroshi Hata, KALTA initially looked down upon game music and felt the original songs were too different from the acid jazz songs he had in mind. However, he eventually grew accustomed to them, finding them "fun to arrange" and being able to "understand [their] true 'meanings'". Mitsuda has stated that KALTA's arrangement technique left a strong impact on him and notably influenced his next score, the Gun Hazard Original Soundtrack.[1]
The cover art of the album depicts a plate of fried eggs between a fork, knife and glass, while the inside booklet depicts a rooster which was specifically brought into the studio for the photo shooting. Several eggs had to be fried before the designers could settle on the correct shape. Similarities have been noticed between the album's cover art and that of Nick Heyward's 1993 album From Sunday to Monday. Mitsuda had left a designer create the cover art, and does not know if the similarities are intentional.[6]
