Soundtracks - the reply ...

Alan here stepping into tontosgirl's shoes (man my feet are swollen), with a review of the soundtracks CD that Neil sent.

Yay! Thanks for taking on the typing duties, Alan!

Now right up front I need to be honest. When tontosgirl opened her envelope and out came this CD her face fell a little. It's a CD of soundtracks. She doesn't do soundtracks. I on the other hand love soundtracks, soundtracks make movies. Anyway with a little encouragement from me, she slipped the CD into the drive on the PC and ripped the tracks, I was hopping around the room in anticipation. "Go on put it on shuffle-play," I said. "You might find something you like afterall. Look there's a Tom Petty track, and some Vangelis."

I will admit that this is one of my more unusual mixes, and I nearly scrapped it but then thought 'what the heck' and sent it anyway.

Click shuffle play, and the first thing the PC selected was Cluckin' Bell from the GTA soundtrack. A HIT! Both for me (obviously, I've been playing GTA IV since it was released), and tontosgirl.


1. Interstate '76 Theme. / 2. Never Get Outta The Car
Here's why mixclub is such a great idea. Not only does the CD you get sometimes inspire you to listen to a new artist, in this case it can do so much more. A CD of movie and game soundtracks can send you looking for a new movie to watch or a new game to play. Both tracks come from the game Interstate '76 which I have never played, but probably would enjoy. A hit for me, but sadly a miss for tontosgirl

Interstate 76 is one of my favourite games of all time, and a forerunner to GTA et al. As you can probably guess it was set in an alternate 1976, and it featured a superb soundtrack of original funk complete with all of the fuzzy guitars and wah wah peddles that you could wish for. It's also one of the only games ever produced to feature a key to press to get a poem read out over the cb radio in your car.


3. A Lawless Town, Christopher Lennertz
Another hit for me, I'm not sure where this comes from, and I couldn't find it from a quick google. It does have a very cowboy feel to it though. So I wouldn't be surprised if it were from a western movie or a game where men with guns take on overwhelming odds!

This is from 'Gun' which is a sort of Grand Theft Horse-o featuring a variety of western cliches in a free roaming environment. Excellent fun, particularly the bits where you are just riding around rounding up cattle on the plains.


4. Honeybee Kingdom, Mario Yokota. 5. Buggie Running Beeps, Kenichi Sugiy...
No didn't like either of these and neither did tontosgirl. From SuperMario or something similar I suspect, but in all honesty don't know. Too repetitive for me I'm afraid.

Honeybee Kingdom is from a very odd level in Super Mario Galaxy where Mario dresses up as a bee and flies around. Just an all round cheerful little number, I think. Buggie Running Beeps is from the first level of Rez, which was a Dreamcast game originally and is now available on Xbox 360. It doesn't work half so well without the high def visuals which are perfectly synchronised with the music and the rhythm of the attacks.


6. Truth and Reconciliation Suite
I think this is from the game Halo, but I could be wrong (I'm a Playstation man, not an Xbox). It's good though, really takes you through the track and keeps building all the time. A Hit for me, but not tontosgirl.

Yep, this is from Halo, and it's a good example of the sort of music from the game as a whole. I love the way it moves from ethereal choirs, to stirring orchestral music and then all out rock guitars. It's available on PC now, if you play games on PC.

7. Cluckin' Bell & 9. Weasel News.
Both hits with both of us, see my comments at the start of the review for more.


8.Green Onions, Booker T & The MG's
This was a reversal of opinions. Tontosgirl loved it, as an old familiar favourite. I didn't. It just plods on to me.

I think it's the repetitive keyboard line and drums, layered with the guitars that really appeals to me - perfect for those Northern Soul nights.


10. Zombie, Fela Kuti
A double miss for this one, neither of us liked this one.

I find this one utterly infectious, real get up and dance sort of music.

11. Get Innocuous! LCD Soundsystem
Pretty sure this is another take from GTA IV, I'm sure I recognise it from cruising the streets of Liberty City. Great track for just chilling, but the voice-over from the "DJ" did get a bit annoying at times. Another hit for me, a miss for tontosgirl.

This is the track that was used in the TV ads for GTA IV, where the drum break was synchronised with an on screen bit of gun play.

12. Running Down a Dream, Tom Petty.
Guaranteed instant hit for me, love Tom Petty. Tontosgirl also taken with this one, so scores twice! Not sure where it's from in soundtrack fame though?

Ah, this is one from the GTA:San Andreas soundtrack, and was the backdrop to one of my gaming highlights. I'd parachuted from the roof of a casino after pulling off a heist, landed in a car park and jacked a car and then drove like a lunatic down the freeway persued by half of the Las Venturas PD heading for my safe house on the desert air strip. This was playing on the stereo as I drove off the edge of a cliff and landed safely on the run way.

13. Crossroads, Cream.
Another double hit. The track speaks for itself really as a classic guitar anthem.

This one's from Guitar Hero, and one of the trickier tracks to play as well. Very satisfying to pull off though.

14. Cohens Masterpiece, Bioshock.
Another one I would miss from being a playstation gamer, as this is another Xbox track (I think). Out of context though it could be mistaken for some classical piano, quite easily. Not a hit for either of us though, but no strong aversion to it either. Just didn't like it.

Bioshock is coming out for PS3 soon, I think, and it's well worth buying. It's probably one of the most atmospheric games I have ever played and the 1950s influenced soundtrack plays a big part of that.

15. Struggle for Pleasure, Wim Mertens
I'm guessing from the cover art to the CD that this comes from the film "The Belly Of An Architect", and continues the piano theme from the previous track. This time however you had us both hooked. A double hit, and I think I'll be tracking down the rest of this soundtrack to add it to my collection, based on this one track.

This is from the soundtrack to the Peter Greenaway film 'The Belly of an Architect', and is probably his most accessible film. Well worth trying, even if you don't usually like his films. I heard this piece on a trailer for the film which inspired me to get the soundtrack album on import vinyl from Holland for rather a lot of money at the time in 1990. You can get it on iTunes for £7.99 now ... :-)

16. Powaqqatsi, Philip Glass.
From the movie of the same name, I'm guessing, and other soundtrack with a classical bent. A hit with me, I want to hear more, and probably watch the movie too now. Less so with tontosgirl, but I suspect she'll sit through the dvd with me, and who knows it might grow on her!

The whole trilogy is worth watching as a sequence. Stunning visuals of landscapes and cities filmed over many years, synchronised with a hypnotic Phillip Glass soundtrack.

17. Tears In Rain, 18. Blade Runner (End Titles), Vangelis
I only needed to know there was a Vangelis track on here to know that I was going to like most of the album. An inspired choice though. I wouldn't have thought of either of these as Vangelis soundtracks to put on here. I would of been thinking of other better known ones - Chariots of Fire, Antarctica to name two. Both of these are hits for me though, and tontosgirl, but they had to grow on her a bit.

This is another one where I hunted for the soundtrack for a long time. The end titles weren't on the original release, so I recorded the output from my VHS copy to a cassette. The recent three cd definitive soundtrack release is superb.

19. Still Alive, Portal.
I loved this one from the start, but tontosgirl described it as horrid, and it made her feel ill! Guess I will have to listen to it via headphones from now on then! I loved the whole electronic voice, and the words and music gelled wonderfully together. I'm guessing this is from the Xbox game? If there is more of the same I'd be interested to hear it.

Go and buy the Half Life : Orange Box for PS3 and then play 'Portal'. It will probably take you a couple of hours to puzzle your way through, but it's a superbly balanced and enjoyable game, finishing with this song on the end credits. It never fails to make me smile.

So that's it. Overall I rated this mix far higher than tontosgirl, she really did appreciate that Neil went to all the trouble of pulling it together and sending it though, and is sorry that she's not well enough to sit down and type the review herself. For me this was an inspired mix. I really liked the whole idea of a mix of movie and game soundtracks. Excellent idea, and it's left me wanting not only to find the rest of some of the soundtracks, but also watch some movies too. I'd even go so far as to say buy some Xbox games, but I think I might get shot if I do! I'll just have to hope that the platform wars mean that one day games for one platform will eventually be available on another i.e. PS3.

My apologies to tontosgirl - probably not the best cd to send somebody for their first mix! I am glad you got something out of it though, and some of the games on PS3 are worth looking out for, particularly Portal.