Music to my Ears: The Greatest Video Game Music

 Album Title: The Greatest Video Game Music
Composer/Band/Performers: London Philharmonic Orchestra
Released: 07/11/2011

Final Verdict: 9.3/10

This is like music to my earholes.

Internet points if you can figure out who I'm quoting.

But this. Really.

Look, music in a game is something that stays with you forever, sometimes subconsciously, sometimes not. Sometimes it'll come up while you're on the bus, and you'll start humming, and then your day feels a little more epic because you have a theme song going.

BUT THIS.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra really did an outstanding job with the creation of this album, The Greatest Video Game Music though maybe not so much on the title. Points for originality there guys, it really means a lot. (Though I GUESS it does convey what the album offers in a pretty straightforward way.)

The song list is as follows:

1. Advent Rising: Muse
2. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: Theme
3. Angry Birds: Main Theme
4. Final Fantasy VIII: Liberi Fatali
5. Super Mario Bros: Theme
6. Uncharted - Drake's Fortune: Nate's Theme
7. Grand Theft Auto IV: Soviet Connection
8. World of Warcraft: Seasons of War
9.  Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty Theme
10. Tetris Theme (Korobeiniki)
11. Battlefield 2: Theme
12. Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Main Menu Theme
13. Mass Effect: Suicide Mission
14. Splinter Cell: Conviction
15. Final Fantasy: Main Theme
16. Bioshock: The Ocean On His Shoulders
17. Halo 3: One Final Effort
18. Fallout 3: Theme
19. Super Mario Galaxy

I know what you're thinking. Or at least I hope I know what you're thinking, and it better be...

 

I know right? Actually, let me tackle a few of these points which aren't ALL as glorious as I've been putting them out to be. This album isn't flawless. Just nearly.  It titled itself The Greatest Video Game Music, but even that can be dissected. Is it supposed to mean the greatest video game music performance? Or the greatest music from games? Or the music from the greatest games? But really this is about a CD so I don't know why I'm so stuck on the title.

As for the playlist. I enjoyed that they didn't stick exclusively to the classics, but incorporated some underloved game music along with the classics, even giving odd and interesting swings to unexpected additions. Like Angry Birds.

All of you get this straight. I HATE Angry Birds. I get it, it's a nifty game, the physics are great, it's addictive and simple and fun. Why do I hate it? Because it's being crammed down my throat at every turn! I've seen Angry Bird shirts, plush, toys, board games, keychains, mouse pads.... It's just. A little. Meaningless. App! It's nothing compared to the modern works of art being released on our current generation of consoles, but for some reason it overshadows all of them! HOWEVER. I have to say how pleased I am with the orchestral production of the theme. It's fun, and simple and iconic enough to bring those frustrated fowls to mind. At the same time it helps lighten the mood from the often darker, more 'epic' themes making up the rest of the album.

Other then that I really don't have many complaints. I was neither surprised nor overly thrilled at seeing the Super Mario Bros, Tetris and Zelda Themes that seem to haunt EVERY SINGLE video game music compilation of any sort, but it's always a comforting sound to hear, and usually opens up for the flow of memories, especially with such beautiful interpretations.

There is also two Call of Duty Modern Warfare pieces (because it's clearly impossible to updo CoD in artistic performance, amirite?) and a Battlefield piece, which makes for an awful lot of war-type epic music. Same goes for Final Fantasy. The variety may have been upped a tiny bit by substituting some of the clones for very different titles. Like something from Street Fighter, or Metroid might have been welcomed. But I digress. We can't all share the same taste in games and there's always bound to be someone unhappy with the outcome.

One last little tick I have is the Bioshock song. For those who don't know Bioshock is my bible when it comes to games. I compare everything to it, I use it as an example of a wonderfully interpreted game, it's my beloved #1. Although my feelings for Bioshock are honest and pure, the song they picked just falls short. It's just not as impressive as the rest. It kind of just sneaks in there unnoticed. This could have been so grand, but it just... missed.

This album brings the cheerful bird slinging in with the soviet gangsters, it makes you want to run and gun as much as skulk around in the dark nooks, stalking your enemies. It makes you want to be a part of a grand adventure, it makes you want to go galloping in the breeze... It'll give you chills and take you away to wonderful and exciting lands. So you might not want to listen to it on the bus, because when I did people looked at me like I was crazy. I was just pretend sword-fighting. Only a little.

I am going to give this 9.3 gothic chants out of 10 because as much as I can bitch about Call of Duty getting a spotlight they really did a bang up job interpreting every single piece on that album and it really does make you feel all sorts of things. Except Bioshock, because it was bad.