Title: Video Games Live: Volume One
Price: $16.98 ($0.99 per song download)
Release Date: July 22, 2008
Publisher: EMI Records Ltd. (Angel Records)
Pros: An excellent collections of impressive performances. Often well-orchestrated collections and homages to game music with an honest air of respectability that even non-gamers can appreciate. The name implies there will be a Volume Two.
Cons: A few segments are a bit slow and some of the instrumentation plainly mimics or masks the vocals.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 91/100; A-; * * * * out of five.
No matter where you fall in the games as art spectrum there’s no denying that plenty of artistic efforts are put into many games’ production. Case in point is the Video Games Live tour which offers orchestral performances of video game music that would be difficult for any music snob to scoff at.
The CD release of Video Games Live: Volume One offers selected studio and live performances featuring the Slovak Symphony Orchestra, Crouch End Festival Chorus and various soloists as conducted by Jack Wall.
The tour’s co-creator and primary cheerleader, Tommy Tallarico, is the respected/sometimes annoying host of the former videogame review show Judgment Day and composer who has worked on music for games including Earthworm Jim, Prince of Persia, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and Advent Rising. Naturally, some of Tallarico’s work is highlighted on the Video Games Live in the form of a piece he worked on for the game Advent Rising and solo electric guitar performances.
Here’s a track-by-track look look at Video Games Live: Volume One released on CD and as individual downloads.
The first track, “Kingdom Hearts” ( from Kingdom Hearts, written by Utada Hikaru and orchestrated by Kaoru Wada), has the swoopy, cinematic feel you’d get from the beginning of just about any modern Disney movie, with a lot of Beauty and Beast undertones. themes borrowed from the various animated features represented in the game and a big fat ending.
Likewise, “Warcraft Suite” (from Warcraft III and World of Warcraft, composed by Jason Hayes and orchestrated by Benoit Grey) feels much more cinematic than you might recall t being int he actual game. Therein lies the beauty of a professional ,ginormous orchestra and choir melding into a Tolkien-esque adventure of a song. The only down note here is that, often, too many instruments underlie the vocals, most often offering making the performance a nice blend but, at times, completely overpowering the choir.
Much like the game, “Myst Medley” (from the Myst franchise, composed by Robyn Miller, Tim Lakin and Jack Wall and orchestrated by Steve Zuckerman) begins a bit slower than you might expect from a performance piece, feeling more like a background than a stand-out track. The haunting single syllable vocals give the feeling of wind, followed by a choir that brings in a few breezes you can certainly feel blowing over a mossy landscape. It eventually swells into some type of hybrid Amazonian-Celtic battle song that could have easily featured Enya. And, also like the game, the song feels like it goes on a bit to long.
“Medal of Honor” (from Medal of Honor: Frontline, performed live, composed and orchestrated by Michael Giacchiol) has that now familiar, haunting theme that squeezes out the feeling of slow-motion explosions and silhouettes of soldiers from your media-packed memory. It begins starts very slow and mellow with plenty of oboe, slightly swelling thanks to violins and a church-like choir. it has a few odd moments that swell too high or, like one, briefly reaching for a moment of cafe piano. It’s still a sweet song yet, like Myst, seems more like a crowd cleanser.
Following that is the more uplifting “Civilization Medley” (from the Civilization franchise, composed and orchestrated by Christopher Tin) that sounds like it was ripped from the Lion King soundtrack with a combination of Hawaiian soloist convincingly belting seemingly African lyrics with an Irish background choir. The mix of styles give this, too, a Tolkien-ish quality, feeling quite foreign as well as very uplifting and fun. This is also the only rack that doesn’t quite sound like it has an ending.
The “Tetris Piano Opus No. 1” (from Tetris) piano performance is pretty much ripped right from the internet with Martin “The Video Game Piano Guy” Leung smacking keys like they were a tad too hot. It’s short and sweet, just like my dad trying to play the actual game.
“God of War Montage” (from God of War, performed live and composed by Gerard Marino) begins a bit rough and immediately goes into a heavy mood, with thick, deep female vocals that echo death and despair. In theory, it’s perfect for the game’s mood but a nit too thick at times. when it escapes the overwhelming soloist, the song smoothly returns to the hellfire choir with bombastic themes and dramatic pauses aplenty. You would never guess from the recording that this is a live performance until the applause at the end. Like most of the songs on the CD, this is full of varied slow, high and quick themes, trying to make sure it’s more of an overture than a single moment in the game.
Ah, “Advent Rising Suite” (rom Advent Rising. Composed by Tommy Tallarico, Michael Plowman, Emmanuel Fratianni and Laurie Robinson and orchestraed by Emmanuel Fratianni, Laurie Robinson and Christopher Nickel). I cannot get past the Tallarico connection here and his gratuitous mentioning of the game and his score on his G4 review show. It’s certainly worth a listen and a good track to add to the collection. it has a very Russian feeling to it with a heavy male choir, which makes sense considering the wintry setting of the game. It then dips into a soft, atmospheric segment (again fulfilling the overture tone of most of the orchestrations), sounding surprisingly sweet for an action game.
My personal favorite, and probably most nostalgic, is “Tron Montage” (from the Tron franchise, composed by Wendy Carlos and orchestrated and adapted by David Cates), which also has that very Disney sound to it, though certainly giving off more ‘80s vibe than Beauty and the Beast. They’ve recreated some of the sounds from the movie quite perfectly, especially song played when panning over the cityscape, which doesn’t mean they were in any game but is instead a tribute to the entire concept. It’s a perfect homage, plucking plenty of musical moments from the movie and I certainly don’t mind the liberty here, although at least one moment sounds more like Wild, Wild West (TV series) than Tron.
Another track that starts expectedly moody and mellow is “Halo Suite” (from the Halo franchise, composed by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvator, orchestrated by Martin O’Donnell, Michael Salvatori, Emmanual Fratianni, Laurie Robinson and Stan LePard) which begins super slow and quiet so it can burst into a moment of excitement and then recede into it’s churchlike self once again, trying to exude the feeling of floating in space. Then it strangely bursts into an overly electric guitar moment (assuredly Tallarico dancing in front of the orchestra like a goon) that feels very out of place with so many strings. It’s poking cheesy ‘80s midnight movie music into an otherwise beautiful atmosphere. This could have been easily and more appropriately subdivided into four different tracks.
The CD’s obvious and exciting ending is “Castelvania Rock” (from the Castelvania franchise, composed by Kinuyo Yamashita, Club Kukeiha and Michiru Yamane and arranged by Tommy Tallarico) which is, as you can hear from the chanting crowd, meant to leave the audience on a gamer-style high. It kicks in right away, slows enough to keep you aurally whipping through a few boards of the game in your mind. This is also where Tallarico’s guitar antics and speedy fingering are most appropriate and best executed. It sounds like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at times thanks to the mix of modern and more traditional instruments. If you caught this live, you would certainly be itching for much, much more. This is the most appropriate ending to this collection.
Site [Video Games Live]
TRACK LIST:
- “Kingdom Hearts” from Kingdom Hearts. Written by Utada Hikaru and orchestrated by Kaoru Wada
- “Warcraft Suite” from Warcraft III and World of Warcraft. Composed by Jason Hayes and orchestrated by Benoit Grey.
- “Myst Medley” from the Myst franchise. Various composers (Robyn Miller, Tim Lakin, jack Wall) and orchestrated by Steve Zuckerman.
- “Medal of Honor” (Live) from Medal of Honor: Frontline. Composed and orchestrated by Michael Giacchio (recorded live in Brazil).
- “Civilization IV Medley” from the Civilization franchise. Composed and orchestrated by Christopher Tin.
- “Tetris Piano Opus No. 1” from Tetris. Performed by Martin “The Video Game Pianist” Leung.
- “God of War Montage” (Live) from God of War. Composed by Gerard Marino.
- “Advent Rising Suite” from Advent Rising. Composed by Tommy Tallarico, Michael Plowman, Emmanuel Fratianni and Laurie Robinson. Orchestraed by Emmanuel Fratianni, Laurie Robinson and Christopher Nickel.
- “Tron Montage” from the Tron franchise. Composed by Wendy Carlos and orchestrated (and adapted) by David Cates.
- “Halo Suite” from the Halo franchise. Composed by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori. Orchestrated by Martin O’Donnell, Michael Salvatori, Emmanual Fratianni, Laurie Robinson and Stan LePard.
- “Castlevania Rock” from the Castelvania franchise. Composed by Kinuyo Yamashita, Club Kukeiha and Michiru Yamane. Arranged by Tommy Tallarico.
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