The SSSS (that’s the Sonic Stadium Soundtrack Squad) launch their regular soundtrack review program; to kick off we take a look at the recent Crush 40 Best of album, Super Sonic Songs…
Crush 40 – Super Sonic Songs Review
by T-Bird.
We’ve had a real overdose of Sonic music in the last few months, with Jun Senoue’s “The Works”, Crush 40’s “Super Sonic Songs” and just last week we had the next installment of the Best of Sonic albums, “True Colours”. So the question I had to ask myself while reviewing this album was, “is it really possible to overdose on Crush 40?”
Granted, this album has definitely got the track selection right, and I think this is more than fair to say this is definitely the definitive Crush 40 album. We blast off with “I Am…All of Me” from Shadow the Hedgehog, the spectacularly down tuned dark anthem which is definitely an unusual choice for a starting track as it is not the typical C40 sound…but somehow it works very well. As we’ve come to know and love with C40, the pace of the album is blistering; the Daytona USA inspiration definitely holds well in conveying the concept of speed throughout the games they were written for. I for one am over the moon that they have added a selection of tracks from their self titled album including “Revvin’ Up” as these are cracking anthems that really don’t get an airing often enough.
My problem with this album however starts on track one…upon closer inspection, the back of the CD case says “New Mix for this Release”. Now, my ears are shot to pieces thanks to too many years of standing next to the amplifiers at Iron Maiden concerts, so I can’t pick up finer details in some songs…but heck, I’m having a real trouble picking out what’s different. This isn’t just for this track either, this goes for the rest of the tracks with the same asterix. Now either I’ve gone crazy, tone deaf, or the changes are really, really subtle; I wasn’t expecting anything eye-popping from these mixes, however I was expecting to get something different, and I didn’t get it…in fact all I got was the last 25 seconds of random noises snipped off the end of “Open Your Heart”.
Moan aside, we’ve got three new tracks on this album including a cover of “Un-gravitify” from Sonic Riders ZG, a cover of The Cult’s “Fire Woman” (strangely from their album “Sonic Temple”…coincidence?) and a Crush 40 original “Is it You?”. “Un-gravitify” follows in the same vein as “His World” – Crush 40 seem to be able to take any track and flip-reverse it to make it sound like they wrote it. I’d even go as far as to say “Fire Woman” is better than the original at the risk of being lynched by classic rock fans. I also have to admit that “Is It You” also sends a tingle down my spine as a great lead out of the album, with Senoue playing guitar with a really sexy Chorus effect on, again something you don’t usually hear from C40.
Sure, the album is definitely the best of, and if you’re looking to start your Crush 40 collection somewhere, this is a great buy. However the die-hard C40 fans out there might want to think the purchase of this album over if they don’t think it is worthwhile buying an album for three new tracks…otherwise you may just overdose on “Open Your Heart”! [8].
A must-have album for any fan of Sonic music; filled with back-to-back classic tunes. However with only three new tracks, seasoned Crush 40 fans may be a little disappointed.
Super Sonic Songs is still available for purchase from the Jun Senoue Official Store, as well as play-asia, and CD-Japan.
Got your own opinions on the album? Think we’ve got it all wrong? Let us know in the comments!
A fair review indeed! Many thanks 😉
@T-Bird: If you really nitpick, you might find a few notable differences in the new mixed tracks.
I Am… All Of Me: At the very, VERY end, it does not end with a loud bang, but with more a descent into distortion (which is cool if you didn’t hear the bang from the original).
His World: The parts of the lyrics where it sounds – how should I put this? – like it’s coming through an old radio (still sounds cool while doing it tho), sounds noticeably distorted as well (especially before the guitar solo).
Knight Of The Wind: As we probably should know by now, the guitar sound is better.
Open Your Heart: I always found the “AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL RIGHT!” at the beginning a bit different, however since this IS a new mix, one might expect that and as you pointed out, the end’s been cut out (I never really liked that weird “Yeah” bit, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t grow on me).
I digress however, this really was a cool album. It would have been cool to have more newer songs, but this will satisfy plenty.
Actually, you know what’s weird? The very end of “I Am” got changed and the end of “Open Your Heart” got cut, but why wasn’t the piano bit at the end of “His World” cut? It really felt unnecessary to keep that in.
Now i whant to have it even more:D But it is hard to get it in Sweden:(
@Elizabeth the Bathog, some people have already put the album on Youtube.
I really enjoyed the Un-gravitify mix, and some of the subtle changes, although it would have been nice to have heard totally remixed songs. I’d love to hear a Crush 40 remix of Endless Possibilities personally =)
Um… you cut their reviews… why?
Anyway, just because I didn’t get chosen to be in the SSSS, doesn’t mean I’m not going to post reviews… 😛
The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs: Crush 40’s brand-spanking new album is nothing short of a incredible: the remarkable riffs, the superb solos, and the masterful mixes only really contribute to half of this work of art, the other half is dominated by the amazing covers of Fire Woman (original song by The Cult) and Un-Gravitify (original song by Cashell), the fantastic new song Is It You, and the phenomenal cover art.
If there was one thing to complain about, it would be that some of the changes they made in the remixes seemed… unnecessary to say the least; the fact that they cut the end off of Open Your Heart and didn’t remove the completely unwanted piano solo at the very end of His World (I mean, it’s not as if it isn’t nice, it just doesn’t fit in a heavy rock song that had “rap” sections contained in it, very rarely does doing that work), also, talking of His World; am I the only one who believes Johnny (the king) Geoeli’s voice sounds sort of weird on that particular song, I’m not saying that it’s not cool, but when he sings “On and on and on and on…” at the very beginning he seems to be slightly off key until the very last “on”… just an opinion there, that’s all.
Overall: I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this album, and if it wasn’t for the “mistakes” in the remixes, I would give it a 10 out of 10, however, hopefully Johnny and Jun will settle for a mark less, it’s still definitely one of my favorite albums this decade.
Overall Score: 9 out of 10. Best track:
Fire Woman.
Well guys, I hope you enjoyed reading my review, if you did, I’ll keep sending ’em, if you didn’t; I won’t… and if you don’t tell me… I’ll keep sending ’em anyway. 😛
Soul Gauge: Nice spots! I had noticed one or two of those points, but not all of them – you’re obviously much more astute to these subtle differences than me! I think the point I was trying to get across was they really weren’t substantially different enough for anyone to go out and buy the album specifically for the new mixes.
As Kaoz says, it would have been nice to see some completely reworked mixes.
I Am still sounds the same to me the only new thing is that echo affect at the end
Haha…its a good thing I didn’t review this/make the cut. I’m not a fan of Crush 40 whatsoever, and find that their music is actually a burden on the series. Instead of catchy videogame music, sometimes the games felt more like they were just shoehorning their style of music in without any regard to whether or not it actually fit the atmosphere of the game. Plus the themes are always corny as hell. I guess its more I have a beef with the main themes as a whole, minus a few exceptions. Therefore I am so glad that games like Sonic Unleashed are starting to move away from the terrible ‘rock’ music that was in the adventure series and is moving back to making catchy tunes that fit their levels. Hopefully this direction continues.
No denying though, Jun is an awesome guitarist. I’ll give that man the credit he deserves when it comes to measuring how good he is at playing his instrument. Crush 40 as a whole though? Not so much.
Now to brace for the flames huzzah 😀
Maybe you’re going deaf. The old songs were remastered, much like they did before with Live and Learn and What I’m Made Of. I can tell the differences quite easily. The songs aren’t meant to be remixes or anything radically different, they just sound different overall, yet you can tell what songs they are. Like they were redone. Just listen to the old and new versions back to back, you’ll see.
I loved this album. It’s perfect for when you’re speeding. 🙂
It’s a good album but The Works was better.