Sonic: The Sound of Speed

[JezMM]

Yeah, was a good effort. Way better than HH but nowhere near PC. There was just a little bit too much "generic" remix techno here for me. I somewhat liked the genre roulette of Project Chaos. Still great, just not outstanding. I lost concentration on a lot of the tracks and even at times missed when one had ended and another had started.

[Ebby]

I got really angry when the scat vocals or whatever-the-fuck came in and ruined my Star Light Zone remix.

Ditto. They fucked up BIG time there.

I think this one was weak. Considering how long I waited for this I thought they would have produced something of better quality. I enjoy techno/electronica/etc, whatever you call it, but this material was simply generic. Spring Yard Zone was not done justice. However, Joshua Morse's "Fifty Rings to Ride" is a solid track. I think he could have done better ("Wandering Latinas" and "Fanfare!" can put this track to shame), but a solid song.... though why the vocals? Why the vocals?!?! At least they don't rape the song....

And I think this could have used more tracks. Wouldn't have been great if they had two mixes for each Zone track?

...but then it really would have taken forever.

[EXshad]

My friend Willrock contributed an awesome track to the project,

I'll check out the rest of the soundtrack, to see if the other tracks match that one in quality

Edited April 14, 2011 by EXshad

[Ferno]

IT'S HERE- IT'S HERE WE'VE GOT WORK!!!

Dedicated Album Site

Couldn't resist.

[Ekajra]

Why all the hatin' on "Knuckle Duster"?

Oh wait, new album. Right then.

Initially I was a bit disappointed with this album. Reading the descriptions on the site, I think the Green Hill Zone was a little too hyped. Maybe if they'd come out with this album a while ago it would have sounded cool, but at this point that kind of remix has been done a lot. It's not bad, but by no means is it the most amazing thing ever. Just sort of... average. The next couple tracks didn't really thrill me either, though "Subsonic Sparkle" was good. But by the time I got to "Spring Junkie" I was thinking "Is this a Sonic 1 remix album or a Labyrinth Zone tribute?". And then of course "Bubble Junkie" was next and all of that culminated in a funk-tastic mix. "Fifty Rings to Ride" was pretty good, though the whole guy-singing-really-high thing always weirds me out, in any music. Still an okay remix.

And then the last half of the album cranked the awesomeness up. "Under Construction" is definitely one of my favorite tracks. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a good vibraphone solo, but I really think the style fit the song well. I know some people don't like vocals in songs, but I think the little scat bits fit in with the song, and plus the fact that they threw in Spring Yard was cool, since personally I think that song sounds good in a more jazzy style. I'm usually a fan of halc, but as hinted at earlier I didn't really feel that "Spring Junkie" had much of a Spring Yard feel to it.

"Hogtied". Awesome. Boss music. Rock. Sounds menacing. Moving on.

I like the style of "Caos", especially since it contrasts but also compliments the other Special Stage mixes quite nicely. I enjoyed "Clockwork Criminal", definitely another great track from Willrock, though my one complaint is he made it sound almost a little too "peppy" I guess you could say. I mean, the melody itself is still threatening, but a lot of the track doesn't feel as dangerous. If that makes any sense. Still, a good song. "Final Progression" had a bit of Generic-Techno-Build-Up syndrome, but it works in this case. Could have done with a bit less, but maybe it was just to give a feeling of suspense before fighting Robotnik or something. "A Hog in His Prime" did a good job of wrapping up the album with the Credits medley... and drowning. Also, Spring Yard Zone on recorder. That's... different.

Overall, a decent album. Considering the lesser amount to songs to choose from it stands to reason that the lesser songs would stand out more. Compared to the other Sonic albums, I'd rank this this above Hedgehog Heaven (which I like, apparently more than seems to be the general consensus), but below Project Chaos (which, honestly, wins partially because there's so much more to S3&K than the first two games. Plus it's my favorite),

[Eternal EX]

Okay I've listened to the whole track. It's not bad at all. But it's not something I would or could listen to all the time.

[The Weeb with No Name]

Gamebox for the fucking win, and I don't even like Labyrinth Zone.

[Sean]

I skimmed the soundtrack this morning since I didn't have time to listen to anything. I didn't hear anything that appealed to me too much.

I'll give it a proper listen when I get home.

[Sami]

Loved it. A short opinion on each track (keep in mind I haven't played Sonic 1 or listened to its soundtrack in ages, so I might not remember everything):

A, B, C, Start! (Title Screen) - Loved it.

The Sound of Speed (Green Hill Zone) - Loved it.

Shifting Islands (Marble Zone) - Loved it a lot. Third favorite track. Diggin' dat violin, brah.

Subsonic Sparkle (Spring Yard Zone) - Eh. Not bad.

Spring Junkie (Spring Hill Zone?) - Decent.

Bubble Junkie (Labyrinth Zone) - AAGHUAGUHUGH. GOD. THAT SYNTH. MY EARS.

Fifty Rings to Ride (No idea) - Eh. Not bad.

Under Construction (Starlight Zone) - So beautiful. I absolutely love it. ... Until the vocals kick in, but those are only about twenty seconds if a five and a half minute song. Second favorite track.

Hogtied (Boss) - Chills ran up my spine when I heard this. It's awesome. Favorite track.

Caos (Special Stage ?) - Pretty good.

Clockwork Criminal (Scrap Brain) - AWESOME. I love the sound effects, the main tune, the beat, etc. This song is great.

Final Progression (Final Boss) - Again awesome. I prefer the normal boss theme, but I prefer the normal boss theme over the final boss theme in the original OST too.

A Hog in His Prime (Credits) - Another great one.

Overall, it's a great OST. Haven't listen to HH, but I far prefer this over PC.

Edited April 16, 2011 by Dissident

[Ebby]

I think this was on the same level with HH... I feel I'm alone on that statement though.

[Sean]

When I'm listening to a remix, the thing I want most is that it actually resembles the original song. Many of the tracks on this album are serious offenders of doing the complete opposite. Fifty Rings to Ride doesn't feel like it has many elements from the songs it claims to adapt. Almost as annoying is when an artist only uses certain elements of the song to pad out what would otherwise be an entirely original composition. I don't find novelty in making a remix sound as far from the original source as possible.

Anyway, I found the album to be pretty mediocre There's nothing here I would consider to be terrible, but neither is there anything I seriously adore. Subsonic Sparkle is the only one I think I like, and even it fits among the complaints I addressed in the previous paragraph.

I also don't like when a song abuses the sampling of the game's sound effects throughout their songs. I've rarely heard it done well and it just causes me to draw further attention away from the song than it already does.

[JezMM]

Why all the hatin' on "Knuckle Duster"?

Might go off on a tangent, but hell, where else would we discuss it - I agree! I don't understand what's to hate about the song. It doesn't deviate from the original melody, is clearly recognisable as such, the lyrics are non-offensive (and mostly hard to make out at times anyway giving it a nice neutral feel mostly) and the vocals themselves are good quality, the singing voice didn't sound non-professional or recorded in someone's bedroom like many fan song vocals are, at all.

[Chooch]

Knuckleduster is the worst remix of the worst song from the worst stage in all of Sonic 3 and Knuckles. I already came into it thinking I wouldn't care for it simply because it was a remix of my least favorite song/stage from Sonic 3. Then the vocals came in.. They make me angry. Honestly angry.

I'm one for accepting really fucking cheesy and pathetic vocals (I like nearly every vocal theme in the series) but I honestly can not stand the vocals here. The actual 'remix' portion itself leaves a lot to be desired and hardly compares to the quality of other songs on Project Chaos.

It even has the nerve to be directly after the sublime Hydrocity remix that is Walk on Water on the track list. It is a complete and utter failure. D:<

Edited April 18, 2011 by Chooch

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

Got to second that the vocals on Knuckleduster are fucking horrible - they somehow manage to be technically in-tune whilst sounding massively out-of-tune, that almost-but-not-quite region that makes your ears explode in rage.

I can't listen to that song at all. Makes me want to punch puppies.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Velotix Lexovetikan

[TheGreatSpid]

I dont think Knuckleduster is all that bad, especially if you watch back2soul's charming animation video (which happened to be my first exposure to the song, hence my not disliking it as much as others do.)

In regards to Sound of Speed, I think it has its good and bad points. I'm not a huge fan of remixes, so my exposure to them is limited and I dont have much to compare it to. But I found it to be an easy listen and good to relax to!

[Robogaman]

My favorites were The Sound of Speed and Clockwork Criminal. The rest was ok.

[Indigo Rush]

I rather liked this album. Leaps and bounds beyond Project Chaos and Hedgehog Heaven.

....in my opinion.

[Shaddix Leto Croft]

I really like this album while I only like 6 of the tracks which are Sound of Speed, Shifting Islands, Clockwork Criminal, Bubble Junkie, A Hog in his Prime and Final Progression. I think it was a well put together album could of been better on some tracks but still very good *sort of off topic* I wonder if they ever do a Sonic the Hedgehog 4 remix album next could happen

[RootingForTheEmpire]

Hm. I didn't think speed would sound quite so mediocre.