Song of the Week - WEEK 94 Voting/WEEK 95 Nominating

Battle Gear 4 + Battle Gear 4 Tuned Original Soundtrack - To a distance - Being a child of the 80s, I've retained a soft spot for epic power ballads. I like that they're emotionally accessible and that they're often quite thorough in their progression. "To a distance" is quite the uplifting number once you overlook the obvious cheesiness. I guess my only complaint is that it clocks in at a modest 2:26. I would've loved for this to extend itself to a five minute joyride, if only to enhance that "epic" quality. But yeah, I'm enjoying this track a lot.

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (SNES Game Rip) - Bonus Stage 1 & Last Battle - Quality SNES tracks are few and far between, mostly due to the "canned" quality of the synths. It's not the composers' fault; the sound processors were inferior; they did what they could with limited capability. This Battletoads track is a good example of a track that held potential but was ultimately spoiled by the SNES's lackluster sound.

Myst IV Revelation (PC Game Rip) - Welcome - Myst music, as a rule, is dull and uneventful. Although this track offends the least, it still upholds that rule. I found several points in the music where it could've stepped up to become something more interesting, but instead resorted to droning chants and stock gypsy rhythms. The only compelling section was the a capella chanting, but that quickly grew shrill and bothersome.

Namco Game Sound Express VOL.23 Cyber Cycles - Bahama - While not being thoroughly memorable, "Bahama" does little to offend, nor does it commit itself to too many standard progression cues. Not great but solidly good. The track's title had me hoping for something a little more tropical in feeling, whereas this feels far too urban and aggressive to be called "Bahama". Just a minor nitpick, though.

Shining Wisdom - HERALDIC EMBLEM OF WISDOM - Ah, Motoaki Takenouchi, the man who brought me my first SotW Gold. Always a pleasure to hear his work. "HERALDIC EMBLEM" isn't as demanding of notice as some of Takenouchi's other works, but it's still pretty groovy. This is really making me wistful for the games with which his music is associated, and damn if I don't love me some Shining Force II action. <3
(I've been eyeing a Takenouchi track for a while and this is making me seriously consider tossing it up after my next nomination goes to bat.)

The Sims (PC Game Rip) - Building Mode 5 - While I can't argue that this is very soft, organic and soothing, I don't see that many functional differences between "Building Mode 5" and "Building Mode 3", which has been on my iPod for over a year now. On one hand, I do like this style of piano improvisation; on the other hand, it's not at all distinctive from its companion tracks on the gamerip. Oh, what would Vince Guaraldi do?

To Be On Top - Chris Hülsbeck Volume 2 - To be on top - Huelsbeck is cool. I greatly admire his musical sensibilities. I've had this album for quite a while, although I'll state that "To Be On Top" isn't the first track I'd nominate. Being familiar with a lot of Huelsbeck's work, this is a fairly standard offering, mostly emphasizing Huelsbeck's fascination with fusion and funk. Oh, it's not bad in the least bit, but it doesn't have that "punch" that several of his other works have held for me. ("Freedom" & "Giana Sisters" = LOVE) But it's been a little while since we've had a Huelsbeck track in SotW, and there are worse ones that could've shown up.

Uncharted Waters II Special Edition - The Chase - For Yoko Kanno, this seems particularly sloppy. I'm not as impressed with "The Chase" as I've been with many of her other pieces. I guess it's a slightly more mature form of light jazz stylings, and I can appreciate that, but while the technical merits are present, this track lacks that element of "life" that Yoko Kanno so regularly brings to her work. The second half of this track is significantly more interesting than the first, but it falls back into the melody from the first section that I didn't connect with.


Get to the Point, Oblio!

3 Points: Battle Gear 4 + Battle Gear 4 Tuned Original Soundtrack - To a distance
1 Point: Shining Wisdom - HERALDIC EMBLEM OF WISDOM
1 Point: To Be On Top - Chris Hülsbeck Volume 2 - To be on top
1 Point: Namco Game Sound Express VOL.23 Cyber Cycles - Bahama

Just Missed The Boat: The Sims (PC Game Rip) - Building Mode 5


This was a solid week, with a great deal of variety. I didn't get bored halfway through. I really want the cheesy powerballad to get into the top 3, which is why I threw three points at it. Otherwise, this could've easily been a five or six-way split.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've attempted, on several different nights, to upload my nomination to the SotW FTP folder, but have run into unusual difficulty. The file uploads all the way but somehow fails upon completion, triggering an error message and a new upload each time.

So I've uploaded my nomination to Megaupload instead. Hopefully someone else can grab the file and succeed in getting it stored to the SotW site.

The Gods Awaken - <Bjorn Lynne> - Jooli's Song

Thanks.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Kaleb.G

There was a problem with the directory disk space quota. I guess the numbers got screwed up and it thought the directory was full. I just removed the quota entirely. Let me know if you still have any problems.

I tried again this afternoon and the upload was successful. Thanks for correcting the problem, Kaleb.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I believe it breaks the first place tie. That places one of those two tracks into second place. Also, he gave out points that altered the third place standings, pushing the fourth place runner ahead and dropping the other two down.

After Manny's votes, it appears that the placements unofficially go as follows:

Gold: To a distance
Silver: The Chase
Bronze: To Be On Top
4th: Heraldic Emblem of Wisdom/Building Mode 5
5th: Welcome/Bahama
6th: Bonus Stage 1 & Last Battle

I hope I'm right. I've done the calculations all in my head based upon CHz's most recent tabulations in the SotW site. Nothing has been posted at STC to interfere with my numbers, so now I guess we're just waiting for CHz or Drakken to make it official.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?