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When I first heard about this one, I was eager to get my hands on it, hoping it’d turn out to be something like the Namco Classic Collection remix album.

Nope. This is just the game sound. And nothing more.

While that works for some games - Elevator Action had a jaunty tune or two, to say nothing of Bubble Bobble - who wants to sit and listen to an audio track of someone playing Space Invaders? Because that’s what you’ll hear on this disc - the unaltered, un-remixed sounds of the games themselves. And nothing more.

I can see classifying this as more of a sound effects CD than anything; might come in handy if they ever get around to turning “Joystick Nation” into that PBS miniseries they’ve been promising forever, or it might come in handy for any movies where a scene takes place in an arcade. But as a pure listening experience, it’s daunting to look at a list of 69 tracks, knowing that there’s many a bleep and a boop in each one, and in some cases precious little music.

Now, on the other hand, if a DJ wanted to take some of this stuff and sample it for their own remix…well, this CD would suddenly be beyond merely useful.

1. The Legend Of Kage - BGM1 (2:20)
2. The Legend Of Kage - BGM2 (0:49)
3. The Legend Of Kage - Track 3 (0:58)
4. Space Invaders - Playing Sound (0:17)
5. Elevator Action - Track 1 (0:08)
6. Elevator Action - Track 2 (1:28)
7. Elevator Action - Track 3 (0:19)
8. Super Dead Heat II - Track 1 (0:24)
9. Super Dead Heat II - Track 2 (0:24)
10. Super Dead Heat II - Track 3 (0:12)
11. Super Dead Heat II - Level 1 (0:34)
12. Super Dead Heat II - Level 2 (0:33)
13. Super Dead Heat II - Level 3 (0:22)
14. Super Dead Heat II - Level 4 (0:19)
15. Super Dead Heat II - Level 5 (0:19)
16. Super Dead Heat II - Level 6 (0:21)
17. Super Dead Heat II - Level 7 (0:51)
18. Super Dead Heat II - Level 8 (1:08)
19. Super Dead Heat II - Track 12 (0:09)
20. Super Dead Heat II - Track 13 (0:04)
21. Super Dead Heat II - Track 14 (0:44)
22. Wyvern F-0 - BGM: Codename Zero - Type I (1:11)
23. Wyvern F-0 - BGM: Codename Zero - Type II (0:39)
24. Wyvern F-0 - BGM: Count Zero (0:08)
25. The Fairyland Story - Track 1 (0:04)
26. The Fairyland Story - Track 2 (BGM) (1:26)
27. The Fairyland Story - Track 3 (BGM) (0:32)
28. The Fairyland Story - Track 4 (0:05)
29. The Fairyland Story - Track 5 (0:05)
30. The Fairyland Story - Track 6 (BGM) (0:40)
31. The Fairyland Story - Track 7 (0:09)
32. Gladiator - Playing Music (1:56)
33. Kikikaikai - BGM1 (1:36)
34. Kikikaikai - Boss (0:22)
35. Kikikaikai - Track 3 (0:05)
36. Kikikaikai - Track 4 (0:10)
37. Kikikaikai - Track 5 (0:04)
38. Kikikaikai - Track 6 (0:42)
39. Kikikaikai - Track 7 (0:34)
40. Scramble Formation - BGM1: Flying Alive (1:02)
41. Scramble Formation - BGM2: Avoid Muzik (0:55)
42. Scramble Formation - BGM: Dot Shooter (1:13)
43. Scramble Formation - BGM3: Finale (0:32)
44. Arkanoid - Track 1 (0:11)
45. Arkanoid - Playing Sound (0:33)
46. Arkanoid - Track 3 (0:14)
47. Arkanoid - Track 4 (0:47)
48. Chack’n Pop - Playing Sound (1:29)
49. Chack’n Pop - Track 2 (0:30)
50. Empire City 1931 - BGM1 (1:59)
51. Empire City 1931 - BGM2 (1:06)
52. Empire City 1931 - BGM3 (0:44)
53. Empire City 1931 - BGM4 (0:51)
54. Empire City 1931 - BGM5 (0:45)
55. Empire City 1931 - BGM6 (0:08)
56. Empire City 1931 - BGM7 (0:08)
57. Empire City 1931 - BGM8 (0:35)
58. Bubble Bobble - Track 1 (0:11)
59. Bubble Bobble - Track 2 (0:49)
60. Bubble Bobble - Track 3 (0:25)
61. Bubble Bobble - Track 4 (0:29)
62. Bubble Bobble - Track 5 (0:25)
63. Bubble Bobble - Track 6 (0:04)
64. Bubble Bobble - Track 7 (0:36)
65. Halley’s Comet - Ed1986 (1:12)
66. Halley’s Comet - Contact (0:32)
67. Halley’s Comet - Mechanical Brains (1:13)
68. Halley’s Comet - Track 4 (0:51)
69. The Outer Zone - Outer Zone (2:33)

Released by: Sci-Tron Digital Content
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 46:46

This appealing self-published entry from New Zealand singer/songwriter Daniel Gannaway may be a low-key winner, but it’s a winner nonetheless - actually, it’s one of the best things that I’ve heard so far this year. Predominantly a one-man-and-his-guitar album with some drum machine and the occasional overdubbed keyboards and backing vocals, Bound And Suburban benefits from some self-assured musicianship and an excellent lyrical sensibility. In some ways, the best thumbnail description I can offer to the uninitiated is a combination of the lo-fi cool of the Finn Brothers or Sunglass and the hard-to-describe but distinct sound of the world-weary Celtic minstrel. Gannaway isn’t afraid to wax modern on several tracks either, with “Y’Hold My Court” standing out as a fine example of this.

My favorite track on the album happens to be the first, the majestically wistful “The Lights R’Out (Over Caldor)”, perhaps the most Celtic-sounding song of the entire set. It’s easy to see why this one was the lead track - Gannaway’s firing on all pistons here, with some outstanding guitar work, some light keyboards in all the right places, and vocals with are neither too thin nor too overpowering for the song. Other favorites include the appropriately slippery “Bourbon”, “Slide”, and the quirky “Achilles”. The entire album is relaxing, but never in a sleepy way.

If there’s one thing that Daniel could improve on in future releases, and I realize this is a difficult thing for any struggling musician to do with the limited resources that entails, would be to get some real drums in there, even if he’s got to get someone else in to play them. The drum machine worked well on rockier entries like “Image & Kool”, but as magnificently sweeping as “The Lights R’Out (Over Caldor)” already is, it could be positively magical with some real percussion in there. Some songs like “Not Your Lot” sidestepped the drum machine entirely or made only minimal use of it. Still, despite that, it says something that the songs weren’t brought down by the drum machine - I just think some of them could be even better with someone hitting some real skins.

Highly recommended stuff. If, this year, you let me point you in the direction of just one artist you’ve never heard of, do check this one out.

1. The Lights R’Out (Over Caldor) (6:02)
2. Slide (6:50)
3. Somewhere In Japan (Fishtank Soul) (6:00)
4. Image & Kool (4:25)
5. Not Your Lot (6:45)
6. Bourbon (5:18)
7. Y’Hold My Court (5:18)
8. Bound And Suburban (4:35)
9. Achilles (2:56)
10. Where’s The Way? (5:38)

Released by: Daniel Gannaway
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 53:$7

If you were alive and capable of listening to a rock station in 1980, I can guarantee you you’ve heard almost half this album. If that year had an overplayed feel-good motivational song that crowded the airwaves, it had to be “While You See A Chance”. And that airplay overkill wasn’t without reason - it’s actually a good song that exemplifies the sound of this album: solid old-school rock musicianship with a bit of new technology to play with.

Steve Winwood had turned out one previous solo album, a self-titled LP in 1977, in his attempt to distance himself from his legacy as the Spencer Davis Group’s “little Stevie Winwood.” Winwood had also been one-third of Traffic (along with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker), and it was that group to which his debut bore the most similarity. With Arc Of A Diver, Winwood boldly charted a clear path away from the “classic rock” sound with which he had become so closely identified - and to which, in time, he would return.

The synthesizer sound which is so predominant on Arc Of A Diver is the then-new (but later almost ubiquitous) Yamaha DX-7. Winwood made the DX-7 sound his sound with his mastery of that keyboard’s pitch-bend wheel, which lent so much unique character to “While You See A Chance”’s intro, “Arc Of A Diver”, and his biggest hit single of the early 80s, 1982’s “Valerie”. Growing up playing piano and electronic keyboards, I ached to find that sound. When I finally got a fairly high-end consumer-grade Yamaha keyboard in high school, I made it my mission to bend the pitch-bending ability to my will - all because I wanted to sound just like Winwood did in 1980. Apparently some other people did too - Winwood was called on as a session player to lend that unique sound to artists such as George Harrison.

It’s not all electronic wizardry, though. Real live piano, guitar, bass and drums provide a solid backbone for a synth sound that Winwood knew would be different an alien to the audience, and with that real live rock as a foundation, Arc Of A Diver is safely prevented from falling into experimental new-wave territory. What’s staggering, especially in hindsight given the still-evolving state of recording technology at the time, is how many of those instruments Winwood played himself.

The title track itself is a wondrous mix of soulful, bluesy rock and unusual lyrics. “Since I don’t know your secret code, I’ll need my love to translate,” Winwood sings in the chorus. Tell us about it, Steve.

“Night Train” is a bit of an overblown attempt at a longform song which is nonetheless very enjoyable with its driving beat. (The song’s sheer length, topping out at just under eight minutes, made it a godsend to many a disc jockey who needed to visit the men’s room for a bit. Trust me, I know. I’ve hit the “start” button before and sprinted down the hall as the opening chords rang out.)

One song I’ve always felt is underrated is the relaxing “Spanish Dancer”, both for its music and its lyrics. It’s a bit repetitive, but that lends it a bit of a mesmerizing quality which is probably what kept radio from discovering it.

I was disappointed when, after the much more middle-of-the-road, mainstream rock effort that was 1986’s Back In The High Life, Winwood abandoned his DX-7 and went for a more traditional sound with Roll With It. On the one hand, we’d grown accustomed to Winwood’s signature 80s sound and there was a danger it was making all of his songs sound the same. But on the other hand, it’s a sound I quite liked - and no one has taken up the challenge of keeping it alive. I miss it. And I guess that’s why I’m so fond of Arc Of A Diver.

1. While You See A Chance (5:13)
2. Arc Of A Diver (5:29)
3. Second-Hand Woman (3:34)
4. Slowdown Sundown (5:34)
5. Spanish Dancer (5:59)
6. Night Train (7:51)
7. Dust (6:22)

Released by: Island
Release date: 1980
Total running time: 40:02

An unusual mix of music from Big Finish Productions’ wonderful Doctor Who Audio Adventures, Music From The New Audio Adventures Volume 2 presents cues from an episode that quite a few Who fans haven’t even heard. The exclusive one-parter Last Of The Titans, which was included on a free CD with Doctor Who Magazine’s first issue of 2001, seems like an odd choice, but it has an excellent score reminiscent of Dudley Simpson’s Doctor Who music of the 1970s. Moody, whimsical and just a little bit creepy at the same time, Last Of The Titans has music that suits it perfectly…even if half the people who hear the music haven’t heard the story.

The juiciest score on here, however, is the much more modern-sounding Shadow Of The Scourge (coincidentally, all three scores included on this album are from stories featuring Sylvester McCoy as the seventh Doctor). Scourge, an adventure set in the era of the New Adventures novels published by Virgin between 1991 and 1997, benefits from some fantastically creepy music boasting everything from modern beats to some of the weirdest sounds I’ve ever heard coaxed out of a synthesizer. The Scourge cues are followed by a new piece of music, “Benny’s Theme”, which seems to be equal parts modern dance music and Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Not actually heard in the story itself, it’s a fitting theme for archaeologist Bernice “Benny” Summerfield, the Doctor’s quirky companion in the New Adventures era.

By comparison, I’ve found that when taking in the entire CD in a single sitting, I’m still reeling from Shadow Of The Scourge by the time the relatively low-key, pseudo-orchestral score for The Fires Of Vulcan kicks in. Nice in its own way, maybe the Fires Of Vulcan music should have been put before Scourge on the disc, though that also would’ve meant putting two synth-orchestral scores back-to-back, so I can see why things were sequenced this way.

In any event, the finished product is a testament to Alistair Lock’s ability to find what the story needs musically, and it’s a good listen.

1. Vilgreth’s Ship (3:16)
2. Tea And Shortcake (1:17)
3. Bomb Warning (2:59)
4. Troubling Thoughts (1:56)
5. A Planet Saved, A Home Destroyed (2:47)
6. Benny In The Circle (2:27)
7. Hotel Relocation (3:27)
8. Casting A Shadow (2:24)
9. Consumed (2:35)
10. The Doctor’s Head (1:45)
11. Over The Edge (1:14)
12. Facing Our Fears (6:27)
13. Benny’s Theme (3:57)
14. Arrival (1:55)
15. The Street Of Plenty (2:28)
16. Murranus’ Theme (1:47)
17. Eumachia (3:04)
18. The First Quake (2:50)
19. Final Destination (2:01)
20. Foreknowledge Of Disaster (3:12)
21. The Sacrifice (1:35)
22. Escape Plans Arrested (1:57)
23. Hypnotic Escape (2:05)
24. The Arena (2:42)
25. The Fight (3:21)
26. Death Of Pompeii (2:45)

Released by: Big Finish Productions
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 73:46

Peter Gabriel has always turned out fairly interesting soundtracks, whether they’re built on the same blocks as his solo non-film releases (Birdy) or completely original material (Passion: Music From The Last Temptation Of Christ, or, arguably also a soundtrack, OVO). Long Walk Home manages to fall under the latter category while also delivering a very tantalizing preview of Gabriel’s seventh solo album, Up.

The preview element comes from the fact that many of the musicians who lent their talents to this film score - perhaps most notably the legendary gospel group, the Blind Boys Of Alabama - are also playing a part on Gabriel’s next solo album. On its own, Long Walk Home is a hauntingly atmospheric accompaniment to an Australian film about three Aborigine children kidnapped and sold into servitude. They escape, using the rabbit-proof fence that divides the country to find their way back home. Given the movie’s subject matter, the emphasis on dijeridoo on the first half of the CD is appropriate, but it’s also beautiful. Gabriel has become so well known for using elements of Middle Eastern music in his own works that it’s easy to forget that there are a lot of other styles we haven’t heard him employ, and this redresses the balance nicely.

Toward of the score, the Blind Boys of Alabama take center stage, gradually beginning to add a soulful, wordless vocal to the music, and the effect is breathtaking. On the first listening, I was thinking to myself, “Well, that’s an interesting choice. Now it almost sounds more like music from a movie about the American civil rights movement.” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the parallel is utterly appropriate, and either way, the music is strikingly beautiful and haunting. It’s not background music. It still stops me dead in my tracks whenever the voices of Blind Boys of Alabama rise into the mix.

Now I’m starting to wish that The Rabbit-Proof Fence, the movie for which this music was composed, were available on this side of the equator. Ah well…I suppose that’s what multi-region DVD players are for. In any event, the soundtrack is a must-hear, even if you’re slightly disappointed that it’s not Gabriel’s new solo project. Once you hear Long Walk Home, I think you’ll get over any such disappointment.

1. Jigalong (4:03)
2. Stealing The Children (3:20)
3. Unlocking The Door (1:58)
4. The Tracker (2:47)
5. Running To The Rain (3:19)
6. On The Map (1:00)
7. A Sense Of Home (1:59)
8. Go Away Mr. Evans (5:15)
9. Moodoo’s Secret (3:03)
10. Gracie’s Recapture (4:40)
11. Crossing The Salt Pan (5:08)
12. The Return, Parts 1, 2 and 3 (10:26)
13. Ngankarrparni (Sky Blue - reprise) (6:01)
14. The Rabbit Proof Fence (1:07)
15. Cloudless (4:50)

Released by: RealWorld
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 58:58