Top Ten Songs From: Miracle of Sound

Phlakes

Elite Member
Mar 25, 2010
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Top Ten Songs From:
[Img_Inline Caption="That's not the design team, he actually exploded the words with awesomeness." Align="q"]http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/246983_215754081797864_198036756902930_657572_1001975_n.jpg [/Img_Inline]


Join the Top Ten Songs user group [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Top-Ten-Songs] to receive notifications when a new list is released, discuss my choices, your opinions, or game soundtracks in general, and have quick access to all of my released lists.

Didn't see a song you were hoping for in my last list? [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.290578-Top-Ten-Songs-From-Ubisoft-Games] Don't lose hope yet! At the beginning of each list, I'll put honorable mentions that either got barely beaten out of a spot or that I just forgot about.

Missed this one looking around. I only played the N64 version of the game which had different music, and I never found this while searching Youtube.


As I said in the entry for Venice Rooftops, they're basically two versions of the same song, and I'd rather have the faster, percussion heavy one.


Completely forgot about this one. Should've been in there.

Well, it's been a long time. And yes, I'm talking to you, the one guy who actually noticed I haven't done one of these in a while.

Hell, who am I kidding, there's no one like that.

But I haven't done one of these in a while. Like... a little under four months, according to the group news. I've been busy with the whole education thing, and the whole being lazy thing. Mostly the being lazy. And to anyone who actually follows this series, make sure not to miss the outro. Important things in there.

Anyway, after three short paragraphs of irrelevance, our very own Miracle of Sound recently released his first CD, Press X to Rock [http://www.splitreason.com/product/theescapist/1158], and what a better opportunity to say how much of a fan I am. I was introduced a bit late by someone on this site, after he released I Suck at Call of Duty-


Needless to say, the next few days were spent at his Bandcamp page [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/], and the world was good.

[Img_Inline Align="right" width=300 Caption="Look mommy, I can hyperlink an image!" ]http://www.splitreason.com/Product_Images/4ad4cf583d62-xl.jpg [/Img_Inline] [http://www.splitreason.com/product/theescapist/1158]Then he got picked up by this site for his fortnightly gig. You see, the volume of... goodness? I'll go with goodification because spellcheck doesn't like it. Anyway, the volume of goodification in the world is limited. Once that volume is reached, the world becomes unstable with a chance of explosion. Or tuberculosis. At the release of the aforementioned CD, that volume was met, and luckily for us, it was just the tuberculosis this time. Not so lucky for the bees though. I hear they're not taking it well. Bit of disappearing.

But I'm not here to talk about tuberculosis (I didn't come to do that in the first place), I'm here to tell you how awesome Miracle of Sound is and to swoon a bit over his accent. Reminds me why I'm only 99% heterosexual. So, let's go ahead and get started-

Number Ten (10):
Goodbye Black Ops


"But Phlakes!" you say.

"There are only fifteen songs on the CD! How the plastered aluminum biscuits do you pick ten out of only fifteen? Wouldn't it be easier just to rank all of them?"

I'm not limiting myself to the CD, because he's done others. 23 in total (I think). Now stop interrupting me. It's distracting.

Number Ten (10):
Goodbye Black Ops

Listen/Buy here [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/goodbye-black-ops]

Another Youtube one, naturally also about CoD. It's a very appropriate farewell song with a very catchy melody. That's basically all there is to it, I have to say. The lyrics are well-written and it's great overall to listen to, but that's about it. Except for the first minute or so. The way that all builds and works together makes for some good listening.

Number Nine (9):
Mining All Day Long



Official video here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound/3009-Mining-All-Day-long]

Listen/Buy here [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/mining-all-day-long]

This one just makes me happy. Everything in this song clicks, all the chords work together and melody sounds good, but aside from that it's a little basic. Actually, it reminds me of Minecraft itself. There's not all that much depth to it, but what is there is a lot of fun.

Number Eight (8):
Fire in Your Hole



Official video here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound/3059-Fire-in-Your-Hole-Bulletstorm]

Listen/Buy here [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/fire-in-your-hole]

Alright, if any of these capture the game perfectly (which most of them do anyway), it's this one. The guitar in this one very pleasing to the ears, and the lyrics are perfect, giving us the same stupid fun that the game did.

Number Seven (7):
Wheatley's Song



Official video here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound/3146-Wheatleys-Song-Portal-2]

Listen/Buy here [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/wheatleys-song]

Okay, this song is just ridiculous. It's cheesy, electronic, English-accented fun. I don't really know what else to say. I usually don't pay attention to "deep" or "powerful" lyrics, as I think I've said before, but I do enjoy some clever ones. Like these. you almost have to laugh listening to this because of how... stupid isn't the right word... I already used ridiculous... whatever, you get it.

Number Six (6):
Wasteland Soul



Official video here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound/3535-Wasteland-Soul-Fallout-3]

Listen/Buy here [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/wasteland-soul]

As you've obviously seen, this song is called Wasteland Soul. After several hours of close analysis (and several reports from my labs), I've managed to find that it's named Wasteland Soul because it's soulful. And about a wasteland. I can tell you that after looking over our data, both of these claims are very accurate. I don't think it's too close to the game's tone, actually, but I still love it. The guitar is powerful and you can definitely feel the words, all making a truly solid piece.

Number Five (5):
The Dead Don't Shuffle (They Run)



Official video here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound/4134-The-Dead-Dont-Shuffle-Left-4-Dead]

Listen/Buy here [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/the-dead-dont-shuffle-they-run]

First, the guitar in this reminds me a bit of Doom. Just wanted to put that out there. Anyway, this is another fast rock piece that seems to be a decent amount of metal blended in, with a pants-explodingly satisfying chorus. Those chords in "they run" are like rock-flavored sex, and that scream at 3:00ish is wonderful. No, really, Gavin, you nailed that. The leveled up chorus right after is also enjoyably powerful.

Number Four (4):
Through the Age of the Dragon



Official video here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound/2965-Age-of-the-Dragon-Dragon-Age-2-Song]

Listen/Buy here [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/through-the-age-of-the-dragon]

I've heard a lot of criticism for this one. I can kinda see why, but it's so much fun. It's a little like 80s glam rock and all about power and machismo, doing so in the best way possible. The guitar and percussion basically explode in your face, and while not much else is especially notable, the melody is very catchy, while still a bit nostalgically silly. Also in a good way.

Number Three (3):
Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Cover)

Listen/Buy here [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/somewhere-over-the-rainbow-cover]

Yep, bet you didn't know about this one. Considering most of what he does is at least metal-influenced, this one is quite unique. And damn beautiful. The traditional white-guy-with-an-acoustic-guitar intro is already great, and when the percussion kicks, it becomes not only the best cover of this song (because we've all heard so many) but a very, very enjoyable song in almost every way. That's basically what it is- it's bright and catchy and pure enjoyment, embodied in one piece of music. When he posted it on Youtube, he said it was "a gift for someone special". I think we all know what happened that night. And I think we're all a bit jealous. Now publicize this song, it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay underrated.

Number Two (2):
Normandy



Official video here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound/3941-Normandy-Mass-Effect-2]

Listen/Buy here [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/normandy]

If you missed it, first SHAME ON YOU, and second, Mr. Dr. Professor Dunne premiered this song at Gamescom because he's a badass. Then you probably heard it here. Anyway, a lot of people absolutely love Commander Shepard and say this couldn't live up to it. In my professional opinion (i.e. fact), they are wrong. Now I won't compare them, because they're very different, but I enjoyed this one more. Anyway, this is a much more rock-themed piece (and I actually think he could've been a little more heavy on the synth, being Mass Effect and all) that fits the mood and theme of the second game perfectly. Like most of his music, I had to listen to it twice before I really enjoyed it, and once I did... well... yeah, it's number two here. The chorus has some amazing power even with relatively quiet vocals thanks to the heavy percussion and guitar work. The melody is great too, of course, and the multiple voice tracks give some amazing harmony. A worthy successor to Commander Shepard, and a worthy piece for Bioware. Like, worthy for the credits of a game. If only there was a game in the same franchise that happened to be coming out soon... If only Bioware had already shown interest...

Number One (1):
Sweet L.A.



Official video here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound/3608-Sweet-L-A-A-Song-of-L-A-Noire]

Listen/Buy here [http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/sweet-l-a]

AW DAMN THAT'S SOME SEXAPHONE. I love some good jazz/blues. Everyone does. When jazz/blues is done right, it can be f**king legendary. Yeah, this one was done right. This one was done so right I listened to it for about, oh I don't know, 500 years straight. I used up three regenerations listening to this. And I'm still not even ginger. This was (possibly?) the first time the good Mr. Dr. Professor used guest musicians, Gary Baus on the sexaphone and Jack O'Rourke on the piano, and they did such a great job. Gavin himself (I assume) only handled the percussion samples and the vocals, which are by far his best. He pulls off the 50s jazz singer perfectly and mixes it with his own style, while showing just how much you can do without autotune when you're a BAMF like that. Some people may find the vocals a bit overdone, but it's almost like it combines regular lyrics and straight choral-vocal-whatever, in one tasty ball of... stuff. Good stuff. Mr. Baus sexes us up hard with a sexaphone solo a while in, and I have to say that last high "like" at 3:41ish always gives me chills. That doesn't happen very often. I have a feeling lots of people will disagree with me on this one, but how he nailed the genre so well and how he just dominated the vocals makes it the best piece technically, and while maybe not the most fun, still extremely enjoyable.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Damn, this one took a while. That was a lot of formatting (seriously, you can quote this just to see, probably half of it is BB code). Now I promised you important things in the outro, so there will be important things. This will be the second to last list for a while. Sometime before the end of the year I'll put out one more, think of as the season finale, and then I'll be taking a break. I don't know how long, but I'm really, really busy right now and it's only getting worse. Not only do I have ludicrous amounts of work that keep me up until 3 every morning, but I have several personal projects I want to work on that don't leave much time for things like this. Once I get my shit together, I'll begin a series 2, this time with actual planning and organization.

Anyway, thank you for reading, and thanks to Mr. Dr. Professor Gavin Dunne for making some of the best music on the internet, and off. His popularity is growing steadily, and he's said that it's getting to the point where he can make a living off of this. So go support him, buy his music and share his channel. He deserves it. Rock on, you charismatic Irish stallion.



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Top Ten Songs From: Bioware Games [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.288311-Top-Ten-Songs-From-Bioware-Games]
Top Ten Songs Special:
Five Songs I Really Shouldn't Like but I Somehow Do

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Ulquiorra4sama

Saviour In the Clockwork
Feb 2, 2010
1,786
0
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I fully agree that the "Over the Rainbow" is way underrated, and that Sweet L.A is definitely among the top with both the beatiful sax, and amazing vocal work.

Only song i missed in this list was Redemption Blues, but maybe the planning of this list came before the song or something like that, i don't know. Then again it must've been hard to pick out only 10 songs when his whole library is so fucking amazing :D
 

RedBeta22

New member
Aug 28, 2008
338
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0
There are seriously people who didn't like Age of the Dragon? That's nice. Age of the Dragon is my #1 favourite, not just from Miracle of Sound, my favourite song ever. Dragon Age 2 is my favourite game of all time and every time I listen to Age of the Dragon it's like replaying the game again, all the awesome moments and emotions I got from the game in a convenient bite-sized package. And like you said, it's just so much fun to listen to. It seems like Gav has tried to keep the rest of his songs in the style of the game they're based on, which all wel and good, but I just love what he did with AotD. Going for a style that fits the emotion of the game is the better option in my opinion.
 

Phlakes

Elite Member
Mar 25, 2010
4,282
0
41
SirBryghtside said:
Nice list, but did you really miss out Gordon Freeman Saved My Life? :p
It's actually really similar to Dead Don't Shuffle, and I like that one a bit more. If I had more than ten spots it would be there.
 

SckizoBoy

Ineptly Chaotic
Legacy
Jan 6, 2011
8,681
199
68
A Hermit's Cave
SirBryghtside said:
Nice list, but did you really miss out Gordon Freeman Saved My Life? :p
Agreed...

And how did you feel having to post this shortly after the New Black Gold came out. Don't think I could make a top ten... *hrk*