Overview

If you exclude oldies such as the Sonic CD, then this is the first Sonic game to include vocals and streamed music in general. It's an interesting musical change that complements the interesting 3D transition in gameplay. Though the game was an extremely worthy game to the Sonic name, I'm not so sure the game held up in this transition as smoothly as Nintendo classics such as Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. The new found vocal music was the same way at times, but there are still some classic tracks to be found in Jun Senoue's first official vocal venture just as the game had its classic levels.

Body

It can definitely be said that the album name, Songs with Attitude, is accurate. Just listen to the first track, Sonic's theme "It Doesn't Matter"; it's certainly got some soul to it. Sonic Adventure 2 had this same theme in it with the same exact lyrics, but the difference was that the sequel's theme was more upbeat, fast, and catchy. It just fit in with Sonic so well. Though I prefer the second version so much more, this version is still fun and any classic rock fans will like it. It's actually a bit ground breaking in an age of synthetic music.

The themes of Tails and Knuckles are also similarly crafted to their equivalents in the sequel. Knuckle's theme, "Unknown from M.E.", shows a giant genre shift along with Amy's theme, "My Sweet Passion". As I've mentioned in other reviews, this genre variation is interesting, but it is also a sign of the declining gameplay variations that have happened since the Adventure games. Knuckles rap is still pretty fun, and I like the Louis Armstrong-esque voice. Also, Big's theme just works so well in context; "Livin' In Paradise" is very upbeat with silly heartfelt lyrics.

I think the main attraction on this album is "Open Your Heart", which is left for a grand finale. I felt it was the most solid of the batch. Again, it's no "Live and Learn", but it definitely is another classic Sonic rock piece that should not be overlooked. It's dark, grungy, and yet catchy. If it wasn't so well received, we wouldn't have subsequent classics like "Live and Learn". So let's give a big thank you to "Open Your Heart". It may not fit with the gameplay perfectly, but it's still a pretty great stand alone song, as are most Sonic vocals.

Summary

Just as Sonic Adventure seemed to stand on its feet a bit less than Sonic Adventure 2, so does the music. And that's not to say it doesn't stand on its feet. It's just that the catchy is less catchy, the fast is less fast, and the cheesy (purposely or not) is less cheesy. Nevertheless, it's an album that all Sonic vocal fans should own. If you are not a Sonic fan, but are a bit interested in this music, then get the Sonic Adventure 2 vocal album instead. This is an important chunk of Sonic history though and can also be heard within the Sonic Heroes vocal album. No matter what imperfections, it was still 1998.