Overview

Wipeout 2097 (or WipE'out" XL in the US) was the second addition to Sony Computer Entertainment's highly successful futuristic racing series. As with the previous album in the series (Wipeout - The Music), Wipeout 2097 - The Soundtrack features wholly licensed music. Although the tracks featured on the album do feature in the game, the albums fails to include Tim Wright's (CoLD SToRAGE) contributions to the game. With this in mind, the representativeness of Wipeout 2097 - The Soundtrack of the whole gaming experience is debatable. This, of course, doesn't affect its enjoyableness though. This particular album was released in the United Kingdom and Japan, whereas an identical album called Wipeout XL - The Soundtrack was released in the United States.

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The album features a few artists who previously contributed to Wipeout - The Music and several tracks are also revisited. Wwe are once more presented with Leftfield's "Afro Ride" and "Wipeout (P.E.T.R.O.L)" (renamed as "Petrol") from Orbital. The inclusion of these tracks upon this album reflects upon their previous success, with each proving to be addictive and ambient additions. More notable, though, are the tracks provided from The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers. The instrumental version of The Prodigy's "Firestarter" is amongst the soundtrack's most pulsating and heavy-hitting themes, and takes upon a different style to their "One Love" track on Wipeout - The Music. The vocal version of the track is much better, but with the national and international hit featuring controversial and violent punk vocals, it was probably a good choice to just include the instrumental version in this soundtrack. Also returnees, The Chemical Brothers offer two contributions "Loops of Fury" and "Leave Home." Each track is particularly typical of The Chemical Brother's early big beat style, each focusing around hard-hitting drums and unique synth sequences.

The rest of the contributions on the album don't stray too far away from the styles already exhibited. The Future Sound of London's "We Have Explosive" and "We Have Explosive (Herd Killing)" actually sticks to the big beat style already exemplified by The Chemical Brothers' contributions. To put a stamp on the version I prefer the best, it's the remix, if only for the weird effects between 2:50 and 3:00. Newcomers Fluke also contribute two tracks, filled with electronica and house goodness. One of these tracks, "V Six" begins with alarm noises and a scintillating fast-paced pumping beat, and after a long development it really starts to come alive at 3:27 with the overlay of a new synth line. The renowned "Atom Bomb" is the better of the two tracks though, with this one featuring a much stronger melody and gripping whispered vocals. The other musician with two featured tracks is Photek (Rupert Parkes), but sadly his tracks aren't really as innovative or inspired as the likes of Fluke or The Chemical Brothers' contributions. Despite the creative sequencing in "The Third Sequence" and "Titan," they seem particularly laboured and repetitive, with "Titan" only temporarily straying away towards the middle to explore some ambient and otherworldly textures.

The album's other contributors Underworld, Source Direct, and Daft Punk each place just one track under their names. Underworld's "Tin There" is a fantastic progressive trance track which makes use of a recycled bass rhythm and constant overlaying of synth sequences to create a hypnotic and hard-hitting atmosphere, not especially explored elsewhere on the album. Less of a success, Source Direct's drum and bass "2097" is the soundtrack's most disjointed piece, featuring one of the craziest drum beats and seemingly involuntary synth noise outburst. The soundscape created is certainly enjoyable, but perhaps a little too much with its ability to create a sudden bout of nausea within the game player. Daft Punk's "Musique" is a little less disorientating though, and rather than feeling as if you've been strapped to a merry-go-round for too long, it gently plays its melody in an enjoyable and listenable blend of beats, looped sounds and rhythmic shifts.

Summary

I have very little criticism of this album, other than that Tim Wright's contributions are nowhere to be seen. The tracks featured are mostly fantastic, and act as a great accompaniment to the game. Through creating a multitude of different and inviting sounds, be this a calm atmosphere, a heavy hitting musical assault, or melodic invasion, the additions to this album are great exhibitions of what can be achieved through electronica. Furthermore, this sort of futuristic sound is absolutely perfect for the game which itself is based far in the future. I truly enjoyed this soundtrack, and I daresay you will do too!

Overview

Wipeout 2097 is the successor to the popular racing game Wipeout, and much like its predecessor, features some fantastic electronica music. As with the previous album in the series (Wipeout - The Music), Wipeout 2097 - The Soundtrack features wholly licensed music. Although the majority of the tracks do feature in the game, there was once more that niggling failure that Tim Wright's (CoLD SToRAGE) contributions had been left out. I hope you will rest well, though, in knowing that the game also acts as an audio CD, which will play in a CD player. The great thing about this is that it features two of CoLD SToRAGE's in-game tracks alongside some of the other tracks which can be heard on Wipeout 2097 - The Soundtrack. Read on to hear my opinions of his contributions and what I think of the music from the non-mainstream artists too.

Body

Well, we'll get straight off the mark here in reverse here (probably a bad idea with the size of those thrusters on the racing pods) and start with CoLD SToRAGE's tracks, which come at the end of the audio CD. "Body in Motion" is an ambient and relaxing track with an overall 'feel good' vibe. My only criticism of this track is that it seems much more linear than the likes of his contributions to Wipeout in terms of its development, despite being enjoyable nonetheless. The other track, "Canada," is undoubtedly one of the series' best themes, coming close to "Messij" from Wipeout. Much like "Body in Motion" it holds a similar rhythm all the way through, but this time, Wright introduces a fair number of synth effects and vocals all around the track, just to spruce things up a bit! The Sega Saturn version of the game features a lot more tracks from CoLD SToRAGE, mostly better than "Body in Motion," but at least these two tracks act as a little teaser of what's in the game.

Anyway, in regard to the rest of what's on the tracklist, it's mostly the same as what can be heard in Wipeout 2097 - The Soundtrack, and even sees the return of a few artists who contributed to Wipeout - The Music. The instrumental version of The Prodigy's "Firestarter" is amongst the game's most pulsating and heavy-hitting themes. The vocal version of the track is much better though, but with the hit featuring controversial and violent punk vocals, it was probably a good choice to just include the instrumental version in this soundtrack. The Chemical Brothers offer two contributions, "Loops of Fury" and "Dust up Beats." Each track is particularly typical of The Chemical Brother's early big beat style, each focusing around hard-hitting drums and unique synth sequences. Underworld's "Tin There" is another hard-hitting track, but seems to create a hypnotic atmosphere, not especially explored by The Prodigy or The Chemical Brothers. Likely, it's the use of a recycled bass rhythm and constant overlaying of synth sequences which creates this unique effect.

Also on the tracklist, The Future Sound of London's "We Have Explosive" sticks to the big beat style already exemplified by The Chemical Brothers' contributions. There is also a remix version of the track called "We Have Explosive (Herd Killing)" on the Wipeout 2097 - The Soundtrack, which in many sense is more entertaining, if only for the weird effects between 2:50 and 3:00. "Landmass" is a little different, and starts off with an ambient sustained synth note and high-pitched reverberating piano sequence. It's surprising that this addition didn't make it to the official soundtrack release, since it's actually the band's best contribution, especially in terms of development and musicality. Just as good are the two contributions from Fluke, which are filled with electronica and house goodness. One of these tracks, "V Six" begins with alarm noises and a scintillating fast-paced pumping beat, and after a long development it really starts to come alive at 3:27 with the overlay of a new synth line. The renowned "Atom Bomb" is the better of the two tracks though, with this one featuring a much stronger melody and gripping whispered vocals.

Summary

Through creating a multitude of different and inviting sounds, be this a calm atmosphere, a heavy hitting musical assault, or melodic invasion, the tracks which feature in this game are great exhibitions of what can be achieved through electronica. Furthermore, this sort of futuristic sound is absolutely perfect for the game which itself is based far in the future. With the inclusion of CoLD SToRAGE's two tracks, I feel that this redbook audio is well worthy of a good listen. So, get out your game, put it in your dusty record player, skip the first track (which is blank), and get listening.