Overview

There's no doubt that the Medal of Honor series of soundtracks is one of the most important in the history of video game scores, right up there with other coveted franchises like Final Fantasy. True, Michael Giacchino's Medal of Honor wasn't the first orchestrated game score when it was released in 1999. But it was the first soundtrack for a video game that generated interest outside of the gamer community, turning heads among film score fans and within the music industry at large. Fast forward 11 years, and game scores compete at the most prestigious industry awards, such as the BAFTAs, Igor Novello and Grammy awards and are as respected as their older brothers, film soundtracks. Not that this development would have never taken place hadn't it been for Medal of Honor, but it most definitely was the starting point.

Giacchino went on to score several more Medal of Honor games and solidified his reputation as one of the most exciting new soundtrack composers of the decade, before moving on to an equally successful career in TV and movies. For Medal of Honor: Rising Sun and the following soundtracks, Christopher Lennertz was brought on board and continued Giacchino's tradition of lavishly orchestrated scores with a militaristic edge. However, by the middle of the 2000's, the once mighty Medal of Honor franchise started to lose ground to its competitors, both in terms of quality and sales. 2007's Medal of Honor: Airborne, which marked Giacchino's return to the series, turned out to be the last Medal of Honor for a while. However, a reboot was only a matter of time and, in 2010, Medal of Honor took the player from the battlefields of WWII to the present-day fight of US forces in Afghanistan. To reflect this thematic shift, Remote Control composer Ramin Djawadi was hired to provide a more contemporary sound that marked a pronounced departure from previous Medal of Honor scores.

Only a few months later, soundtrack specialist label La-La Land Records surprised game and film score fans with their announcement of a limited box set that would hold all Medal of Honor albums. Some of them released in a physical format for the first time — European Assault, Airborne, and 2010's Medal of Honor — while the physical albums of Allied Assault, Rising Sun, and Pacific Assault were rare promotional releases. On top of that, the box set would include a bonus CD of previously unreleased material and all albums in the Medal of Honor Soundtrack Collection would be newly remastered. And of course, there would be a lavish, 40-page booklet featuring liner notes by film music writer Dan Goldwasser. Predictably, the Medal of Honor Soundtrack Collection became one of the most anticipated score releases of 2011, with speculations about the box set's release date and the nature of its bonus content running wild. On April 15, 2011, the day finally came and fans could get their hands on what promised to be one of the most definite releases in the history of Western game music.

Body

The Medal of Honor Soundtrack Collection holds eight CDs, spanning all nine original Medal of Honor scores and containing almost all Medal of Honor music that has ever been released. The only exceptions are two short and insubstantial pieces from Pacific Assault's promotional album, "Marching Hymn" and "Trumpet Solo". Completionists will be delighted to hear that they'll find each and every track from Giacchino's scores on this box set. This means that the hidden bonus tracks from the physical CD releases of Medal of Honor, Underground, and Frontline that weren't included on the 2005 digital albums have made their way back onto Medal of Honor Soundtrack Collection. "Multiplayer Allies" and "Multiplayer Axis", Airborne's iTunes exclusives, return on the box set's disc of bonus material from Rising Sun, European Assault, and Airborne.

More important than these bonus tracks though is the box set's sound quality. The Medal of Honor scores have always benefited from great — or, in the case of Frontline and European Assault, spectacular — recordings. Some scepticism was due then in regards to how much improvement the advertised remastering of each album would actually achieve. But lo and behold! The remastering job done on Medal of Honor Soundtrack Collection indeed increases the music's clarity and presence, while sacrificing none of its power. Listen to the opening horn call of Frontline's "Shipyards of Lorient", the intertwining woodwind fragments at the beginning of Underground's "Escape from Casablanca", or the delightfully rasping brass after the 2:00 mark on Medal of Honor's "Stopping the V2". In these and other cases, the improvements are subtle, but certainly tangible and increase the enjoyment the listener will get out of the music. Arguably equally important in regards to sound quality is the simple fact that some of this music is available in a lossless format for the first time. But in any case, the album remastering on Medal of Honor Soundtrack Collection improves on what were already impressive achievements and catapults this box set's sound quality into reference class territory. Play this via good a stereo system or headphones and you'll sometimes feel as if the solo instrumentalists are performing in your room.

The first disc holds Giacchino's Medal of Honor soundtrack and, more than 11 years after its release, it remains a riveting listen. Giacchino wrote a thematically dense, rousing action score that emulates John Williams and particularly his first and third Indiana Jones scores. But this comparison must be taken as an enormous compliment, because Giacchino creates orchestral action music on the same level as the maestro — both in regards to intelligent thematic constructs and sheer aural pleasure. Incorporating three primary motifs — among them the now iconic Medal of Honor main theme and a thunderous theme for the Nazis — and a great number of secondary themes into one score as skillfully as Giacchino does here is an impressive feat. The appeal of such robust music is greatly increased by a spot-on performance by the Northwest Sinfonia. Add to this Giacchino's capability to give each composition its own dramatic arc and make his pieces them explode with youthful gusto, and you've got indeed a modern classic of the video game soundtrack genre that would point the way forward for orchestral game music. With its focus on action tracks, Medal of Honor's score is simply great, rip-roaring fun. Particularly "Panzer Attack" and "The Radar Train" are stand outs: the first piece through its unrelenting, brutal secondary motif that would return on future Medal of Honor scores. The second composition is an irresistibly propulsive, anvil-driven creation that perfectly communicates the motoric drive of a massive train. "Approaching Colditz Castle" and "Attach on Fort Schmerzen" highlight Medal of Honor's mellower side, the latter with its stealth atmosphere based on a tense four note woodwind motif that exudes the fear of dangers lurking in the shadows.

After his success with Medal of Honor, fans were eagerly awaiting Giacchino's score for Medal of Honor: Underground, featured on the second disc of the box set. While many of them expecting a return of the first score's sound, Underground impressively proves Giacchino's versatility and is in no way a simple rehash. While it still offers pulse-pounding action cues, at the same time the soundtrack adds a swash of new moods and colours, with a number of haunting compositions that display Giacchino's talent at crafting more introspective and atmospheric pieces that always maintain the listener's interest. This greater variety carries over into action tracks like "Escape from Casablanca" and "The Motorcycle Chase", which are just exciting as those on Medal of Honor, while allowing for greater contrasts and changing dynamics with their lighter orchestrations. Giacchino's handling of thematic material remains highly impressive and continued to set a benchmark for other game scores, orchestral or not. And while Underground may take a couple more spins than Medal of Honor to reveal all facets of its more understated nature, the listener is amply rewarded with compositions full of intriguing nuances and emotional highlights. These traits are best highlighted by Underground's main title "May 10th, 1940 (Main Theme)". Not only does the cue introduce Underground's main theme in both its iterations, which in an ingenious twist grow from the same musical cell and represent protagonist Manon Batiste's patriotism and her more intimate feelings as a soldier facing overwhelming enemy forces. Soon into the track, a lyrical horn melody is heard against harp accompaniment - sounds that were unheard of on Medal of Honor. The composition turns even more colourful when the delicate voices of a boys choir chime in. The piece closes with a rendition of the main theme's "B" variation on solo cello - another instrumentational choice that sets the score for Underground apart from its predecessor.

Movign to the third disc, Medal of Honor: Frontline has become many soundtrack fans' favourite Medal of Honor score, and for good reason, as it surpasses even Giacchino's superb previous works for the franchise. Adding an unmistakable air of tragedy to the proceedings while refining his orchestral approach, Giacchino creates what is no doubt the most operatic and emotional of all Medal of Honor scores. This shift towards more serious tones is instantly palpable on "Operation Market Garden", which presents a new, grave variation of the original Medal of Honor main theme. "After the Drop" and "Arnhem" are even more moving in their strikingly melodramatic nature, both incorporating dramatic vocal elements via a boy soprano and a full choir. Particularly "Arnhem"'s both funereal and defiant strains are heart-breaking and will stick with you for days. Giacchino's increasing musical maturity and his confidence are also mirrored in his approach to penning the score's action music. Never before has he written such perfectly self-contained compositions like "The Halftrack Chase" that play like musical mini-dramas which run the complete gamut of orchestral colours. Giacchino's increasing compositional sophistication allows him to write an album chock full of fully-realised compositions that are perfectly developed. Thematically, Medal of Honor: Frontline impresses as well, with that clever tweaking of the original Medal of Honor theme and a slithery, versatile new theme for the game's villain. Both ideas are brought together in the most spectacular fashion on "Escaping Gotha", a stupendous seven-minute action bonanza. The fact that both themes appear in more varied and colourful shapes throughout the score than the equivalent themes on previous Medal of Honor soundtracks demonstrates the striking richness of Frontline's score.

Disc Four groups together some of the shorter Medal of Honor scores: Allied Assault, Pacific Assault, and European Assault. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault's music sees Giacchino combining the increased instrumental and emotional palette of Medal of Honor: Underground with the large-scale orchestral sounds of the original Medal of Honor — a stirring mixture that would fully blossom on his masterpiece, Medal of Honor: Frontline. Giacchino even expands his orchestral palette and successfully integrates folkloristic elements not heard before on a Medal of Honor score, such as North-African hand percussion. "Schmerzen" highlights this stylistic convergence between Medal of Honor and Underground, after the sequel's lighter, but more colourful action cues, "Schmerzen" sees Giacchino returning to the more bombastic sounds of the original, without giving up on the expanded timbral breadth. The result is another superbly rambunctious action track. However, the most interesting music on Allied Assault comes courtesy of its quieter moments. The ambient-setting music of "Sniper Town" cranks up the edgyness and harsh nature of the dissonant string textures that carried Underground's "Streets of Paris" and constantly keeps the listener on the edge of her seat.

Lennertz' Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault is about as short as Allied Assault, but much weaker and the score is easily the least essential in the Medal of Honor canon. Fourteen tracks are crammed into sixteen minutes of running time and almost all pieces on the album, superficially pleasant as they might be, are hardly more than mere filler cues, simply way too short to make an impression. To make matters worse, the music lacks Rising Sun's rich orchestrations and unrelenting pace, instead opting for a calmer approach. But outside of "Main Titles (Pacific Assault)", most of the more pastoral and string-heavy compositions sound clichéd and tiring, since they present the same mood over and over without much variation. Those pieces that break this stylistic mould don't help much. "No Fear", "The Jungle" and "On Patrol" feature generic, tension-building mood material, while "Battlegrounds"' thin melodic material and over-reliance on string ostinati places it several notches below Rising Sun's action tracks.

Things improved a lot with Medal of Honor: European Assault, which betters Lennertz' effort for Rising Sun and stands head and shoulders above the disappointment that was Pacific Assault. The soundtrack doesn't quite reach the stellar heights of Giacchino's Medal of Honor scores, but it's a very satisfying listen in and of itself. The score is a more coherent, smoothly flowing work than Rising Sun was, thanks to longer tracks and Lennertz' willingness to finally give his compositions time to develop and unfold. The music is reminiscent of Medal of Honor: Frontline, in that it's emotionally powerful and possesses an enticing sense of grandeur, underpinned by a superb main theme that carries such stirring tracks like "Dogs of War - Main Title", "Casualties of War" and "One Man Can Make A Difference". And the sonically massive action tracks impress with their unrelenting barrage of exciting, mighty brass sounds, courtesy of London's The Philharmonia Orchestra. It's true, "Operation Chariot", "Redball Express" and "Russia, 1942" are not among the most varied or well-developed battle cues in the Medal of Honor franchise. But their bombast is enough to carry the soundtrack through its well-timed half-hour running time.

The soundtrack for Medal of Honor: Rising Sun is featured non-chronologically on the fifth disc, following Lennertz' other scores. Filling in what were some of the biggest boots in video game music history, Lennertz tackled the challenge of scoring the first non-Giacchino Medal of Honor score with unbridled enthusiasm. Hewing closer than Giacchino's works to cinematic score conventions, Lennertz' compositions brim with energy and feature enormously colourful, sometimes dazzling orchestrations that turn even short action cues like "PT Attack", "Saving Pearl Harbour" and "Passing the Nevada" into rip-roaring orchestral powerhouses. There's hardly time for the listener to catch breath, so dense and action-oriented are most of the soundtrack's pieces. Some skillfully integrated East Asian influences provide relief from the splendid orchestral onslaught. On a more superficial level then, Medal of Honor: Rising Sun is a thrilling listen. However, many tracks are too short to develop their ideas and it's difficult to shake the feeling that Rising Sun consists of a number of magnificently composed vignettes; a collection of colourful dots that don't quite come together to form one coherent image, but they're still an impressive sight to behold. Also, the score's new, slightly anemic main theme and the East Asian elements don't impact as much on the music as they should to provide it with a stronger sense of identity. Medal of Honor: Rising Sun succeeds as a collection of many barnstorming moments, but it doesn't offer the rewarding listening experience more unified works like Giacchino's Medal of Honor soundtracks provide. Still, it's doubtlessly a strong entry into the series of Medal of Honor soundtracks and never less than an entertaining listen.

Presented on the sixth disc, Medal of Honor: Airborne came as a a bit of a surprise to score collectors hoping for a straight continuation of Giacchino's stylings on Frontline and, in fact, the score is quite far removed from that previous soundtrack's grandiose approach. Airborne presents a rougher, edgier tone that makes sure pieces zip along at an impressive speed. But these compositions will be a bit short on attractive melodies for some, particularly after Frontline's lyrical strains. On Airborne, the pendulum swings into the other direction with orchestral textures that are more frantic, harsher and leaner than on any previous Medal of Honor soundtrack. Also, Giacchino shifts his focus from melodies to smaller-scale musical phrases and rhythmic elements, similar to his work on Call of Duty. The score's pronounced rhythmic focus is most clearly expressed through the greater role string ostinati play on Airborne, where they power most of the action cues such as "Operation Husky" and "Defusing the Charges". These pieces are not always as stellar as those on Giacchino's previous Medal of Honor scores, but they're are still effective. And despite whatever misgivings one might have about Giacchino's new approach, his compositions are never less than perfectly functional in the best sense of the word. In terms of thematic content, Airborne is somewhat thin, offering a new variation of the Medal of Honor theme that has a bit of a weak chest. Although the new theme is quoted on the majority of tracks on Airborne, it doesn't make much of an impact due its somewhat anonymous character and the most memorable moments on the score are actually provided by the original Medal of Honor main theme that returns to glorious effect on "Unblocking Utah" and "Medal of Honor: Airborne (End Credits)".

Ramin Djawadi's score for 2010's Medal of Honor marked a predictable departure from the lush orchestral style of Giacchino's and Lennertz' soundtracks and hews a lot closer to a work like Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare and other game scores inspired by contemporary Hollywood action writing. Nonetheless, Djawadi proves that his approach can generate winning results. This is particularly the case on surprisingly beautiful, harmonious tracks like "Heroes Abroad", "High Ground" and "The Summit" that feature the score's simplistic, but pleasing main theme. Uncharacteristic for a first-person shooter score, it's the slower, more emotional material that proves most rewarding. And while hardly any of these tracks are particularly complex, the inclusion of vocal elements makes for some moving moments, for example when evoking the detached sadness of "Falling Away". Another plus is the skilful inclusion of ethnic elements on "From Here" and "The Time Is Upon Us". Where 2010's Medal of Honor falters is in its action material. Its battle cues are mostly a bunch of generic, nondescript string ostinati and ethnic percussion rhythms, utterly lacking in punch, rhythmic intricacies or development and even failing to provide some guilty pleasure moments like other Remote Control scores do. There are hints at how such material could work when the incessant rhythms are contrasted with snippets of melody, like on "Send In the Ranges" and "Hunter-Killer". But for the majority of their running time, the action cues show a disconcerting lack of inspiration that prevents the score from ever really flowing smoothly.

There are 18 minutes of previously unreleased bonus material for Medal of Honor on the seventh disc. Some of the additional tracks, like "Aftermath" and "Time To Move", are generic, mood-building underscore that in the case of the latter cue segues into equally generic action rhythms. And "Hindu Kush Remix", with its warbling middle-eastern vocals and processed string melody designed to make it sound like a cheap pop recording, is a curiosity product at best. But there are some cues that should have found their way on the regular album release. "Last Peel", "Mobilize The QRF" and "Soar" are all percussion-driven compositions that are more languid than the original album's battle tracks. But they also layer ethnic and electronic elements in more intriguing ways than similar pieces. And the absence of the driving, but monotonous rhythmic elements of previous battle cues (those string ostinati...) is certainly a plus. These additional pieces still suffer from a lack of development, but the addition of their more melodic strains to the original album still would have improved that product.

The most eagerly awaited aspect of Medal of Honor Soundtrack Collection was the material on the bonus eighth disc, with collectors wondering what treasures might be uncovered from the composers' vaults. Fervent score fans should keep their expectations realistically in check, though. This is indeed just bonus material, while the basics have already been covered on the regular album releases of each of the three scores represented on this disc. But while nobody should expect to hear things they didn't already get to hear on the original albums, there's more than enough worthwhile material to be found here.

The majority of material on the bonus disc is from European Assault — a sizeable 41 minutes, while the original album only ran for 33. However, a full six European Assault bonus tracks are old material that was already included on the regular album release. They are either excerpts from already released cues or they're simply the same composition with a different title — a puzzling decision that feels like unnecessary padding. Ultimately, there's 28 minutes of previously unheard music from European Assault to be found on the bonus disc. Like the original album, most of the tracks are brass-heavy action pieces that impress through their massive sounds rather than through the original and varied application of these. One of the original album's strengths was that it didn't stretch this sound beyond a running time that the music could realistically sustain. But while some of the shorter bonus tracks like "Invasion Beaches" and "Territorial Gain" become a bit tedious through their monochrome orchestrations, most of the new compositions are dramatic enough to keep the listener involved. "Follow Holt", "Adabold Brecht" and "Flight Over Stalingrad" are rousing, powerful battle cues that are just a small notch below the impressive quality of the original album's pieces. It helps that European Assault's striking main theme regularly appears on the bonus tracks, tying the music together and connecting it with the regular album's material. And it's no surprise that the best bonus tracks are also the longest and most developed ones. "Into the Camps" and "Captured Commandos" are as good as any composition on the original album and, particularly, "Into the Camps" charms through its varied rhythms that even turn convincingly whimsical around 1:15, before the piece climaxes with a noble march backed by wordless choir.

Similarly, the bonus material for Rising Sun doesn't present any revelations, but instead essentially presents more of the same — and given that the original album was an entertaining listen, that's not a bad thing at all. What the listener gets are 17 minutes of mostly action tracks that like those on the original album are dazzlingly colourful, bursting with energy, and a bit too short to really develop significantly. But that won't matter much when you'll be swept away by the sheer impetus of tracks like "Chase", "Counter Attack" and "Hotel Battle". Some of the tension-building material on "Riverbed" and "The Speech/Get Ready" is rather generic, but "Nearing the River"'s tense strings and scattered brass calls against hammering piano chords evoke an intense, foreboding atmosphere. And "Storming the Bunker" successfully changes the formula the otherwise frantic action tracks are based on and opts for a starker, more persistent rhythmic backdrop of pounding orchestral hits.

Finally, Giacchino's Airborne is presented by 13 tracks that barely amount to eight minutes. As one might already guess from these numbers, the assembled bonus material is a collection of brief odds and ends that will only be of interest to the most die-hard collectors. Most other listeners will visit these cues once and likely never return. Almost all pieces are around 30 seconds long and are either tension-building underscore or brief outbursts that quote the game's new main theme. It's all composed with skill, but probably not with the intention of presenting this music on a stand-alone basis. Among the longer tracks, "Varsity Suspense (Long)" is more or less a carbon copy of the opening of the regular album's "Sniper Showdown". "E3 Video", presented at E3 2006 to underscore the game's teaser trailer, would have given audiences a good indication where Airborne's score would be going, with its more acerbic, rhythmically pronounced nature.

Summary

There are two questions that need answering here: firstly, is this the definite release of some of the best and most important game music of all time? The answer is an easy and emphatic "Yes!". Every single Medal of Honor piece that a soundtrack collector could want is gathered here, presented in a beautiful package and thanks to a great remastering job in remarkable sound quality. And of course, hearing some of this music in a lossless format for the first time is cause for celebration. The second question is: do you need to buy this set? Obviously, there's no definite answer — it all depends on how many and which Medal of Honor scores you already own and how much a tangible, but not immense improvement in sound quality matters to you. The bonus material is a nice addition, but it's not essential enough to warrant purchasing this box set just because of its new content — unless you've been dying to hear more music from Rising Sun, 2010's Medal of Honor, and, most importantly European Assault. But no matter what your individual answer will be, there's no denying that La-La Land Records has given the music of the Medal of Honor franchise the best treatment one could wish for. And at about $60 retail price, this is a real bargain. If this box set doesn't get a perfect score, it's because not all the music on it is uniformly excellent. But that doesn't make Medal of Honor Soundtrack Collection a less definite and outstanding release and for many, many score collectors, it will be an absolute must-have.