Overview

Super Sonic Songs. I have to say, it's a very appropriate title for Crush 40's 3rd album release. The first two albums dealt with Crush 40's involvement way back when they were called "Sons of Angels", with their contributions to NASCAR Rubbin' Racing. I never really got around to hearing those songs nor did I ever actually play the game where those songs appeared. If you're like me, however, you probably recognize Crush 40 much more for their contributions to the Sonic franchise, starting way back with Sonic Adventure. For many, the final boss battles in which you were at the controls of Super Sonic felt much more epic as Crush 40 wailed alongside the battle. Hence, Super Sonic Songs. The result is a C40 album with much more focus for the Sonic fans. Let's dive in and see how this compilation stacks up.

Body

Let's get one thing out of the way. This isn't just a basic compilation album. While the majority of the music may have already been given a listen to by Sonic fans one too many times, many of these tracks underwent a new mix and mastering that's absolutely worth an entirely new listen. In total, four songs got the new touch up. On top of that, you get three previously unreleased Crush 40 songs, namely two cover performances and one entirely brand new song. So that's seven new tracks to experience, and nine tracks to enjoy once again.

Let's start with the three new songs. First up, "Un-gravitify". Sonic fans will recognize the original version that appeared in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, performed by Cashell. Cashell's version was a techno track that had a small emphasis on the guitar. Actually, the guitar performance of that song was pretty simple; scaling down some chords, and getting the job done. It's actually one of my favorite songs from the Riders series. I'll admit, when I first heard that Crush 40 was going to cover this song, I thought Jun Senoue was going to simply replicate that guitar performance and call it a day. I was wrong. Crush 40's version goes one step beyond the original version, as Jun lays down a fantastic new guitar performance that builds up rather than down like the original. In comparison to the original's guitar section, which because it was a techno song, sounded unclean and messy (in a good way), this one has a much more cleaner and clearer sounding guitar.

Just like the original version, this song begins with a buildup, and I love the way the drums starts things off first. It just feels so classic rock, especially when the guitar comes into the combination. As the songs speeds up, we are treated to an entirely new guitar performance opposite Cashell's version. I just love that particular sound Jun's guitar makes every time it hits these low notes through its progression. It's very deep and wavy, in a sort of unusual funkiness that helps this song define a bit of uniqueness in comparison to almost the entire Crush 40 library. Johnny does a great job with his singing performance, staying close with Cashell's original performance but still keeping his own style intact. The echo effect that was added to Johnny's singing was a magnificent touch, as it really did help bring this song together. As I said, this song feels so classic rock, and yet it feels futuristic as well. It's not techno, but it has that subtle vibe, and players who enjoyed the Sonic Riders soundtrack may fully understand what I'm getting at. It's a fantastic cover, and "Crushers" (Johnny Gioeli's name for Crush 40 fans) will love it.

One last thing to note for this song is the guitar solo. I think it's possibly one of the brilliant guitar solos Jun has ever done while under the Crush 40 title. The original version didn't have one, so that alone was a surprise to me, and the result was how much heart, how much harmony this solo was whipped up makes me say it's a touch of genius. Not just the guitar solo, but the rhythm guitars giving it their all, that it almost gives you the choice to rewind the song and listen to THAT part alone. That's what I've done during this section, and it is oh so satisfying.

Next up, is "Fire Woman". No, this isn't supposed to be Blaze's theme song. It's actually, yet again, a cover song. This time, taking a song from a mainstream band outside the video game world, The Cult (famous for "She Sells Sanctuary"). "Fire Woman" originally appeared on The Cult's fourth album release entitled Sonic Temple (see the connection?). At first, when I heard that Crush 40 was going to cover The Cult, it was pretty odd for me, especially considering the theme "Fire Woman" has in comparison to the kind of friendly songs Crush 40 usually does, but upon hearing their rendition of this song, I can FEEL how Crush 40's style largely draws from The Cult and all other kinds of bands that were huge during their era.

As a cover song, it does a fine job in staying close to the original style that The Cult originally laid down. In fact, its so close, it almost feels like this song has much more attention to details in the instruments then your average Sonic the Hedgehog vocal song. It's much more elaborate, and every single detail, whether it's the quick guitar licks and solos, the drums, the vocals, it's there, and almost identical. The only real difference is that it carries that subtle Crush 40 style that come instantly in a snap to C40 fans. It's really no wonder why Crush 40's music is sometimes generalized as hard rock of the 1980's, and to cover a song such as this, it's no wonder why.

While the original version sounded much like a live performance, with a lot of emphasis on the echo of certain instruments as well as Ian Astbury's singing, Crush 40's version sounds more directly from the studio, with less emphasis on that echo. What surprised me the most out of Crush 40's version is the bass performance. Unlike The Cult's version, the bass takes more notice here and it's almost impossible NOT to hear it. It's very loud, and very "slappy". It's got so much Chili Peppers funkiness blended in so well. I can safely say its one of the elements of C40's take on Fire Woman that helps make it stand out from the original, or at least make a worthy counterpart. It's not unlike the bass performances you may be more familiar with around the Sonic Adventure soundtrack and the Black Knight soundtrack as well.

As for the rest of the rendition, it's very stylish and definitely one of those songs you would so strongly categorized as the rebellion rock of the 80's. The kind of rock that does what it takes to divide itself from the likes of glamour rock as made famous by Motley Crue (and I'm not saying that in a bad way either). A nice blend of hardcore rhythm guitar and trilling guitar fills combine strongly well, especially as it all comes together just before the chorus and then setting it all off as Johnny belts out "Fire!". I have to say, I got chills hearing what I feel was Johnny's best delivery on the vocals, especially when he yells out "Lord! Have mercy!". In no way was he trying to imitate Ian's vocal, and the results make me believe that was the best decision Johnny went with. I may have said before that Crush 40 never suits my taste when it comes to covers, but in the case of these two covers, I'm surprised even in myself to say I much prefer Crush 40's take on both "Un-Gravitify" and "Fire Woman". I can't say they are better than the original, as most will have their own taste, but for what its worth, it definitely goes well in companionship.

And last on the new tracks, it's Crush 40's brand new track, "Is It You". I've heard this song forwards and backwards countless times now, and it really bothers me to say it, but it's not exactly my most favorite song from the entire album. It's not a bad song at all, and I completely respect Crush 40's new approach to yet another ballad, but I can't help but shake off this feeling that the song could have used just a little bit of more flavor. The song is beautiful, and goes yet again in a softer take like Live Life, but I noticed it feels more repetitive than previous C40 tracks. There's a few amount of chorus and even few different kinds of sections for the guitar, which Jun decided to give a stylish new sound, and the only saving grace is the guitar solo, which I'll admit came out of the blue with the song not building up for it. The only sad thing is that solo was very short. Other than that, I really can't say much for it, as it left me just a bit disappointed, considering it is a new and original song.

Time to listen in on the new mixes. Indeed, four songs got a new touch. Some are highly noticeable, and some will make you question if its any different from the original. "I Am... All of Me" is one song that got the least dynamic changes from its original version. It took me about three listenings to realize the changes was a small tweak to the vocals, and even then, it's a bit questionable. You'll strongly notice it passed the bridge of the song, where the vocals go "I am everyone, everywhere, anyhow, any way, any will, any day...". The more the song progresses here, the more you hear the vocals bend. Along with that, the song ends differently. Instead of a loud "bang", it just sort of warps away into a strange feedback with the percussion still going until it abruptly stops.

"His World" also went through a vocal change. This one is much more noticeable right from the start. The part where Johnny is singing through what sounds like a megaphone now sounds even more wavy and bendy. Some parts around the chorus also get this same change, but it's not as easy to note. No changes to the instruments, and no changes to the ending. Just a simple little filter effect that I doubt helped improve the song in any way, so if you enjoyed that song, this won't really make or break it for you.

Next up on the change is "Knight of the Wind". Now here's what I'm talking about. The guitars have been changed completely in order sound much more fierce, more powerful, and best of all, clearer. One of the reasons I didn't exactly like the original take on "Knight of the Wind" was that the guitar didn't sound so spot on. It felt like the treble was set to high, and as a result, it made it kind of hard for me to find that perfect focus I usually look for in the guitars. Now that has changed for the better, and I can happily say that the new mix of "Knight of the Wind" is now part of my favorite Crush 40 songs.

Finally, we have "Open Your Heart". Once again, it's a vocal effect change, but this one actually does it perfectly. Throughout the whole song, the vocals sound much more elevated. Echoes were added all throughout the performance, alongside the usual filter effect that was experienced on this disc's "His World". There was much more attention to detail to this song, and whether or not its because of the theme and presentation of the song that helps the changes go with the flow, I feel like I'm hearing "Open Your Heart" for the first time again. It's that fantastic, and I'll take this version over the original. The only downside is that the song ends abruptly short, rather than finishing off with the sounds of rain and thunder fading to black. That was an awesome way to finish the song, and I'm a little confused as to why that got deleted, considering the intro still keeps the sounds of thunderclap intact.

And there you have it. All the new changes. Every other song that's on this disc is exactly the way you remember it, so I've got no reason to cover those that hasn't already been said. Having said that, there are a few things that I question. For one thing, I'm surprised this CD didn't include the remastered versions of "Live & Learn" and "What I'm Made Of..." that were originally found on the True Blue album. It seemed like a great idea to go with the whole "new mix" trend, and would've easily made the whole album very definitive.

I also don't understand why, aside from "Knight of the Wind", the only emphasis the new mixes had were the changes to the vocal sections. The remastered songs from the True Blue album were very dynamic compared to their original counterpart because almost all the instruments were structured with a whole new twist to give the song a brand new feeling, and I didn't get that feeling, "Open Your Heart" aside. It's my only gripe with the album, but its very small. I also have to question the relatively small amount of songs that experienced the changes to begin with. It could have been much better if we got all the songs on this disc to go the whole nine yards. Four songs just so sound so little, and only half of the album got the kind of treatment I somewhat expected.

Summary

If I told you that Crush 40 fans wouldn't like this album, I'd be lying. This album has plenty of stuff that Sonic/Crushers will easily fall for. I know I've said time and again that Crush 40 isn't cut out to do covers, but after hearing "Un-Gravitify" and "Fire Woman", I'm very glad to be wrong. Those two songs are now my most played songs on my mp3 player, and for good reasons too. For Sonic fans who happen to be Crushers, and don't have that many Crush 40 songs piled up together on their playlist, this is the perfect compilation album for you. While the new mixes leave a lot to be desired, it's the brand new songs that will have you playing it over and over again. It may just be a few tracks, but the whole album itself definitely shows how far we've come in the past ten years and beyond. Super Sonic Songs leaves you hanging on the edge of tomorrow.

Overview

Sonic the Hedgehog. No one is as true and blue as he is. Bringing in a lot of memorable adventures and music along the way. To commemorate his (arguably) popular songs, True Blue is Sonic's second compilation album. The first being the Sonic the Hedgehog 10th Anniversary Golden Disc, which was focused a lot more on Sonic's chronological venture from the first game all the way to his 10th anniversary with the release of Sonic Adventure 2. True Blue: The Best of Sonic the Hedgehog focuses a lot more on some of the vocal performances and theme songs pertaining to Sonic himself that we've heard ranging between Sonic CD to his then-latest outing Sonic Rush Adventure. True Blue was specially designed not just for fans to listen to their favorite songs once again, but also make it easier for fans to be able to have some of their favorites housed into one easy package. So, are the songs that grace this album really true and blue as Sonic, or did it miss out on what fans really enjoyed?

Body

First thing's first. This album brings in various appearances by Crush 40, so this album is more for Crush 40 fans or fans who loved all the vocal songs they heard over the years when Sonic traveled into the 3D era, starting with Sonic Adventure. However, there are some really great songs choices that represented Sonic during the SEGA CD and SEGA Saturn era as well. There are also two songs that got a very awesome remastering treatment, as well as four brand new songs that can only be heard exclusively on this album.

"Live and Learn" and "What I'm Made Of..." are the songs that got a really nice remastering treatment, thanks to Masahiro Fukuhara. Both songs got an entirely new sound on the percussion, sounding much more in-studio, especially "Live and Learn", in which the drum performance in the original version sounded very out of focus as though it was being performed live in a concert. The audio behind the guitar has been increased slightly during the guitar solo, and given a bit of an echo. "Live and Learn" has a slightly better treatment out of the both, since the audio behind the bass track has also been increased, and the lead guitar during the entire track has been given a diverse echo.

All the other songs didn't get this remastering treatment unfortunately. However, some of the audio quality behind some of these songs have been improved for maximum enjoyment, especially when listening to a set of headphones. A great example would be both of the songs that appear on Sonic CD, Japan's "Sonic - You Can Do Anything" and USA's "Sonic Boom". Both these songs are the intros to Sonic CD, depending on what region you watch it in. The vocals for both these songs have been greatly improved, and the instruments come in much clearer then ever before in comparison to the Redbook audio quality that came out of the actual game disc itself. As a bonus, we even get to hear the full version of "Sonic Boom", which is very rare to find and give a listen.

Crush 40's song choices on this album have been left completely intact. They are pretty much the same as you've come to listen (and enjoy) elsewhere, whether "Open Your Heart" from Sonic Adventure and "Sonic Heroes" from, well, Sonic Heroes. So aside from all of that, there are also Sonic's own theme songs within the same game, such as both versions of "It Doesn't Matter", each appearing in their respective Adventure title, SA1 or SA2. I personally prefer SA1's version of "It Doesn't Matter" since it's more hair metal and the rhythm guitar is very progressive and deep. SA2's version is much more light-hearted and cheerful. To each his own, as the CD allows fans to hear both once again.

Even Sonic '06 gets a representation with two versions of "His World". The original one by Ali and Matty alone, and the other version performed by Zebrahead. Great choices, and those who weren't willing enough to get Several Wills may finally be able to hear the exclusive cover performance behind Zebrahead. I kind of wish that they included "Dreams of an Absolution (LB vs. JS Remix)" while they were exploring Sonic '06, as that still continues to be my most favorite song, so that was a very disappointing moment for me.

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Even the handheld games are faithfully represented on this album. Sonic Rivals 2 gets "Race to Win", by Ted Poley, whose last performance for the console games was way back in SA2. "Race to Win" is a relatively short song, clocking just barely under a minute. It was composed to be a looped song, but is nevertheless a very frantic and fast hard rock song reminiscent of "Escape from the City", also on this CD. It's very catchy, but fails only because it's short. Another song, "Right There, Ride On", was composed by the famed Jet Set Radio composer, Hideki Naganuma. The version we get is the remastered version originally heard on the Sonic Rush album, Groove Rush. It's pretty much the ultimate fan favorite track, with its retro style music, complete with a nice funky bass that pushes the boundary behind the sounds of the DS.

We also get some very strange choices of music among the album that I could deal without. Among the strange choice is "Sonic X Theme". When I first read this, I though they meant the Japanese theme "Sonic Drive", but when I heard it, I was actually pretty surprised to hear it was the 4Kids version of the Sonic X intro theme. Don't get me wrong, it's a very bouncy and catchy song, but it's pretty weird seeing an American-composed children's song appear on an exclusive Japan released album. Maybe it was to have the Japanese audience have a listen to what we in the USA have to deal with, but I think this song had no necessity in appearing here.

Likewise, we get the rather uninspiring song "Seven Rings in Hand", as heard in Sonic and the Secret Rings. Those who played that game will know how hauntingly repetitive this song was in the menu screen, and it's another song I could have done without. There's also "Super Sonic Racing", a techno vocal from Sonic R that suggests there is some sort of dance craze going on that I'm not aware of in which you supposedly have to do the "Super Sonic Racing". No thank you.

There's not much else to say about the rest of the songs contributed, so let's get on with the four special songs on this album. First off is "A New Venture (Surfin' S.R.A. Remix)". There isn't much elaborate in this remix; it felt more like a completed song for one that originally lasted 30 seconds. It did get a remaster treatment fit for a better stereo quality, unlike the original version as it was heard back on the DS for Sonic Rush Adventure.

"Angel Island (SSBB Remix)" is the best exclusive track on this album. Composed by Jun Senoue, this track was remixed for Sonic's stage on Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Jun Senoue was best known for doing some Hard Rock covers for some existing Sonic themes from the Genesis days, such as Green Grove Zone in the form of "Windy Valley". Angel Island was one of my favorite pieces on the Genesis' Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and to see Jun give it an epic guitar treatment left me very joyous. It wasn't enough just to see Sonic appear on Brawl, we also got a track that allowed Nintendo players see how awesome Sonic's music can really be. For some reason, the lead guitar reminds me of the Justice League Unlimited Intro. Maybe that's why I feel "Angel Island (SSBB Remix)" sounds so epic in my head.

Next up is "Seven Rings in Hand (Crush 40 version)". Yes, Crush 40 covers yet another song. It's not really one of my favorites, since the guitar sounds so incredibly sporadic in the lead section, especially in the intro, and the vocal performance by Johnny sounds pretty uninspiring and very low. It comes complete with a guitar solo that the original didn't have, and there are some sections around the remix that, in comparison to the original, doesn't feel so repetitive. A better performance than the original, but that's not really saying much, unfortunately.

And finally, "Open Your Heart (Crush 40 vs. Bentley Jones Remix)". A great way to end the album, this remix keeps the original version intact, only now the guitar has been given a static effect, and an entirely new drum performance comes into play, playing loud and full of power, with a few new rap lyrics as performed by Bentley Jones himself. It's kind of cheesy, but you just can't help but sing along with him once you get the lyrics down. An entirely new experience behind "Open Your Heart" and I'm glad to see this song get an awesome remix.

Summary

True Blue is not a bad compilation album for Sonic the Hedgehog. I wouldn't really say it is the best of Sonic the Hedgehog only because not a lot of fans may appreciate Crush 40 in one way or another, but for what it's worth, this album serves as a great way for fans to catch up on the music for Sonic if they weren't already able to collect any previous vocal albums or is having a hard time finding a place to hear some of the more rarer and difficult to locate songs. The bonus tracks and the remasters are also a great reason not to miss out on True Blue and — while this album also includes some rather strange and bad choices of songs, not to mention some highly missed out better performances — I highly recommend this album only to the fans who missed out on a lot of Sonic albums that carry the songs they enjoyed listening to as they played various Sonic the Hedgehog games.