Review: Video Games Live: Volume One CD

By Joe Haygood | September 19, 2008

Tommy Tallarico started up a concert series a few years ago, based on symphonies playing music from video games.  The mainstream music critics thought it would have limited interest at best, feeling that only gamers would want to attend.  Fast forward to present day, and look at the phenomenon that The Video Games Live show has become, spawning tour dates across the US and other parts of the world.  It is a testament to the quality music that has been created for video games, and in part by Tommy Tallarico himself.

Well, I was lucky enough to score the new Volume One collection of hits from the Video Games Live Show, originally entitled, Video Games Live: Volume One.  The CD hosts eleven tracks from the three hour long show.  Some are from mainstream titles, while others come from obscure titles, or titles that bombed, but they are all connected by fantastic scores that deserve to be recognized in this package.

The Volume One collection includes the following hits:

• Kingdom Hearts
• Warcraft Suite
• Myst Medley
• Medal of Honor (LIVE)
• Civilization IV Medley
• Tetris Piano Opus No. 1
• God of War Montage (LIVE)
• Advent Rising Suite
• Tron Montage
• Halo Suite
• Castlevania Rock (LIVE)

Looking at those titles, there are some that stand out like the Halo suite, or the God of War montage, but including things like the classic Tetris piano, or Advent Rising, which had an excellent score, is a boon to those that might of missed these games when they first came around.  For me the top titles are the last four tracks, mostly, because having a chunk of the Tron soundtrack is solid gold, but Castlevania Rock sounds awesome, which is a game I have never played.  It is a catchy tune that really ends the compiliation on a solid note.

About the only downside that I have found with the CD is that not enough of the tracks are live versions.  iTunes lists all the tracks as live, but the back of the disc states otherwise.  If you are going to release a CD called Video Games Live, the tracks should all be live.  Listening to the last track on the disc, it completely shows how much fun the live show can be and using those tracks would have made the disc complete.

While not a traditional product to review, I will say that Video Games Live: Volume One is a great disc to listen to while you are playing a game, rolling in your car or just wanting something to relax to while sitting at home.  Each track has a great sound, and perfect fit to the product.  Live version would have made the experience a tad bit better, but overall, the CD gets a 4.5 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.