“Music Creation for the PlayStation” Promo CD Review

Back in 1998 a certain game caused a riot on PlayStation called “Music”. Essentially it was the first proper music creation program for a console that you could actually do anything worthwhile listening to and you could spend hours (well I spent years) playing around making your own music. On the day of release free 8 track CD’s were given out by EB (now known as Game) stores to promote the game and I managed to sneek myself a copy of that day and in doing so grabbed my first (and probably only) rare gem of VGM CD’s!

The 8 tracks are songs made from loops and tunes from the game itself and are all new. “It’s A Religion” is a dance number that is very typical of mid 1990’s dance music but is shamefully catchy. “Phat Pheonix” (oh no we’re are doing those kinds of spellings…) is more of a drum n bass affair with extra bass! “Missed a beat” is an electronica/drum n bass hybrid with lots of a grizzly synthersizer work while “Dub Booty” is a slow sensual attack on the mind that you could actually see doing well on the charts – or equally well in a porn film…

“Boiler” is another electro dance track that along with almost all the other tracks – in being only just over three minutes long doesn’t become dull even when the songs sometimes aren’t top in the evolution stakes. “It’s A Religion re-mix” is sadly nowhere near as good as the original and is by far the weakest track of the bunch.

The final two are the most intresting for me. “Abacus” sounds like a song taken from the X-Files. It holds a space that the other songs simply can’t reach – a kind of adult alternative ambience – quite a unique track indeed. “Slicker” is the final track is a percussive showcase with no real tune but it shows you exactly what kind of percussive world you can create with these songs.

Now in terms of CD value, I’m imagine these are worth at least a few pounds now so if you have one keep hold of it! The music isnt bad at all (although I’d like to be cheeky and say my songs were better) even if it is extremely generic and lacking in personality. It’s still something that I bring out once in a blue moon just for fun and inspired me onto the E-Jay products on the PC. Not bad really!