SonicJPNews archive blog: Don't miss this, Sonic fans! Crush 40's best edition album "DRIVING THROUGH FOREVER - THE ULTIMATE CRUSH 40 COLLECTION"

2019/08/12

Don't miss this, Sonic fans! Crush 40's best edition album "DRIVING THROUGH FOREVER - THE ULTIMATE CRUSH 40 COLLECTION"

News from 2019.08.12
Archived on 2019.08.16

Crush 40's best edition album "DRIVING THROUGH FOREVER - THE ULTIMATE CRUSH 40 COLLECTION" is out now!



Senoue-san explained on Twitter about his track choices and retakes he has done for the new album.
I translated them briefly so that you get the idea too!

The CD comes with 17 tracks chosen from Crush 40's most popular songs, plus a bonus DVD with video clip to every song! Don't miss it!

01. GREEN LIGHT RIDE, the main theme of "Team Sonic Racing".
Simple structure. A Crush 40 song with regular tuning. Strat single coil.




02. 2 NIGHTS 2 REMEMBER, a song revealed on a two-days live in March 2014.
A song Senoue-san composed with a task of creating drum sounds which he would love, as he wasn't satisfied with Crush 40 sounds before. Initial title he had in mind was 'Energy'.


03. FREE, the main theme of "Sonic Free Riders". This version is the original of what Senoue-san made with Johnny back then, which the game sound was based on. Full version has a climax in the middle of the song, unlike a short version which ends without one.


04. SONIC BOOM (Crush 40 vs. CASH CASH), a version which Senoue-san invited Alex from CASH CASH to perform together when he decided to arrange the theme of Sonic CD as the name of Sonic 20th anniversary event in the US was announced to be 'Sonic Boom'.


05. ONE OF THOSE DAYS, a stadium-rock like song which Senoue-san made as he wanted to see the audience become one to shout 'HEY!!' at the live.


06. ALL HAIL SHADOW, the theme of Shadow from "Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). A Crush 40 version of the song released the year before. The Shadow guitar released later is a 24-fret guitar because Senoue-san played this song at a live for the first time with a 24-fret.


07. HIS WORLD (Crush 40 ver.), arrangement of the main theme of "Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)" which Johnny joined as chorus. The original has piano tunes at the end, but Senoue-san removed it from this version by considering the song's flow as a whole. A newly mastered track.


Additional note: 03. FREE is also newly mastered in this album, after 9 years of its release.


08. KNIGHT OF THE WIND, the main theme of "Sonic and the Black Knight". If you listen closely, the in-game track, soundtrack version and this best album version all have different guitar sounds. Senoue-san wan't satisfied with the guitar in previous versions that he recorded a retake with the last best album.


09. WATCH ME FLY..., the only song in this album that comes from Senoue-san's SONS OF ANGELS era. Seems like this is still his favorite out of all, including the process of idea brainstorming and recording. He thinks there will be no other song that tops the sensation he had as he finished composing this one.


10. I AM... ALL OF ME, the main theme of "Shadow the Hedgehog". The heavy, rough and powerful sounds is so cool that even Senoue-san praises himself. And that is very legit feeling, because this is one of the best songs he ever composed in my opinion. According to Senoue-san, this song also receives the best audience reaction (aka. shouts of joy) whereever in the world his band plays it on a live.


11. NEVER TURN BACK, the closing theme of "Shadow the Hedgehog". The piano intro is the arrangement of main theme (I Am... All of Me). As the last piano note ends, a new, positive story begins - that's Senoue-san's image of this song. He intentionally used less instruments for this piece than the main theme, which was a hybrid of band and DTM sounds.


12. SONIC HEROES, just as the name tells, is the main theme of the game "Sonic Heroes". An embodiment of fun and energetic image of the game. He first made the part used for the opening scene based on the storyboard, and completed the full length much later, because the rest wasn't used in-game.


13. WHAT I'M MADE OF..., the last boss battle song from "Sonic Heroes". On contrary to the game's main theme, a serious atmosphere was needed for the situation. Senoue-san recalls that as he was recording this song in L.A., he forgot to turn the lights of his car off and had trouble later with the battery going empty.


14. LIVE AND LEARN, the main theme of "Sonic Adventure 2". First, the intro part was made for the title screen music, then full length was composed later in a sub room of recording studio Senoue-san was using. A new mastering using his mix on analog half master (= audio tape) from back then. The sounds must be better now!


15. OPEN YOUR HEART, the main theme of "Sonic Adventure". This is the song Senoue-san recorded together with Johnny as the two met for the first time in a studio outside of L.A. in September 1998. A song with impact suiting as a game title's face. This is also a new mastering using his analog half master mix from back then.


16. SONIC YOUTH, a song Senoue-san prepared for Sonic fans to make it like an anthem for them. They performed this as the opening song of their second live. The lyrics contain many keywords which refer to other Sonic songs Crush 40 created so far; yet Johnny also added a line from their non-Sonic song 'Watch Me Fly' and Senoue-san jokes that he would like to have some words with him.


17. CALL ME CRAZY, another song Senoue-san prepared with the 'It would be cool to have this kind of song in a set list'-point of view. Like a song with repeated short phrases, like one from American hard rock band in which the guitarist plays the keyboard.

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Alright! Senoue-san explained lots of things to us. It's indeed interesting to know what the composer considered while making their music!

You can't miss this album if you are a fan of both Sonic and Crush 40!
Then grab your copy now! The album is also available on various music streaming sites.

For example:

Amazon

Apple Music 

Spotify


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