My nomination for unintentional and unofficial Half-Life soundtrack...

[Min Rizor]

http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/url/www.universalrecords.com/listeningparty/themarsvolta.asx
It's The Mars Volta, and their newest album, Deloused at the Comatorium.

Listen to the whole thing!! It just screams "This is Half-Life," don't you think? It's dark, confusing, hopeless, depressing, action-packed, sometimes euphoric, sometimes fast-paced and just flows so well, you'd think it was what might've been playing in Gordon's head during all the crap he had to put up with. It defies genre! HUZZAH! Tortured heroes, away!

If you don't think so, it would sure make a Hell of a good album to sit around the bong with... Heheh.

EDIT:
And NO, I don't mean that this should EVER be the in-game soundtrack for ANY Half-Life game. I was just asking your opinion on whether you think that this music might be representative of Gordon Freeman's emotions and mental state during his experiences at Black Mesa and whatever happens afterwards.
...Just to make it clearer to people who refuse to read the whole thread before they vote and/or make their opinion known. (It's happened far too much already, during this thread... oy.)

 

[ShinRa]

That was the worst listening experience I've had in a while. Sorry, Gordon isn't a 23 year old New York City flash dancer.

 

[Min Rizor]

It's over an hour long! How could it be the worst listening experience you've ever had when you don't listen to the whole damn thing and judge it from that... Geez. I didn't mean to just listen to the first item on the playlist... oy.

 

[Mr.Reak]

It doesn't load on my WP9... hmmm

 

[ShinRa]

Originally posted by Min Rizor
It's over an hour long! How could it be the worst listening experience you've ever had when you don't listen to the whole damn thing and judge it from that... Geez. I didn't mean to just listen to the first item on the playlist... oy.

I skipped to each portion, when the guy starts singing, eh...just no...no no no. :bounce:

 

[Min Rizor]

Ignore the singing, then. Just think of it as another instrument instead of some "23 year old flash dancer." Having an immediate bias against something won't help you in life, believe me. Heh.

Plus, the tracks have a lot of variation just in themselves, unlike the conventional pop and pop rock-type junk. It's not entirely just a guy singing, and the instruments and melodies change, kind of like something orchestral.

 

[ShinRa]

I don't have anything against it, it's just not Half-Life

 

[Tee Kyoo Em]

I think it would make a good soundtrack for Half-Life. The sounds of "The Mars Volta" fit the atmosphere of Half-Life and i like the idea of the songs being the musical expression of Gordon's "mental state" during his experiences of the events in Black-Mesa. Something along the lines of a leitmotif of Gordon Freeman. Simply great!


The worst thing is, now i have to keep track of yet another band...

Thank you Min

 

[Punisher454]

A game of this magnitude should (and probably will) have a custom soundtrack.
For Interstate '76 they sought out a band with a particular sound and hired them to do the whole soundtrack, which BTW was available seperatly. HL2 is a much bigger production than I76, I would natruly assume it will atleast have a custom soundtrack(with no 'singing').
If you listen to the movies you'll already hear a soundtrack playing. The one with the buggy even reminds me of the future sequence from Terminator1 where Reese is driving the car with the gunner on top.

 

[Min Rizor]

Yup, I remembered that. I'm just declaring this as my choice for an unofficial soundtrack. XD

There was also music in a few of the other movies, too. They'd be defined best as ambient, but it's music, nonetheless. Also, what Gabe Newell said about HL2's music is that it's not all predefined. There's separate loops and clips that are triggered in the game by whatever's going on. It's supposed to give it a more "movie-esque" feel to it. And I looooove that idea. o.o

 

[Punisher454]

There's separate loops and clips that are triggered in the game by whatever's going on. It's supposed to give it a more "movie-esque" feel to it. And I looooove that idea. o.o

I believe thats what you hear in the buggy sequence. as soon as he gets going and picks up some speed the music changes (and rather apropriatly).

 

[chili pepper]

A good score should be a lot more 'orchestral' and epic-sounding IMO. This is just a rock song with lots of electric guitars and such. Doesn't sound HL2 at all.

 

[Min Rizor]

Well, I just meant it being something like the "epic" of Gordon Freeman and the thoughts, feelings and emotions running through his mind after the Black Mesa incident. Not as something worthy of a true soundtrack, but it's fun, anyways.

 

[Fat Tony!]

Lol wot sorta poll option is ooh time to smoke up

 

[Tee Kyoo Em]

I understood what Min Rizor was getting at right away.

I stressed that the style of the album could be regarded as a leitmotif of Gordon Freeman. For those who didn't get my point: A leitmotif is a term of German origin, which can be defined as "a clearly defined theme or musical idea, representing or symbolizing a person, object, idea etc, which returns in its original or an altered form at appropriate points in a dramatic (mainly operatic) work".

I'm sure that most of us have noticed a leitmotif before. Star Wars has a famous one, for example.

 

[Stigmata]

Everything, up to the part where they start to say stuff, was good. But when that girl (was it a guy?) started saying stuff, it got too loud and just went downhill.

 

[BackFyr]

I much prefer

Local H - Half Life

3:39 of listening joy....

not directly related to half-life of course (actually i think it was released beforehand)

and the lyrics shed light that we have "half life or no life at all"

 

[Min Rizor]

I've heard that, BackFyr. It's a pretty neat track, and you're right: it was recorded in the '80s. Another song of the same title by the Sneaker Pimps in 1999 is pretty relevant to the game(s?), too. But you guys who hated the guy singing in The Mars Volta would probably not like this track, either. It conforms more to Chili Pepper's idea of a song from a soundtrack, though. It seems to be a bit more of a love song, though some of the lyrics go with this.

I happened to find pages with the lyrics to both songs, as well:
http://www.letssingit.com/?http://www.letssingit.com/local-h-4k5vq.html
http://www.letssingit.com/?http://www.letssingit.com/sneaker-pimps-5kjj5.html

(By the way, is it just me, or do people always just read the poll question and answer, then post a reply instead of reading through the thread...? I have a feeling they do. Heh...)

 

[LoneDeranger]

It's not bad .. just doesn't go along with the fast-paced action of HL in IMO

 

[Min Rizor]

Well... uh, if you listen to the tracks in most of their entirety, they picks up pace. Quite a bit, too. o.o

 

[FiShEh]

hmm not sure, doesnt really fit the HL style with the singing imo

 

[Cleric]

i personally think it sucks balls but that is just my opinion :bounce:

i think it should be something with more of a beat behind it but still some heavy guitar, like the Mad Capsule Markets :afro: nothing like a good bit of japanease metal to get you going.

A good example is a song called midi surf :cheers:

 

[LoneDeranger]

My nominee would be something like Dark Soho. Their music is very dark and has some insane guitars in it

http://www.saikosounds.com/clips/O/OLAM002-4.ram

 

[Punisher454]

I'm sure that most of us have noticed a leitmotif before. Star Wars has a famous one, for example.

Also LOTR, to a slightly lesser degree than Star Wars.

 

[derby]

My favorite (recentish) videogame music was for quake2. Although it was synthesized, it really seemed to fit the kick ass feel of the game. Discussions of musical tastes even when related to HL2 should be posted in the off topic forum, IMO.

Have a great day

 

[Bad^Hat]

Deftones? That sweeping guitar sound in songs like Digital Bath is really reminiscent of scenes from the original.

 

[greenberetta]

they should hire primal scream. 'd fit perfectly

 

[greenberetta]

something like kill all hippies

 

[Bad^Hat]

Or have the War of the Worlds soundtrack goin when the Striders come in without the lyrics

 

[EVIL]

I seriously got scared when the guy started singing.. any game music with singing in it is bad.. you need to do ambient music..

 

[Tee Kyoo Em]

Do people actually read the whole thread before posting their opinions? It shouldn't be the original in-game soundtrack.

It is supposed to be a soundtrack, which musically expresses the person of Gordon Freeman during the events in Black-Mesa. A soundtrack that represents Gordon Freeman.

I listened to the soundtrack in high-quality now for the n-th time, and it's hard for me to describe using words how much i like it. If your ears are tuned to MTV-style pop-music you probably won't like the album. If you've ever listened to Can, Santana, Led Zeppelin, etc. and you like progressive music then get this album.

 

[Gojin]

Mmmmmm... progressive rock.... joe satriani....... led zepplin...... So very very good.

Edit: Not all games with singing are bad. If anyone ever played this one 4 person fighter for PSX (I cant' think of the name right now), it had a song by a band called Apartment 21(41, or somethin), I honestly forgot now, but it fit in really well. So well I ended up downloading the song, lol.

 

[Min Rizor]

THANK YOU, NIETZSCHE!

x_x;

People never listen to me. Aiee.