The Best of Crush 40 / Super Sonic Songs

I first heard about Crush 40 when I was searching around at a local Target. Out of the blue, I notice a very blue little album, quoted "Sons of Angels: Thrill of the Feel". It was April of 2000, I believe, and I was on the hunt for a good music album, a nice change of pace. I peeked at the back, and it was kind of cheap, so I bought it and hurried home to bash that CD into the stereo. Needless to say, I was blown away by the guitar work and vocals. The bass and guitar were far and beyond what I had expected, and much better than the pathetic 'Death Metal' genre that people are craving for nowadays, and the singer had done stuff with his vocal cords that were other-worldly to me.

Not to mention the fact that did some cool songs on the Sonic the Hedgehog video games, but that's a different story.

Some images of Jun Senoue and the albums

Introduced to me by Kevin, who is a moderator for the Sonic Blognik.

This album I had heard from Kevin, but really, I didn't exactly think a 'Best Of' album wouldn't be released. So I let it sit.

I think I was introduced to Senoue's blog / fan site by Nick McCarthy, and I checked out his site every time I got a chance.

Pierce told me about Jun and Johnny (vocalist)'s promotion of signed / shipped 'Best of Crush 40', and then I really believed it. Sure enough, Jun had 50 clean, brand-spankin' new copies just lying there. However, due to work at TF141 Media at the time, I never got the chance to pre-order one.

However, the people at TF141 Media WERE able to find a website containing a brand new 'Best Of' album.

The list price was about $33.01, and with the shipping, it totaled up to about $37.99, so it was an absolute steal for me, and it shipped in about 7-8 days. Although it would of been nice to brag about getting a fresh copy signed by Jun or Johnny himself, it was nice to find it.

Track list:

1. I Am... All of Me

2. His World

3. Un-gravitify

4. All Hail Shadow

5. Never Turn Back

6. Revvin' Up

7. Into The Wind

8. Watch Me Fly

9. Fire Woman

10. Sonic Heroes

11. What I'm Made Of

12. Live Life

13. Knight of the Wind

14. Live and Learn

15. Open Your Heart

16. Is It You

If I had the time, I'd certainly go.

With about over an hour of tracks, I have to say, this album leaves me very, very happy and very, very annoyed.

For starters, I think that an average deal of classics are missing. Being a proud purchaser of the previous two Crush 40 albums (previously called Sons of Angels), I can easily notice a few fan favorites that are missing from this set. "All The Way" is an extremely popular song, it became a fan favorite for the listeners of Crush 40. The brief, yet popular "Dangerous Ground" is also missing. Annoyingly, and sadly for Sonic fans, the Sonic Adventure theme "It Doesn't Matter" is also excluded from this 'Best Of' collection. "Escape from the City" was also a really big song as well, so I was kind of sad to see that gone from this set.

That's not to say it's worth money, though. The Cult, a British band, single "Fire Woman" is covered on this album, and it's basically a mini-epic, with amazing riffage, vocals, and drum work. "His World" does remain a personal favorite for me, but the new mix is actually quite annoying.

Sonic fans will still be pleased, with classics like "Open Your Heart", "Live and Learn", and "Never Turn Back" are once again included here.

The title 'Super Sonic Songs' is definitely fitting, considering that a good 80% of the songs included here are all from Sonic games. The new song "It Is You" is also really good, with great bass work.

I'm really starting to wonder if these guys do anything wrong. They're always making great songs and great albums. Shame the Sonic games aren't as good.