Customer Reviews

Wipeout Xl

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This soundtrack is a good disc, but it might surprise you to find out that it is very different from the actual PlayStation CD. If you like this disc at all, or if you think the songs are a little grating, I would suggest getting your hands on the real PSX WOXL, which you can play like any other CD if you skip past the first data track.

Let me point out the differences. The above soundtrack has 14 tracks, the following of which are not on the actual PlayStation game:

02 Fluke - Atom Bomb
06 Chemical Brothers - Leave Home (Underworld MX1)
07 FSOL - We Have Explosive (Herd Killing)
10 Daft Punk - Musique
11 Source Direct - 2097
12 Photek - Titan
13 Orbital - Petrol
14 Leftfield - Afro Ride

Besides that, FSOL's We Have Explosive lasts 6:14, while the PlayStation version stops a little abruptly at 5:53, and Underworld's Tin There stops at 5:00, while the PlayStation version is 6:08.

The PlayStation disc has 11 audio tracks, the following of which are missing from the above soundtrack CD:

03 FSOL - Landmass
04 Fluke - Atom Bomb (instrumental, shorter/faster than CD)
06 Chemical Brothers - Dust Up Beats
11 Cold Storage - Canada
12 Cold Storage - Body In Motion

The PlayStation selection is much less harsh than the soundtrack CD. The soundtrack-only "herd killing" version of We Have Explosive is a pretty good track, but other than that, the PlayStation CD is much better. The PlayStation-only tracks are all good, especially Dust Up Beats and Canada. Dust Up Beats is something Chemical Brothers have played live, but I haven't seen it on any CD besides the PlayStation WOXL.

Another odd thing about the WOXL soundtrack is that the version of Petrol it has is the same as the version on Orbital's In-Sides CD, except the WOXL version fades out at 5:49, while the real one is 6:20.

1999's Wipeout 3 also has 13 songs, but it's only available for PlayStation. It has six great original Sasha tracks, a 4:03 version of Paul Van Dyk's Avenue (showed up later on his Out There And Back CD), a 3:06 version of Underworld's Kittens (from Beaucoup Fish), the album version of Chem Bros' Under the Influence (from Surrender), two MKL tracks, and Orbital - Know Where to Run & Propellerheads - Lethal Cut, which I don't think are on any other CD's.

If you are into electronic dance music this CD not just a good album, but required listening. Actually it's great if you are just starting into the genre and want to hear the music that catapulted it. Based on a video game soundtrack Wipeout XL takes what the Playstation game (Wipeout 2) did with the music genre and moved it another level. The Wipeout 2 games was heralded as not only an excellent arcade racing game, but a game that had one of the coolest soundtracks ever. This is because the game designers decided to get a broad range of artists together on their game project. The result was a video game with a soundtrack that defined electronic music in the 90's.

What Wipeout XL did was take that style of music and put it on a CD so people can just pop it in and jam without having to either rip the tracks off the game or play the game cd on a stereo system. There are track differences between the two. For one the games staff writer, Cold Fusion, doesn't have any tracks on it so that takes out two songs. From there a couple other songs were replaced for whatever reasons (personally I think Future Sound of London's Herd Killing is just too dissonant for anything but a title scroll for the game). But don't fret, because what they replaced them with is definitely worth your while.

Some of the new tracks on this CD are exclusive to this CD only. That's right. Exclusive mixes. I don't mean crappy freak mixes that don't deserve proliferation I mean some killer mixes that you MUST have in your collection. Here's my opinion on some tracks:

ATOM BOMB and V-SIX by Fluke is not the regular version. It's one of those exclusive versions I was talking about. And this is the coolest mix of Atom Bomb I have ever heard (and I heard lots). Totally new beat and feel, but definitely the same song. V-Six is an exlusive song you won't find anywhere but here. Not even remixes. It's aggressive and driven like a lot of his dancier tracks. The CD is worth getting for these two tracks alone.

LOOPS OF FURY and LEAVE HOME (Underworld Mix) By Chemical Brothers, while not exclusive mixes, they are songs you won't find on any of their albums. They were released on singles only. Either way Loops of Fury to me is the ultimate big beat song. Powerful drums on top of a driving bassline with a mess of fun noises dancing around the groove. Leave Home is just powerful, but more minimalist. Still great on the dance floor. This CD is worth it for these two tracks alone (Did I just repeat myself? See where I'm getting at?).

2097 by Source Direct can only be found on the Wipeout CD's (game and XL CD). At least it's not on any of their albums. It's some crazy drum and bass that you might not be able to dance to, but it sure is interesting listening to what do they the instruments.

Other good tracks (not exclusive) are Orbital's P.E.T.R.O.L., Future Sound of London's WE HAVE EXPLOSIVE (very popular), and the lyricless FIRESTARTER by The Prodigy. TIN THERE and MUSIQUE are a little repetitive but manageable. Photek is very much like Source Direct, only not as interesting in their drum-&-bassiness.

If you are just getting into modern electronic music then this would be a perfect primer for you. If you have been into it for a while there are some tracks here worth getting that are either not that easy to find or you just won't find elsewhere. Either way this is an excellent CD that's worthy to be in your collection.

Some of the greatest electronica beats from some of the UK's best artists can be found on Wipeout XL. Great tracks such as; Fluke's "Atom Bomb", Prodigy's popular "Firestarter", France's own Daft Punk with "Musique", and my favourite, "We Have Explosive" by The Future Sound Of London. There are many reasons that make this disc worthy of notice, one for example, it packs an insane amount of "adrenaline" perfect for any driver with a heavy foot. Listening to this disc at 50km/h just isn't going to cut it. It's hard to call this a soundtrack. Wipeout XL is more of a "compilation of a compilation" due to the fact that EVERY song is exceptional. I highly recommend that you pick this up. It's a rush........in the form of a compact disc. For underground beats at one notch lower try Infinite Beat Vol. 1 (ib1), Mono (Life in Mono), and Purple Penguin (De-tuned)......enjoy!

This is the soundtrack to a video game on the Playstation. It also happens to be one of the best collections of unmixed singles you are going to find on disc. And the best collection of techno/big beat (before the genre imploded in stupidity) on the market.

You get the harsh techno masterpiece "We Have Explosive" by The Future Sound Of London. Fluke's hit "Atom Bomb", the Chemical Brothers doing a harder piece with "Loops of Fury" , Underworld, the sleek cold drum and bass of Photek, "Leave Home" remixed by Underworld, the instrumental (hence better) "Firestarter" by Prodigy, and at the bottom of the disc are "other" bands like Daft Punk, Orbital, and Leftfield.

If you enjoyed the game this is a no brainer; if you at all like this genre of electronic music (even if you probably have some of these already) it's still a no-brainer. Go get this.

What this soundtrack means to me............ well when I got the game back 2 1/2yearsago I had no idea what i was getting into. i had hardly found myself intrested in any of that techno-crap i was hearing on the airwaves,but something about this was very different.it was a sound that i could listen to and actually enjoy. i later found that these wounderous sounds all had creators besides some guy that works for the gaming company. starting with my now favorite group of all tine, the chemical brothers i started finding these musical pioneers in music stores. ill tell ya that aint easy. back then even cb's and prodigy were hard to find in stores here in PA.but slowly i would find photek, fluke, fsol and other greats on the album in a variety of stores in plenty different isles. then when i bought out all their cd's i started looking through compilations to find unrealeased wonders and new bands although once again it is hard to find the new artists i like, my cd collection has risen to well over 100 and i am flat broke. this cd has changed my life thank you psygnosis and astralworks i will keep buying your products as long as they remain so kickin'

When I bought this however many years ago, nobody bothered to point out to me that it was the soundtrack to a game. But perhaps that's the greatest compliment anybody could give it--that the music stands on its own without any hard-sell.

Maybe you bought 'Exit Planet Dust' but if you missed out on the Chemical Brothers' (in my opinion) best single "Loops of Fury", you could atone buy picking up this disc. The instrumental version of "Firestarter" is better than the original, and "PETROL" is not representative of the Orbital album ('In Sides') it comes from, but still kicks.

The whole 'Electronica' wave was over-done and rightfully put in its proper place on the musical scheme of things, but in retrospect, there were some singles you had to own, and this is a superb compilation of them.

Made to be booming out of your convertible, even if it's a k-car.

This CD contains some of the greatest techno tracks ever released, and unfortunately...music with the feel and attitude that this collection is able to invoke is hard to find. Although it's not on this CD but should have been, Underworld's Cowgirl is another song that does what this CD does. For those of you who know what I'm talking about, it's the song that's playing in the movie "Hackers" when Zero Cool is competing with Acid Burn in Wipeout.
If you think you like techno, but the only thing you know about it is from the trash they play on the radio...this CD is not for you. But, if you really do know what you're talking about, and consider yourself to be an afficienado of the techno/trance/whatever genre...this CD is a necessary inclusion into anyone's collection. It was revolutionary when it was released, attempted to finally merge the interactive video game industry with the record industry, and just plain ruled.

I love the Wipeout XL game and the music just makes it even better! If you like Techno, you will love this.

I found this CD last week at FYE. It was dirt cheap, but the preview kiosks wouldn't let me listen to any of the tracks. I was about to buy it, but changed my mind. Yesterday, I went back. It was still there and still extremely cheap, so I decided to get it. It's not what I typically listen to, but I think it's growing on me. I'm really into drum and bass, but until now, I haven't had much interest in big beat. I'm also interested in melodic dance music, but there certainly isn't any of that on this CD. It focuses on beat, bass, and crazy synths/sfx rather than cheesy melodies and vocals. It's age really shows: it's from 1996. It has a kind of rough and aggressive feel to it that I tend to associate with early dance music. It's great if you're into that sort of thing.

I will admit, after purchasing this game, I found myself sitting in front of my Playstation hearing 3,2,1, GO! and then placing the controller on the ground in front of me listening to the great music coming from my 13" TV. After a while, the game simply became a visual to a near perfect soundtrack. If you enjoy heart racing, adrenaline pumping electronica then this is the soundtrack for you. Highly recommended however Coffee + This Album may = excessive speed on the road. Buy at your own risk :)