Album Description: 7/11 (HML 1001) is 60+ minutes of original music composed for two of the most popular CD-ROM games of all time. Suitably atmospheric, occasionally toe-tapping and humorous, with lively arrangements and slick production values. Features the indescribable Mr. Death, with vocals by Axel and Miles Dietrich of European Sex Machine.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Love it!
First of all, Lavode's review is off. The 7th Guest didn't exactly come with a soundtrack. It was a 2 CD package. The first install CD also contained a 1 track compilation of the music in the game. And heaven forbid you don't skip to track two when you put it in your CD player: static galore! That said, the "low quality speaking" is not removed in 7/11! Surely it's high quality now. And still the lines from the game are present, which I personally like.
The tracks have been more than sufficiently reviewed, as well as available for demo on amazon and The Fat Man's sites, so I'll let you make your own decision. I however found them all catchy and still sing along 10 years after the games came out!
As a 3D modeler on The 13th Doll I definitely appreciated having this official soundtrack as a backdrop to my work!
Rating: - A perfect soundtrack for the fans of the games
The title says it all: if you're keen into these two classic puzzle games for PC, The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour, this is your drug of choice. So beautiful soundtrack and very well mixed together that you couldn't possibly even imagine better.
Took me some time and (some more) money to find and buy this fantastic piece of art but believe me, it really was worth of it. <3
Rating: - 7/11 Soundtrack
Pretty sweet! They tweaked the original 7th Guest song a little, but did a good job w/ it. I compared it to the original 7th Guest soundtrack and 11th hour and was pretty happy w/ this one. You'll like it!
Rating: - Classic Game Tunes
With the majority of The 7th Guest's score available for standalone listening on the game's second disc, along with both titles' MIDIs being freely available over the web, I was skeptical at the value of a compilation release. While there are a good number of crossover tracks from T7G, the CD is nicely balanced between The Fat Man's non-incidental cues (Mr. Death, The Game, Skeletons in My Closet), selections from The 11th Hour's cinematic score and extended versions of tracks originally included with T7G. Plus a liberal helping of 11H's in-house music.
The first quarter of the disc is taken up exclusively with non-incidental cues from the two games. The Final Hour Hawaiian sets a wispy, stormy mood; giving us a short introduction to the Fat Man's trademark eccentricity before moving directly into the stuttering beat of Mr. Death. The CD continues on it's jagged path with the brassy big band of Skeletons in My Closet, the "mad choir" of Chapel Pain, the section concluding with the soft guitar rock of The Game and The Final Hour.
7/11 wisely chooses to put its strangest fare out in front, though the choices tend to be a mixed bag. I absolutely love The Game and Skeletons in My Closet, both from T7G, while I never quite warmed to Mr. Death. I don't fault the composition of Mr. Death, but it's choice to serve as the background music for 11H's main menu always struck me as a missed opportunity. It's odd, sardonic tone about death looking over one's shoulder seemed an off way to set the stage for a story about sexual and materialistic desire steering a person's fate. The Game, which features lyrics that tie so well into T7G's plot, was never used anywhere in the actual game. Chapel Pain comes directly from the start of the T7G audio CD, the half minute demonic chant Dutton commented on in the library.
Wrapping up the section is The Final Hour, a bonus song included in the behind-the-scenes features of 11H and my least favorite track on the CD. Running for ten bloated minutes, it was written as a sequel to The Game, but replaces the hypnotic slow burn of the original with a truly out of left field pairing of acid rock and rockabilly country motifs, smothered and covered with lyrics that borderline on acoustically grating. The influences have been so mixed together that instead of the conflicting elements playing off one another to create something wholly original, they're lost mingling in and out of focus. A thin paste rather than a multi-layered cake.
The next four tracks are drawn from the cinematic score for 11H. Whatever can be said of the plot quality in 11H, I really, really enjoyed The Fat Man's music for the game's cut scenes, in that they created a completely different mood than what was present in the mansion. While the rooms set the tone for the music of the exploration sections of both games, since the majority of 11H's story took place outside in the town of Harley-On-Hudson the moods of the characters drive the tone here, letting the quiet melancholy that infects Harley taint the music.
The only composer's work that I can liken to these tracks' style is Badalamenti's score for the TV show Twin Peaks, with the soft guitar undercurrent driving the pieces. A veiled, yet unrelenting control in the subtext. Badalamenti's work for Twin Peaks was rooted in playful whimsy tempered with darkness, the score here substituting the uniquely Northwest small town quirkiness with a sun bleached tranquility more suited for the Hudson River Valley of New York. The jewel of the bunch, Ashes, played while Carl watched the mansion burn at the end of 11H and is great piece to mellow out with.
Following the main titles for the T7G (Short Intro), the CD moves into a long selection of pieces from the puzzle and exploration sections of the two games. Many favorites are included and if you know the games you know the high quality of the music here. Doorbell, Dolls of Doom, We're the Ghosts, Bedspread and Coffin Dance are carried over from the T7G audio CD, plus a dialogue-free version of All the Guests ("I heard singing upstairs...") and the uncut Foyer tune Ghost of Bo. A welcome new addition to the fold is the track Bolero, the music that accompanied the infamous microscope puzzle.
Selections from 11H are intermixed with the T7G tracks. For the sequel, Sanger employed an even more widely diverse range of music styles to paint the mood of the assorted rooms of the derelict mansion. Love Soupreme, used in the kitchen, starts out like a shock cue with a spooky mix of tapping drums and electronic strings before slurring into a catchy salsa rhythm. Funky Tubes and Rain take a darker path, bringing a playful, exuberant spirit to a gothic style that would ordinarily accompany a vampire's castle. For a house in such rampant disrepair, it's tenant forces seem quite spry for their years.
Music Box starts out reusing, note for note, the classic T7G puzzle theme before segueing into the aloof library cue of 11H, a union that shows how far Team Fat had come between the two games in layering their theme elements. Rain in particular, used for Robin's entering the mansion, starts out strong, as she views the house from afar, propelling her forward. As she reaches the front porch, the cue's strength, along with her confidence, is cut down by half, replaced with an air of sad hesitation, the song seeming to know Robin's choice even before she crosses the threshold. A breath held amongst the pitter patter of rain drops... or tears.
The CD concludes with a brief hawaiian rendition of The Game, returning us once again, with a short "Ahui hou", to the wet and windy frontier of the raging, faceless storm.
Rating: - Awesome, even if you have the 7th Guest soundtrack already!
I was a little hesitant to buy this, since I had the 7th Guest, which comes with a soundtrack cd. I also didn't like the 11th Hour quite as much as Guest. However, this is well worth the money. You not only get all the 7th Guest music, but the tracks that have low-quality speaking over them (as in the 7th Guest soundtrack) are now present with no speaking parts.
The entire album has been re-mixed, so you don't get all of one game's music, and then the others. The album begins and ends with the Hawaiian versions of the 11th Hour and 7th Guest themes, sort of as bookends for the whole work. Then it gets into the singles, which are (in no order): The Game, Skeletons In My Closet (both 7th Guest), Mr. Death, The Final Hour (both 11th Hour). Then the disc has all the room and game music, mixed so that sometimes a 7th Guest song segues into an 11th Hour song, and vice-versa.
I found that being very familiar with the track listing of the 7th Guest was no impediment to liking this disc. The tracks are all skillfully mixed together to make a hauntingly beautiful work. If you're a fan of the 7th Guest, played the 11th Hour, and love the music, this is the disc you need.
- Classic Game Tunes
