Alright, let's examine this album thoroughly.
Disc 1
01 Entry(Maxi5 Version) 2:41
02 Avatar of Speed 3:02
03 Daystar 4:27
04 Inorganic Soul 5:19
05 Tonight 2:34
06 Dispatcher 2:55
07 Lightning Dance 3:12
08 Give Up or Keep Trying Maxi5 2:23
09 Fallen Angel 4:02
10 Opening Movie BGM
These are from WMMT5. "Opening Movie BGM" is a shortened variation of "Avatar of Speed". The credits on the booklet shows that an "Andrew Choi" provided the vocals for "Tonight", "Fallen Angel" and "Enjoy the Process" (third song from WMMT3). One of these tracks is not like the others, can you guess which? I assume that "Fallen Angel" is a mistake unless Ms. Andrew underwent voice reconstruction surgery specifically for this track (or his voice was autotuned to hell).
High-tier tracks for me: Inorganic Soul and Fallen Angel. Avatar of Speed a close second. Also a very competent "Entry" effort to begin the entire album with, on par with WMMT4's. "Inorganic Soul" - that's a bit redundant. It's like saying wet water.
Then we get to:
11 There is No Way Out
Which is a WMMT4 track that apparently went astray.
Then this track completes the WMMT5 list:
12 Mode Select Maxi5
The rest of disc 1 partially goes through WMMT4 and the rest of Disc 2 completes WMMT4. 27 WMMT4 tracks, same as the standalone OST.
Disc 3
01 Entry(Maxi3DX+ Version) 2:32
02 Select(Maxi3DX+ Version) 1:39
03 Stay Where You Are 3:11
04 Loop of Fortune 7:40
05 Acid Runner Remix 2010 4:01
06 Feel the Passion Remix 2010 3:58
07 Enjoy the Process 4:04
08 Entry(Maxi3DX Version) 1:26
09 Select(Maxi3DX Version) 2:18
Since we're going in reverse chronological order, naturally we begin with WMMT3DX+. "Acid Runner" and "Feel the Passion" here are of course remixes of WMMT1 tunes. But the question remains: which exactly are from DX and which from DX+.
"There's no winner... you just give up or keep trying" - not exactly thought-provoking lyrics but I love it haha. Same with "Stay where you are... it's nice to know that you are there". Cleverly named "Loop of Fortune" comes in as the second-longest track of the album, beating "Phantom of Blue" (WMMT3) but beat by "Blue Blazes" (WMMT1).
The rest of Disc 3 partially goes through plain vanilla WMMT3 and Disc 4 completes it (23 tracks on the standalone OST). Oh, but we get an extra track here, making it 24 tracks: Track 4 "Tutorial". But like "Opening Movie BGM" (WMMT5), it's just a variation of "Midnight Sanctuary", or to be more precise, the middle section.
Disc 5 and 6, consisting of 36 WMMT1+2 tracks differs from the standalone OST of 34. The two extra tracks come in the form of:
10 Stream Of Tears(More Tranced Remix)
18 Blue Blazes SP
Stream of Tears, if you might remember, used to be (or maybe still is) a free downloadable .mp3 from Bandai Namco's (or is it Namco Bandai, goddamn it) official website.
I can't for the life of me, tell the difference between "Blue Blazes SP" and "Blue Blazes". It's interesting because humans are mainly visual creatures (ever played those "spot the difference" picture games?) but when it comes to comparing similar sounding audio, it's quite the challenge. I'll have to defer this mystery to a sound expert who can, explain the difference eloquently using his/her audio vocabulary.
Also, another thing worth mentioning. I don't know if it's just my imagination or not, but Track 6: "Last Utopia" and Track 7: "Holy Land Anthem" now seems to be seamlessly connected to each other better than on the standalone OST. I believe this (the connecting of the two songs) is influenced by gameplay factors so an explanation on exactly how that happens would be helpful from a WMMT gamer.
As far as the music is concerned, it's an A+, 10/10, or SSS or 5 stars out of 5, whatever. Provided of course, you like this style of music or if you're a devoted Yuzo fan. Yuzo never disappoints. You'd expect him or anyone to fumble a bit, especially since we're dealing with sequels and we're dealing with trance, a musical genre that leans towards repetitiveness but somehow Koshiro keeps it fresh. Heck, the repetitiveness is the selling point! As they say, you can't have too much of a good thing.
There is one issue however: if you came to this album from the standalone albums, then the track order change will take some getting used to. Or in my case, I can't. I can't get used to it. Of course, if you're a Wangan Midnight virgin, then this doesn't apply. The other issue is the actual game order. It would make more sense to start with WMMT1 and end with WMMT5. You want to see (hear) the evolution of the WMMT music (e.g. the vocals become more the centerpiece of certain tracks, rather than taking a back seat), the musical story of WMMT, if you will.
Since we're all Wangathered here tomidnight (apologies for the maximum poor attempt of the pun that I tchurned out), how about a personal top 5.
1) Driving Energy (WMMT4) - The definition of repetition. But damn, "it feels so good..." (quoting Paula Terry from another track)
2) Nostalgia (WMMT4) - On the other hand, this track is 5:30 long and doesn't loop, nor is it repetitive (by WMMT standards).
3) Nothing Can Live Forever (WMMT2) - In one word: Intense. Or in two words: Explosive Finale.
4) Atheist On The Highway (WMMT1) - If Driving Energy was designated the repetitive track of WMMT4, then this is for WMMT1. Also worth inclusion for the track title alone.
5) Midnight Sanctuary (WMMT3) - I like how it consists of 4 parts and minimises repetition. Shades of "the game is almost finished" here (I haven't played the games).
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