…but then the soundtrack picked up quite a bit of popularity, and it’s convoluted backstory really began. Anyway, that was really the end of it – Jacques and TJ’s work was done, they got paid, everyone goes home happy. The vocals are what I reckon threw the opinion to the negative side, as the actual music itself is bloody fantastic. Upon the game’s release, reaction to the soundtrack was mixed – some thought it was great, some found it unbearable. Two separate mixes for each track were produced, one with vocals and one without – this was actually selectable in game. A further week at Metropolis was spent recording the vocals. The tracks were recorded at SEGA’s Digital Studios, and then fine tuned, mixed, and finalized in a week at Metropolis Studios in London. 1997 Issue, Jacques wrote the songs to complement the game, whilst still being accessible for general listening. The lyrics for the songs were written by Jacques, and according to SEGA Saturn Magazine, Nov. So there you go folks – Yuji Naka is to blame for Sonic R’s vocalised soundtrack! Naka enjoyed TJ Davis’ vocals so much, that he requested that every track in the game feature vocals performed by her. Upon returning, the first song to be written was Super Sonic Racing, which was later used in Sonic R’s June 1997 E3 reveal. In March 1997, Jacques flew out to Japan to meet with Yuji Naka and discuss the musical direction of the game. That said, she’s not disappeared – in fact, she’s got a Twitter account, which can be found here.Īs much flack as the Sonic R soundtrack gets, I think it’s just a case of the vocals being juxtaposed against the game – TJ Davis is honestly a damn good vocalist. Outside of a performance at Summer of Sonic in 2008 alongside Bentley Jones, TJ Davis’ last recorded work was back in 2003. Of course, he wasn’t alone in Sonic R’s musical pieces.Įnter Teresa Jane Davis, AKA TJ Davis. Davis provided the vocal work synonymous with Sonic R nowadays, and actually went on to work with SEGA again on the Metropolis Street Racer soundtrack (the same soundtrack that technically featured a remix of… Green Grove from Sonic 3D Saturn! Sneaky, Jacques!) The game featured arrangements in the genre of eurodance, powerpop, and jazz, amongst others. Sonic 3D was the first Sonic game that he composed for, and he was brought back for Sonic R. Over the last 10 years, Jacques has contributed a huge amount of music for the Sonic games, with the Sonic Boom games being the most recent Sonic titles he’s worked on. However, perhaps what he’s most well known for is his work on the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He’s won various awards, and been nominated for BAFTAs! His most acclaimed work was for the game Headhunter for SEGA Dreamcast. Jacques has composed music for a wide variety of titles, such as LittleBigPlanet 2, Mass Effect, Jet Set Radio. Sonic R’s OST was composed, arranged and performed by Richard Jacques, a British music composer from Leamington Spa, England. Just to get you up to speed on Sonic R’s rather infamous soundtrack. We’re not here to discuss the game though – you probably could have guessed that from the topic title and the huge bloody banner saying “ Sonic R – THE SOUNDTRACK.” Some see it as an average racer, whereas others such as ScrewAttack see it as the absolute worst Sonic the Hedgehog game of all time.

Sonic cd soundtrack tracklist