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Music Review

Monkey Island games have always been famous for good humor, funny characters, interesting puzzles... and good music. And Escape from Monkey Island is no exception here!

But lets start with the beginning. The first thing you hear when you start the game for the first time is the main theme. And here comes a first shock: the main titles are exactly the same than in The Curse of Monkey Island (well, OK, so they are a little bit shorter in this game). This is surprising, since the Main Titles have always been heard in a different arrangement in the first three games (for example, the title music sounded much more funky in Monkey Island 2 than in Monkey Island 1, and in Monkey Island 3 it is played the first time by life players). But rest assured, 99% of the music in the fourth installment is original! And who cares about the other percent? For instance, the Intro music in Monkey Island 3 really was fantastic. It would indeed have been hard to produce a "better" arrangement of the theme.

All in all, the music in Escape from Monkey Island is very varied. There are many different styles of music in the game... more than in any other Monkey Island game. Of course you hear traditional Reggae music (e.g. Mêlée Town, 1115), ambient classical music (e.g. Lucre Town, 2105), creepy tunes (e.g. arriving at Pegnose's house), dramatic tunes (e.g. Guybrush escapes from the Vault, 2207) and ambient, native flute music (e.g. Meeting a Monkey in the Woods, 5115). But on the tourist infected Jambalaya Island, there are also some Soft Rock / Country songs (e.g. The Microgroggery, 3130), some jazzy arrangements (Stan's Theme, 3150) and a Bossa Nova piece with great guitars (Diving Competition, 3145).

As you can easily imagine when reading about all these different styles, the music in this game never gets boring. But do these different songs really fit together? Actually, yes they do! Even if the styles are very different from song to song, the songs still have something in common. Often, they share bits of the same themes, or they are played on similar instruments (for example, many songs use steal drums and a steady bass line). Besides, the style of music always fits perfectly to the current situation of the game. Of course, a Rock tune wouldn't fit to exploring an underwater cavern, whereas quiet classic tunes wouldn't really fit to the tourist based consumer society in Jambalaya town.

In a good Monkey Island tradition, the classic Monkey Island tunes are used together with their respective character. For example, whenever LeChuck appears in a Cutscene, we can be sure to hear a snippet of the famous LeChuck theme. Other famous themes from the previous games that appear in the game are for example Stan's theme (but in a jazzy arrangement) or the Voodoo theme... As always, you can also expect the Monkey Island main theme to appear discretely or obviously in tons of songs throughout the game (e.g. The Bait Shop, 2130). But there are also a lot of original songs in the game, with brand new themes (e.g. Pegnose Pete's theme, 2195)!

The cutscenes always have an excellent orchestration. Their music score is very cinematic and is always adapted to what's happening on the screen. Themes of characters appear, the music gets happy or sad, hectic or calm and is sometimes interrupted suddenly when a surprise in the story happens.... A movie couldn't make better use of the music!

The music in this game is not only well composed, but besides, the quality is also very good. The music is stored in a digital form (stereo, 44 kHz). Once again you can notice that LucasArts has spent a lot of money into music production... In many songs there have been used real live musicians (e.g. for saxophone, drums, guitars...) to make the tunes sound more authentic! And all the synthetic music (orchestral parts) also sounds very good, since LucasArts has used some really good samples.

What about any interactive tricks with the iMuse system LucasArts music has become famous for? Well, even if the game is not as interactive as for example The Curse of Monkey Island, there are still some pretty neat (and useful) tricks. For example, when you sail from Jambalaya (the tourist island) to the Knuttin Atoll (a "real", shanty pirate island), the same song continues but switches from major to minor! Also, in Jambalaya town, when you stand before the door of, let's say the Microgroggery, you already hear the music that plays inside through the door, but quietly and without heights. When you enter the door, the song isn't interrupted: it continues to play, but with a "full sound" now.

So, what's the verdict of this "music review"? As you may have guessed while reading the article, I really appreciated the music and think it's as excellent as ever! Yes, a real masterpiece! "Hello? LucasArts? What about an official soundtrack CD?" Well, anyway, in the meantime, you can listen to the songs on your PC as MP3s. You will find a full song index and instructions on how play the music on the following pages.
 
 

Composer(s):	Music Supervisor: Clint Bajakian Music Composers: Clint Bajakian, Michael Land, Peter McConnell,  Anne Karney, Michael Lande
Format:	Digital (Stereo, 44 kHz)
Main style(s):	Reggae (+ Ambient, Native, Rock, Jazz...)
Hits:	Diving Contest, Meathook's house, Outside the Booty Showcase, House of Sticks, Prothese Shop, Pegnose Pete
Interactivity:	Average
Rating:	Excellent

Disagree with our soundtrack review? Then tell us your opinion in our forum!
 
 
 

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