Search - Various Artists :: Wwe: The Music 9 (Dig)

Good Wrestling Themes, Poor Mastering

Jerry Palmerino Jr | United States | 01/27/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Another reviewer wrote that he only recommends this to wrestling fans. Considering WWEs CDs never get any radio airplay, I would not expect anyone but wrestling fans to even know this CD exists. That's ok, because there are millions of us who support the awesome work of its composer (James Johnston).



Some random thoughts after one quick listen:



Randy Orton's theme is the title track, and it is a well developed song.



Do we really need another version of Kane's music?



I am not a fan of R-Truth and his ring entrance got old K-Kwik (pun intended).



Kozlov's music is awesome, but repetitive. Very much reminiscent of recent KMFDM.



Swagger's music reminds me of Rage Against the Machine. It is good.



The Smackdown theme is ok. It gets an opportunity to grow on you every week when you watch Smackdown.



I wonder if Umaga is going to be using the theme on this CD as his entrance. I prefer his curent theme (or shall we say, the theme he has been using up until he went out for an injury in 2008).



It was a smart move by WWE to re-envision the "Priceless" theme because the coutry-esque version wasn't cutting it. The image it conveyed was not suitable for the clean-cut, yet sinister "Legacy". This new version is much better.



Other songs include: Maryse, (Kung) Fu Naki, Kelly Kelly, and Khali.



Overall, it is a good CD of current themes, but suffers from poor mastering. Something is wrong at WWE Music Studios because the sound quality sounds flat and overly "boosted." I am not a producer, but once you play this CD in your vehicle and the doors rattle (mine are even Dynamatted), you'll understand. The soft parts are too loud and the loud parts are loud. Recent WWE CDs had the same issue."

Decent...

Mr. D. A. Donnelly | Texas | 01/28/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Wrestling CDs tend to be a lot like the television product itself, namely there is "something for everyone". Just like the various characters and storylines on the TV shows, not everybody is pleased by the same thing. Some like the serious wrestling, others like the cheesy storylines, others like the cartoonish characters, others love the pure athletes. Wrestling is such a diverse and multi-colored universe that fans can usually find many things to enjoy while ignoring those things they don't like as much.



The songs on this CD work pretty much the same way. The chances are you won't like all thirteen songs on this album. There are hard rock tracks such as Randy Orton, Jack Swagger, Priceless and Vladimir Kozlov. Upbeat dance tracks represent Kelly Kelly and Maryse, while Smackdown and Eve are represented by soft-rock tracks that remind me somewhat of "Real Good Girl" from Volume 6. There is of course the obligatory "comedy track" which in my opinion get old real fast - Kung Fu Naki this time. Plus old school style instrumantal wrestling themes for Kane and Umaga. R-Truth's "Whats Up" and a surprisingly good Indian track for Great Kahli round out the track listing for this years offering.



Chances are once the initial buzz has worn off, you will find yourself going for the same 3-4 tracks that are your favorites, and leaving the rest to the "skip button" on your CD player.



A decent offering, but the days of WWE's and Johnston's creative prime for Volume 3 and Volume 4 are long over. It's just a shame this CD wasn't Disc 3 of the 3 Disc Anthology that WWE announced last year. Once again, we are left to hold out for that goldmine of classic themes.



"