There's a guy selling them with a BIN of 25, but has the best offer option. Just won a copy off ebay for $10.  Also got the Chrono Trigger DS cd off him for $5.

I deleted my eBay account a long time ago, because I was screwed over several times by dishonest/bullshit sellers as well as insulted one time too many by the customer service representatives. I swore I wouldn't deal with or support them ever again, and I plan to stick to that. I also don't live in the US, so there are no Gamestops for me to go and try to get the CD from. I'm hoping there's someone here that (like Ashley above) has a copy that they don't want/need. If so, contact me and we can work out a deal/trade. *crosses fingers*

Well I got this soundtrack finally. I have sort of lost interest in Silent Hill to a large degree. I still put 1 and 2 up there among my best gaming experiences, with 2 being one of the only games to really have me thinking about it for weeks afterwards. I also put the SH2 soundtrack at the top of my 'best soundtracks' list.

But, even enjoying SH 3 and 4, the spark was dying. Especially with regards to the music in my opinion. I know many disagree but I felt Yamaoka just hit a groove with 3 where he was great at what he was doing but the fact that it was a groove pulled the power out of the music. Still great albums and very listenable but they just didn't have the magic for me. Origins was no different, though I did love some of the tracks in that.

I come at Homecoming a little differently. Mainly, because I have had no interest whatsoever in playing the game. I have no idea about the context of these tracks so it's less a soundtrack and just an album. And that probably helps because it removes the constant frustration I've had since 3 where my mind is screaming to Yamoaka, "just score the damn game!".

There's a bunch of tracks in here that are just more of the same, "I found a groove and I'm not letting it go", Yamaoka. Nice but dull. I wish he'd drop McGlynn and go for a bit of variety. One More Soul To The Call - if you want to just keep repeating Promise from SH2, just put Promise on the album and leave it at that. And Elle's Theme begins so SH3 and so much in that groove that I almost laughed out loud, like it was a SH piss take. But... the other two vocal tracks get a little different. Oddly, they feel like they should be part of that repetition, with This Sacred Line being another attempt at Promise and Alex Theme being that SH3 trip hop, but both tracks rise far above their origins without doing a hell of a lot different. Sacred Line just feels so much more natural and more at ease than anything I've heard in a SH OST since SH2. It sounds like it just happened. Like it's spontaneous. And Alex Theme's relentless minimalism giving it more weight than had he thrown in more elements.

They just work.

With the rest of the tracks, there are many familiar elements and some SH2-alikes and 3-alikes and many of those, in my opinion, are far more successful than many of the SH2-alikes and SH3-alikes we've had since, well, SH3. The Terminal Show is one of those tracks. It doesn't sound like a SH2 copy, it sounds like it actually came from SH2. Good thing or bad thing? Well, just on the track itself, I'd say it's a good thing. Cold Blood is excellent. I adore Attitude #70. That's one track that feels like he actually set about to do something a little different, and it works. And while Voodoo girl follows that familiar beat, it uses new sounds and that helps it come across a bit more fresh. Same with Dead Monks.

I'd echo what Daniel said about the tracks sounding a bit like they were thrown together. Yes, you could call it a lack of cohesiveness but I'd actually call it a bit of variety. A slight attempt at freshness. Only slight. But enough to keep it interesting for me.

I've only listened to it a few times so far but, in general, I like it.

Now let's see a McGlynn free, trip-hop free, Promise-copy free Silent Hill soundtrack.

I'm not ready to post my "initial final verdict" on the Homecoming OST yet, but I do agree with you, Jay, that Yamaoka is "stuck in a groove" to a certain degree. Its not that the soundtracks sound the same, because they don't (all six of them have very distinct sounds, IMO). Its more that the format is getting "typical" - one disc with 4 McGlynn vocals surrounded by instrumental pieces. I agree that musically, the formula is getting a bit stale, and I would really like to see Yamaoka move away from this doomed series and direct his abilities towards something completely different (cue Monty Python reference). The "rut" is most likely the result of something I've heard him say in many recent interviews, namely that he's aware of the fact that there are a lot of people out there that love the SH-sound, and that he consequently feels a responsibility/pressure to preform and deliver that sound. Maybe he also feels like playing it "safe", since he's like 40 now, and has a great-paying job or whatever. Personally, I would prefer it if he tried something else.

The best thing real fans can do for Yamaoka-san is probably stop buying and supporting a series of games that hasn't really been alive for the latter half of it's existence, maybe that would convince Konami to free him up from his SH "duties" and start doing other stuff. But we all know that will never happen. *hysterical teenage-fangirl scream*

I disagree with you on where the "groove" started, though. I think SH 3 and 4 had awesome OST CDs that each brought much new to the table and were permeated by an adventurous and experimental spirit, the feeling I get from them was that Yamaoka was still as vital and innovative as during the first two soundtracks. Its just the unfortunate circumstance that the games SH3 and 4 weren't as hot as the first two, which has reflected badly on their soundtracks for a lot of people (like you, perhaps?).

The feeling I get from the Origins and Homecoming soundtracks, on the other hand, is different. While the music is still largely great, you really sense in these that its just a "collection of tracks", because while the composer was very much involved in the development of the first four games, these two were made by entirely different teams, on different continents, and Yamaoka's approach/assignment was basically to create a certain number of tracks that simply sounded "Silent Hill-ish". I still love the music, but not as much as with the earlier ones. What I meant by "lack of cohesiveness" was that it feels like the last two soundtracks are just a randomly shuffled collection of compositions without any relation to each other, that each could've been composed at entirely different times, like a collection of SH B-sides, whereas the sense I got from the first four OSTs was that there was a unifying, central vision behind them that truly gave them character, and that the "flow" was better, since the albums were better planned for being listening experiences. They were journeys, the track-sequence had a master's touch. Listening through Origins and Homecoming, it feels like I have several Silent Hill OSTs on shuffle in a playlist... Random stuff coming up without any cohesive feel behind it, and that, I think, really hurts them in the holistic sense. Its a far cry from the painstakingly crafted and complex overlappings, interweavings, and sequence manipulations of the first two soundtracks in particular.

Your mistake was that you didn't employ this approach earlier. With every SH album except SH1 OST, I got the soundtrack before playing the game, and I've been able to enjoy all of them on their own strengths. I don't really understand why "scoring the game" should be such a great concern outside of the game.

I disagree on "One More Soul..." and "Sacred Line", I thought the first was great (and I wouldn't have confused it with "Promise" in a million years), and I really don't see what you find so different about the latter... sounds pretty typical to me. I will agree, though, that "Alex Theme" is great, that one has been growing on me like crazy. I also agree with:

Although I haven't enjoyed SH vocals as much since SH3 OST as I do the ones in Homecoming, I do agree. Yet another SH soundtrack with 4 McGlynn tracks would be a sure sign of stagnation.

Yeah. Or even better, let's see a new album by Akira Yamaoka that has nothing whatsoever to do with Silent Hill.

iFUTURELIST 2, pleeeease.

...or some metal à la Shin Contra. Both would be very welcome

I'll second the idea for iFUTURELIST 2, with less vocals than the original, and Shin Contra 2, still teamed up with Sota Fujimori because I love the way that soundtrack flows from metal to techno so seamlessly (MOUNTAINS AREA -> BATTLE TRAIN, hell yeah!)  I'm definitely getting tired of the same old Silent Hill soundtrack format.. 20 or so instrumental tracks with four vocals mixed around the disc, one always at the beginning and end.  Enough!  Even though I love the vocals from Homecoming, I would definitely prefer another "Love Psalm" or "True" in their place.  I want that same feeling I get when listening to the first two soundtracks.  Have you ever listened to the original Silent Hill or Silent Hill 2's soundtrack from start to finish?  I recommend everyone do that at least once before you die, you won't regret it.  While SH3, SH4, SH0, and SHH are all amazing discs, they just don't have that quality to them, which is the biggest thing I've been missing since the SH2 OST.  Silent Hill 3 sorta had it, just not in the same way as one and two.  SH3 was the biggest change in terms of soundtrack.. that's where he introduced the vocal songs and the never-seen-since "storytelling" parts (which I thought worked well).  I think having vocals thrown in really breaks up the general tone of his dark instrumental music.  Just imagine a vocal track sandwiched between, say, "FEAR OF THE DARK" and "HALF DAY" from SH1 or even "Fermata in Mistic Air" and "Prisonic Fairytale" from SH2.  It just wouldn't work.

Also, there's a dude on eBay selling the Homecoming CD for 12 bucks plus $3 shipping, factory sealed, and he has 7 available as of two minutes ago:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Silent-Hill-Homecom … dZViewItem

-Mike

I guess my general opinion is that Origins exemplified the "rut" we've been talking about here, and I think the difference between DK and myself is that I thought that rut was forming as of SH4.  I hadn't gone back to that OST in a longer time than the first few, even though the first few have obviously been in my collection for longer.  As for Homecoming, it at least felt while listening that Yamaoka was reaching out a bit again, perhaps accepting that he's pigeonholed himself but not quite ready to lather-rinse-repeat ever aspect of his music.  To me, it has the atmosphere that much of 4 and Origins lacked, despite the common SH style aspects.

Meanwhile, during the course of moving apartments it seems that my SH4 2CD OST has disappeared.  Brilliant.

[cue stereotypical macho Italian gangster accent] I can't believe this fockin' shit I'm hearing! [/accent]

No, seriously, I guess we'll agree to disagree then. I find SH4 OST to be high above Origins and Homecoming, and actually also slightly above SH3 OST. 3 and 4 are about equally awesome, but 3 gets a slightly lower placement thanks to having those annoying talking bits introducing some of the tracks. As for the Origins OST versus the Homecoming OST, this jury is still out, but my gut feeling right now is that Origins was definitely superior... it at least had more funk in it's stride, while Homecoming feels a little tamer. I'll gladly admit, though, that a few of the better pieces on Homecoming are better and much more "SH-like" than anything on Origins (I'm thinking of stuff like "Cold Blood" and "The Terminal Show").

Just download it, dude. If you paid for it once, you should be able to enjoy it always.

Not my style, man.  I adhere to "for auditioning purposes only," though maybe not the arbitrary 24hr aspect of that.  And if there's anyone who deserves my money twice in this industry, it's Yamaoka.

Amen.  I bought Silent Hill 2 (the game) four times.  American normal release, American Greatest Hits release, European release w/ the awesome bonus disc, and the Japanese release.  Man I love SH2.

-Mike

*uses his index fingers to form two horns on the top of his forehead*

Yamaoka deserves money for sure, I'm just pretty certain he ain't getting a cent from the CD sales. But let's not open up that can of worms again...

That reminds me, I let someone borrow my Art Of DVD a long time ago and never got it back. I must track that down.

For those who might be interested, here are my full thoughts on the Silent Hill: Homecoming OST. Put the kettle on, its gonna be a long read...

First I should say that the CD has grown on me a lot in the last week or so, it seems to be one of those works (at least for me) that reward patience. Some of the faint undercurrents of initial disappointment haven't yet been drained and might never fully be, but I feel I've gotten more into the soundtrack's own logic now, gotten more hip to it's groove, so to speak (either that, or I just brainwashed myself with repeated listens). I can say right of the bat that the Homecoming soundtrack probably won't be placed in the absolute top tier of the Yamaoka pantheon, but I'm not that sure anymore that I would judge it to be his worst effort either... How it stacks up in comparison to SH4 OST or Origins OST or any other CD is a discussion that can best be left to another time and place, and really, why bother determining a pecking order when we're talking about music this great and unique?

Overall, the tone of the sound has changed from it's immediate predecessors. The music is a sort of nod back to the more atmospheric soundscapes of the first two Silent Hill soundtracks. The most obvious indicator of this is the fact that the music is much less trip-hoppy and percussion-laced than the soundtracks of SH3, SH4, and SH: Origins were. In stead of being pulsating and "bouncy" like many pieces in the last three OSTs, most tracks here are flowing, more subdued in tone and approach. This in combination with the stand-out vocal pieces marks the Homecoming OST as the SH-soundtrack with the probably most salient and ear-catching vocal presence.

Ah, the vocals. Like we've already underlined above, they're really good this time around. My biggest complaint regarding the Origins OST was that the vocals were really beginning to feel stale and same-sounding. Well, they're not that different-sounding in Homecoming, they're just done a whole lot better. On average, I'd say Homecoming's vocals are the best in the series. I'm still disappointed and irked by the fact that Yamaoka clings to McGlynn game after game, I'd really like to see him take in new vocalists if we absolutely have to have vocal themes in Silent Hill, but my complaints are few with the vocal tracks here. It seems like Yamaoka and McGlynn had a really good working relationship in these sessions, there's a lot more emotion and feeling in these songs when compared to, say, the ones from Origins OST. I even like "This Sacred Line" now, its grown on me. Even the lyrics are surprisingly good, I thought (barring a slight whiff of cheese when McGlynn moans "Ignite me!" in "Alex Theme"). Stylistically, "One More Soul To The Call" and "This Sacred Line" are in the traditional melodic rock-vein, while "Elle Theme" and "Alex Theme" are more electronic in nature, similar to "O.R.T." from the Origins OST. I actually believe "Alex Theme" is my favourite vocal theme from Homecoming now, like Jay mentioned it gains a lot from it's "relentless minimalism", by holding back, it somehow becomes more ominous and powerful. It's probably my overall favourite SH-vocal after SH3 OST's "You're Not Here".

The meat of a Silent Hill soundtrack, however, is in the instrumental pieces, although on Homecoming, the spectacular vocals and the more low-key tone of the instrumentals almost makes one forget that at first. Some of Yamaoka's most beautiful work yet is to be found here, my personal favourites being "Witchcraft", "Cold Blood", "The Terminal Show", and "Snow Flower". These pieces are very beautiful and atmospheric, completely nailing the melancholic Silent Hill feel. Listening to something like "The Terminal Show", you can almost feel the cold mist coating your skin... The smooth piano melody flows over the bed of ambient undercurrents like the drifting fog. There's a lot of oldschool SH in these tracks, particularly reminiscent of SH2's somber and gloomy atmosphere. "Living in Fear" is in another style altogether, but still one of the best on the CD (how to describe it? Chillingly funky?).

Apart from these and a few others, the rest of the instrumental pieces are quite... odd? Yamaoka definitely branched out in many different directions here, and I confess to being a bit confused on first hearing them (the confession can be read above in the same thread). Yamaoka the experimenter is out in full force here, and some of the experiments are hits, while others are misses. The main unifying characteristic seems to be a much decreased focus on percussion and beats, resulting in an overall listening experience that is by far the most mellow and laid-back of the composer's main efforts to date.

Some of the "experiments", I really like. Both "Attitude #70" and "Regards" employ the howling wind as an instrument and makes good use of it to weave other aspects around. "Attitude #70" in particular is interesting, it sounds (with a little imagination) like someone's put up a lot of percussion-instruments and wind chimes on a clothesline on a very windy day, and as the composition progresses, the glorious cacophony is augmented by ominous, brooding electronic undercurrents. Love it! (By the way, what's up with some of the track-names? "Mr. JOY", "Attitude #70", "Slave 2 Death", "Dead Monks", etc.... WTF?) "Voodoo Girl" and "The Thing" use markedly different types of percussion than we're used to hearing from Yamaoka, which shows that he's not only reduced that aspect this time around, but mixed it up in an interesting fashion. A noticeable amount of tracks lean heavily towards atmospheric ambient-territory, examples being "4 Pattern" that sounds very SH1-like, and "Dreams of Leaving" which is also very ominous (funny enough, the sudden "leap out of the dark" at 0:54 reminds me more of Resident Evil than SH). There are a few more noteworthy good experiments like "Mr. JOY", and "Dead Monks" (which I tried a few minutes to write an acceptable description of, but failed... its, uh... good, OK?).  Overall, I'd say the instrumental offerings found on the Homecoming altar are darker in tone than any released-on-album material we've heard in the series since SH2 OST, which in my opinion is a good sign regardless of some tracks being lackluster, because it indicates that Yamaoka still remembers that he's scoring a horror-soundtrack and not a night-out at the clubs in Bristol.

Some of the experiments just rub me the wrong way, though... It pains me greatly to criticize the master, but I'm an honest person. There's a sort of "slump" in the middle of the CD (roughly tracks 9 - 13) where a whole slew of less attractive tracks follow each other in succession, and there are also a few other duds scattered towards the end of the CD. I think its these that initially got me kind of disappointed in the Homecoming OST, it felt a little weaker than the others because for the first time, it feels like we have a Yamaoka-album that actually has filler material. One of the things that have always struck me about this composer is that (disclaimer: my subjective opinion coming up, please keep that in mind) his works have been so consistently excellent, across the board. With most other composers, you can always expect the same dreary old Japanese "OST"-format, namely line up all the music from the game chronologically on CDs and give little thought to if it actually works as a final listening experience in the stereo or mp3-player or whatever. That approach is often to blame for the 3- or 4-disc RPG OST monsters filled to the brim with mind-numbingly bland 40-second shop-themes and victory-fanfares, etc.. Yamaoka on the other hand always keeps the listener in mind, and arranges the soundtracks for maximum effect. Sure, on his previous albums, there have been stinkers here and there, but they were always isolated examples, and too short to really disrupt the flow of the album and make you reach for the skip-button. I'm thinking of stuff like "Sun" on the SH3 OST, "The Last Mariachi" on SH4 OST, "Result" on Shin Contra OST, etc.. My main problem with the Homecoming OST is thus not the experimental nature of it (which I've warmed up to more and more and appreciate a lot), but rather that some of the experiments failed (in my opinion), and listening through the CD its irritatingly noticeable in some parts. Won't take too many examples, but the most obvious one is "The Real Love". This track, I just don't like. Its definitely an adventurous approach, but it just doesn't do much for me. When Yamaoka branches out in weird instrumentation, wonderful things often happen. For example, if someone would have told me just a year ago that it would be possible to have a track with jingle bells sound ominous and mysterious, I would have just laughed, yet that was before I heard "Murder Song 'S'" from the Origins OST. The whistling effect in "The Real Love" on the other hand just doesn't work for me. That track is interestingly chaotic and has a lot of things going for it, but I'm just having a hard time digesting it as a cohesive whole. "Who Knows" is another example of a dud, it has some weird melody going on, but not in an altogether good way.

As can probably be deduced from this confused mess of different impressions, I'm still digesting the new music. I would definitely be lying if I said it is the best SH-soundtrack to date, but its nice to see (hear) Yamaoka keeping the soundpicture framerate constantly refreshed and new, and exploring new directions. If anything, its that, like we agreed upon above, the format of the Silent Hill-soundtrack is getting stale, restricting the composer's considerable scope to a certain degree. Silent Hill: Homecoming OST is fresh, bold, and adventurous enough for me to easily suspend those misgivings and indulge in the offering served, but I'm still having the feeling that this amazing talent is in dire need of new outlets.

A thought: how about killing two birds with one stone? Since the SH-format is getting old, and since Konami quite obviously are completely unable as of late to produce a worthwhile Castlevania soundtrack, how about having Yamaoka as composer for the rumoured upcoming PS3/X360 CV game? We all know that would be the most awesome combo ever to hit VGM. Falling star, make it happen!

A great write-up there, just as I was expecting. Well done!

Most specifically...

...you're just TRYING to make me drool all over myself, aren't you?

But yeah...boss themes that rock, and locations that chill you to the bone. I can see him doing wonders for that.

Ha, I was just listening to Homecoming again the other day and thinking how interesting I thought "Who Knows" was, and here I see you shat on it. 

Thanks! Nice to get some feedback, at least.

Different opinions strike again! I wouldn't say that "Who Knows" is especially bad or anything, it just doesn't do much for me. It marks one of those spots on the album that I mentioned where I feel like the magic disappears for a while, which is noticeable for me, because I felt that in his previous albums the magic was present almost throughout the entire duration.

Right, that's understandable.  "Who Knows" rather reminds me, partially in substance, of a particular Michael Nyman piece from "The Piano" soundtrack, "Here to There" if I recall.  I've found from others who have listened to the soundtrack that the work can be extremely polarizing.  Some hate the sudden injection of a saxophone accent into the score, and I know at least one person who burned a CD-R copy of the soundtrack that excluded that track.  At the same time it's a very popular performance piece for saxophonists, and I've always liked the way it stands out.  But it's of course very much on the lines of a "to each his/her own" situation.

For myself, I don't think my opinion of the soundtrack has changed.  I won't rank it in relation to SH4 just because of the differences in the soundtrack, but the main point for me is that it breaks out in the right ways from what Yamaoka has been doing for the past couple soundtracks.

Glad to see another fan of Nyman's "The Piano", that score is quite amazing! Yeah, I can see certain similarities between "Who Knows" and "Here to There", but only in the instrumentation, not in the tone.

Right.  It was more the way the track seemed to fit (or not) into the whole soundtrack with at least some interest in the fact that they had the same type of instrumentation.  Certainly the tone is much different.

Thank you a lot for linking this site, i'm really enjoying listening to the unofficial tracks.

Kota Suzuki has nothing on old-school Yamaoka!

Sorry if this is old news, but I noticed that GameFAQs states that the Japanese release of the game has been canceled. I guess this means that the US promotional version of the soundtrack is the only version we will be getting.