Finally got my main playlist down to the current essentials:

http://www.listal.com/list/aws-current-playlist

(click the blue "load more list items" to expand the entire list)

A few things to note:

** In general, for most of these albums I started with the entire album.

** The mass of 8,000 to 10,000 songs these came out of was started back in 2002 when I really got into music a lot more.

** The list is a mix of European Heavy Metal and Video Game Music.

** If you haven't heard of some of the Metal Bands I won't be surprised (Goldfish, you are SO exempt from this however...)

** Some might be a little irritated (or surprised) that I got certain albums down to only a few picks but don't take this as me saying the ones I didn't include are trash... there are some good/great tracks - while good/great - that I'm just a little tired of on certain soundtracks.

** Some of my picks my be surprising... if you see a track I picked and you just have NO IDEA what I was thinking let me know, I'd be interested in TRYING to explain it.

** Songs with "NO#" at the beginning instead of an actual number are game rips.

** Let me know you see a track you're surprised to see some love for, especially if you like that track and no one else seems to.

Ironically, even though I enjoyed the sound, most of the Power Metal groups we discussed years ago are still the only ones I listen to. That style is so epic when its done right, but so horrendous when its done wrong (which is like 98% of the time and there are way too many crappy me-too bands). I'll kind of go into and out of phases with it, but it's still mostly Hammerfall/Edguy/Stratovarius/Power Quest/Kiske-Helloween/Riot with the occasional Kamelot, Power Wolf or Rhapsody (Emerald Sword!) track tossed in. Occasionally I'll throw in a Dragonforce track and I'm quickly reminded why I got tired of these guys so quickly, as everyone else seemed to. I do maintain a soft spot for Running Wild, but I really need to be in the right mood.

And for some reason, I tend to forget about Sonata Arctica a lot, even though what I have from them is generally solid. I think just because I hit both them and Stratovarius at the same time and greatly preferred Strato...

It might be ADD or something of the sort, but 212 is not enough tracks in there for me. On a good day, I can tear through about 100-150 tracks and usually my preference is to fill my SD card or portable's space and then do random all. The nature is some tracks fare better within their respective albums, but when they come up on shuffle, they end up being skipped. It's a necessary evil, but part of the game.

And wow, only two FFVI tracks? That's brutal.

This is kind of why I wrote the one thing I wrote above because I knew having two songs for FFVI would elicit a response from someone

I do think it is a great score... but to be honest I haven't been missing my copies of the FFVI and FFVII OSTs since I got rid of them.

In a certain sense I don't think I'm a into FF music as I once was.

However, I am surprised by some of the songs I kept... never knew I liked "Jesters of the Moonless Sky" as much as I did considering the characters it represents aren't that important.

Actually, the 212 is the number of albums. There's a little less than 800 tracks listed on the list.

Skunkworks!

EDIT: I forgot how good that album is. Back from the Edge, Inertia, Solar Confinement, Headswitch... damn. Not "classic" Bruce, but something different and still fresh today.

To be honest, on the whole, I like this album more than most Iron Maiden discs... but I'm not a very big Iron Maiden fan to begin with even though I respect what they have done.

I passed this album on to one of my friends who is a big Maiden fan and he wasn't really into it.

However, am I the only one that thinks of Twisted Metal's Axl when I hear "Inside the Machine"? I kind of think of it as an unofficial theme song for him or something.

I really envy you. I can't really listen to much of this stuff anymore and it's only the tracks that I have listed that I hit up anymore.

Also, I tried to get your attention my sale thread but I'm looking to unload some more non-VGM CDs and I don't really feel like trading them in at fye. Message me through the forums if you're are interested.