Album Audit 004 – “Elf Titled” by The Advantage

When all is said and done this simply isn’t as good an album as The Advantage’s 2004 debut. Granted the style and quality of the playing is still good, but the selection of songs is largely weak and when dealing with a cover album, song selection is everything. The overall selection is more obscure than the first album and this works both for an against them with utterly forgettable tunes (from forgettable games) like “Double Dragon 3 – Egypt” while at the same time working in their favor in case like “Ducktales – Moon”. There are some tried and tested favorites on the album including 2 Megaman tracks, a couple Castlevanias, and one of Metroid’s more haunting melodies. In the end Elf Titled comes up short for me however and fails to elicit the nostalgia or musical appreciation that made the first album stand out.

Ducktales, Kraid,

Album Audit 003 – “The Advantage” by The Advantage

In the tradition of the Minibosses, The Advantage play 8-bit video game music using stadard rock instruments. The result is like nostalgic math rock for those of us who grew up with Nintendo Entertainment Systems in our homes. instead of the looser more interpretive sound of their contemporaries, The Advantage lean towards fairly tight and accurate recreations of the songs they cover, beep for beep. Their debut is quite simply excellent not only because of their attention to precision in their playing, but also due to the tracks they’ve chosen to cover. Contained on this first album are 26 memorable tunes from well known classics such as Super Mario Brothers 2, Megaman 2, Ninja Gaiden, and Contra, as well as less iconic titles like Wizards and Warriors, Bubble Bobble, and Batman 2. Overall it’s a great listen for any fan of classic gaming and a walk down memory lane for those of us who first heard these tunes on the family TV in 8 glorious bits.