15 July 2020

(Albums Recommendations) The Protomen - The Cover Up (Original Motion Picture) [2015]


Almost everyday I open Spotify and go to the "Discover" session to see which albums will be recommended according to my taste. One of these days, because of listening to "The Megas", a band that create lyrics over the Mega Man's game songs, there was this band, "The Protomen", with this album I'm recommending today. I thought the subtitle "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" was curious, because I knew the band followed The Megas' same idea in the Blue Bomber's universe, and wanted to know which movie they made the soundtrack for. For my surprise, this soundtrack isn't part of any movie... at least in the universe we know about.

I did some research to understand the background context and why does it say "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" and, once again for my surprise, I've seen myself involved with the band's albums for which they even recommend buying the physical media to experience a bigger immersion in the production they are creating, since everything is in the booklet (maybe I'll buy them someday). The community focused on analysing the band says the story will be told in a trilogy.

Summarising, Earth is living an apocalyptic environment because of a war between the doctors Albert Wily, who has taken over the world, and Thomas Light, who created two robots to fight against the imposed evil. While the first album "The Protomen" (2005), also known as "Act I: The Protomen" tells the creation and fight of Proto Man and Mega Man against Doctor Wily, the second album "Act II: The Father Of Death" (2009) is the story of the friendship Wily and Light once had before the war. And, this album, I'm recommending today, is a possible link between the events of "Act II" and "Act I", since Act II's protagonist finds a cassette tape with the soundtrack from a movie named "The Cover Up", which had a short exhibition in the movie theatres of that universe, and also the only register of its existence, made by an unknown band, which had its sales boycotted.

With the exception of four tracks (1, 6, 10 and 13) that are spoken, indicating possible excerpts of the aforementioned movie, this album's songs are covers of 70s and 80s songs that have shown up in some movies and TV series of those times, like Miami Vice, Highlander and Top Gun. The songs varies from a soft rock to a fast galloping heavy metal, with lightened transitions making the abrupt transition of genres unnoticed.

Keeping the two decades characteristic and sound performed in a neat way (I listened to the album nearly 4 times in a row when I first stepped into it), we see songs from the following artists, as they show up in the album:

  • Patti Smith/Bruce Springsteen
  • Queen
  • Styx
  • Robert Tepper
  • Phil Collins
  • Roy Orbison
  • Bonnie Tyler
  • Iron Maiden
  • Tim Cappello (for the movie "The Lost Boys" from 1987, though original by "The Call")
  • Kenny Loggins
  • Mike and the Mechanics

And, amidst many classics, the versions that pleased me the most (and some I shared with certain friends), in the sequence they are presented in the album, are:

  • Because The Night
  • Mr. Roboto
  • In The Air Tonight
  • I Drove All Night
  • Total Eclipse Of The Heart
  • I Still Believe (The Great Design)
  • Danger Zone

Even if the universe inspired by the Mega Man's games doesn't make any sense to you, and there is no interest in knowing the band's discography, this album is worth every second, since every song here is from a known artist.

= = = = =
 
Listen on:

= = = = =
 
Sources:

= = = = =
 
Playlist SMS:

Blogs:

Pages:

-
Labels: , , , ,