BioShock (2007)

Released in 2007, BioShock is one of the true video game greats. More than just a game, really, BioShock is a unique experience in its own right. It exceeds expectations is almost every way. The graphics, gameplay and, especially, storytelling set a new benchmark in gaming. I've spent many hours wandering around the underwater city of Rapture, enveloped by its sights and sounds. But of course this is a music blog, so why in the world am I going on and on about how great this video game is? Because the soundtrack is an integral part of why this game is so great!

Garry Schyman was hired by 2K Games to compose an orchestral score for the game. Twelve of the cues were released for free online. There has been no other "soundtrack" release. Which is unfortunate, really, as the game does an excellent job of evoking the feel of the 1940s, not just because of its art deco aesthetic, but also through the use of well chosen popular period music. The game is incredibly immersive, due in part to this excellent song selection. The more I played, the more I wished there was an official soundtrack release.

I eventually discovered a thread on the 2K Forums full of like-minded individuals who were doing the grunt work involved in tracking down these songs to assemble their own unofficial custom soundtrack. It was around this time that a "Licensed Soundtrack" song collection made the rounds on some of the bittorrent sites. It was a nice collection, but I knew that some of the tracks were wrong. Meanwhile, over on the 2K Forums, some of the more clever users figured out a way to rip the music from the PC version of the game. This was available for a short time as an uncompressed WAV torrent. The only unfortunate problem with most of these tracks is that they have been artificially "aged" with a combination of sound compression, echo and the addition of clicks and pops. Still, I converted these WAV files to MP3 and used them as my "comparison masters" while looking for upgraded "clean" versions. Searching on Usenet and Soulseek, I downloaded countless versions of these songs, looking for exact matches. Its kind of amazing how many different versions there are of some songs. It's especially frustrating when none of the versions are an exact match! I refused to replace these rips with clean versions that were close, but not exactly the same. This wouldn't do. I eventually found five exact clean replacements. While digging around, I also located a group of eight short dialog segments that were ripped during Xbox 360 gameplay. I found these on a blog that is gone now. Also, one additional track, "Destined for Great Things" is a game rip edit that draws on the opening segment of the game to create an additional Garry Schyman cue and was put together by a user known only as procession_5@hotmail.com.

Sometime after all of the speculation about who did what track, Microsoft's Major Nelson released a BioShock Music list that he received from Creative Director Ken Levine. This list confirmed the artists for many of the songs used in the game. In addition, it also lists five songs that were licensed but don't seem to be used in the game anywhere. I was also able to locate these tracks.

There's a nice interview with Creative Director Ken Levine that appeared in an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. Here's the part that discussed the soundtrack:

I called my dad, who was a young man in the '40s and '50s. It's not Elvis Presley and stuff I became familiar with in the early stages of rock--this is really pre-rock: Johnnie Ray, Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Django Reinhardt, Billie Holiday... We mixed some of the really classic stuff with the sort of crap pop of the time, what we consider pop music, like Patti Page, which holds up more for its nostalgic value than for being great music.

I did a bunch of my own research, and thank god for iTunes, that's all I'll say, because you can go listen to 30 seconds of pretty much any song ever made. Or I would research Wikipedia or talk to my dad, and then I would go and listen to little snippets, and I'd ask myself, "Does this feel like it belongs in Rapture?"

[Dealing with this era of] licensed music...is a very complicated process, because generally you're dealing with people who are dead and their lawyers are dead. The rights are often very complicated, and so a lot of times we'd want a song and we wouldn't get it. We'd have to find another person who performed it, or another version of the recording or something like that. We had to be fairly flexible.

I think it's important here to place additional emphasis on Belgian gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. While he's unfortunately not a household name, it's his unique sound that influences the sonic atmosphere of BioShock the most. Six of his song are featured, plus one additional sound-alike song by Faux Frenchmen.

Check out this clip of the first twelve minutes of gameplay:



To summarize, this custom soundtrack compilation consists of the twelve freebie Garry Schyman orchestral cues, the twelve "Licensed Tracks" that were exact matches, the five clean tracks I located that were exact matches, the five licensed but unused tracks I located, eight short dialogue segments and the one custom compiled cue. In addition, this collection has been supplemented with all of the game rip tracks that I (and several others!) couldn't find upgrades for, including eight songs and two Garry Schyman compositions. I have placed the tracks in the order that they appeared in the game as I played it. The list may not be perfect as there is really no way to create an exact playlist because the way the music is played in the game is a bit variable, so this changes game to game. I placed those five unused but licensed songs toward the end (tracks 47 - 51), capping the compilation off with two out of order, but fitting, tracks. In particular, closing with "Rise, Rapture, Rise" seems entirely appropriate to me.

BioShock (2007)
1. BioShock Dialogue - Great Things [2007] (0:50) *
2. Garry Schyman - Destined for Great Things [2007] (1:32) *
3. Garry Schyman - BioShock Main Theme (The Ocean on His Shoulders) [2007] (1:52)
4. Django Reinhardt - La Mer (Beyond the Sea) [1949] (4:14)
5. BioShock Dialogue - Impossible Anywhere Else [2007] (0:30) *
6. Garry Schyman - Welcome to Rapture [2007] (1:47)
7. The Ink Spots - If I Didn't Care [1939] (3:02)
8. Noël Coward - The Party's Over Now [19??] (0:30)
9. The Ink Spots - The Best Things in Life Are Free [1948] (2:32)
10. Django Reinhardt - It Had to Be You [19??] (4:16) *
11. BioShock Dialogue - Aphrodite Walking [2007] (0:24) *
12. Garry Schyman - Dr. Steinman [2007] (1:00)
13. Bing Crosby - Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams [1931] (3:23)
14. Johnnie Ray - Just Walking in the Rain [1956] (2:38)
15. Garry Schyman - The Docks [2007] (0:53)
16. Bing Crosby - Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? [1932] (3:09)
17. The Andrews Sisters - Bei Mir Bist du Schön [1938] (3:05)
18. BioShock Dialogue - Atlas [2007] (0:21) *
19. Garry Schyman - The Dash [2007] (0:35)
20. Garry Schyman - Empty Houses [2007] (1:43)
21. Garry Schyman - Step into My Gardens [2007] (1:10)
22. Django Reinhardt - Jitterbug Waltz [19??] (3:16) *
23. Billie Holiday - Night and Day [1939] (2:58)
24. Django Reinhardt - Liza (As the Clouds Roll Away) [19??] (3:33) *
25. Noël Coward - Twentieth Century Blues [19??] (3:32)
26. BioShock Dialogue - Hatred [2007] (0:42) *
27. Garry Schyman - Dancers on a String [2007] (1:27)
28. Django Reinhardt - Please Be Kind [19??] (4:23) *
29. Bobby Darin - Beyond the Sea [1959] (2:49)
30. Garry Schyman - Cohenscherzo [2007] (1:41) *
31. BioShock Dialogue - Cohen's Requiem for Andrew [2007] (0:33) *
32. Garry Schyman - Cohen's Masterpiece [2007] (2:53)
33. Garry Schyman - This Is Where They Sleep [2007] (1:21)
34. Pytor Llyich Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite: Waltz of the Flowers [1891] (1:01) *
35. Stanley Black - Academy Award [2007] (1:38) *
36. Rosemary Clooney - It's Bad for Me [1956] (2:55)
37. BioShock Dialogue - Would You Kindly? [2007] (0:20) *
38. Garry Schyman - The Engine City [2007] (1:04)
39. Perry Como - Papa Loves Mambo [1954] (2:40)
40. Billie Holiday - God Bless the Child [1941] (2:55)
41. Cole Porter - You're the Top [19??] (3:29) *
42. Mario Lanza - Danny Boy [1956] (2:57)
43. Patti Page - (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window? [1953] (2:39)
44. Garry Schyman - All Spliced Up [2007] (1:01)
45. BioShock Dialogue - Family [2007] (1:03) *
46. Noël Coward - World Weary [1955] (3:11)
47. Noël Coward - This Is a Changing World [19??] (3:07)
48. Bing Crosby - You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me [19??] (2:41)
49. Lee Wiley - Let's Fly Away [1940] (2:57)
50. Django Reinhardt - Avalon [19??] (2:51)
51. Lee Morgan - Just One of Those Things [1957] (7:14)
52. Faux Frenchmen - Wild Ride [2007] (3:39) *
53. Garry Schyman - Rise, Rapture, Rise [2007] (1:48) *

* = Game Rip Track

163.85MB ZIP archive
MP3: Various bitrates (209.6kbps average)

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