SST Band -- Outrun

It doesn't happen all that often but during the biweekly Sunday anime-and-food sessions at my friend's place, my old buddy sometimes throws up a video game. One reason for this is to highlight the game music. A few weeks ago, he introduced me to an ancient Sega product from 1986 called "Outrun" which has been considered to be a classic racing game.

What I could observe is that the nostalgic factor was strong seeing those old graphics and it certainly was fast. Apparently, it was also notable for the background music created by game music mastermind and keyboardist Hiroshi Kawaguchi（川口博史）who ended up composing something that sounded comfortable on a car radio while taking that leisurely drive.

A couple of years later, a number of musicians including Kawaguchi formed a Sega in-house band called SST Band which, according to its article on J-Wiki, has its initials meaning anything from Sega Sound Team to Super Sonic Team. The Wikipedia article has pointed out that the group had its initial from 1988 to 1993. During that time, a soundtrack for "Outrun" was released in 1992.

One of the songs from the soundtrack and game that popped out at me was "Magical Sound Shower" which you can hear first thing in the game video at the top, with a fully fleshed-out concert version in the video above. Ahhh...Latin pop...gonna need me some of that sangria now. Supposedly, the concert was videotaped back in 1990.

If I'm not mistaken in my memories, I believe that my anime buddy said that "Last Wave" was the BGM in the game when it was time to type in the initials in the rankings. Not a bad choice since it's always nice and soothing to have something this AOR-mellow after some hard driving through the desert and other climes. Good times!

"Splash Wave" is a track that I don't remember hearing when my friend was playing the game, but it's another soaring piece. The music by Kawaguchi seems to tell a story all on its own. Not sure whether the composer had been having a "Fast & Furious" premonition years before the movie franchise was born.

I've heard that a 30th anniversary box set by SST Band was released last December which includes some of those "Outrun" songs.