True Colors apart from being a Phil Collins hit song is the name of the new Best of Sonic the Hedgehog compilation CD, this time round rather than focusing on Sonic like the first CD, True Blue, did there is a large selection of theme music from all the other characters in Sonic the hedgehog.

Now I was rather happy to arrive at work after my Christmas break to find a copy of True Colors sitting on my desk, which went straight into my work computer and provided an excellent distraction from the days work, but distracting me from my work is easy considering how boring it is. The real question is, is this latest compilation any good? Read on for my thoughts.

Starting off, there isn’t much that you won’t have heard before, which is to be expected when you consider this is a compilation. Although there a few surprises, the track list below gives you an idea of what to expect.

01. Un-gravitify
02. Dreams of an Absolution
03. Throw It All Away
04. E.G.G.M.A.N.
05. Waking Up
06. This Machine
07. Fly in the Freedom
08. My Sweet Passion
09. Believe in Myself (SA2 Version)
10. Unknown from M.E. (SA2 Version)
11. Theme of E-102?
12. Cosmic Eternity – Believe in Yourself
13. Look-a-like (Short Edited Ver.)
14. Sonic3 MegaD Mix
15. Lazy Days -Livin’ in Paradise- (Original Demo – Mixed with Ted Poley)
16. All Hail Shadow (Hybrid Mix feat. Mike Szuter)
17. Dreams of an Absolution (Starry Night Remix)
18. Open Your Heart (K-Klub Remix)

Track 1 to 11 I’ve heard many times in the past which considering that the newest one Un-gravitify is two years old isn’t a surprise, and to be honest I have most of these tracks already so why bother? Especially with the likes of My Sweet Passion, and Unknown from M.E. which I have never liked. For someone who doesn’t have any Sonic music already, however this is a great introduction to the music of Sonic from last ten years, going all the way from Sonic Adventure up to Zero Gravity cherry picking some of the best tracks ever produced.

That’s all well and good then but what is there for the more travelled Sonic fan, the Sonic fan that has all the game soundtracks sitting on his hard drive and mp3 player? Well that’s where tracks 12 to 18 come in.

Cosmic Eternity is actually a track from the Japanese version of Sonic CD which is a surprise as its a lot older than most of the other tracks and listening to the original I have this re-release has been done to a far higher quality, while this is not quiet my cup of tea it’s a nice addition and a nod more to the early days of Sonic.

Look-a-like is a real surprise here partly because it has never seen an official release and partly because it’s actually from the Sonic the Hedgehog TV film that was done a good number of years ago, I really quiet enjoy this nice dance track although it is something you’d expect from the 80’s which suits me fine but may not be to other peoples tastes.

Sonic3 MegaD Mix is a very interesting track taking background music from Sonic 3 and combining it with various sound effects from the same game, if I close my eyes while listening to this it takes me straight back to when I used to play the game on the mega drive. To sum up this track is pure nostalgia and all the more beautiful for it.

Lazy Days -Livin’ in Paradise- (Original Demo – Mixed with Ted Poley) I’ve never been a fan of Lazy Days – Livin’ in Paradise, and this track has not changed my mind, although it is interesting to listen to just to see what is essentially a first take at the final song.

All Hail Shadow (Hybrid Mix feat. Mike Szuter) honestly I can not tell the difference between this and the Crush 40 version that was used in Sonic 06, I may be missing something subtle here but to me this seems to be a bit of a time waster.

Dreams of an Absolution (Starry Night Remix) what? not another remix of Dreams of an Absolution? Yup it’s another remix, while I’ve got nothing against this track consider that the original is only four years old and a quick search in my media player turns up 4 other versions on this song… so lets do the maths here… that’s one new version of this song every year since it’s release never mind the fact the original track is number 2 on this CD, enough is enough already! Still it’s a nice remix.

And finally we come to Open Your Heart (K-Klub Remix)… oh god no not another mix of Open Your Heart, seriously, another quick check on my media player finds at least six different versions, OK some of these are fan remixes but still, why couldn’t you have remixed something else!!! I came to this final track rather disappointed with the CD overall considering I had all of the old tracks already, and there was nothing special to write home about with the remixes so I expected something similar for this one. Starting to listen I recognised the remix… but I knew I’d never listened to this track before, then it dawned on me this is the Open Your Heart remix that a sampler was released on the remix factory website. This is going back at least two years by my reckoning and to say I loved that sampler would be the understatement of the decade! I’d honestly given up hope of ever hearing the full version of it so to suddenly hear it here filled my bitter, twisted heart with so much joy that it may have stopped for a second or two. Okay I maybe exaggerating a little here but not by much, seriously this is a magnificent techno style remix of Open Your Heart that really made my day hearing and is going to be keeping my happy for weeks on end.

But is it worth the £21.00 (p&p included) that I paid? That’s a tough one, yes a lot of the tracks I have already and have listened to numerous times, yes some of the remixes aren’t the best but the Open Your Heart remix is so magnificent I’d have to say yes, although it helped that my CD came signed by Jun Senoue himself and included a Crush 40 guitar pick. If your someone that has most of these tracks already ask yourself do you want to buy them again just for a few new tracks, but if your new to the Sonic music scent this is a must have. So if your interested you can pick up a copy now from Jun Senoue’s shop here which if you ask nicely you can still get signed, I think.