Zhadnost: The People’s Party Soundtrack

Zhadnost: The People’s Party Soundtrack, David Govett / Joe McDermott / Weston Phelan / George Sanger, 1995

Zhadnost: The People’s Party is one of those games that could have only emerged in the mid-1990s – that heady time when CD-ROM technology was still fairly new and game developers were trying to figure out what do with it. Often enough, the extra storage space would simply be filled up with a Red Book audio soundtrack (The Terminator). Other developers discovered their cinematic ambitions and turned their games into wannabe-movies and full motion video bonanzas. Zhadnost: The People’s Party more or less follows that second approach, but it uses FMVs to realise its very particular vision of a whacko communist game show whose contestants compete for their freedom after having been kidnapped by the totalitarian nation of Bizarrnia. Yes, they don’t make them like they used to.

It’s not the sort of game that you would expect to generate a great soundtrack. Praise be to George Sanger and his collaborators David Govett, Joe McDermott and Weston Phelan that the Zhadnost: The People’s Party soundtrack turned out to be such an unexpected delight (and actually received an album release as Surf.com). Their solution to the problem of how you’d score a communist game show certainly defies expectations: surf rock.

Communism and surf rock? The choice of genre makes more sense than one might expect. The incongruence between subject matter and music only increases the game’s zany appeal. Crucially, at the same time, the music itself doesn’t have to ramp up the wackiness and can play it straight. More important for the interaction between game and music is another link. This is a party game, and of course, surf rock’s jittery energy and sunny disposition are the perfect musical accompaniment.

Retro soundtracks that look back fondly at music from the 8- and 16-bit era have become a game music mainstay. The Zhadnost: The People’s Party soundtrack predates such recollections of past musical glories by several years. What makes the album such an interesting exercise in nostalgia is how it dabbles in a music genre that hardly ever features in video games. Sanger and his band have surf rock’s idiom down pat – just check out “Get Back on the Road”. Driven by surf rock’s trademark tremolo guitar picking and wiry, antsy energy, it’s an irresistibly fun and invigorating track. Similarly, “Balalaika Stomp” and “The Committee” fill the dance floor by the beach side bar in seconds.

Created during a time when video games increasingly developed delusions of (movie-inspired) grandeur, the Zhadnost: The People’s Party soundtrack feels refreshingly unpretentious. At its heart, this is a collection of catchy, succinct 1960s rock songs underpinned by excellent song writing and musicianship. Few tracks pass the two-minute mark, but complicated song structures aren’t necessary for the music work its charm. Evoking warm, fuzzy memories of spending days and nights by the seaside, Zhadnost feels nostalgic, but never sentimental. Both confidently laid-back and exuberant, the music doesn’t rush to make its point, but never lacks energy either.

What’s more, the Zhadnost: The People’s Party soundtrack carefully integrates 1960s rock styles other than surf rock into its songs. Some are less surprising than others, but they never fail to add colours and variety to a still coherent album. “Farewell Party”’s Spanish guitar brings in some Mariachi influences and combines them with cheeky percussion sounds. “Boogie Board” revisits 1960s blues rock at the exact moment it was about to turn into hard rock. The album’s bluesy streak is more obvious still on “Longboard” with its stomping rhythm, trotting bass and a harmonica lead. “Longboard”’s down to earth sensibilities help to ground the album again after “Space Jive”’s guitar chords slowly wafted through the ether, kept afloat by their psychedelic vibrato effects.

“First Disco” ventures into 1970s rock with its cowbell rhythm and funk guitars. It also features ever so slightly creepy, thin Hammond Organ chords that complicate the initially simple musical formula. It’s the first sign that ultimately, Sanger and his crew have more on their minds than just a simple revival of various strands of 1960s rock. Witness how “Hula Surf Dream” moves its guitars far into the background, clad in tons of echo. The resulting fuzzy, hazy guitar tone perfectly matches the track’s title. It might be an acknowledgment that ultimately, an undertaking like the Zhadnost: The People’s Party soundtrack can recall the past, study and reenact its gestures faithfully – but it always remains a replica, one step removed from the actual historic reality, as time moves on mercilessly.

That might explain the unexpected wistfulness of closing track “The Old Dream Ending”. There are two ways to read that track title, but after listening to the song’s near-somnambulist five minutes, it’s hard not to interpret it as a reluctant realisation that it’s time to move on and leave dreams of the past behind. More resigned than anything else on the Zhadnost: The People’s Party soundtrack, “The Old Dream Ending” is a slow shuffle out the door. Gradually drifting away, the track closes the album on an effortlessly poignant note. Decades after its release, Zhadnost remains one of game music’s more thoughtful engagements with the musical past.