Planetary Pieces is a great example of what a soundtrack can be, from it's epic opening to it's final showdown, and proves a wonderful listen in a variety of situations. Part of this stems from the fact that in a very similar manner to it's "rival" Mario, Planetary threw out the 80s rock that had become the musical staple of the series and switched to an orchestral arrangement which serves as a solid musical foundation with which to springboard into entirely new territory.
But there is more to it then that simple switch. Planetary Pieces was actually composed by six separate composers which help it maintain it variety over it's whopping three disc length. Indeed, the ultimate reason Planetary triumphed over Mario Galaxy was that, as mentioned in Number 8, Galaxy could be somewhat repetitive, while Planetary constantly changes style, melody, rhythm and tune. Planetary carries crosses several genre's during its course, hitting everything from rock to jazz as it winds its way across a spectrum of styles. However, even while winding and changing from style to style, listeners will notice occasional nods to other songs, cementing the soundtrack and holding it tightly together.
Additionally, Sega's composers have never been shy about grabbing high-profile artists to perform signature songs, and Planetary contains two very excellent (and different) vocal pieces, "Endless Possibility" by Jaret Reddick and "Dear my Friend" by Brent Cash. The end result is a truly massive soundtrack with a wide variety of talent and ability that, even if some of the tunes aren't quite as hard hitting on the epic scale as others, absolutely nails a wide variety of impressive instrumentation that can be listened to for everything from walking to doing battle for the fate of the world (What? One of the readers could be a closet superhero. Just saying) and thus it earns its place at number 7.
A final note, Planetary Pieces was composed by the following individuals: Fumie Kumatani, Hideaki Kobayashi, Kenichi Tokoi, Mariko Nanba, Takahito Eguchi, and Tomoya Ohtani, in addition to the solo songs by Reddick and Cash. Although we do wish to recognize their contributions to the soundtrack, the listing will simply have to reflect them as "various" in order to save space.
Number 7: Planetary Pieces: Sonic World Adventure by Various Composers
Number 8: Super Mario Galaxy by Mahito Yokota and Mahito Yokota
Number 9: Final Fantasy: The Crystal Chronicles by Kumi Tanioka
Number 10: Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 by Frank Klepacki
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