ReMix: Deadly Towers 'Quest for Conan'

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Deadly Towers

Mazedude writes: "This mix covers 2 separate level themes from Deadly Towers, in a very Conan-esque Basil Poledouris style. Atleast, that's kinda what I was going for. Don't know if I succeeded or not since I've had people tell me all it makes them think about is the Rennaissance Fair, but ah well - it's pretty, it's orchestralish, and it draws attention to the original game score in a way that not many hear the way I do. Enjoy." - If you're not familiar with Basil, you must check out his fine work in the Conan films, a third of which is supposed to be being made or in the works. The intro narrative ("These were the days of high adventure . . . ") and following music at the beginning of Conan the Barbarian alone is worth the rental for anyone with an ounce of testosterone in their bodies and/or an appreciation of cheesily grandiose epic legends about big brawny men fighting their way to freedom and wooing the ladies with consonant-free grunts in the process. Personally, I fall under both categories, even if I can also appreciate more cerebral fare. I can vouch for Chris that this does sound like some of Basil's work - not his larger overtures or action sequence works but his music for scenes in tribal campgrounds or in a castle hall, something like that. But I can also see the likeness to renaissance fare, with the tambourine, flowing downbeat emphasis, and the instrumentation in general. You've got reed and pipe instruments, strings, gong, tambourine, bells, cello, harp - a good mix of elements. Compare this to Chris's River City Ransom for a good notion of his versatility. This is a departure from his less-acessible, more experimental and heavily jazz-influenced work. A new direction and one that works out well, with the arrangement building nicely and the gong used effectively to create some closure towards the end. Recommended.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
While never having played Deadly Towers myself, I've seen and heard the music enough to recognize both the tracks used. Very nice adaptation, and while not too far from the source, this piece has it's own style that makes it unique. Mazedude does a good job personalizing this track, and I agree with OA's comment about dynamic changes, though it stands good as it is.
Good job by Mazedude, outside of his normal realm, no less.

- DragonAvenger on September 16, 2008
Not something you'd expect to come from Mazedude, but it has that distinctly high quality associated with his work.
Samples are uniformly well-used, and the song progresses well. While it feels pretty ren-fest to me, that's mostly musical conditioning because of Poledouris's strong style of scoring those early fantasy movies.
I'd have preferred some dynamics in the piece, but overall it was excellently done. Another victory for Mazedude. :-)

- OA on January 21, 2008
How odd , some good music. Yeah it's nice.

- John Revoredo on August 26, 2006
This is just an awesome remix of the main castle theme. You took something from the most annoying game in video game history and created something beautiful from it.

- Krendall on April 12, 2004
This reminds me of the Total Annihilation: Kingdom's music, which I absolutly love.

- Wolf Tooth on January 23, 2004
On a side note; Basil Poledouris also composed the soundtrack for Hunt For Red October, which is one of my favorite movie soundtracks out there.

- Carbon Dog on February 15, 2003
Awesome, probably one of my favorite mixes thus far. Sounds like a mix of Xenogears and Seiken Densetsu 3... keep it up, Mazedude.
Overall Rating: =D~

- Starblaze on February 9, 2003
Sweet ass mazedude. this mix sounds soo cool. this game has been seriously overlooked for remixing as it's only had 1 privious other mix that was like 40 seconds long or something. (*psst* hey do that one too and make it longer and better :D ) it was the second starting theme. if you wait long enough at the title screen it will changet to show all the weapons ond stuff it the game. but it was too short. anyway back to the subject of your mix :D.
it really kick ass man. it actually kinda sounds like the lord of the rings as well the theme from hobbiton, but i think that's a good thing as tehre isn't even 1 mix of that here. Edit: it also sounds like lords of the realm 2 overveiw theme
yha well i liked your mix and keep up the good work.

- conker on February 9, 2003
Yay NES, and yay Mazedude. It's good to finally see a second remix from this very shotty game (considered to be one of the suckiest for the NES); and this mix doesn't sound like a MIDI-rip!
Anyways, it is a good mix with that sort of Irish feel in there. Whenever I played the game, this is how I thought the song would've been if it weren't just chiptune. So Mazedude manifested the ideas well in here.
Right on.

- Ryan8bit on February 8, 2003
Okay Mazedude, lets start! I Love the happy-vibe that most of this puts off..its AWESOME. Though, wayy to short. its like.. the same thing 3 times over, and a little break.. and blea..im done. Also, the main Rennisance section is The Highlight of the piece, showing off some mad skills. But .. don't be afraid to mix it up the 2nd time around. Everyone -> Deffinitely worth the download, the vibe it puts off is excellent, and the clarity of every instrument shines through so well it .. brings a tear to my eye. Just to damn short.
0:01 - Whoa! nice chord here.. it kinda makes you stop and listen, i like that.
0:17 - OMG im at the rennisance!(SP?) and there are elves and Fairies and dwarf's oh my! .. Cool work :P
0:43 - I like the work here..
1:10 - I love this right here, It really comes together.
1:23 - OMG! more Rennisance stuff! ahem.. DONT be afraid to mix this stuff up here. While this sounds absolutely Brilliant.. And believe me, it does. anyone who tells you otherwise is evil. But DONT be afraid to mix it up man! .. You could do SO much more with it. As my choir teacher always said.. YOU NEVER do the same thing twice exactly the same.. soo dont! ..mix it up, change something, Push it a bit more, make an addition, do something. Why do people play/sing the same things over and over again? for impact on the listener. so .. uh .. yea.. but i really liked it.

- k-wix on February 8, 2003
It's not my privelage to comment on the finer points of this remix (my musical knowledge is null) but I am very familiar with Basil Poledouris' Conan soundtrack, and I have to say that it only took the first 3 seconds of this mix to warrant it's title.
Even if it weren't included in Pretzel's review the unmistakeable sound of Conan would have caught my ear at the opening at at 1:21.
Good stuff. Very Renaissance Fair-ey. It's been over a decade since I last played Deadly Towers but the music was instantly recognizeable, a trait I usually prefer for NES mixes.

- Captain Shagrat on February 8, 2003
I remember listening to this one awhile back on Mazedude's site and wondering if he was going to submit it to oc. I really like this, nice atmosphere and superb composition.
And check out his original stuff. I have alot of respect for Mazedude after hearing his 12-tone funk piece, anyone who can make 12-tone music sound so darn groovy is alright in my book. 8)

- Israfel on February 8, 2003
This has a really great professional feel. It sounds like it would fit perfectly in a movie. I like how the grace notes are handled (don't know if they were in the original or not), because they give the melody lines a much more organic feel than a straight melody would. Makes it sound less machine made. Really good. Sounds great. Pretty short though.

- sgx on February 8, 2003
Although this is a pretty big step away from most of Mazedude's other, more electronica remixes, I can still hear quite a bit of the same artist (complete with pitch bends *winkwink*). Great samples were used in this Mix, including a subtle but very sweet sounding vocal sound that comes in every once in a while. Although short, this song is very immersive and cinematic, making you feel like you're in some sort of ancient city or something along those lines.
It's great, and different. I look forward to seeing even more varied work from Mazedude who is also great.

- Kailem on February 8, 2003
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

- djpretzel on February 7, 2003

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