ReMix: Final Fantasy IV 'Tororian Love Song'

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Man, you just gotta love the variety we've been seeing lately. I refer not to the variety of different games being ReMixed - though that's been respectable as well - but to the different genres and "riskier" material we've seen coming in. This latest sub from newcomer silent, aka Jason Merrill, definitely falls into that category. Big time. Jason's taken the "main theme" / field music from FF4 and turned it into an extended solo-guitar-with-vocal-and-original-lyrics opus. It's nothing short of impressive that silent was not only able to produce a beautifully articulate and well thought-out solo guitar arrangement, but to also write a very emotive, original lyric AND sing it (quite well) himself. And it's NOT an easy vocal to sing. The intro guitar solo reminds me of the beginning of several Led Zep tunes, in a good way, the recording is very well done, with fret-sounds, ambient effects, etc. present, but with no overbearing hiss. The vocal comes in around 1'30", and much of whether you'll dig the tune may hinge around whether you dig Jason's voice, and rock vocals in general, but I found that - especially given the difficulty of such an exposed vocal with a formidable range - Jason does a very admirable job. The arrangement does change to a fuller, metal-ballad style, with drums, electric bass, shred chords, and finally exits on a solo piano. There's nothing really similar to this on OCR - it attempts what I consider to be a difficult genre, doesn't cut any corners or take any shortcuts to do so, and you gotta admire the cajones for that alone. Some of the harmonizing towards the end actually reminded me of a couple Alice in Chains tracks. There are portions of the vocal I'm less thrilled about than others, sure, and when the mix fills out with additional instruments there are some balance issues, but really no excuses need to be made - even though one could write-off significant inadequacies to the sheer difficulty of what's attempted here, it's not really necessary, as the end result is surprisingly solid, musical, interesting, and it works. This is the type of mix that, on paper or in the formative stages, it might have been hard to see the potential for, but I'm glad Jason pulled it out, as the result is a compelling, unique bit of game music arrangement.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.

One of my all-time favorites. I love the instruments chosen, the buildup and progression from acoustic to electric, and most of all the vocals and the vocal performance. The performance is emotive and honest, and (for all its criticism) adds a rawness that absolutely compliments the lyrics. I wouldn't change anything in this song. I'm really glad I have this song and can listen to it regularly, and I hope silent keeps making remixes.

- vindkast on April 18, 2009

This is by far one of the best guitar songs I have heard on OCRemix, right up there with Cataclysmic Clash (from Megaman 3). The vocals are fine - I know a few ppl who don't like that sort of thing, but, like everybody else on here says, I'd like to see those ppl try to sing this!!!
5/5, awesome remix! :D
:razz:

- Johannes_von_Luck on July 2, 2008

The lyrics for this mix were beautifully written and the performance on guitar was superb. However, I have to say that the vocals are more than a bit painful throughout the majority of this remix. Nevertheless, I think silent actually has a decent voice. I think he simply needed to fine tune his vocals a little more for the recording of this piece.

- poshko on April 14, 2007

Hi Silent, I wanted to take this opportunity to send you a message of thanks, this track touches me like no other song I could ever possibly think of, which would probably not be the case had I not grown up hearing the Over-World Music for Final Fantasy IV over and over and over again probably like literally 4,700 times lol, so much so that it has been engrained in my heart and soul so when I hear any song from Final Fantasy, I get tingles and chills all over my body whenever I hear the actual music from the game. You took it to an awesome level. The pre-vocal, the actual vocal, and the post-vocals were so superb, I mean I truly felt emotions with this song, and really good music like this is no joke good for therapy as the soul is being cleansed when you hear tunes and notes and melodys and percussion that you like. Anyway my e-mail address is [email]Muzic.Soul.Worldly@gmail.com[/email] and would love for you to e-mail me sometime, and let me know if you have a name on Yahoo! / AOL / AIM we could chat on sometime, and defintiely talk about about the Final Fantasy games and music. Take care man, thanks.. :)

Silent wrote: hello, and thank you so much dj pretzel for posting my song. as well as your candid review..
I am now doing a new version of this song, better mixed and better vocals (hopefully). I also have other plans for VG remixes, as well as some tidbits....

Ahh yes, the vocals. They start out fine, but at 5:30 it makes me wanna cry it's so off-key.

yes, indeed.. well, you see, not to make excuses, but I am a first take junkie, in the style of kurt cobain and neil young, and I have a problem with DOING THINGS OVER!! lol so, hopefully this as well as the unobstrusive (what does this mean anyway ;) ) musicianship will be solved. I am not a perfectionist, but I really do appreciate criticizm as i will really help me.
The lyrics were never meant to paralell the story of cecil the dark knight... it is certainly something i am going through.. but i realized later, thru the help of my friend, that these lyrics are very much like his plight in the game...
I would appreciate more criticism, and thank you kamikaze noodle, for yours :)

- Muzic_Soul_Worldly on December 1, 2006

I know you're not a fan of tabbing - but if you could answer this, what tuning did you use, and did you use a capo at all? Knowing this I can probably get it down myself. Even tab it :-P

- VashuTStampedo on July 4, 2006

Excellent. This seems like the song Cecil would have sung Rosa before he left Baron if he had been like Edward. Though we are thankful he wasn't like Edward. 10/10

- Baruch, Vampire Lord on March 12, 2006

i like this song a very lot. The melody and the first lyrics stick with me throughout the day, and I can't stop listening to it. The lyrics themselves are well written and well-sung, though there are a few parts that raised an eye-brow. I was very impressed. Needless to say, I've also listened to the Ninja Gaiden ReMix by silent, which is also great, and you should check out if you haven't yet. Still waiting for more with baited breath, silent. Help a brother out.

- Kozmo on February 21, 2006

my brother sent me this song about a year ago. we absolutely love it...
registering on these forums just to tell you this is one of my favorite songs. <3

- advair on December 29, 2005

While I can't compete with the laid complement, I will say that I was extremely impressed with your work. I came looking for a remix using the FF4 main theme...frankly, because I love it. To find your song,just randomly, is like stumbling over a golden toilet in your yard. You don't question why its there, you just take it inside and ponder it with glee.
The *only* thing that keeps this from being an instant favorite is that some of the vocals are a bit off, as others have mentioned. I *Very Much* look forward to an updated version with improved vocals. One of my favorite remixes is FF6's Terra's Theme with vocals, and I'm sure that this can be one of the best OCRemixes ever.
Now...to the reason I registered in the first place. Did you find tabs somewhere for the FF4 main theme? I will be simply awestruck if you tell me you came up with all that yourself. But, if you did, could you hook us up with tabs? For that, I might send you one of those fabled golden toilets...[/i]

- Ozymandias on October 25, 2005

Dude, I can see you really have worked hard for this one, eh? I mean, it´s one thing sitting in front of the computer and remix something and a completely other thing to record every single tune in the whole remix and THEN remix in front of the computer. Very much skills also to play this good, and then have the courage to write lyrics to it. You have a good voice, so that should have needed less courage, but at 6:30 it was a little too much for it. Overall, great song with nice guitar through the whole thing, and some great vocals to put some higher class to it. Definitly worth a download, as I said in the beginning, this took surely alot of work.
Great job, silent-dude.

- Bummerdude on October 4, 2005

wow...
probably one of the best compliments yet...

- Silent on June 14, 2005

I got laid to this song.
It was awesome.

- Shonen Samurai on June 12, 2005

hopefully soon the vox will be greatly improved..

- Silent on February 11, 2005

I enjoy the instruments a lot, but I don't really like the vocals :/

- Artificial_AI on February 3, 2005

I had to register to this forum just to tell you that this definitely is one of the best songs i've heard and it's easily [b]the[/b] best remix here on OC remix. I want the tabs to this song so much! Please give them to us! :roll:

- adengren on February 2, 2005

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Perhaps it's time to question all these things I've been doing for so long
So wrong
SO much I need not mention, but the need within me is so strong

I know that the answer is beside me
As I have believed from the start
But it's just so hard for me to go there
In spite of all these aching feelings
I just don't want this all to fall apart

And when I look into your eyes
It's more like looking at myself
Thru someone else
Like nothing else

ALL THIS PAIN AND HATRED
Never knowing from whence it came
And I'm playing this game
It's always the same

In all this, there's one thing I should ask you
That you should always remain true
Even if I'm gone, you'll still remember
It's just hard when nothing's right and
Everything is out of sight tonite

I don't wanna leave yet
How could you think that I could love
Somebody new?
Someone like you?
As the night fades into a day
I thought it'd be something you should know

But I guess I'll survive another night
Waiting to create another me
That only you can see

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