ReMix: Secret of Evermore 'Anachronism'

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Secret of Evermore

Very unexpectedly cool - our first Secret of Evermore ReMix is also Shnabubula's second submission, but bears hardly a trace of resemblance to his initial, fairly avant garde Guardian Legend mix and instead covers the great Jeremy Soule's SNES score from Secret of Evermore in a very elaborate, immediate live solo piano arrangement. I wasn't particularly into some of the rendered graphics in the game, but you can tell right off the bat when playing that the score's high quality. At several points this arrangement actually reminds me of the hallmark of solo piano impressionism, Debussy's Clair de Lune, as synonymous with musical impressionism as Monet is with the visual equivalent. In other words, lots of very flowery runs, pauses, deliberate passages that take several notes very slowly then speed up into flowing, emotive passages. Try tapping your foot to a consistent tempo throughout and you'll see what I mean. There's a great range in dynamics, from delicate pianissimo to some serious forte, and while you can tell it's live and this adds a certain tension and atmosphere, the recording is rather clean, if right-heavy in terms of panning. The mixers writes:

"This remix is a dramatic departure from my first submission because Secret of Evermore, unlike guardian legend, is not about a half-humanoid, half-spaceship creature who is destined to battle fish, jumping mushrooms and false teeth in order to stop a star from crashing into the earth. Secret of Evermore is much more serious [except for the occasional attempt at humor] I also have a TREMENDOUS amount of respect for Jeremy Soule. This is a medley of two songs "Halls of Collosia II" and "Ivor Tower Town" with a brief quote from "flying". It's all live piano. Enjoy!"

Different from a lot of piano mixes - good in the same way, i.e. emotion, flow, performance, dynamics, creativity, but a bit more... patient, deliberate. To those wanting constant barrages of notes or a steady pulse, this will be anathema, but if you're familiar with the tenets of impressionism or have heard and enjoyed pieces like Clair de Lune, etc., you'll definitely dig this, as Shnabubula has Debussified Soule with an impressive amount of talent, energy, and feeling.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
Insanely better while inebriated with whatever. Sit back and listen on ultra high quality setup with a big room and a big sofa and you're set.

- Audity on September 30, 2008
Perhaps the best music I have ever heard. I played the game before, but never liked much the music in this game. However, this was pretty impressive.

- ChaosPlayer on April 7, 2008
This is just an utterly breathtaking piece. It is a bit slow going in the beginning but that's okay because it really builds and builds as it goes along. I love that it builds up, comes back down, builds up again. Secret of Evermore had an amazing soundtrack and this song does it true justice.

- quoda on January 6, 2008
I think you can appreciate even more the technical prowess in this mix if you start to loop it. I don't know why but it feels like a clean loop. As i it was meant to play endlessly. And yes, my head bops during some parts, especially around 3:07 up to 3:33. I seriously enjoy this piece, it goes from meek to fierce and back to meek. And even more, I believe it would be perfect as a part of the game's score. There is so much from the game that made it into this one song. The changes in the song are impressive, it's like listening to 5 different songs, and the emotions are there, but so subtle, and so conflicting. It's a beautiful piece, and I have to say that it really amazes me to hear such a rendition.
And now I want to play SoE again.

- The Author on June 13, 2007
Squeaky seat syndrome.
Oh yeah, and supreme-piano-remix syndrome as well. Guess you can't have too much awesome. I didn't notice the seat squeaking until like the 20th listen.
I will now go into detail describing the things that could have been better with this song: 1) No squeaky seat, 2) nothing.

- Audity on November 25, 2006
This is the best piano piece on the site, bar none. So very glad a song like this is on OCR, they are few and far between. Thanks.

- Monobrow on April 13, 2006
jordex wrote: Hmm... Its slow at first, I'm waiting for the main melody then I realize that this is it. This song really doesn't show or build up any emotion, as much as it is cool, I'm just not feeling it... Know what I mean? It feels like there's no story behind this piece.

Really? It's calm in the beginning, so calm that you just wish it to begin already, but it's not completely still either. Shnabubula gains some extra keys for every sequence she plays, and when she has arrived in the middle of the track, it has actually picked up some more speed and extra notes. This is restaurant music, where you're supposed to just sit at your table and listen to the musician that sits in the corner of the room playing the piano.
No story? Perhaps, but you can make one yourself. That's what games are aboot. Nice remix Shnabubula, you are a true pianist indeed. :D

- Bummerdude on February 24, 2006
This is amazing. Despite it being only a piano, it keeps making this beautiful waltz of the songs involved and continuously blends them into one piece. Very impressive work, well done!

- FinalGamer on January 12, 2006
SoE may have been a rip from the SoM formula... however, the score was a completely different style. Some of the themes in SoE still haunt me to this day. SoE was like the creepy, eerie distant cousin to SoM; did anyone else notice how the backrounds were very reflective towards the music as well? As much as the game was quickly labeled a retrograde of Square's earlier titles, die-hard RPG fans soon realized that SoE was chillingly compelling and made for a great game. Bravo on the Remix, excellent work.

- TrueMagoo on July 21, 2005
This is also one of the most beautiful piano mixes here! It's got a lot of feeling. In fact, it's so full of feeling, it makes it all the more wonderful.
I've had this mix for a while and now I want to post my thanks for playing such a song. Makes me want to play SoE... though I've only played a very tiny bit into it a long time ago. And Soule's music is great, his FF6 remix is proof of that.

- Teliskopic on June 9, 2005
Wow, I downloaded this a while ago but just now listened to it... What a fantastic recording. Wonderful piano work. Probably the most beautiful mix on this site. Great job!

- Evilhead on March 28, 2005
So you loved playing the game and you loved the music but you still think the game was a piece of crap? If we're gonna be flaming here, put it on the record that I think SoE is at least as good as SoM if not, you know... better. I mean both great games, but one does pull ahead. :)
I also love this piece, though. It reminds me of the piano arrangement of the castle theme on the SoE OST, composed by Soule himself.
I can imagine many of the Evermore themes would work well in piano arrangements and I would love to see more. :)

- Xiedo on March 24, 2005
Now we all very well why Square of America flopped:
SoE was just a ball of crap that spun off the SoM franchise.
<ahem>This being said... I still loved [i]playing[/i] the game; this is mainly due to the freaking
spectacular score this game has. And I believe Anachronism does more than back me up.
Check it if you haven't already.

- DJ Skratch 'n' Sniff on February 18, 2005
Up until 3:07 I found this song really boring but then the part at here made me realize the rest of the song wasn't that bad...
The song didn't seem that great to me but it would take some mad skills to pull this song off so kudos to that, Shnabubula!

- jordex on February 9, 2005
rapa-nui wrote: Probably Icewind Dale or Morrowind. Giants was quite memorable as well.

Okay, I'm off to check those out.
UPDATE: Okay, Icewind Dale is decent at best. There's only maybe a few memorable melodies in that whole thing. SoE knocks the socks off that shit. Are you just in it for the orchestration? Any shmoe can do that, and you can't "remix" orchestration.
I'm going to check out some of his other stuff like Neverwinter Nights. I know the man can orchestrate, but I want him to wow me with his melodies like he did in SoE.

- Kaleb.G on October 17, 2004

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