ReMix: Sonic the Hedgehog 'Marble Dash'
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- Game: Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega, 1991, GEN)
- ReMixer(s): Joshua Morse
- Composer(s): Masato Nakamura
- Song(s): 'Marble Zone'
- Posted: 2005-06-17, evaluated by djpretzel
There's nothing like finding out you're wrong about something you really *wanted* to be wrong about to begin with. Recently I finally sat down and watched Aquarion, after initially visiting the website and dismissing it as another Voltron/Evangelion rip, but it turns out it's fairly unique and has an amazing soundtrack to boot. In a similar vein, the Pistons have now handily tied things at 2-2, proving that it'll at least be a series. In the case of Mr. Joshua Morse's latest submission, hot on the heels of his DD3 mix, however, I had high expectations to begin with - which were met and exceeded. I'm close to the source material, Sonic's Marble Zone theme, because it yielded one of my own mixes that I am most satisfied with. Morse has provided his own version with some similarities - funky, electric piano-driven, with a lot of emphasis on the bassline - but many differences. The genre I suppose would be house, but there's clearly disco and funk being fed intravenously in dangerously groovy quantities, as well. Actually, it's worth mentioning that this piece reminds me largely of Neostorm's material from 2002 and 2003, which was similarly watertight and rifftastic. Right off the bat, funky electric piano comping enters with an upbeat groove and acoustic piano, but when the so-70's-it-hurts bassline comes in at 0'14", the deal is almost virtually sealed. Yes, already at the fifteen second marker, things are slick and funky enough that you just KNOW everything's gonna click comfortably. I'm a sucker for a good bassline - so often, it's an afterthought, or gratuitous, but when done right - just interesting enough to warrant focus, and just reserved enough to not be consistently distracting - well: awesomes. And like Jean Luc Picard instructs, Morse has made it so here. Let's see, there's more to cover - bells, old-school short-release dry string stabs, some interesting percussive fx, slick piano soloing throughout (3'10", for example), and a plentiful amount of original melody and harmony towards the end of the fourth minute. Joshua keeps it going for 6'20", which works largely due to the Herculean strength of the underlying groove, which is good enough to anchor the extended duration. Nitpicks? Just two - with so funky a bass patch (which like in Love Hurts has some wah applied to it) I would have given the bassline a solo in the fifth minute rather than dropping it out to highlight what's on top. That could just be "bassline bias" on my part, though. More importantly, the "chorus" at 1'13" feels a little off, if only because the rest of the mix feels so dead-on - might have used a different instrument here, and the percussive sample that fades in at 1'21" sounds out of place. Honestly, especially because this particular passage is never referred back to, it sounds like the ReMixer felt obligated to throw it in, rather than motivated to. I'd say Joshua was may more into the verse than the chorus, if you can divide the piece up that way, and should have just axed the latter in favor of the former, which he handles so damn well here. Essentially, he does that, with the exception of maybe twenty seconds, roughly 5% of the mix, so it's no biggie. The strength of the foundation, multiplied exponentially by the solidity of the soloing on top, results in a product that's ultimately extremely head-bobbable, toe-tappable, and other-body-part-movable in all ways. Morse's best to date; an excellent, interpretive, ubertight sonic mix that's funky enough to be in one of them fancypants iPod adds with all the silhouettes and bright colors.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the Musically, it's basic groove fare. Fresh sounding and piping hot, but nothing that is going to turn my aural landscape upside down. The piano and strings do an excellent job of introducing new threads to inject some crucial variation into the piece, and as a result the mix runs smoothly and never bores.
Perhaps not as interesting and lively as what would come from J Morse a while later, but it still fills its 6+ minutes with a lot of funk and ultra-laid-back disco vibes. It's a little light for my selective tastes, but there's still a definite time and place for this on my playlist as well. A mix that is nothing if not ambitious in the world of mellow videogame mixes.
- Marmiduke on October 30, 2009
It's like rocky road ice cream with Hershy's syrup for the soul. :-)
One of my favorite parts of the mix is the introduction, how it just lets the listener down into the mix.
An absolute must download.
- 42 on January 17, 2009
Anyway, I really really liked this one. It's so easy on the ears and yet I can't help wiggling around in my seat while listening to it. The tune was catchy in the game but this remix has become my #1 on my iPod.
Keep up the good work, Josh!
- Aquas Magus on November 13, 2006
- Radiowar on July 15, 2006
The piano sample might be my favorite thing about this one, it handled the melody well and gave this remix a happy go lucky feel that hits the spot about right.
To sum it up in one word: Nice. :wink:
- Bummerdude on July 14, 2006
Except it doesn't have the depth or bass which made that music great...
Neither does it keep me interested for more than five minutes...
Although I don't deny that this song was created from scratch and probably took a lot of work, the result sounds to me like someone pulling out a yamaha keyboard, choosing a disco 'style' setting and just playing the Marble Zone theme song over it in a quite badly chosen piano vox.
Nothing else really [i]happens[/i] in the song... And sections we've already heard repeat themselves with no real changes made.
In the words of Mr. Horse from Ren & Stimpy - "No, Sir, I don't like it."
With no offense intended to the creator of the song.
- DistantJ on August 14, 2005
StarLars wrote:jordex wrote: what kind of music is this called?
Groove?
I thought it was House? Anyhow this is a GREAT remix!
[b]DOWNLOAD IT NOW![/b]
- Hoopla on July 31, 2005
DCT wrote: Josh Morse is beyond awesome; don't sleep on him.
Urbanizm+1
-DCT
Its funny you say that DCT.. he's only getting better and better.
- neostormx on July 30, 2005
- MusAshI-X on July 14, 2005
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