ReMix: EarthBound 'Home Again'

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EarthBound

It's been a very long time indeed since Mr. North graced our pages, but after a multi-year hiatus he too has submitted something new, or relatively new, from the still-quite-popular Bound Together Earthbound project. Dale writes:

""Home Again" is something I slapped together at the last minute for Joe Cam's Bound Together. Pollyanna is a song I never wanted to tackle. Anyway, this was fun. I threw in a surprise and made sure it was loud as hell for surprise effect."

Even if it was "slapped together" for Bound Together, and the ReMixer was reluctant about the source material, the end result is an R+B ballad that sounds pretty pro, and pretty pretty. Acoustic piano, guitar, warm but unobtrusive pads, cymbal-heavy percussion, bells, and oboe round out the instrumentation, but the big surprise is that Dale finally busts out his velvety-smooth vocal chops in a game mix at 2'22", with background choral work joining in for the full effect. The lyrics are taken from the first verse of "Pollyanna (I Believe in You)", originally performed by Catherine Warwick for the 1989 Mother arrange album. I'd heard Dale sing on some originals of his a long time ago and wondered why on earth he hadn't applied his vocal abilities to his game arrangement work; it's good to see he's finally decided to do so. In fact, I'd say the only beef I have with this mix is that it's rather odd for a piece that's only 3'21" long to have the vocals come in with only a minute left over. Clearly Dale wanted the singing to be something of a surprise, but the logical intro point for a vocal would have been a minute earlier, in place of the oboe. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely oboe part, but I'd prefer to have seen Dale do a bona fide vocal mix as opposed to an instrumental with a vocal passage, however good that passage may be. Hopefully, if this piece is well received, he'll consider doing just that in the future, and submitting it as well. Regardless, this is a lovely piece that takes R+B arranging into the more inspirational, contemporary/spiritual direction than anything I can think of. Generally, that's really not a genre of music I can get into very much at all, but Dale's performance and arrangement abilities make this both accessible and memorable.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
It is REALLY a shame that the vocals are constrained to the end, because honestly you could have taken this SO much farther.
Still amazing either way.

- Snow Taradien on April 7, 2012
I got here from the tweet about the birthday of the project leader .I was thinking this was a pretty cool mix...then 2'22 happened. I almost did a double take. WHOA where did THAT come from!?

- NegimaSonic on March 28, 2011
this is one of the simplest, yet most beautiful remixes i have heard. and he starts singing i can't help but smile haha it's just so beautiful :)

- Shadowsoul on February 6, 2011
StarBLaSt;662910 wrote: This is my favorite remix of all time.

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree with this :D

- Cody Wedel on February 5, 2011
As short as the sample is, I would say this is some of the best vocals I have heard on OC. Oboe was ok, but replacing it with vocals would have been the best choice. Come on man, use your talent.

- mjwes on February 5, 2011
Feels a little Randy Newman'ish? Like it'd be right at home in a Pixar movie, or something. It's warm and comforting.

- WesternZypher on December 25, 2010
I've been a lurker on OCR for a good six years or more, but I had to register to post a comment on this remix. It's. Amazing. The (stunning) vocals were an incredible surprise: I felt like a kid suddenly handed Christmas morning! And then it ended. And I felt like a kid suddenly deprived of my Christmas morning—and next year's Christmas, too. Can I beg for an encore?

- Sir Miles on October 15, 2010
Sweet and a little nostalgic. Really picks up later, and -awesome- vocals make this a very memorable remix.

- MechaFone on May 28, 2010
This is my favorite remix of all time.

- StarBLaSt on April 3, 2010
Dale North - A great remixer and I'm so glad you returned to post this awesome tune! Seriously too bad you're not posting anymore, totally awesome!
- - -
The source material is my favorite song of all time. It just seems to be so much more than generic game music. That said, this remix stays so beautifully true and a piece that really just needs to be played. I've had this track on my ipod sense it was released and thanks to it I can now sing the first verse to the song as well! 10/10 - My favorite mix on the site.

- SChepulis on March 4, 2010
This song came up today, and the first thing I thought of was "Wow this sounds a lot like Michael W. Smith Jesus music"
Take that for what it's worth lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38V8jnN1Kpw

- Monobrow on February 17, 2010
Short & sweet, just like this review. jkjk :razz:
This reminds me of something I might here on St. Valentine's Day.
It's just so sweetly heartwarming. Also North's vocals are Amazing.
I can't really think of much criticism for it, it's just so... so... innocent.
Simply, just go listen to it; it really is astounding.

- 42 on December 27, 2009
This is a huge favorite of mine. I liked this a while back. It's cool, smooth and possibly the best track from EarthBound. I've tried to work out the exact notes and inversions for a certain few chords in this, but failed...

- PROTO·DOME on September 20, 2009
Some people may find this strange, but I think Polyanna is one of the finest videogame tunes that doesn't happen to resemble a videogame tune at all. It's pretty amazing that such a simple yet strong melody was left undiscovered by so many facets until SNES-era gaming. It could easily belong as the centrepiece of a film soundtrack or a soppy love ballad on an artist's record. I think it's a big win for gamers that we happen to have music that can hit it big with the rest of them.
Anyway, enough about the actual source tune, onto the mix.
I disagree with absolutely everyone saying that the vocals should come in earlier or get extended a little more. For me, that wpuld ruin the whole point of the mix. The vocals are the final burst of all the good and warmness that the track (and the album) represents, and to play that burst too long would take from its effectiveness. For me it is the highest peak of a pretty stellar rendition of the theme, and that's because it was an exclamation point to the mix as a whole. Brief but brilliant.
There is a boy-band sunny ballad vibe with the mix, which usually conjures connotations of overproduced mainstream junk. But quite the opposite, despite having that sort of sound, there's a nice restraint here. Things sound clean but not glossy, sweet but not sickly. Basically, if boybands sounded more like this, I wouldn't have as much against them.
As far as doing one of my favourite game tracks justice, I consider this a huge success. As far as creating a great sounding standalone track and a resonant finale for a project album, it's an even bigger success. Very lovable stuff.

- Marmiduke on September 20, 2009
Holy crap. I am not going to lie and say as I was first listening to this, I was like this is pretty good. Then I read in the brief that there was a vocal part at the end. I was like well there goes this mix.. But to my suprise, that is what made me love this mix! The only thing I hate, like what others have said, is that it ends soo abruptly. I wish North would think about going back and finishing this right. His vocal ability is unlike anything i've ever heard on ocr and I think it should be used more often! Wow this mix is good.

- rainmanbk on December 23, 2008