ReMix: Final Fantasy VII 'Scenes from a Memory'
Download MP3
Play Preview
- Game: Final Fantasy VII (Square, 1997, PS1)
- ReMixer(s): Sixto Sounds, Suzumebachi, zircon
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'On That Day, Five Years Ago...'
- Posted: 2007-11-22, evaluated by the judges
Merry Turkey! Or, to our friends outside the USA: Happy Nothing! Whether we celebrate the giving of thanks through the traditional North American ritual of conspicuous turkey consumption (and, more importantly, horseradish ingestion) and family gathering or through other means, the idea of a day of giving thanks for that which we should be thankful for is pretty cool. Back in the day, it was trivial matters like not starving to death or being killed by Native Americans or for practicing one's faith, but nowadays we've moved on to loftier subjects like just how good Super Mario Galaxy turned out to be; all hail progress. Whether anyone ever actually stops and pensively enumerates said items of personal importance and worth amongst all the gorging and imbibing is a question of much speculation, but here at OCR, we believe in credit where credit is due... and there is MUCH to be thankful for. Item one on our list tonight is Voices of the Lifestream. After all the dust settled and some of the knee-jerk anti-FF7 sentiment cooled down (heathens!), I think many have come to appreciate how consistent this album is, all the more impressive given its size. Much like the fruitcake that gets regifted from family to family until someone willing to eat it stops the recursive madness, VotL is the gift that keeps on giving. Unlike fruitcake, however, it doesn't suck. Also, you can't eat it, though with the creamy mint aesthetic on most of the artwork, I wouldn't blame anyone for trying. I haven't quoted Larry in a writeup for awhile, usually because he brings out the John Madden playbook of music criticism and gets all granular, refusing to supply me with catchy soundbites that can oversimplify his byzantine judgments... so I'll end that trend. Mr. Oji says:
"The original's pretty simple instrumentally, and thus ripe for expansion and interpretation. In this case, it's done more with the supporting instrumentation rather than the melody on strings (which repeats too much), and that's ok as the approach. The interpretation is there though... Solo at 2:43 was of course Sixto-sick and a good, brief break from the source material before moving into a nice arrangement of "The Prelude" at 3:05 for the close. Ending at 3:30 way too abrupt, the strings decaying too quickly IMO. Too bad about the ending being so short; 3:22 could have been the gateway to prog rock heaven, but it was not meant to be. Remind me to kick you all for that. :'-( Personalization, interpretation, new writing, altered genre. Solid stuff. I'd say pretty much everything we should want in a mix from a creative standpoint."
Suz, the mix's primary creator, writes:
"This mix has been a long (LONG) time coming. I started it back in January 2006, when I first got on the FF7 project. I poked and prodded it for many months, much to the chagrin of zircon. Most of the hangup came from problems recording guitars-- my main guitar died in a gigging mishap before I had finished all the recordings, leaving me just an old beat up Epi with busted pickups to record with. However, Sixto was gracious enough to provide me with a balls busting solo, so in the end it worked out well (and probably for the better cuz that dude is amazing and I have slow fatty sausage fingers). Additionally, zircon was kind enough to help finish with the mixing side of things (and he added some fun synthy crud in there as well). So basically what we have here is a collab, with arrangement, sequencing and guitars by Suzumebachi, incrediballs guitar solo by Sixto, and pads and synth leads by Mr. Aversa. Enjoy!"
Incrediballs! The melodies here are subdued, and so there's not really a driving melodic force or anything that feels overly narrative, but there's a more general sense of energy amassing; the feel is somewhere between cinematic BGM and rock song, and teeters either way at times. Judges were a little iffy on the first minute, which does take some time to get going, but once it's up out of its musical recliner and moving across the living room floor, it does so with style and force. Good stuff from Ty, Juan, and Andy, and an important part of a larger work that, for me at least, is one of the major things I'm thankful for in 2007.
Discussion: Latest 11 comments/reviews; view the To say VotL was chock full of hits is an understatement, and even amongst such excellence this song stands out. Everything here clicks for me: it's a well-balance track that captures some central emotions of the game and, ultimately, makes me feel like I can overcome anything. As such: this is remixing, and music, at its finest.
- K.B. on December 6, 2008
- DragonAvenger on November 23, 2008
Also, I only noticed this much later, the little piano bits in 1:10-1:14. They're right from the original version but it was awhile before I heard them in the mix, very cool.
- cloudkitt on July 19, 2008
Could be listening to this as I zoom out on the Hwy...
I can hear hints at other themes in this remix. The arpeggiation in the opening scenes is one of my favorite themes, and I can hear nods to this in the end.
- KogeJoe on April 19, 2008
It takes unfortunately long to get there. When I decide to listen to this track, I try to remind myself why I like it so much. The ending is a revelation. The rest of the track really is not bad either, but definitely less good. Weak points: I agree with OA about the strings at the start. I also really don't like the tremolo piano sound, it's messy and just plain bad. In general, the decision to put the strings et al to the top and leave the rhythm guitar, drums and especially bass in the background makes the whole sound rather flimsy to my ears. The guitar/drums themselves could have used a bit more variation in the fast part. Slower stuff has nice rhythmical variations. Fast part does have nice fills, but maybe a half-tempo part or a fill with less playing somewhere could have spiced things up.
Also, and this is actually my major gripe, rhythmically the foreground from 01:17 to 02:27 seems detached from the background, even a bit "blocky". The strings/synths may be in the middle of the beat, where it would benefit them to be a bit on top of the beat. Perhaps? The attack of the synth/strings may be too slow? I'm not 100% sure about that but that's how I feel.
That's a lot of criticism, but that said, I still enjoy the track a whole lot. Intro is really nice except the problem with strings, 0:33-0:44 transition is great (love the gap).. good attention to detail overall.
--Eino
- evktalo on December 7, 2007
Great playing guitar wise, and it's interesting hearing what parts were doubled (or more), it gives a very cool texture to the proceedings. Nice guitar harmony before the modulation, which was well-timed to keep things interesting. The synth arpeggios that faded in and out add some seasoning, and the solo was good.
Though not near as creative as the title makes it out to be, it's a pretty rocking mix. Check it out by all means. :-)
- OA on December 4, 2007
Excellent!
- A-RoN on November 26, 2007
- zircon on November 23, 2007
- Carbon Dog on November 23, 2007
- Tensei-San on November 23, 2007
Content Policy
(Submission
Agreement and Terms of Use)
Page generated Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:35:46 -0500 in 0.042 seconds
All compositions, arrangements, images, and trademarks are copyright their respective owners. Original content is
copyright OverClocked ReMix, LLC. For information on RSS and JavaScript news feeds, linking to us, etc. please refer to resources for webmasters. Please refer to the Info section of
the site and the FAQ available there for information about the site's
history, features, and policies. Contact David W. Lloyd (djpretzel), webmaster, with
feedback or questions not answered there.
