ReMix: Tales of Phantasia 'Summoned Without Reason'
Download MP3
Play Preview
- Game: Tales of Phantasia (Namco, 1994, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Sixto Sounds
- Composer(s): Motoi Sakuraba, Ryota Furuya, Shinji Tamura, Toshiyuki Sekiguchi
- Song(s): 'The Second Act'
- Posted: 2009-04-10, evaluated by the judges
- Album: Featured on Summoning of Spirits: An Arrangement of Music from Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Symphonia
More Sixto? More Sixto. More Summoning of Spirits? That too. But first, to clarify, April is STILL support OCR month, but PayPal says we can't offer prizes because that would make it a "raffle", which is one step away from gambling, and as we all know, gambling makes baby Jesus cry. I seriously spent five hours on the phone with three different customer service guys before it was all sorted, it was very maddening, and if my hair was still long enough to rip out, I would have. We're good now, though, and so far your support has truly been amazing & inspiring - thanks for making www.ocremix.org possible!
Right then, more music! Way back in 2006, Juan wrote:
"This remix was started several months ago, if not a year ago, for the Summoning of Spirits Project. I wanted to try something that wasn't another guitar instrumental and this is what I came up with. Still, you know me. I had to fit some guitar solos in there somewhere. This is also my first attempt at a violin solo, so sorry if it sounds a little weird."
So, for the first 1'40" or so of this mix, you may actually start to believe that Mr. Medrano, just this once, ISN'T going to melt your face off with a badass guitar solo. He can't stay on the wagon for long, though, and the lead at 1'57" is absolutely BALLSY, in-your-face shreddage of the top shelf variety: a little dirtier & a littler meaner that Sixto usually cuts it, but with all the technique intact. It's "full of beans," which SF4 seems to imply is a good thing, but prior to that a vaguely Rush-esque synth lead takes melodic duty, giving the piece some timbral variety. I don't usually have the luxury of webcopypasting judge comments for Sixto mixes, but in this instance Larry paneled the piece because apparently "violin" raised a red flag:
"In any case, pretty badass. Honestly, this is the first mix I've heard from someone on this side of the scene that sounds a lot like J-rock. If you told me some doujin arranger made it, I'd believe you. When I read the part about the violin solo, I threw it on the panel just for some feedback on that level. But make no mistake, this is a thorough piece of work, well-arranged and well-executed per Juan's usual. Another strong contribution to KyleJCrb's "Summoning of Spirits."
Little did we know it'd be another three years before the album was released. This mix just proves that, while Juan has been on a roll with some amazing mixes this year and last, he was damn hot back then, too. This mix has been sitting in purgatory for some time now, but there's no expiration date on "badass," and it hasn't cooled off one bit. Andy shows the love but also throws in some presetbias with a good-natured dig:
"Man, I love Sixto. This is really very quality stuff in all areas; ESPECIALLY the production which is top-notch as far as I'm concerned. I've got no problems with the solo section either. I think the length was appropriate given the length of the piece, and given the quality of Juan's playing, it's really a pleasure to listen to. The violin, though, that's what makes this mix unique. You just don't hear da solo violin action very often. Perhaps my only complaint is that damn "Stereo Bells" preset from FM7 that you use all the time. ;)"
Burn! But whatever, it got the job done, presets are there to be used, and when the context is this rich & well-executed, you could throw Roland's "Digital Native Dance" in there and it'd still sound rad. Great, satisfying, & intensely meaty stuff from Sixto Sounds.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - Mirby on December 26, 2011
With that said, I can't help but have a little disappointment with Sixto's approach here. It's very synth driven, and not in a good way. The synth has a sort of weak sound in terms of attack, and certainly isn't as effective as if say it focused more on his guitar playing.
Now don't get me wrong, this is still nice in some ways, but I felt like Sixto could've done better with this track. That's right, high standards for Sixto!
- Bahamut on December 2, 2009
- KyleJCrb on December 1, 2009
EDIT: Also, this hardly even needs to be said because it's basically assumed of his tracks by now, but Sixto really tore it up on the solos here. Just considering that sole aspect of the song, I actually think this might be his strongest effort on the project :-D
- Emunator on December 1, 2009
- DragonAvenger on April 16, 2009
I was really glad to hear some of the experimentation that went on, too. Guitar soloing was epic. Violin was nice.
Brilliant stuff.
- Platinum Azure on April 16, 2009
- jintoreedwine on April 15, 2009
- pu_freak on April 13, 2009
that solo is so face meltingly awesome too :P
- WillRock on April 13, 2009
- Halt on April 13, 2009
I've got this image in my head of Sixto sitting in his studio working on this song, trying to resist the pull of his guitar like it was the One Ring, but finally giving in and letting rip on it.
- Sinewav on April 13, 2009
And everything else is sooo good too it all meshes very well !!
- Mtlbro on April 12, 2009
Nice work as usual. :-D
- OA on April 10, 2009
