ReMix: Mega Man 2 'The Quick and the Blue'
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- Game: Mega Man 2 (Capcom, 1988, NES)
- ReMixer(s): The Megas
- Composer(s): Manami Matsumae, Takashi Tateishi
- Song(s): 'Quick Man Stage'
- Posted: 2010-09-06, evaluated by djpretzel
- Album: Featured on get acoustic
More Megas? Hell yes. We played 'Monsteropolis' as folks were shuffling in to our recent PAX panel (thanks all who showed up, including AE with his misinterpreted hand gestures), and I for one have certainly been looking forward to posting something else from them ever since. We get our chance, as Greg writes:
"Hey guys - we've been wanting to submit another song to OC ReMix for a while now, and I think this is a good one to submit We just released an acoustic remix of our Get Equipped album, entitled Get Acoustic. In addition to the acoustic instrumentation, we added synth orchestral elements. The song we're submitting is The Quick and the Blue/Quickman - hope you guys enjoy!"
Spoiler: We did. Not all albums/bands can successfully rock the acoustic transition, although some (10,000 Maniacs' MTV Unplugged comes to mind) actually sound better. The Megas can certainly walk both sides of the street, as this track proves; besides a perfect title that reminds me of Gene Hackman's best performance as a villain, this acoustic rendition of their 'Quickman' arrangement places the vocals/lyrics center stage. That might be a very dangerous and/or negative thing, if this band weren't all about writing awesome, contextual, well-constructed stanzas of personified lyrical Mega Man glory. Some people don't really care or pay attention to lyrics, but I certainly do, and I dig what these guys are cooking up - in my opinion it's a big part of what allowed a successful transition to acoustic. The synth/orchestral elements aren't as strong and pronounced as they could be - I would have liked a more prominent, articulate cello part for this arrangement, in particular - but that's a smallish nitpick to an enjoyable, creative cut off an enjoyable, creative album. Adjective recycling FTW.
If for some reason The Megas have escaped your attentions or you're not much into rock/metal and prefer acoustic, this should be an excellent introduction to their stuff. You can get the full physical album + other albums & merch at their online store (their newest EP, Sparked a War, includes their first take on Mega Man 3), or check out their Bandcamp site for lossless downloadable versions. Great stuff from a visionary, conceptual group that makes it all somehow work, perfectly, through their music & words.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - AMT on February 13, 2011
My circuits slow
I'm not scared anymore
This is the moment that we have been created for
for also their reasons about how it deals with destiny. But what I like here is how Quick Man is also rising to meet his destiny (the "not scared anymore" part and how it's repeated mantra like).
There's also just a bunch of little things in the narrative painted here that I like too, such as how the battle between Mega Man and Quick Man is given as much time as the rest of the narrative else even though such an actual battle would only last seconds, if that makes sense.
This is probably my favorite track from The Megas; I still like the non-acoustic version better though because it just reaches higher levels of tension that this one doesn't. Still, this is a really good version, and I hope that this does get more people interested in The Megas like Annihilation of Monsteropolis did for me. :-D
- 42 on December 26, 2010
- FenixDown on December 16, 2010
- DarkSim on December 16, 2010
DarkSim;738085 wrote: A great line no-one's mentioned yet - your choice of the word "created" here is a stroke of genius. It implies a destiny; an inevitability about the situation that no matter how hard he tries, the Quick Man will never win, so his efforts are in vain. We know this, he knows this, yet he still tries, and we empathise with him.
...I quoted those exact same lines in the previous page as my favorite lyrics in the entire piece.
For the exact same reasons, no less. That's why this is my favorite that The Megas have done--though the one based on the level select theme approaches it. I could get all Asimov on an interpretation of the lyrics here, too, based around just those three lines--something about the implicit analogy between robots' programming and humans' destiny/fate gets to the sci-fi fan in me. KF
- Kizyr on December 16, 2010
- Sansato on December 16, 2010
I definitely hear the Killers reference in there, which is probably my only criticism, as it sort of "breaks the 4th wall" in the storytelling as my brain associates it with Mr Brightside, and I'm momentarily distracted.
My circuits slow
I'm not scared anymore
This is the moment that we have been created for
A great line no-one's mentioned yet - your choice of the word "created" here is a stroke of genius. It implies a destiny; an inevitability about the situation that no matter how hard he tries, the Quick Man will never win, so his efforts are in vain. We know this, he knows this, yet he still tries, and we empathise with him.
Thankfully, next on my OCR playlist is a halc/ben briggs mix to cheer me up again after this song's totally swept me off to a distant emotional plane. Clever, compelling stuff.
- DarkSim on December 15, 2010
- rahmoon on September 29, 2010
Stellar work, guys.
- Martin Penwald on September 20, 2010
The acoustic western feel just goes SO well with the song and it's lyrics it's nuts. And the lyrics themselves just blow me away. It makes me feel for the Quick Man's plight and I can so easily picture the story you're trying to tell.
"My circuits slow. What they said is a lie. The shots are heard and the bullets scream death as they fly."
"I'm not scared anymore. I join the ranks of my brothers that have fallen before." - TRULY epic job guys.
*Edit* I checked out your album and it was alright. To me though, it just seems that this song has a certain polish to it that some of your other tracks lack. I'd easily spend $20+ on an album with more tracks like this and LOVE it!
- stealthchicken on September 15, 2010
- nicholai_maelstrom on September 14, 2010
It took me like 3 tries to get past the intro to this song without closing my browser window thinking this was just going to be a samey Mega Man acoustic remix.
Turns out it's a samey Mega Man remix with vocals! Yay....
I'm just so unimpressed by this track. It feels catchy and good in the exact same way most pop music is catchy and "good." Definitely not for me.
Still, I can appreciate the effort that went into this. And chalk up another mix with Male Vocals that are not instantly hateable! Yay!
- Master_Yoshi on September 13, 2010
Bit more Western feel now. To be perfectly honest, while this is certainly good, I enjoy the non-acoustic version better. Thumbs up for effort guys.
- BlueMage on September 12, 2010
- Citan on September 10, 2010
LunaYoshi;712642 wrote: I really like this cover. I'm interested in possibly downloading the entire album to hear more, but without a second song to reassure me it's not going to only contain one gem among the rocks, I'm a bit hesitant. I haven't bought full albums in years. I've purchased too many that had one or two good songs and the rest were crap. I prefer to pay for only the ones I like. But that's not an option here, so I'm torn.
Hopefully another of their songs can show up here on OCRemix again so I can compare and possibly make the decision to shell out the probably-worthwhile $10 for it all. :)
Or you could head over to [URL="http://rainwave.cc"]rainwave.cc[/URL]’s V-wave page, where they also have the whole album, and more by the Megas.
- Mremperor on September 9, 2010
