Aeolius

Avant garde is right. This falls somewhere between Steve Vai and Luciano Berio, experimentally speaking. If you dig those two (and need an FF7 fix), get this. NOW. If not, give it a try. You'll never know what you're missing in the wide world of noise, if you don't try new things. I give it a big, enthusiastic thumbs up.

Yeah, this is the piece that put him in my top three favorite OCR arrangers (not that any of his others don't deserve the praise as well). My other two faves being Ailsean and djpretzel (and following closely behind: McVaffe, Mazedude, Rosencrant & guildensterN, and Dj Crono)... thanks to all these guys for making great music... But wait... this is Jared's thread. How to describe this one... the intro, though not the greatest or most interesting of musical moments, acts as a very good aural prep. Think lubricant, before the colonoscopy. Only... not unpleasant in the least. Yeah, that was probably one of the worst examples I could have picked. Anyway, it introduces the ear to the instruments to come, and that "getting used to" time works to the song's advantage. The pizzicato that drives the song into the main theme and beyond is a fantastic touch. What more can I say? I don't know how repeating the word "fantastic" an extra hundred times could get my point across any further, but I'm tempted to try, just the same. Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V make that job much easier, but for now, I shall "not and say I did." Or whatever it is that you hip young'uns say, these days. The main theme is presented in a gripping, or rather, touching fashion, definitely on par with the original in terms of the emotional message (although I believe Jared's is just a touch more on the sentimental side... a difficult claim to substantiate, but... well, it's what I got out of it). As Nemesis already stated, the choral addition at the end was beautiful, and JUST the right touch. Ever want to just become one with the music? Like, have you ever wished you could just make your body split in half, and emerge in a form that can somehow get closer to the song you're listening to? No? ...you say that's just fucked up? Well, it may be, but this is one of the very few songs to have that effect on me. The ending was just the thing to break you away from the song without demanding that you turn and go on an "I must hear this song a million times" clickety spree. This is not a bad thing; it's a very fulfilling ending, that really tops it off in such a way that the song is complete in a single sitting. It's an almost "post-coital" feeling. Verrrrry nice. Anyhoo, that's my brief analysis/commentary. I'd REALLY like to know what soundfonts went into making this mix, which remains one of your finest. If you or anyone else can tell me, that'd be grand. Thanks to Jared Hudson for this incredible mix, and Yasunori Mitsuda for a great song in its own right, that paved the way to the creation of this fine arrangement.