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OCR01053 - Chrono Trigger "Zeal Love"


djpretzel
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I thought I'd heard the Zeal theme so many times inside-out and upside-down that I could never be *touched* by it. But then this happened. This piece is just awesome. The ONLY thing I really find faulted with is the drums. They just don't sound...as good as they could 1:05-1:45 but that is really it. I think the distorted piano conveys more struggle, more, difficulty, if you know what I mean. Instead of just "Hey it's the Zeal theme!" It's more like "This hurts my soul to sing..."

You've done a damn good remix of Zeal, Unipulator. :nicework: :nicework:

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At first, I was really expecting a ho-hum Zeal remix like most of the ones on OCR now (I can barely tell the difference even now). However, this is CERTAINLY above the bar here, despite the fact that the theme has been perhaps over-remixed. The amount of variation, the solid arrangement, and creative branching from the original really makes this remix stand out. I honestly don't have any problem with any of the arrangement or the samples. 9/10, definitly.

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I do like this song, I really do. But I'm going to have to agree with everyone else who said that the distorted piano was not needed. It sounds more like a bad sample rather than a compliment to the other elements of the song itself. In fact I find it ear piercing, it's like right up there with someone sticking a cold piece of metal up under your eyelids. This sound alone was trying to ruin the song for me but I wouldn't let it. Unipulator I know it's a little late in the game to chage that but if you can please do. I don't know why, but this song kind of reiminds me of robo Ky's song from GGXX.

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Look, if this is piercing to your ears then just adjust your graphic EQ....sheesh. Unless there is something seriously lacking in my sound setup, which I don't think there is, the piano doesn't seem to be piercing anyway.

Anyway, I liked this tune. I guess I have a soft spot for impressionistic pieces. However, I think the artist suffers from a common problem that I seem to have whenever doing something similar - the melody loses its distinctiveness within the newly arranged chord voicings. Now that the new chord voicings are present, some of the old tensions caused by the melody have become unisons (the same note) and at other times I feel like there are some unintended dissonances that threaten to derail the mood. In addition, some of the new harmony is not as provocative as the original.

I seriously admire the artist for his vision in the piece. Honestly, these types of impressions aren't always that clear, and when you can articulate them like this artist has, it lends an honesty to the music that some more straight-forward arrangements don't have.

However, something we often forget in our excitement over our impressions is that the original composer didn't make up the harmony by accident. The melody is an integral part of the harmony and in some ways restricts our ability to alter the tune without carefully consideration. Yeah, it's a pain in the butt, and it has slain many a composition for me, but we all gotta deal with it.

Good job...this was enjoyable.

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I agree with _excousa_-- the opening piano part is simply beautiful. As soon as I heard it I knew I would love this mix. This is definitely somewhere in my top 5 favourite Chrono Trigger mixes.

If the distorted piano had been in any other song, it might have annoyed me. But I really do think it is fitting for this theme. I'd say more about why I think it is fitting, but Uni already explained himself very nicely on page 1.

I haven't reviewed any mixes in a while, but this is my favourite mix in recent memory so I felt compelled to add my own recommendation.

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If I could replace the music in Chrono Trigger with remixes, I'd use this for Zeal.

The distorted piano is beautiful, and gives the song a unique texture. It didn't even occur to me that it was distorted until I read this thread; it fit the piece so well. Also have to agree with all of Uni's preaching on page 1. :)

My only complaint is that the ending is rather sudden. It's like, "What? No more music? NOOOOOOOO!"

This piece easily makes my "best of the best" playlist...

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I'm not going to go right out and jump the gun by saying this is the best track on my playlist, but it's a damn good one I say. Still, it's unfair for me to judge a song after only having it for a day. It takes me many listenings to a song for me to fully appreciate it.

The piano at the start of the song is great, and the beat in the background along with the distortion starting at :22 only adds to it. Around :43, when the main riff of Zeal came on, I almost cringed my first time through. No, this isn't from it being bad, merely it was a shock. I had never heard Zeal like this before. It's a bloody good thing to hear though.

It goes through another change somewhere around 1:55 and gets out of the piano phase and into a great techno phase until 2:34 when the two merge into a perfect harmony. Seriously, great stuff. I don't care how many times I hear Zeal, it'll never loose that great touch it has. This is just a different way of listening to it, and I recommend it.

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This song is gorgeous. The distorted piano creates a unique effect, one I think works very well in the song. The strong bassline keeps the song from ever feeling empty, which is a problem I feel with a lot of Zeal remixes: there's too much attention paid to the frills and not enough to creating the total experience. I loved kizukaseru (why causative, though?) and I don't love this any less. Great job, Unipulator. You've got a new fan.

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Fantastic piece. One of the best remixes I have ever heard... Myself, I didn't notice a single bad thing. Perhaps it's jsut my sound setup, but this track was absolutely pefect for me all the way through. Quite possibly my favorite OCR remix.

To me this rivals Love Hurts in originality and complete alteration of the context of the original song. The Zeal Theme, no matter how much we like it, has never really been the material for much emotional impact.

Strange. The Zeal theme has been my favorite musical piece of all time for quite awhile now. Nothing else inspires emotion in me quite as well as hearing that music does. Others, Unipulator and Zeality especially, seem to share at least part of this.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I thoroughly enjoyed the first submission from Unipulator even though I have never played Last Blade 2. Chrono trigger however I have played, and this theme, appropriately named Zeal, was one of my favorites. Immediatley in listening to this piece I noticed a positive correlation to the Last Blade 2 Remix. Both pieces have an excellent balance to the sound, and while I enjoyed how Un. used the fretless bass in his first mix, I really enjoyed the heartiness of the bass used in this CT piece to bring out the melody and counter-melody. The altered chords were tasteful additions to the sound, and the distorted piano was a much-needed reminder of the humble origins of the tune. Each of the parts were weeved seemlessly into the chronic flow of the piece, and overall I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of this remix. Props to Unipulator who is undeniably one of my favorite remixers on this site (even with only two pieces). I look forward to seeing future works posted.

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  • 3 months later...

I must say that this is actually my favorite of all the Zeal ReMixes here. It just seems to hit me in a very emotional way. The harmonies are great. I don't really know what it is about this song, but I love it. My favorite part is definatly at 2:32 when the back ground piano line comes in under the main theme. The distorted piano adds more emotion in my opinion. This Remix, overall, just touches me. Zeal is not only one of my favorite video game songs, but in my top 5 favorite songs of all time, and I think Unipulator not only does justice to the song, but gives it a new, more touching and melancholic depth.

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  • 2 months later...

Alright, I'll admit it. I love this remix :D It is so unbelievably awesome, and at first I thought it blew. I was WRONG. This is going to be burned and put on a cd that I will be listening to when I am driving to work. ARE you f***ing kidding me 8O ?!?!?! I got goosebumps listening to it. If you don't like this remix, well, not everyone has the same tastes, but you would be foolish, or be in posession of a tin ear if you did not find this particular remix of the Island of Zeal theme to be one of, if not the best out there. I was doubtful at first, but this is going in my top 10 game OST remixes.

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  • 1 month later...

Again, it's been said...but I'll say it again. This is quite possibly my favorite Zeal remix. Everything flows together in perfect harmony, and nothing disrupts the melody...like cheezy, 16-bit sounding crap. Job well done...'nuff said.

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