OCR02484 - *YES* Harvest Moon 'Four Seasons of the Blues'

[DragonAvenger]

This song is about 7 years old and dates back to my college days when I was emulating some SNES classics, and upon playing harvest moon I noticed myself humming the themes of each season as I was playing along rushing to stuff turnips and tomatoes into my outbox. Feeling compelled to compose my own version of this music I fell back on my love of Woody Guthrie, Lightnin' Hopkins and Mississippi John Hurt to compose a guitar and vocal arrangement with a reflection on blues and folk styles that emerged out of the American South around the turn of the century. Years and Years ago I submitted the song to which I think I got a rejection. Understandable because the original track was more or less a scratch recording. Since that time I joined a band in Paramus New Jersey called Steel Battalion. We performed several gigs around the North Jersey and NYC area. On one night we found ourselves short one song in the set list so I played this track for them and the band immediately took to it.

Since that time we used some studio time to record and one of the songs that were insisted upon recording (Against my own objection in fact) was four seasons of the blues. Independent recording artist Chris Sulit gave us recording time, and Rob Janos our bland leader made sure that the historical sound of the song was preserved, and made arrangements on mandolin, a silvertone acoustic, and even a Magnus chord-organ. Our good friend and collaborator Sunil Caris provided backing vocals simultaneously with me in order to conveyed the shared microphone sound of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.

So here is Four seasons of the blues for a second submission. Here is all the vital information.

Your ReMixer name - Steel Battalion

Your real name - Pitt Clemens

Your website - http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Steel-Battalion-Band/332918287175

Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile - Spoke_and_wheel

Name of game(s) arranged - Harvest Moon

Name of individual song(s) arranged - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site)

System: SNES

Composer: Charkey

Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) - Damn I don't know.

Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. - uh...Se above.

----------------------------

 

- Summer

 

- Fall

 

- Winter

 

- Spring

[OceansAndrew]

Nice live feel to this one, the only thing that struck me as off was the performance of the electric guitar; the rest was solid and had a strong singer/songwriter vibe to it.

The lyrics walked the line between cute and cliche, but overall worked well enough, and the vocal performances were good. I think more of the organ throughout would have filled the soundscape out more, but I like how the themes progressed through the seasons.

This is a definite throwback to an era before tracks got to be hyper-produced, but everything is well-miced, and there is a good room sound. The arrangement is a bit basic, but has a down-on-the-farm feel that I dig, and suits the source very well.

Yes

[DragonAvenger]

I like the overall vibe you get from this track; it really makes you feel like you are working hard out in the fields. The arrangement does suffer a little bit from medleyitis, but I think it's performed in a way that is natural given the nature of the game it came it from. Some of the transitions (Fall to Winter especially) are a tad weak, but nothing is a dealbreaker to me.

Production is distinct, and again it works for the track and that live feel (despite being in a studio).

YES

[Palpable]

I really want to pass this, I love the four season concept and the live feel of the recording. The vocals are really well-suited for each section, even though the energy level and mood changes drastically. The performance is a little loose and sounds like a first take - the harmonies aren't quite there, the playing gets a little off sometimes, and the end just... ends. Given the quality of other live performance tracks on the site, I think you're on the lower end but still in a passable range, but the song is clearly a medley, which is usually a no-no for OCR. Eh, screw it, I'm passing this. The Spring->Summer and Fall->Winter transitions could have been better, but the concept absolutely makes this feel like a single song. This song has to be a medley.

YES

[CHz]

Structurally, I agree this is pretty rough. All of the segments except Summer just end. A big part is that the themes are just run through once, and when they're finished that's it.

But thematically, it kind of works. I really wish it flowed better, like the middle transition, but the lyrics and the sounds of the segments have a clear direction. There could be more interpretation of the individual pieces instead of just moving on, but the transformations of the themes were pretty well done, and you took obvious care in the overall shape of the piece.

Recording's great, the song sounds nice and intimate. The rough spots in the performance stand out because the mix is relatively simple.

Could this be better? Absolutely. But I think it's good enough, and it honors the source material in an interesting and great way.

YES