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OCR01277 - *YES* Earthworm Jim 2 'Invertebrate Retreat'


danny B
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OK, most of you know how I feel about doing this, but i'd like this posted soon (hopefully before Dec 1st to qualify for the Tallarico project). If you haven't heard, this is a collaboration effort between myself, Vigilante and Zyko. We three are absolving from the vote, obviously. Thanks.

Here are the lyrics for the singing, for Dave to post, as well. Zyko will have to post his own. By the way, anyone who has ever tried knows that it's a BITCH to come up with sensical lyrics about being a sassy worm that found a super suit. I did the best I could.

One more time, i find myself

Up to my neck, buried in silt.

Too many times, the world requests

that I relieve them all from distress

Doesn't anybody see, my corporeal state

I've got no reason, to save anybody but me

Once again. Here I am.

I don't give a damn, my strength's all i am.

And now that hell is at its worst

I've got no choice left but leaving your dead corpse

No kind of weapon, No kind of plea

Not even substance abuse can bother me.

Suppose that I did it, Imagine my feat.

Victory reached, but still evil replete.

And I would be anything but discrete -

My Invertebrate retreat.

And now gone and forgotten,

Everything inside me pushes me to realize.

I never was anything but a slave to circumstance and bad fortune,

It's time to decide.

Return to forbearance?

A circle complete.

Your invertertebrate retreat.

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http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ewj2.rsn - "Lorenzen's Soil" (ewj2-03.spc)

This does an phenomenal job of taking the foundations of Tommy Tallarico's source material and expanding upon it via the structure of the lyrics. Listening through the whole thing, this is something I feel you can point to and say "This expands upon the ideas of the original composer yet truly takes on an identity of its own." Dan's lyrics have some excellent reverb and delay effects on them and his voice is engagingly melancholy at times. Frankly, I didn't know he could sing until I heard the first WIP of this.

Over the course of the track's development, the delivery on the lyrics went from completely sedate to a balance of sedate, mournful and wailing. At times I questioned the change, but the escalation in the mix's intensity from its modest beginnings as a WIP proved to me that this was indeed the right move.

Hitting 2:02-2:16, I felt Dan's lyrics were obscured a little bit by the instruments, but were nonetheless very clear thanks to superior production work. weed's rap contribution was also drowned out a little bit by the synth coming from 2:55 to 3:14, but the delivery was otherwise excellent and intelligent per his usual high standards. Excellent rhythm, excellent flows, along with strategically placed vocal layering that thickened things up at the right times. Certainly nothing in the sound balance that you don't often hear in professional/industry-grade work.

Very nice work in calming things down at 3:21 with just the bassline, ambiance, and percussion before transitioning into Dan's lyrics with Vigilante's guitar accompaniment at 3:34. I could have gone for a bit more reverb on the lyrics on that go-around for more of that moody feel. Otherwise, everything was top-notch. The last minute of freestyle material from 4:12 to 5:15 was brilliantly rendered, before slowing things down for an eerie close winding down to 5:37. The sounds remained clear, energetic, and expressive throughout for an exceptionally strong finish.

The instruments layered together very nicely, the lyrics are very well thought out with strong delivery, and the production is generally crisp and clean. This was hugely expansive arrangement work, and nothing short of A-grade from 3 top names in the community that show pride in what they do. Props to Dan for working hard on this mix in the past few months and enlisting Jesse & weed in helping to bring it to what I genuinely consider superlative status. You'll loop it. And believe me, you'll love it.

YES

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Man, this is great stuff. Using vocals in a mix is often tricky, but this one just nails it. As Larry and listeners of VGF should well-know, Dan B's voice is pretty amazing, and this proves it. Of course, zyko pulls his weight too with some superb, chill rapping that fits in perfectly. Nice recording and processing there too. Lyrics works well.

Instrumental parts are rock solid, complimenting the overall strong production values of the rest of the piece. High end is a little lacking, but that has to be expected from a 5:37 mix compressed into 6mb. Definitely not a big deal, though it would make Dan's voice and some of the synth parts fuller.

Arrangement is wonderful. The original wasn't all that interesting to begin with, but this mix breathes life into it with dynamic percussion, synth, and instrumental parts. Lots of great improvisation, variation, and soloing. Thumbs up. Great job to everyone that worked on this.

YES

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