OCR00010 - Streets of Rage "Wah-Wah"

[Joe Redifer]

Streets of Rage 'Wah-Wah'

This is kind of weird. djp has added a fake guitar to the opening theme from Streets of Rage! Kind of hard to describe, you just have to hear it. I wouldn't classify this as one of djp's greatests, but there's not really too much I can bitch about. Except that I wish he'd do this tune again with his current sound setup, and make it techno... something requires to be turned up to 11.

[JamPaladin]

This piece is rockin'!

The bass could be a bit more solid sounding, but that's not the point. The emphasis is most definately on the guitar, and it sounds cool. Very cool. Mucho -Spledifiaries cool. Coolittude. You get the picture. It's one of those really cool pedal effects, the sort which (Apparantly) the guy in RATM is famous for using. But this sounds better. I don't care if it's fake or emulated, it sounds good to my ears, and that's all I care about. Halfway through I just whipped out my air-guitar and started jammin' (The sheer versatility and portability of Air-Guitar can't be beaten.) About a minute in you lose the cool sounds, but they partially come back twenty seconds later, and then you get the full force of them again. If you like electronic guitar sounds, you can't go wrong with this.

Subjective-Jam-along-on-air-guitar-O-Meter: 9.7/10

[Sherv]

Wow, DJP truly delivers with this piece! JamPaladin sums up what I feel as well (even with the Air Guitar action!), but I additionally felt the need to voice my enjoyment...I am not familiar with the original tune, as I never owned a Genesis (nor did any of my friends at the time), so I can't comment on fidelity or the like, yet I LOVE this piece! The wah-wahing adds a pleasant carefree ambience, the piano helps support the song, the bass drives forward...hell, there's so much to be heard in this remix, it's a fresh experience everytime!

Kudos once again, DJP!

[Avien]

what really sucks is... for the longest time I've been listening to (and really enjoying) a version of this I grabbed off of audiogalaxy that doesn't give any credit to djpretzel for the longest time :( . But I know I had heard it before and just the other night starla informed me it was Djp's wah wah sor mix. So i didn't feel right listening to the mp3 with the wrong id3 info so I downloaded this tonight.

I really like this mix though. I always get into it especially around 0:56 where the saxes and everything come in and its just totally awesome to listen to. love it.

[LordOfTheClassics1981]

I can only describe this song in this way:

Niiiiiiiice!

I am done. Oh, and it's awesome work on what I believe was already a pretty good song. DJP, you are the man!

[maplejet]

You just got to give credit to DJPretzel on this remix. A great funked up remix with a good synth solo.

[Atomic Dog]

You know... I'm not having a really good day today. So, I resigned myself to the fact that some things and some people will never change, and I locked myself in the house and started drinking (as is my forte in situations like these).

And, in the meantime, I enjoy listening to music. Don't ask me why, but this song really hit the spot today. It just jived with everything that seems to be swimming in my head, as if giving a beat and a theme to it. It has nothing to do with Streets of Rage or the premise of those games.. it was just as if the piece was the appropriate background music to my life right now.

DJP, you so rule.

[tyler_lucero]

This is one of the oldest ReMixes on the site and there's only one page...ONE PAGE of reviews?? For shame!

*Ahem* A wonderful mix through-and-through. djp does it (or did it) again. I never really get tired of this...especially the MEAN guitar around 2'20. Great work!

[I_Love_OC_ReMixes]

^^^I agree! And Im the FIRST PERSON OF 2005 to reply here. Heck I could skip 2005 and review this in 2006 (since its almost the end of 2005 - Christmas Eve ) just to say "For shame! Not even 1 person replied in a WHOLE YEAR. SHAME ON U!!" But NO. this remix is too awesome, and I just LOVE the solo guitar play. It leaves me speechless. Awesome mix djpretzel, u are a hero in my ears.

Merry x-mas djpretzel!

[Audity]

One of his best remixes. I say this after listening to so many others thinking they are his best, such as the recent Starfox one, and the Xenogears (among a few others during this time) one a couple years ago, and Revival Day Impoetus as my very first OCR song (many years ago).

Even after so much time the kits used together for this piece remain fresh and lively, all the while the sound quality isn't nearly faltered, even if the production isn't as good as his latest two (I'd say even that's only a slightly bit lessened for this piece, too).

I remember hearing this not thinking it was all that. It was probably that introduction that turned me off SOMEHOW. Not too long ago I started listening to this and realized its guitar wailing solo effect-crazy crazy-goodness slight-cheese musicality. Definitely agree with someone above me's comment on the piano supporting the mix in the way mentioned about being carefree.

Of course, I very personally just like this kind of lead-wailing music, fitting in the right tones anyway (not any of that random solo crap in other songs), in which this one happens to fit. Of course my fandom of full-sound-field-implemented not-noob music fitting with the wailing is also fulfilled.

If you like his recent songs, I advise to stear clear of old-song prejudice and listen to this one.

I could listen all day.

[Hoocha]

Hello guys, i'm new here

this marks my first post.

to let you all know,this tune is what got me hooked on videogame music/remixes. I listen to it atleast 5 times a day. No, i'm not mental or anything,but this tune is just SUPER. It's the best one. and djp uses alot of funk sound in his tunes- which i adore so much.

this track, i love it and enjoy it very much,especially late at night when im having a cigarrette and drinking redbull out on the roof of my building

[OceansAndrew]

This is basically an extended synth solo and I frickin love it. The groove is tight and the solo is interesting and funky throughout.

I think the bass could be beefified a bit, and the sax samples are merely 'ok', but neither issue is detrimental to the mix.

The winddown near the end is great; just what the mix needed, and I was sad that it ended instead of going one more time. Thanks to the magic of mp3s, I have that power to make it go again.

I don't think anyone is going to be fooled into thinking it's areal guitar, but there's absolutely no need, as there's no shame in a funkified synth solo.

For being so venerable, this mix kicks a ton of ass. If there was an OCR timeline of defining mix moments, this one definitely should be included in the early era.

[Captain Skyhawk]

This hurts my ears.

[Liontamer]

This hurts my ears.

Time to get some new ears.

Nah, I see what you mean. The volume gets up there. Good old mix though, back when OCR was just djp and a couple other people he asked to host arrangements from.

[Marmiduke]

I always enjoy coming back to the early days. Because my expectations never match what I rediscover. I have this myth in my mind that the earlier I go, the less creative and tolerable things will become. Obviously, that can clearly be dispelled by mixes like this. I shouldn't doubt the pretzel.

With a mix as old as this, you get the usual hiccups. The samples are pretty campy, especially the guitar, which I don't think handles the rapid solo breakdown at the latter end of the song too well. It less resembles a guitar, or any string instrument for that matter, and begins sounding more like an organ. A pitfall of retrospect, sure. But it is something that could sound better today.

That said though, it is a brilliant piece of music and one of my favourite examples from the dawn of OCR. The aforementioned solo is to die for, and djp's melodic interpretation of the theme is consistent even with his current mixes. Simply, this is awesome. Sample niggles aside, this could be the latest mix and I wouldn't care at all.

[WillRock]

Where this mix seems to suffer from production issues, this makes up for a great arrangment with a 'wah-wah' lead, rather midi sounding piano, and solos are pretty cool . Decent stuff from djp

[Crulex]

Hmm, well, it does have a few moments when I think "okay, that lead is a bit too sharp" and other issues like it, but overall, not bad at all. Great arrangement and I can definitely hear where this was supposed to go (and it got there, which is cool). Nice, funky little piece.

[Gario]

Ooo, dirty synths. Gotta love those dirty synths. They really add a more somber flavor to the overall track. The use of the sonic space is good, as well - every instrument gives the central instrument it's space to breathe.

The accompanying instruments stand out as being quite heavily sequenced, if one listens to them on their own for a while. Fortunately, there's a dirty synth more often than not to distract us, so it's not a big issue. The sax does try to take center stage from time to time, though, so it's a little more glaring than the rest of the sequenced instruments.

The drums, while pretty full and fitting, there's very little in terms of variation. It's hard to listen to a track when the same beat is playing over and over again...

Overall this is pretty swingin', though. It holds seven and a half raging streets out of ten.

[timaeus222]

That was pretty darn cool, actually. This could have passed in 2004 or so.

[Tables]

Once you get used to the first few seconds of unexpectedly loud lead, this song really finds its own. One of those cool older remixes that ends up working because it's dense with a lot of cool things happening that happen to work together, and it's a jam. Especially dig the sax even if it's not too legit (to quit), and the little piano action going on underneath the gritty synths. And the soloing never hurts

Of course the production could be more whatever but there's certain things that I'm trying to learn to expect from 1999 era ReMixes <3 nice little mix, for its time and in spite of it.

... usually, in my eyes, 'arrangement > production' the same way 'gameplay > graphics'... (...unless the 'lesser than' is overwhelmingly obtrusive to the point of distracting you from the 'greater than'...)

Edited April 9, 2015 by Tables

[BladedEdge]

Starts poorly, gets better fast, ends well. Love those old-fashioned drum machine loops, love the wah,love the robovoice, love the dirty dirty synths.
2:30 and for a while therafter reminds me a lot of Jonathan Dunn's soundtrack on jurassic park SNES. Combining two great but radically different musicians' styles works out well.


Streets of Rage seems to have been really popular back in the early internet days. Me, I never much cared for basic beat-em-ups; I had TMNT 2 and 3 on the NES and that was enough. Shamefully long time it took, appreciating what koshiro was doing with his compositions. I think it was Hardcore Gaming 101's Ys articles that opened my eyes there. Heard Ys, went back to listen to everything else Koshiro did.