Crescent Shadow Posted September 25, 2007 Share Posted September 25, 2007 I love this song. It definitely ranks in my top five from the album. It has a jpop/jrock-ish feel to it but it also gives me a good Juno Reactor meets KMFDM vibe as well... I liked all of Jovette's mix's i've heard before but this one most definitely tops the bunch.... good job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishy Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 I gotta say, I didn't like this at first, mostly because of the irrelevant intro, but man does it ever take off after that. You singing is so varied and layered and processed so well, it sounds so professional, like a wall of sound. The intro rapping is growing on me aswell now. It makes me really enjoy Cid's theme whenever I hear it now, so mission accomplished definately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrrDraxin Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 Well now, this one certainly has a bit of a Lincoln Park/Limp Biscuit like feel to it, IMO. I generally like this piece of PCP-drugged up adrenaline rushed schizoid case of music madness. Though I don't know about keeping anything true to the original, but I personally like it when an original piece is sent to the mental ward for some drug-induced stress relief. Alright, that just sounds cheesy, but I can't help but think that way. The only thing I can gripe about is that there appear to be some lyrics at the beginning that aren't on the writeup lyric page, circa 00:44 - 00:59. Someone mind shedding some light on this? Overall an enjoyable piece. Good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lelek Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Well I had a big long post that got ate... so I'll be quick AWSOME!!!!! The different elements meld together for something greater than the parts. My mapping(Im no music major) 0:00-0:33 Intro, Ninty Nine Nights like orch. 0:33-1:00: Metal, Clean vocals 1:00-1:15 Growling 1:15-1:33 Metal Lordi like growling. YEAH YEAH! 1:33-2:05 Clean vocals 2:05-2:20 Growling 2:20-2:37 Lordi like growling 2:37-3:10 Bridge Techno 3:10-3:43 Chorus, clean singing 3:43-3:58 Bridge 2 3:58-4:14 Chorus 2 4:14-4:45 Breakdown Chorus 4:45-4:49 Outro Thank-you for such good track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brutulf Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 Here's another user who signed up just to express his appreciation for this ReMix. In my humble opinion, a good ReMix is a reinterpretation of the original song not limited to the melody itself as source material, but also incorporating and considering the context in which it appears. In this regard this song was brilliant. Another favorite of mine, "Sleep my Sephy", I like for the same reason. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razor Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 I'm speechless. I never would have thought that one could apply lyrics to a video game song and make it work, but this track is mind-blowing. A must-have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjtoocool Posted November 4, 2007 Share Posted November 4, 2007 I first listened to the VotL through while programming. So I wasn't actively looking at the remixers names or what they were remixing. Every so often I would check xmms just out of curiosity. When I heard this one and opened up xmms I was expecting to see Star Salzman But it wasn't! (I did like Salzman's mix that came later...but not as much as this) Big compliment to Jovette Rivera. And, no offense, but I'd never actually heard of Jovette until now. But I will most certainly look for any more mixes he produces from here on out. This is my favorite track from VotL. And...if I understand the longest rant against the song to date, it deviates too much from the essence of the Cid theme? Being a techno fan, there's one major reason I like remixes. They take a song that I like (and probably don't listen to often anymore because I played it out) and transform it into a new and fresh yet familiar song that I can totally play out all over again! So if someone takes a song I like and does that, then in my opinion it's a successful remix. In which case; this most certainly qualifies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haganegiri Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 Wow. I'm in love with this song man. Completely awesome work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catullus Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 I really love this piece, its one of the best mixes off the VOTL soundtrack OCR put together and that really is saying something. Ive enjoyed Jovettes other pieces for a long time now most notably kono sekai de when he was simply DJCrono. In any case this song represents so much growth and change from him its pretty amazing what he put together, Not only does this song sound great, its extremely hard to classify it or to compare it to anything else. I think its great from the metal sections to my favorite part the harmonizing at the end. That said to those who think it "sucks" or they hated it thats fine, you are wrong but thats fine. Why doesn't it suck? Because if you actually have and listen to the FFVII Cids theme original you can fit the lyrics on top without much of an imagination at all and it fits... Also as already stated there are two distinct styles going on in the original, what Jovette did was expand on those and ran with them and blended them together much as they were in the original. When I hear the orginal now I can also hear the lyrics in my head along with it. What Jovette has pulled off is nothing short of masterful. So while I can understand if its not your cup of tea or you personally not liking it and thats fine thats a perfectly acceptable opinion. Saying that the remixer did a bad job on the original or just saying it sucks however is just absolutely wrong. There really can't be too much debate on it when you listen to the original and the remix. This remix is a great interpretation on the original and it took a lot of talent to pull off which Jovette obviously has a lot of. And to quote rathoi: "And that's part of what's missing here. Cid's Theme is probably one of the most memorable in FF7, and I don't believe that this remixer did it justice" My friend Id like to see you or anyone else do better and that is a very steep challenge right there.' In other news someone did make an amv out of this song: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sorceror Nobody Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Put it this way... I define my "very favourite music" as those which I can play on a loop pretty much indefinitely (until interrupted by external factors) without getting fed up with listening to it. "The Crossroads" is only the second track ever to pass this test, and at the time of writing only a few more have passed since. Indeed, this is the track that first inspired my "very favourite music" system, and only retrospect made the first track to pass... well, the first to pass. It's probably my favourite track on the album, although "No Such Thing as the Promised Land", "Mark of the Beatsmith", "Beginning of the End" and "Black Wing Metamorphosis" are all solidly up there too. Then again, to be fair, there are only a couple of tracks on the album that I'm actively not particularly keen on, and none that I outright dislike. It's one of those ReMixes that listening to the original track, or even another ReMix of it, almost always makes me mentally follow the lyrics, and I can't say I dislike the persistence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorscheT1 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 This remix is downright awesome! As a couple others have said, I can put this track on loop and keep listening to it forever without getting bored. I also like how Dusky Ferret put it in regards to the lyrics: they're INFECTIOUS in the best way possible. Amazing stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vgss Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Am I the only one who took "crossroads" too literally here? I thought this was a suicide song at first, especially given Cid's troubled story... Each and every day's the same. Life has left you nothing good. Turn around and you, Will see what has begun to you. Cue your visions of, Immortality in life, Has left you on the crossroads of What to do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 The man makes great music. I'll write a proper review someday, just wanted to post the actual lyrics: Each and every day's the sameLife has left you nothing new Turn around and you Will see what has become of you. Your visions of Immortality or love Left you at the crossroads of What to choose. I think it's a powerful text right there. Basically, it's about finding or choosing direction in life when it's gotten stale. Dunno how well that applies to the character, haven't played the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cremdogz Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Man I loved this song. This is one of my favourite OC remixes. The short bit at the beginning which sounded very epic reminded me instantly of Metroid Prime 3. After that, the very rock type music was really well introduced from the intro. Hearing you're proper voice in the chorus drew me in each and everytime. I will say I didn't like the 2nd verse, but I'm saying that compared to the rest of the song. I loved the way Cid's Theme was used in this song, both in an epic and rock sort of way. But man, at 3:10, that's some of the best stuff I've ever heard. I cranked the volume way up high, something I don't do for many songs, even my favourites. I don't need my songs on high volume, that bit from 3:10 till the end was a complete necessity. When I hear an OC remix or even the original song like The Skies Above for To Zanarkand in Final Fantasy X, when I hear the ingame music, it makes me want to sing to it, and this song is gonna be one of them. One of the best OC remixes I've ever heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sefirosu Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 My god, I can't believe I hadn't posted a review on this one yet! Well here it is: IT WAS AWESOME! The lyrics at the end and between the two verses were cool although hard to get out of my head after listening to it. They don't have much to do with Cid, his struggle against Shin-ra or anything like that, but they're still cool. "You can't believe everything you hear. And you cannot see everything that's near. But if I believe you're gone, then you'll disappear. Still, you reappear, endlessly." "Each and everyday's the same, Life has left you nothing new. Turn around and you Will see what has become of you. Your visions of Immortality or love Left you at the crossroads of what to choose." (^ That's some powerful stuff right there.) I disliked the heavy stuff though. The main thing I liked about this was in the intro; the snare drums with the choral vocals, they seemed a lot like a militaristic march, which I liked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thompson Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 I can no longer listen to the original song without singing to myself the lyrics of Rivera's remix. They're just that good, not to mention the singing which is also superb. One of my all-time favourite remixes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yosefu Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 This is a very fun track to listen to and so are the lyrics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davidrawr Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 I absolutely love this mix. It brings back so many memories from FF7 and sends chills down your spine. It's beautiful and serious in its own nonsensical way. I made an AMV for this afterall: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 An excellent track, The ending is spectacularly anthemic, and the ending finishes it off perfectly. Really solid work, I love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vostok von Istigkeit Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Let me begin by saying that this song is absolutely incredible, and I've never heard a version of Cid's Theme that comes even close to being this good. That being said, I can't fully describe just how much I hate the vocals. Not the specific lyrics, or even your singing voice (which is also really good), but simply the fact that they exist. If I had the money, I would gladly commission an instrumental version of this song, money's tight, so for now I'll just have to say that I think it's... Arrogant? Presumptuous? Just plain wrong to put vocals to music like this. I hate that I have to be so rude and unfriendly about this, and I can't apologize enough for insulting your work (which is still better than anything I could even dream of doing, giving me even less of a right to post this nonsense), but I just can't imagine how someone as brilliantly talented as you could ruin such a great remix by splattering completely unrelated vocals onto it. Alright, I'm done making an ass out of myself. Again, I'm really sorry for being such a jerk about this, I usually try to be a pretty nice guy. It just really gets to me when people make amazing music like this and then destroy it at the last second. But still, I deserve all the angry comments that I'm sure will come as a response to this post. Here's hoping I'm never this unpleasant again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolsonh Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 This song has made me want to play FF7 so much! (I have not, yet!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragnBreth Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 Decided to revisit the VotL album the other day. I figured its been a while since it came out and my taste in remixes has expanded since then. Ran across this one. Dude... Epic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GallenWolf Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Just wanted to say it's fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black_Doom Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Man, this is just pure awesomeness! It's certainly one of my personal highlights of VotL. Every little thing is incredibly polished - the vocals are brutal yet light and even soulful, the guitar chops are killer, the usage of scratches is very creative and neat and the orchestral stuff works pretty as well! Very good song, definitely worth a listen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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