ReMix:The Goonies II "I'm Taking It All Back" 3:25

By TJ Nekko

Arranging the music of one song...

"Password Screen"

Primary Game: The Goonies II (Konami , 1987, NES), music by Satoe Terashima

Posted 2011-02-02, evaluated by djpretzel


Ladies and gentlemen, the year is young, but my personal vote for "Best ReMix Title of 2011" is almost certainly this Goonies II track from newcomer TJ Nekko, aka Dominic Noll. Few can ever forget the poignant bottom-of-well Goonies speech-off between Sean Astin and Corey Feldman; it casts an indelible vision of great oratory, superb pubescent elocution, coin-inspired disillusionment, and a rousing, if moist, call-to-arms. "So I'm taking it back. I'm taking them all back..." is the actual quote, as "Mouth" (because he's verbose/sarcastic, see?) reacts to discovering the many coins tossed to the bottom of the wishing well they've stumbled upon in their subterranean adventures, and is disheartened to observe that said currency did not ACTUALLY turn into granted wishes... Hey, that's why his nickname isn't "Brain," right? It still made for some damn powerful monologuing, and Mikey followed it up with the mantra of our generation, "It's our time down here!," which could easily make for the second-best mix title of 2011, and is probably what I would have repeated to myself had I been trapped with the Chilean miners.

Right then... Sean Astin later went on to continue shrinking, grew tufts of hair on his feet, and held a veritable workshop in on-screen blubbering as he saved Mr. Frodo from a big spider, killed some orcs for his old Gaffer, and married that bartender chick from the first one, while Corey Feldman unlocked the achievement of outliving the other 80's Corey-of-Note (RIP), thus ending the second cold war. What's all this got to do with VGM? Next to nothing, but when you invoke my 80's childhood memories with your mix title, this is what happens. There's still no corresponding sequel to the first Goonies film, but the first NES game enjoyed this follow-up which, largely due to its Konami pedigree, had some nice tunes. In his original submission email, Dominic wrote:

"I always loved simple songs that you can just listen to for hours and this one is no exception. This song is very upbeat and innocent, so I wanted to keep that clean and cheery sound when working on my mix. I drew some inspiration from other "clean" pop and rock bands like Gary Go and U2 along with some indie rock, like Amusement Parks on Fire. I'm also a huge fan of Drum and Bass music, so you'll see some influences in the structure of the song."

The initial version of this mix was rejected due to mastering/volume issues and a cutoff on the ending, but was thankfully resubmitted with these tweaks made. It's rather eclectic, introing with major-key retrotronica but juxtaposed against a nice rockish rolling hihat cymbal. Drums drop in and the d'n'b influence is clear, but there's a nice acoustic flavor to the beat that works well with the overall texture. Synths are lofi and gritty, but never grating, and the arrangement has a positive, anthemic feel to it, with a nice floaty dropout and some sweet outer space sweep/fall FX. Beautiful at times, and certainly different, this is a memorable debut mix from a more obscure source that will hopefully get some eyes & ears on it and encourage TJ to submit more musics. If he had played the wrong notes, we would all B♭, but he never said die, he followed them size fives, and he saved our homes from becoming a golf course, so kudos to him & his pinchers of power.

Alright, I'll stop now.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Necrox
on 2015-12-24 17:36:43

Awesome intro and follow-up. Very upbeat stuff. The held notes are great effects IMO but I can see how some would find them muddy. Interesting and fun mix.

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Polo
on 2015-12-24 03:05:31

Such a warm intro and outro - they wonderfully build upon the source's tacit plea for Mikey to keep going because Goonies never say die. In general, I love the gentler parts in this mix, especially the heavenly break at 2:20. 0:36 is a fitting boost in energy, although the lingering guitar at 0:42 (slightly panned left) detracts from the mood a little. This is one example of a synth in a busy section holding a note for a few seconds before "releasing" it (a prominent example is 2:32-2:37). I'm sure these instances are meant to add to the mood, but instead they kinda muddy it. Speaking of which, I can't say I'm a fan of that growling guitar at 1:45+. It sounds like another song overtaking/imposing itself on the main melody and disrupting the emotive reputation it's built up. I'm also not sure what purpose the alarm whistle at 1:57 serves (sounds surprising and feels incongruous).

Still worth a listen overall, because the Password theme from Goonies II is underrated.

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Moguta
on 2013-03-29 15:39:06

Somehow, via all the wonky corruption issues with my old Droid X phone, this song ended up as my default ringtone through no intent of my own. (Happy coincidence though, since it has a nice fade-in beginning that prevents startling everyone with sudden loud music.)

So imagine my surprise and confusion upon hearing this old ringtone come from my new Galaxy Note II phone, while it was on vibrate, while no calls appeared to be coming in, and while some "Goonies II I'm Taking It All Back" remix was supposed to be playing instead! Thought my new phone was starting to go on the fritz!

Can't believe I haven't heard this as a complete song until now. Silly shuffle algorithm. :tomatoface:

Due to the above, I don't know if the "you're getting a call" mental association with those first 30 seconds will ever go away. But I must say, Goonies II: I'm Taking It All Back is an enjoyably upbeat remix. It reminds me of a more electronic version of OA's Phoenix Wright: This Feeling. Very fun. Thanks for the music AND the story TJ Nekko. ^.~

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urdailywater
on 2013-02-26 21:26:52

Why doesn't this have more comments? This is an awesome remix! Exciting, fun, and a bit uplifting to. This is the kind of music I'd like to hear in an RPG when you first set out on your journey, or something like that.

The DnB works very well here. I especially really dig the bass that comes in at 1:45. Super thick.

The transition at 2:20 maybe could have been handled a little better, but it does work. The fun lead synth slides after that section are fun to listen to. And it ends very well too, so awesome work on that!

Overall a good song. I'd highly recommend this one.

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Crulex
on 2012-09-26 11:32:21

Password screens aren't the kinds of tracks that I can imagine ReMixers being able to ReMix with ease, so getting this kind of result is pretty sweet. It sounds like early OCR at some points, which isn't a bad thing, and the low-finess keeps the spirit of the original alive, which I liked. So yeah, nice debut. Nice debut with numbers and passwords. Data likes.

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Rexy
on 2011-12-09 11:52:59

Another tricky source to remix, but if one likes handling them to create something expansive out of them, I'm all game to see what they have.

So this simple 8-measure source was used sharply with this DnB/guitar-lead hybrid, with the riff being used as the background beat towards it. One may say it's too repetitive, but for me there's a lot of meat with the drum work, initial synth processing both during the intro and closer towards the end, and some strong guitar expression work. The manipulation of the chords at 1:45 was also very strong to break things up and add in a more of a sense of character as well.

In regards to nitpicks, you probably should've watched out for some dissonance during that 1:45 section I discussed though; that kind of ended up breaking the detail somewhat when seeing the bass and chord work somewhat clashing together in a couple of spots. Dissonance can work if it's intentional, but for something really happy like this it's probably not a wise thing to go for.

But I enjoy it anyway simply for A) the general happy tone, B) a good example to expand on such a simplistic original song, and C) it's the goddamn Goonies; what's not to like? :razz: I'm hoping you take the experience into a new entry soon Nekko - from what I heard, it's a very promising debut!

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Locke
on 2011-11-10 20:12:43

This is simply absolutely spectacular.

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Martin Penwald
on 2011-04-06 15:58:18

Intro has a classic-OCRemix feel to it. Guitar/synth is sweet, and the underlying dnb rhythm gives the remix a lot of energy. Nice breakdowns, too, particularly the one around the 2 min mark.

Good stuff; looking forward to hearing more from you.

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The Radical Sifu
on 2011-02-03 07:53:06

Good stuff! I especially love the part at 1:46, although I was a little disappointed in the end because I felt that that section was building towards something huge that never quite transpired...

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RDX
on 2011-02-02 20:15:20

Very tasty. And I second that Sonic Colors sentiment.

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CC Ricers
on 2011-02-02 20:06:58

It's very Sonic Colors-esque. Me like.

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OA
on 2011-02-02 14:43:55

I love this song so much, thank you for creating it :-D

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Capt. Stupidity
on 2011-02-02 13:07:49

Man, this year has gotten off to a pretty kick-ass start, and now February raises this bar with this one. I like the lo-fi sounds, sweeping synths, and drums. Awesome!

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Palpable
on 2011-02-02 13:00:39

Love this track, it's very easy to enjoy even without knowing the source (which I didn't before hearing it). The grittiness of the breakbeats and synths is a great foil for the smooth bliss of the glittery FX. Peanut butter and chocolate. Awesome debut work from Dominic.

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MechaFone
on 2011-02-02 12:52:37

HEY YOU GUUUYYYS

Check out this remix. Well done, especially for a premier remixer. I'm not familiar with the source, but this song is certainly more exciting than the usual password screen. Again, well done!

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
The Goonies II (Konami , 1987, NES)
Music by Satoe Terashima
Songs:
"Password Screen"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Rock
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electronic,Synth
Additional:
Time > Tempo: Fast

File Information


Name:
Goonies_2_I'm_Taking_It_All_Back_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,012,676 bytes
MD5:
eb66aff53d3c7e7701be0cf44848591f
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
3:25

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