ReMix:Mega Man 2 "Smooth Steel" 2:30
By Malcos, zircon
Arranging the music of one song...
"Metal Man Stage"
Primary Game: Mega Man 2 (Capcom , 1988, NES), music by Manami Matsumae, Takashi TateishiPosted 2011-03-09, evaluated by the judges panel
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming... Nice little post-Missingno vacation for yours truly, but now it's back on track & full steam ahead. Speaking of, plenty of community folks are finally back from GDC, where apparently gut-busting shenanigans, life-changing revelations, and epic win all occurred. Sometimes simultaneously. The two I'd like to focus on are:
- OCR peeps bustatunez, Dan Reynolds, Jeff Ball, and zircon (through proxy by Jill) won a GANG award for Monkey Island 2 Special Edition!
- zircon/pixie totally won the GANG GDC composer's challenge!
Congrats to all, especially the Aversas, who appear to have ended GDC with a G.A.N.G. bang. <pause for uncomfortable silence>... But seriously, big kudos are in order, and so for mix OCR02200, we've got a very different Mega Man 2 ReMix from Andy, with vocal stylings by Malcos:
"This mix is a real blast from the past. I made the instrumental in 2006 as the source material for the first "VOCR" competition (Vocal OC ReMix), organized by Jill (aka pixietricks). The idea was that everyone competing would write, arrange and record vocals atop a premade instrumental ReMix. Malcos' entry was this track, "Smooth Steel", which I think has some great lyrics, a killer vocal arrangement that meshes very creatively with the Metal Man melody, and excellent vocal performances.
My production may have improved since I first made this instrumental, but I still think it holds up after all this time. The style I was going for was R&B/smooth jazz in the vein of Paul Hardcastle, who, at the time, I had just discovered. Malcos' smooth vocals fit perfectly on top of my arrangement, and while I might do things differently today, I really like how this collab ended up. Enjoy!"
I think the whole point of the mix is to sound dated, really... reminds me of Milli Vanilli (scandal aside, great tunes!), Terence Trent D'Arby, mixtapes, zipper jackets, and FM radio. Vocal performance isn't spotless, but man did Stephen nail the vocal arrangement & lyrics; complete late 80s/early 90s verisimilitude, and some really nice rhymes and layering. Basically, it sounds like it was meant to be, which is impressive when you consider it's a Mega Man 2 tune being transmogrified into a complete, two-and-a-half minute foray backwards into the broadcast radio hits of yesteryear. It's also a great example of a competition yielding some very solid, postable, unique results; vocal tracks are less common, often because of different skillsets and the challenges of coordinating a collaboration, and this competition facilitated that process in a sort of ad-hoc fashion. OA's got this one:
"Super awesome arrangement here, once the chorus hits, it's all smooth source sexiness. Great vocal takes, solid harmonies, and the backing track is really good as well. Pads fill out the back nicely, and the piano provides a subtle counter-melody. My one concern is that the original melodies are a little prominent in the verses, but it's still apparent throughout that it's the metal man theme.
Overall solid stuff, Malcos is a singing sensation, and zircon was still awesome even 4 years ago, when I was just a scrub trying to figure out how to make phat beatz online."
Some things never change, Luers. Great, very unique stuff from Andy & Stephen; I'd love to see more like this, whether coming out of competitions or not. Congrats to them for making something different that I think works, and to Andy in particular for his success @ GDC!
Discussion
on 2012-10-01 14:09:20
Holy shit. I was simply not ready for that at all. Those vocals are freaking amazing and I love the lyrics to this. This goes so well with the smooth RB feel that works with these kinds songs. Absolutely cold and slick. One of the best takes on Metal Man's theme I have ever heard. I love how the Mega Man tracks lend themselves so well to somber vocal mixes like this one.
nice!
on 2011-05-10 16:00:22
[...]and it's even nicer to hear something which harkens back to an era when RB wasn't terrible.
This.
For some reason, the intro reminds me of Lover Reef, while the vocals/lyrics remind me of JoeCam's Ode to a lost love.
on 2011-03-21 16:44:56
Man do I enjoy this song. Reminds me of something I'd hear from mid-90s RB groups. The male vocals in this community are great indeed.
My only gripe about it is, it feels TOO SHORT.
on 2011-03-15 19:03:29
I've zipped up all of the VOCR1 entries, including the original instrumental and alternate entry. You can download it here:http://themacattack.net/music/VOCR1.zip
Smooth Steel was my pick out of the competition. It's a good mix, however I think that Malcos and zircon could've worked together to flesh it out a little more from a structural perspective.
Thanks for putting this back up, man! Lots of good entries there, including Malcos' track of course. Your mashup one is pretty good as well...really fits the track.
Would've been cool if they modified the original submission a
bit, but it is what it is. Still not a bad track. 
on 2011-03-13 17:26:55
I've zipped up all of the VOCR1 entries, including the original instrumental and alternate entry. You can download it here:
http://themacattack.net/music/VOCR1.zip
Smooth Steel was my pick out of the competition. It's a good mix, however I think that Malcos and zircon could've worked together to flesh it out a little more from a structural perspective.
on 2011-03-12 20:19:04
I would've linked you guys to the competition thread itself so that everyone can check out the results, but sadly the links are down. There were some awesome tracks from Jillian herself and even rap versions by zyko and Chlorophil.
I know this isn't a review... but yeah I went to go listen to
some of the other tracks from this compo, and all the links are
down 
Does anyone know if they're still up
anywhere?
on 2011-03-12 19:59:09
Absolutely love this track. I think it's been through my playlist like 50 times this week already. I've never been a huge fan of vocal remixes, but I really like how it worked here. Great job!
on 2011-03-09 20:15:12
Wow...such a blast from the past, indeed. About time! Loved the track back then when I caught eye of the competition and love it now. Curious whether if there was any modifications to the OCR version.
I would've linked you guys to the competition thread itself so that everyone can check out the results, but sadly the links are down. There were some awesome tracks from Jillian herself and even rap versions by zyko and Chlorophil.
Been a participator of VOCR ever since. We need more tracks submitted from these competitions, specifically one that Liontamer has been dying to see on the site. Ironically, Malcos is in charge of the composition itself (not doing any singing) and Hale-Bopp provides the vocals. This is the best occasion to get Over Oceans Blue submitted! Do it, Malcos and Hale!
on 2011-03-09 14:29:24
I was actually listening to Color Me Badd not more than 10 minutes before this track went up, so this is very relevant to my interests....
you win this round.
like the melody, and no offense, but i'm just not into the vocal
ReMixes. any chance of a karaoke version? 
on 2011-03-09 11:36:39
so good, there were some great results from that contest, and this was one of my favorites, along with the 2P track. I've kept this mp3 ever since, and have been a fan for awhile. Good to see it posted!
on 2011-03-09 11:21:49
It's nice to see Malcos with something new again, and it's even nicer to hear something which harkens back to an era when RB wasn't terrible.
A++ would listen again.
on 2011-03-09 11:19:04
I watched this on my phone yesterday on youtube before it was posted and thought it was pretty cool, though the youtube quality on phones is not preferable.. Also it's 2:30 and not 192kbps, what's up with that? No matter, this was a really interesting mix and I like to hear zircon with male vocals! I hope you do it again in the future!
on 2011-03-09 10:59:49
I was actually listening to Color Me Badd not more than 10 minutes before this track went up, so this is very relevant to my interests. Lyrics are incredibly smooth, the underlying track is solid... it's all just a glorious retro calvacade that I am digging so much.
(also, it's about time something Malcos-related hit the front page again)
Sources Arranged (1 Song)
- Primary Game:
-
Mega Man 2 (Capcom
, 1988,
NES)
Music by Manami Matsumae,Takashi Tateishi
- Songs:
- "Metal Man Stage"
Tags (5)
- Genre:
- Jazz,R&B
- Mood:
- Instrumentation:
- Singing,Vocals: Male
- Additional:
- Lyrics > Lyrics: Original
File Information
- Name:
- Mega_Man_2_Smooth_Steel_OC_ReMix.mp3
- Size:
- 2,500,288 bytes
- MD5:
- b929b54474b98b17463242af09b21c31
- Bitrate:
- 128Kbps
- Duration:
- 2:30
There's nothing you can do to me
You've inflicted all the pain
That you ever will, and now
I don't want to see your face
Every second I think about you is
Time that I waste
There's a smooth steel cage
Around my heart
The first time you almost got in
and that's why
I gotta forget about you
Gotta leave you far behind
Gotta keep moving forward
Girl I've got a
Smooth steel
Cage wrapped around my heart
It's not made of stone
That can be weathered away
Dead cold
As only steel can be
There's no emotion to see
And it's all because of you
I don't wanna be your lover
I don't wanna be your friend
Don't want to be undercover
I'm so glad this is the end, girl
You don't seem to understand
That all you've caused me is pain
All you care about is yourself
I don't wanna go through that again
I said...
I don't wanna be your lover
I don't wanna be your friend
Don't want to be undercover
Girl I've got a
Smooth steel
Cage wrapped around my heart
It's not made of stone
That can be weathered away
Dead cold
As only steel can be
There's no emotion to see
And it's all because of you
Don't try to get me back
It won't work
Don't try to call my friends
They don't care
No one can do the things
You did to me
I said I'm dead cold
As only steel can be
There's no emotion to see
And it's all because of you
Download
- Size: 2,500,288 bytes
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