ReMix:Golden Sun: The Lost Age "To the Open Seas!" 3:37

We DID say we'd be revisiting Golden Sun: A World Reignited soon, and this triumphant, rousing, heroically epic symphonic march arrangement of "Full Speed Ahead!" by Deedubs (Mike DeWeese) is just too much fun:

"I was excited for TSori when he told me, fresh off the release of Arcadia Legends, that he was taking on his own album project for Golden Sun. He asked me if I wanted to take on a remix for the album. Despite having never played any of the Golden Sun games myself, I was excited to see what I could contribute. After 3 years of helping out with Arcadia Legends and working with a multitude of genres and styles, I felt the itch to go back to what got me into writing music in the first place: Big, orchestral, larger-than-life, adventurous film score music! I wanted to once again capture that sense of adventure and excitement that I had heard in the music by the likes of James Horner, Alan Silvestri, and, of course, my biggest influence, John Williams.

Most of my inspiration for this remix comes from Williams' "The Land Race," which is originally from the movie Far and Away, but I remember it most fondly as the music used in the theatrical trailer to Treasure Planet. That trailer had such a massive impact on me as a young teen, and the music was a big part of it. Never did I realize until years later that that music was a piece that had already existed. 16 years later, I heard "The Land Race" in full for the first time in late 2018, and when the parts that were used in the Treasure Planet trailer came on, I don't think I have ever felt a bigger wave of nostalgia than what I felt in that moment. This remix is my response to that nostalgia.

I hope you enjoy, and get ready to set sail!"

The practice of reusing one film's soundtrack for the trailer to a completely different movie always struck me as weird; I remember the main motif from Willow being used on like, three different trailers, back in the day. Same for the main theme from Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Both absolutely fantastic pieces, so I get the appeal, but it just made me think more of those movies instead of what was being previewed. Go figure. I've mentioned previously that a lot of contributors to A World Reignited pivoted off of Arcadia Legends, and that was unequivocally a Good Thing for the album - there is no better example than Deedubs' work, as this spirited, thematically spot-on, & adventurous orchestral/cinematic march illustrates. Rexy writes:

"Mike had shown with Arcadia Legends that he could tackle several types of themes in differing styles - so it was no surprise to see him do the same for Golden Sun: A World Reignited, thanks to covering a pair of ship themes. This cinematic overhaul of the one in The Lost Age contrasts the smooth bossa nova that was "Smooth Sailing" with a more adventurous orchestral setup, translating the source into 12/8 and breaking it down into a track that won't be out of place in a 90s blockbuster film soundtrack.

There's plenty of things to love with this one. Firstly, the articulations are on point and work well with the velocities to create a well-crafted dynamic path. Secondly, the source interpretation has a delicate balance of straight coverage of the source (e.g., 0:23, 1:14, 1:46, the sole use of melody C at 3:12), as well as doing what cinematic works do and use melody snippets as recurring motifs (e.g., 0:07, 1:28, 2:50). And with careful attention to instrument placement and balance, Mike steered a tight ship in bringing his vision to life. It's well worth the time invested in its creation and well worth enjoying as a standalone track in its own right!"

Rexy's analysis is thorough & covers what needs to be covered, making my job much easier :) Can't really lump enough praise on Mike's contributions to both albums, or this mix in particular, which simply nails the vibe & gets the high adventure/open seas blood pumping. Enjoy!