Final Fantasy VII Remake "A View from the Top (of Shinra HQ)" 5:58

Another day, another TheManPF collaborative vocal showcase, it seems. :-) After rocking out and brightening Valentine's Day with a whole different set of musical teammates, TheManPF complements, supplements OCR's catalog with another vocal showcase, this time Final Fantasy VII Remake jazz with an even bigger lineup:

• Arrangement, additional lyrics, mix, electric guitar, and backing vocals by TheManPF
• Tenor sax and backing vocals by newmajoe
• Lead vocals by Michelle Dreyband
• Violin by Ronin Op F
• Keyboard (piano) by jnWake
• Drums by Kev Ragone
• Upright bass by Andre Beller

When TheManPF first heard "Scarlet's Theme" within FF7 Remake, in all its associated opulence, he just had to bask in it further AND add his own seamless spin:

"This is a smooth jazz/jazz ballad track that I submitted to Final Fantasy Month in DoD in November 2023, a competition where it placed 6th out of 31 tracks. I'm not much of a jazz guy, but I can dig some jazz ballads or smoothy jazz vibes every now and then, and in particular "Scarlet's Theme" from Final Fantasy 7 Remake stood out to me. When I was playing, I remember being in absolute awe when I reached chapter 16 and stood in front of the window of the highest building in Midgar and looking at the starred night sky, in the middle of what looked like a 7-star hotel, with this playing in the background, the vibes are just immaculate.

Naturally, it made me want to cover this ever since, and when I finally got the chance, I decided to keep the vibes faithful to the original. This kind of remix is what I like to call an "extended cover"; basically, what would this sound like if there was a "full version" of it? (Even though there's already a full version, whoops.) Basically kept the first half or so very, very faithful, with a few changes in instrumentation (mostly sex, I mean sax). After the first chorus, it goes into an original bridge with lots of solos, before coming back for an original second verse and a new second chorus, with some chord changes on the way to make this spicier. It's not the first time I try to reimagine how a track would sound if there was an extended version, but it's the first time you'll see me submit one of these."

Their source tune choice of "Scarlet's Theme" was certainly inspired; I thought Shea's Violin somehow got hired for FF7 Remake when I heard 2:07's violin solo in the source, wow! Now, just as he did with his Kirby ReMix, TheMan unreservedly gives his flowers to his six jazzy cohorts, folks he had in mind for quite a while with his concept:

"Obviously for this one I gathered a MASSIVE team of SUPER-TALENTED MUSICIANS. I had all of them thought out like a year in advance, I knew exactly who I wanted to collab with, and they all delivered beyond my expectations:

Joe is playing tenor sax. Of course, this isn't nearly the first time I collab with this guy, but he's one of the most insanely talented people I know, and sax is his thing. He both played the lines I wrote and lines he improvised himself during the whole song that spiced it up so much more while also keeping it smooth. He also sang a little backing vocals in the choruses for support.

Michelle Dreyband is someone who I've heard sing several times but I couldn't get to collab with her much until now. She has a gorgeous voice and an excellent technique, she's mostly classical-trained, but I knew immediately that she had a voice that would fit this perfectly.

Ronin Op F is my violin go-to. He's complementing the whole song with a lot of live violin lines to help it give more movement. You may have heard him play like an absolute crazy madman in "Rib Eye Rodeo", but here you'll hear that he can easily play smooth and relaxing lines just as well. He also improvised his own violin solo.

It's criminal that I haven't collabed with my Latino brother jnWake before. He always does these crazy proggy songs with lots of synth noodling, but he's also an excellent pianist, and I invited him to lay down both rhythm and improvised melodies, and he did an excellent job.

Kev Ragone is someone that surprises me is not in OCR already! (LT's note: We got him now!) He's not exactly a newbie, he's involved in numerous music projects both in and out of DoD, he's one of the most prolific VGM drummers I know. This is my first time collabing with a real drummer, and, by god, the work of this man is insanely good. He laid down his groove so fast and so clean, he had a whole ass take just mere days after I sent him the arrangement and it sounded great already even before I actually started mixing! You could say Kev is the MVP of this song.

This is one of the few tracks where I don't have Zach playing bass (sorry, buddy ): ), mainly because for this one I recruited pingosimon, also known (and credited) as Andre Beller, someone who doesn't have much in OCR but just like Kev, he's a very well-established Shizzie. He helped me by playing the mother-fucking UPRIGHT BASS, and it sounds as beautiful as you would expect.

I arranged, wrote (partial) lyrics, mixed, played guitar, and sang backing vocals. A cool thing about this one is that it's the first full cover I've done that's 100% live, no sequencing at all, and I'm very proud of how this one came out. So go get a drink, sit back, and enjoy the view from the top."

Contrary to conventional wisdom, we don't need OC ReMixes to sound so, so, SO drastically different than their source tunes, we really don't. Of course, judge Hemophiliac not only knows that fact, he also respects and appreciates the art forms of VGM & jazz:

"When I listen through this, I can think of one word that describes the arrangement and performances. Restraint. There is so much restraint demonstrated here. Things don't fly off the rails and get crazy, the mellow-but-upbeat vibe remains throughout. At any moment, the soloing or direction could have gone crazy, but it stays within a nice range. Kudos for keeping the vibe intact even in the solos. That all probably sounds weird to say, but I mean it as a compliment. Usually when I would go to the jazz lounge I would always hear the performers want to show-off rather then keep it within the vibe of the song.

Semi-typical jazz form here, with head-solos-head. Energy level picks up with the final recap too. Love the tone of the guitar, not sure but sounds like a hollow body (and I don't feel like I hear much in VGM) which is where my preference lies in the genre. All of the performances in this are stellar, and the mixdown is fantastic. Everything blending very well and leads stand out in front when they are featured.

Absolutely YES"

Just as Hemo's noted, this was very conservative tone-wise, but nicely done figuring in some new instrumentation choices and writing ornamentations. It's a perfect example of an arrangement that, energy and tone-wise, deceptively sounds more like a close cover. Kev's drums together with Andre's bass give this pure sophistication and depth, while Michelle's vivacious vocals expertly set the mood. I enjoyed Ronin's vibrant take on the violin and then newmajoe's stylish sax afterward into their leading duet at 3:20 was awesome! And jnWake's keys are luxurious with a capital LUX. Nice job on the performances, everyone, and nice job to TheManPF on steering the ship. Smoove personified!