Song of the Week - WEEK 64 Voting/WEEK 65 Nominating

I'm still listening to this week's nominations. There are several that have warranted listening three or four times to determine which I like most.

In the meantime, I'm gonna toss up my next nomination:

Album: RAINBOWS Chris Huelsbeck Vol. 3
Track Title: Giana Sisters (Theme)
Track Number: 01
Artist: Chris Huelsbeck
Catalog Number: HCD-5
Year: 1994
Source: http://www.huelsbeck.com/work.html

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Falcom Special Box '90 - A Fast Flight to You (Ys II "Ending II"): I expect this track will strike the fancy of many SotW listeners. It seems to run the gamut of cheerfulness and melancholy equally, pleasing both palates. I admit that it's not bad, although I definitely enjoy the uplifting parts a lot more. I do think that the violin comes on a little strong at times, however. Still, a good track.

FM Sound Module Maniax - TripleVOPM: This one is very unique, but that isn't quite enough here, for my tastes. The percussion track is interesting but it's way too fast. The sounds are intriguing but I feel that more could've been done at a slower tempo. At 8:47, it takes too long to really build into anything, and I'm not entirely certain that it ever does. The synth-groaning around 3:45 is pretty harsh on the ears.

Genso Suikoden Original Game Soundtrack - Theme of Sadness ~ Guitar Version (from event "Teo's Death"): Ah, the requisite sad-sack entry. I know these tracks appeal to a lot of people but they've gotta be pretty special to pique my interest. 'Theme of Sadness' doesn't do anything wrong, per se; it's just entirely too forgettable in a vast ocean of despondent tracks.

Granado Espada Soundtrack CD - Temptation: This one has me scratching my head. It's weird and parts of it are actually enjoyable, but there are also some moments that leave me a little flat. The style changes are rather stark and I'm not crazy about how the entire mood flip-flops suddenly. It's a fair technique in music, but I feel like the execution was off. Nevertheless, the melodies contained within the string sections are nice and I've found myself liking this track more than several others this week.


Hunks Work Shop! Original Sound Track - Bonus Track: Quirky, for sure. The whistle-synth is highly unusual but not ill-fitting. There's a nice atmosphere that reigns through a lot of it. And the bass synth line in the background is quite awesome in parts. But a major UGH for the vocal interjections. Repetitively annoying, off-key and superfluous to the score. If that woman's voice weren't present, I could see this track doing very well. Thank god for that bass line; I really looked forward to it on the loop.

Phantom Brave ~Original sound track~ - Game Breaker: My submission for this go-round. Tenpei Sato has a reputation for being competent but a little bland in his work. 'Game Breaker' is a glaring slap in the face to everyone who's ever dismissed Sato as a one-trick composer. It's creative, vibrant and bold. The pace ebbs and flows as would a real battle, while the instrumentation temporarily recedes, then comes back with a vengeance for more. The latin-inspired rhythm gives 'Game Breaker' a fiery passion that's quite unusual for Sato's work, and that's why I love it. I can actually see a professional pair doing a tango to this track, it's that charged. Very awesome work.

Pop'n Twinbee: Graffiti - Sky Avenue (Stage 5 BGM): The Twinbee games have offered up some interesting music. The one persistent flaw with around half of them, however, is that they're a lot like cotton candy: they're sweet and fluffy, but once you're done, you've found that it wasn't really that filling. Sadly, 'Sky Avenue' falls into this category. Nice, good to listen to for a little while but it's nothing I'd really come back to. The Twinbee series has better offerings.

Tobal No. 1 Original Soundtrack - Toridon!!: Weirdness abounds! The percussion is very peculiar but not unpleasant. But I do have a bit of a problem with the melodic layer of this track; it seems discombobulated, like the composer was trying to be weird just for weirdness' sake. And when the melody does try to gather itself, it competes with the overpowering drums. I think some volume adjustments could help "Toridon!!" significantly. Also, if I had my way, I'd ditch that gong. It's just too much noise in this track.


POINTS!!

3 Points: Phantom Brave ~Original sound track~ - Game Breaker
1 Point: Granado Espada Soundtrack CD - Temptation
1 Point: Falcom Special Box '90 - A Fast Flight to You (Ys II "Ending II")
1 Point: Hunks Work Shop! Original Sound Track - Bonus Track

In the end, the bass line from the Hunks Work Shop! track got it a point, which I think it's going to need. The Falcom track was a "duh" choice and 'Temptation' had some pretty good moments in between some lesser ones. Everything else felt a little bland or underdeveloped to me. A so-so week, but not all bad. The Falcom track's a sure keeper, and I'll continue loving 'Game Breaker' as long as I live.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I see I'm in the queue again, which is nice. But perhaps someone could add my nomination next time they're updating.

I mean, you got SonicPanda's magnum opus of a track title in there. I must've been passed over in the hour it took to type his nomination up.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by orion_mk3

You'll see soon enough

Yeah. Except I wasn't good enough to make the final cut. I said I didn't think I had anything good enough anyhow, but they were all "no, we want it anyhow". So I give, and they cut me down. "lol, no that's not good at all". "Well, I told you." "Yes, but it's more demeaning this way."

;_____;

How ya doing, buddy?

Aaaaargh. So close to Gold! I'm gonna be lamenting this for a little while. I can take solace in that the results were very close, though. I'd hoped Game Breaker's uniqueness and energy would be enough to win more votes, but c'est la vie.

I happily accept 2nd place. It's not as though the Falcom track is undeserving.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm going to repeat this here:

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

I like option 2. (bar arrangements of tracks above a certain level of obscurity, where that level is somewhere between One Winged Angel and Suikoden)

The way I see it, an arrangement of One-Winged Angel, no matter how obscure, is still going to sound like One-Winged Angel. And I'm pretty damned sick of that song.

A good example would be this:Kid Icarus (Partena no Kagami) & Metroid ~ Arranged Cassete - Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka <05> bgm medley (Metroid)

It's definitely an arrangement and it's probably known but not immensely so. And it's by a reasonably popular composer. Just the same, it's the freaking music from Brinstar! We all know this melody. We've heard it umpteen times. Aside from some more resonant synths and background fx, it's nothing new.

Just because it isn't the original track doesn't mean it's relatively unknown.

So regardless of how obscure a remix of the Chocobo theme is, it's still the Chocobo theme, with which we're all quite familiar. If, for some reason, it sounds nothing like the Chocobo theme, and that's the basis of your argument, then it's just a very poor remix.

I get the sense that this is all a roundabout attempt at invalidating CHz's MintJam nomination.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Darkcomet, I didn't actually listen to the FF VI remix. I was simply saying that it's either a track that sounds very familiar because it's another variation on the Chocobo theme, or it's a track that is different enough to stand on its own because it doesn't sound lke the theme much at all.

In the first case, it's too familiar, even if it contains different instrumentation. In the latter case, if it sounds so little like the original, it has no business being called a remix.

Originally Posted by Dhsu

Also, your Metroid example isn't very good, because it's pretty much a MIDI rip with different instruments. The Special Tracks Chocobo arrangement has an entirely different style.

Quality has nothing to do with eligibility. An arrangement can be the worst piece of crap around and still, technically, be eligible.

Obscurity matters, in both the original source and the notoriety of the arrangement. If someone took a very underrated track from FFVI and arranged that, then it might stand a chance. Maybe. Probably not, but just maybe.

However, when you consider that the chocobo theme has been heard and variated through so many different FF games, another arrangement is really a drop in the bucket.

I used the Metroid arrangement as an example because it's a good demonstration of how a track's obscurity sometimes cannot overcome the melody's familiarity when eligibility is concerned. Obscure or not, 90% of listeners will recognize it as the Brinstar music. Seeing as that theme is well-known enough to have been remixed for use in Smash Bros., I'd say it's not obscure, even in arranged form.

This is basically how I also feel about the FFVI track.

FELIPE NO

Perhaps a source can be too familiar?

I believe that's the crux of the whole debate here.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?