ReMix: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior 'Memories of a Master'
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- Game: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Capcom, 1992, ARC)
- ReMixer(s): Captain Hogan
- Composer(s): Isao Abe, Yoko Shimomura
- Song(s): 'Ken Stage'
- Posted: 2011-07-22, evaluated by the judges
Shouldn't that be "Memories of a Masters"? But no, newcomer Captain Hogan (Hulk, Heroes, no relation...?) artfully avoided the punhole and drove his vehicle around it, realizing his Ken in rather a new way:
"I've been hearing a lot of rock versions of this track, and occasionally some electronic or folk-like versions of this song, but I have never heard a jazz version. The song is way to good in those chords to have nobody do it justice in that sense, so this was my attempt at the jazz version of the song. All of the instruments (guitar, bass, drums) are done by me."
I've actually been mentally working on my own arrangement of this, in an untried (to my knowledge) genre, but it's not jazz, so I don't have to hate the Captain for beating me to the shoryuken. OA writes:
"Really interesting idea to take Ken's theme on a jazzy journey, as seriously, it just demands to rock so much, it takes a true master to resist the call. Style-wise, this is just what the theme needed, as the source is so familiar with so many people, that hearing it in this context is really fresh and cool. The guitar tones were great, and the drums and bass were serviceable, and kept the track grounded. They weren't especially exciting on their own, but had small nuances that kept them interesting enough as role players."
It's a great, absolutely classic theme - there's good reason Capcom used AE & Prozax's souped-up incarnation for the HDR title & menu music, and good reason 'The Ken Song' sticks in your head weeks after only a single listen. While it has been arranged quite a bit, this is actually only the third posted ReMix of it here on OCR, which is definitely surprising. Mellow elec. guitar intro that sounds like it could actually go heavier segues nicely into the jazzy groove drop @ 0'31" - love the fret noise & doubled-up, cross-panned guitar tones. Vinnie adds:
"The melody line has a different, way more laidback rhythm, and there are extra notes littered throughout. The backing guitar has some great original lines. The weak spot here is the drums but even then, I thought there was just enough effort put into them that they didn't sound lazy."
Judges also pointed out the bass being dialed up a bit, but actually the only thing that kinda bugged me was the line hum, evident particularly on the outro. Alright, so production isn't immaculate & there's room for some improvement there, but I actually LIKE that the drums are so clean and the bass deep - really brings out the guitar, which is emotive, articulate, and sells the arrangement as if the melody had been crafted this way from the beginning. Promising, chill debut from Captain Hogan that puts a new face on a familiar theme and avoids flowcharts entirely ;)
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - Bahamut on December 15, 2011
- Crulex on September 6, 2011
That being said, the remix is not really my cup of tea; it's just too melancholic. Certainly an interesting direction to take the theme in, just not for me.
- Martin Penwald on August 24, 2011
- eshman on August 7, 2011
- WesternZypher on July 25, 2011
Great work!
- DjMystix on July 25, 2011
- Swanky on July 25, 2011
- ZealPath on July 23, 2011
- DiGi Valentine on July 23, 2011
- uay on July 23, 2011
- Brandon Strader on July 22, 2011
- GallenWolf on July 22, 2011
