ReMix: Final Fantasy VI 'Canvas of Dreams'

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In a bit of a rush right now, so this is gonna be super, super brief. Newcomers Geoffrey Taucer and The Prophet of Mephisto submitted an excellent piece awhile back that nevertheless was rejected because it relied too heavily on The Eagles' Desperado, the melody of which they'd woven into Mitsuda's Xenogears soundtrack quite artfully. It was a tough call and resulted in a clarification being added to the standards, and it was made all the tougher by a sweet ballad arrangement and some soulful, well-executed sax. Well, they're back, and this time they left Don Henley behind and covered Relm's theme from FF6 and the ending theme from Radical Dreamers. There's acoustic strumming, appropriate and natural acoustic percussion, electric lead, cello, acoustic piano, and seemingly intermittent fretless bass. The spotlight is definitely on the sax, which is simply beautiful. Kenny G catches a lot of shit for being weaksauce elevator music, which is often true, but you still gotta recognize his skill at the instrument and the purity of his tone, and I'd liken the better parts of this performance to that sort of ability. Check the run at 3'10" for a good bit of fast fingering, too. The whole arrangement capitalizes well on the organic nature of each element; my only critique would be that I'd have preferred the bass been a more consistent presence, as it seems to drop out or fade widely in prominence. Nevertheless, as with their previous, ill-fated submission, there's a lot of warmth and soul here, and the unquantized and intimate setting serves the coupled source material amazingly well. I'm glad that GT and Mephisto persisted and sent this one our way, as I think it'll have broad appeal and speak musically to the numerous fans of both games.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
nice playing and arrangement concept, I dig it. A little too loose in some sections, but overall it was a very relaxing sound. Nice run, and a good transition to the second theme at the end. Really nice tone on the sax, and good intonation, and the deceptive cadence right before the end was beautiful.
Very good stuff guys.

- OA on February 25, 2010
42;496940 wrote:
Darn it, this reminds me of something and I can't really think of what. >.<

Heh, I thought the same thing. For the first couple seconds I was sure it was Wild Horses :) (kinda lost it when the piano came in though)

- stkyle on February 17, 2010
:banghead:
Darn it, this reminds me of something and I can't really think of what. >.<
It sort of sounds like .... no, nevermind.
All I can say is that everything feels appropriate and just the way it should be.
They really did an amazing job here, but its just not quite my style.

- 42 on January 19, 2009
When I first listened to this, I was afraid it was going to be Relm's theme ruined by some cheesy elevator music take that would once again only serve to remind me of fake potted plants, pastel walls, and oddly abstract watercolor landscapes such as what one finds in doctor's office waiting rooms.
Thankfully, I was proved wrong. I'm not the biggest fan of sax, but it actually sounds good in this piece.

- Lucentas on December 6, 2008
Am I the only one here that finds this track annoyingly feeble? Maybe it's just too "easy listening" for me. I do have a real issue with the acoustic guitar - the playing is not very tight. And what's that mega-loud chord at 03:15? (Ok, that's nit picking.) I do have to compliment the sax playing. Very pleasant, and a great tone. The guitar lead ain't bad either. Overall however the track is quite limp and frankly it's a bit scary how much love it's getting. Well, I guess it just doesn't do it for me.
--Eino

- evktalo on December 11, 2007
For some reason this song makes me envision sitting on a blanket at night on some remote hilltop, stargazing with a loved one...
A canvas of dreams indeed. Top notch work, you two.

- Durinthal on April 27, 2006
Geoffrey Taucer wrote:
Terium wrote: The sax is great here. Sounds real. No complaints.

The sax [i]is[/i] real.

Well there ya go!

- Terium on January 1, 2006
Geoffrey Taucer wrote:
Terium wrote: The sax is great here. Sounds real. No complaints.

The sax [i]is[/i] real.

grrr....

- prophetik music on January 1, 2006
Terium wrote: The sax is great here. Sounds real. No complaints.

The sax [i]is[/i] real.

- Geoffrey Taucer on January 1, 2006
Quite nice. Ballad-like, as others have mentioned.

- Durinthal on December 30, 2005
Very smooth. This is pretty good chill music. Nothing over the top, but it's not meant to be.
The sax is great here. Sounds real. No complaints.

- Terium on December 30, 2005
awwww.. tear* ;_;
really pretty. ok i need to stop listening. lol

- jorgandar on December 16, 2005
This song is just amazing, instantly brought me back to Arab Painting, and for some reason, holiday sitting-around-the-fire-with-presents music. It's bliss, I just wish there was more Relm sax.

- badhabit on December 7, 2005
Hey! Congratulations to both of you for getting this on OCR. Very memorable and a wonderful first for both of ya.
GT you my boi.
Bring us some more of this soulful sweetness you two.

- SirRus on December 7, 2005
seven. i've been rejected seven times =)

- prophetik music on December 7, 2005