Commodore Remix

With the recent release of Glyn's Brand New Firelord remix, (a beautiful piece of work), I sat, listened and enjoyed.... and felt just a slight sense of grief & mourning for the 2002 version which I've loved and even commented on...... Would it now be confined to 'Room 101', never again to be held up for the truly sensational piece of work it is, (and IMHO a true benchmark here on Remix64).

Well, if you felt the same little feeling inside, JLT has just dispatched my latest, (in this instance, I'm gonna say) 'Cover Version'...

As I have written in the track notes: over 60 hours of listening and working out the feel, joins and nuances of the 2002 version.. (and Boy! are there some tricks in the arrangement) Glyn! I really tip my hat to you for that arrangement, given the limitations in 2002 and what you still managed to create...

Just about another 100 hours putting my version together to keep the feel and hopefully most of the nuances.... plus my own little twists, obvs.

As ever with my remixes, all comments are welcome, (unless you're called 'omoroca' and you want to put a yellow on & state the 'bleedin' obvious about the orchestra not being real - LOL)

Whoo, boy, this is a tough one, Peter!

On one hand, the technical achievements of this remix (...of a remix ) are undeniable. The instrumentation is as good as one can get without hiring a real orchestra in Prague (right, Chris? ). To me the absolute highlight of this arrangement are the new vocals/choirs that appear at 2:02 and towards the end - I wish they were featured more in this remix.

On the other hand, this is "just" a refresh of a previously created arrangement, and thus, feels a bit redundant. Other than the different vocals, it doesn't add much to Glyn's 17 year old arrangement. One of the reasons I really like Glyn's 2019 arrangement is because it is NOT a rehash - he actually changed the arrangement in significant ways (IMHO, to its advantage), in addition to giving it an instrumental "update".

Don't get me wrong, Peter, the amount of work you put into this is phenomenal, and it really shows (thus my high marks on RKO). I know from myself how much one can learn by trying to deconstruct and then reconstruct somebody else's arrangement. But to be brutally honest, your remix is something I might not listen to much ever again - but I tend to listen to Glyn's on a regular basis, and I'm sure I will continue to do so until my ears turn blue.

Imre.. Thank you! Once again an even handed review..

It never really occurred to me to deviate from the 2002 version, other than adding a few of my own tweaks... and I accept the fact that THIS IS Glyn's arrangement from 2002.... (or as near as I could get using just my ears to deconstruct it)... but that was kinda the point!

Like an old book that gets battered and torn over the years because so many people have picked it up and read the much-loved story inside, the 2002 remix became dated. Because the quality of sample packs has improved, (so much) in 17 years, the bindings and pages of the 2002 version became dog-eared and torn... but so many people still love the story inside...

So, I wanted to restore the book but not rewrite the story. Glyn's new remix (in this context anyway), is a 'sequel', a different story - It's 'Firelord II'.. As I stated above, for all the good feelings I had listening to the new version/arrangement/story... there was just this tiny sadness that the old arrangement might now be gone, overshadowed by 'the new baby' and put in the cupboard with all the other old toys that we no longer play with... and that's the reason for spending the time to produce this.. I wanted to give it a better quality, up to date sound with more depth and 'boom' but stick faithfully to the story...

I suspect there will be 2 sets of opinion on this one.. and as usual here on Remix64, only time will dictate which one is greater....

It is actually astonishing to me that you managed to "re-enact" Glyn's original arrangement just by ear. I would've thought you contacted Glyn for his original project file and maybe got some MIDI sequences off of him... I guess not!

And I really like your book analogy, too.

You can never have too much Firelord. The new orchestral version that's actually playable and doesn't need a choir has gone through even more versions! I think there are inevitable sonic deficiencies in the original 2002 version from limiations on the samples (and indeed in Fruityloops). I did a similar thing with Thalamusik on Back in Time 2: a recreation of the Zzap!64 tape by ear because the versions of the original out there were all hissy and occasionally warped.