ReMix:Silver Surfer "Wanking with the Alien" 4:37

By Midee, prozax

Arranging the music of one song...

"BGM 2"

Primary Game: Silver Surfer (Arcadia Systems , 1990, NES), music by Geoff Follin, Tim Follin

Posted 2012-09-11, evaluated by djpretzel


Still more mixes from artists we haven't heard from recently!! In this case it's a twofer, with an arrangement by Midee (2006) featuring smokin' lead guitar from prozax (2008), taking on Tim Follin's legendary score to the notoriously difficult Silver Surfer on the NES. Jason & Dan have teamed up several times in the past, with great results, so there's no real reason not to expect similar kickage of ass. The former writes:

"This arrangement was done for MAGFest's Japan Tsunami/Earthquake fundraiser relief fund. Thanks to Arto Helske for his donation!

I first heard the music to this game a little over a decade ago, and absolutely loved it. Though there isn't a whole lot of tracks, I was amazed at what Follin did with the NES palette, transforming it into a soaring flight of epic fancy that shoots you right out into space, rocking your face off the entire way. Then I actually played the game (yikes!).

Despite the title, we actually tried to keep the wank to a minimum, as in not much more than the original. I decided to try my hand at rhythm guitars this time around, leaving Dan (prozax) solely to lead guitar duties. Rather than load it up with epic orchestral sounds or giant pads, I opted for more of a 70s prog rock feel, with my usual space echo effects interspersed with bubbly and arpeggiated synths with some vintage string machines ...and there's even cowbell!"

Cue obligatory fever remark... This is definitely one of those soundtracks that has a certain elevated status among VGM diehards, and Jason describes it very eloquently & accurately; glad we've finally got our first mix! Definitely a prog vibe, with some of those synth solos channeling Styx in particular at times. You're fooling yourself if you don't believe it. An ever-ascending series of riffs climbs into the stratosphere as part of an intro that sets the outer-space progressive rock pacing off, and what's this?!? Not only is there cowbell, but a veritable COWBELL SOLO circa 1'03" - nice syncopation on the drums. Synth solo at 1'36" would put the Emerson in ELP, and the overall aesthetic is both of the era & exceptionally well-executed. But what to make of the mix title?? Does it refer to the speaker wanking along with (in addition to) a single alien, or is "the Alien" in this case referring to all aliens, i.e. any alien. Or is the speaker the only one wanking, with an alien simply in nearby proximity, and not objecting? Or is the speaker actually using an alien... to wank? In a word: YES (actually, WillRock informed me it's a reference to a Joe Satriani album that was itself referencing the comic!)

Midee & prozax are two collaborators who absolutely work seamlessly as one complete whole, and this is yet another ReMix that proves it. Awesome stuff that takes me back simultaneously to the days when I played the NES, the later years when I got into prog rock a bit more, and also the years when we saw submissions from Jason & Dan more often - all great memories. Great to hear from both artists again, and hope to hear more, sooner!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 13 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2014-03-09 11:43:43

Very clever to use the mix title and the ReMix itself to make things come full circle from Joe Satriani's own references. Still, pretty good ReMix with a nice chunk of classic rock vibe. So glad to hear some of the Follin bros' work get some love in this style.

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WesternZypher
on 2012-09-13 12:25:12

Midee's Tactile Freefall and prozax's Clamato Fever have heavy rotation on my playlists..so Their Powers Combined makes for an awesome remix! Love Satriani's jamming, and the duo channeled his style perfectly. Great mix! 8)

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Fishy
on 2012-09-13 05:18:54

HELL yes.

You guys have made so many of my favourite mixes, and to go and do something this satchy is brain-melting.

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zykO
on 2012-09-13 04:52:42

wankerrific!

deliciously satchy, er, catchy

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Schneau
on 2012-09-12 08:01:43

This remix is about 2491 remixes later than it should have been. This soundtrack is fantastic, and justice has been served. Well done!

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Damashii!!
on 2012-09-11 20:50:38

jesus, 1:49.... so good. and 3:30... YES YES YES YES.

some good wanking right 'ere. there's wanky guitar wanking, and then wanky guitar wanking, but I like this kind of guitar wanking right here.

the original source is intensely dope too.

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Magellanic
on 2012-09-11 20:14:06

My god!!! A Silver Surfer remix and its SOOO awesome. Fab stuff. I'm gonna be listening to this one for a long long time! :)!!

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Brandon Strader
on 2012-09-11 19:31:07

This is a really fantastic song, and I can see why it was direct posted. So good! Great production and performance, you put guys like me to shame. Wouldn't mind talking to you sometime about a metal remix project *cough* I mean great job, I hope to hear a lot more from you. :-)

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Mirby
on 2012-09-11 18:44:17

This is an awesome track. :3

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psychowolf
on 2012-09-11 18:29:08

First thing i noticed was the satriani reference and then noticed it was BGM2 from silver surfer which in my eyes had one of the greatest rock soundtracks in the 8bit to the 32 bit era.

Needless to say i love this remix.

from the spacey style opening (still referencing surfing i guess?)

to the breakdown around the minute mark where there's solo's aplenty.

Prozax,Midee.

you sir's have made my day :D thanks

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WillRock
on 2012-09-11 18:14:44

Agreed, silver surfer has been along time coming for OCR coverage. And I wasn't the one to do it -_-

Btw, this just might be the greatest mixpost name in the history of anything ever. To explain, the mixpost name is a reference to the Joe Satriani song "surfing with the alien" which Joe Satriani named in reference to Silver Surfer. He even put the silver surfer on the cover art for the album, just google it :D

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Gario
on 2012-09-11 18:02:40

Who took on Silver Surfer? Seriously, this has been a long time coming for this site.

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djpretzel
on 2012-09-11 17:57:39

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Silver Surfer (Arcadia Systems , 1990, NES)
Music by Geoff Follin,Tim Follin
Songs:
"BGM 2"

Tags (8)


Genre:
Metal,Progressive Rock,Rock
Mood:
Aggressive
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Synth
Additional:
Arrangement > Extended Soloing
Origin > Collaboration

File Information


Name:
Silver_Surfer_Wanking_with_the_Alien_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
9,304,482 bytes
MD5:
3da3572868154a1405fca6a80876afa8
Bitrate:
265Kbps
Duration:
4:37

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