ReMix:Final Fantasy VII "Not the Taxi You Whistled For" 4:00

By XPRTNovice

Arranging the music of 3 songs...

"Farm Boy", "Golden Saucer", "The Prelude"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy VII (Sony , 1997, PS1), music by Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2012-12-18, evaluated by djpretzel


XPRTNovice makes his OCR debut with a creative bluegrass instrumental featuring strummed & plucked textures, some wordless singing, and - as advertised - some rather splendid whistling. Joe writes:

"Of all the songs I ever really whistled from any Final Fantasy game, this was the one that popped into my head the most often. Being brought up on bluegrass music, and listening to the original, it seemed a perfect adaptation to use my whistling skills (something entirely useless in any other context) and my knowledge of acoustic instruments to throw something together. I had a blast doing this.

All of the instruments in this mix are live with the exception of the bass and some of the ornamentation instruments scattered in the background. The whistling, mandolins, guitars, singing, were all done in my makeshift studio here in my house. Other than that, I'll let the music tell the rest of the story.

I sincerely hope you enjoy listening to the piece, even if you decide it's not right for the website. I had a lot of fun making it, and I hope you have fun listening."

Not right for the website?!? Of COURSE it is; creative arrangement, totally unique performance, and this is the type of track where the artist doesn't have to tell you he had fun making it - it's readily apparent. If the Beverly Hillbillies somehow injected themselves into the Final Fantasy VII universe, the soundtrack to such a bizarre singularity might go something like this. The more deliberate intro has a carefree, western vibe going on, where you might picture the credits to a John Wayne film rolling slowly down a tumbleweed-populated dustscape somewhere in Arizona or New Mexico, but then at 1'22" things pick up and get down, and it's time to bust out the moonshine and whistle along, if you've got the chops.

Bit of a tangent (what else is new?), but I actually really love to whistle; I do it all the time (often at the expense of others' sanity), and am happy to see a ReMix so emphatically feature this musical form of expression in both title AND literal capacity. Sometimes it doesn't get the respect it deserves, and while it's damn hard to incorporate into ALL genres, in this context it makes complete sense. Plus Joe's got some serious whistlin' skills, in addition to guitar & mandolin. A mix like this simply wouldn't fly with samples; too much of its soul rests on the immediacy & presence of live instruments and their performance.

At any rate, this arrangement has a lot of charisma and shows off the artist's abilities as a multi-instrumentalist, in addition to being a fun, unexpected, and surprisingly substantive arrangement of the FF7 sources. This could easily have been a shorter, cute "sketch" of a mix, but I respect that Joe took the time to flesh it out and explore the ideas more thoroughly, and I think you will, too! Great, distinct, memorable debut from XPRTNovice, who we'll be hearing more from on the upcoming FF6 album & beyond!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2013-08-10 10:43:07

That's some damn good whistling! So awesome to see some bluegrass appear on OCR like this. I actually have a fondness for these kinds of arrangements, so the entire ReMix made me grin with how natural it all sounded. Just wonderful stuff.

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moosegg3
on 2013-01-17 16:37:09

As Cloud and the group are leaving Midgar, they find a Chocobo farm which has recently been purchased by... the Beverley Hillbillies.

Or maybe a joke about Green Acres is the way to go.

Nonetheless, this arrangement really made me smile. Superbly put together!

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Cash
on 2013-01-16 17:46:44

Yeah! I remember this from the workshop, such an amazing remix! So upbeat and relaxing, it always puts me in a good mood. The guitar work is so expressive, I love it! Gotta love that whistling as well!

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Launch Octopus vulgaris
on 2013-01-14 14:12:40

This remix inspired me to register for the OC forums so I could comment favorably. It's upbeat, fun, and distinct; almost like two of the happier tunes from FFVII were infused with the energy of the Super Mario Sunshine soundtrack (initially I thought Wild Arms solely due to the use of whistling lol). Remixes that make the listener(s) smile are a good thing.

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DimeTower
on 2013-01-09 23:20:42

I loved this. Congratulations on something truly original. I felt totally transported to a bluegrass band (or a back porch) where everyone was getting together and just taking the tune and running with it in a wonderfully organic matter. TREMENDOUS whistling - the ability for that to be both the lead and the background was impressive! A must for everyone who wants something new that they haven't heard before!

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WesternZypher
on 2012-12-22 13:41:56
m_whistle.gif It's gonna be alright.
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Daemos
on 2012-12-22 13:03:35

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!

That is all.

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XPRTNovice
on 2012-12-22 12:56:51
well played! I've been kinda itching for a little more bluegrass from OCR and you definitely delivered. I've also been playing through FFVII lately and thinking it would be fun to figure out Farm Boy on my guitar. You've got some great skills and a lot of creativity. Look forward to hearing more from you!

Thanks :) I'd be happy to pass you the chord structure. It's way easy.

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Dubanubiel
on 2012-12-21 21:21:55

well played! I've been kinda itching for a little more bluegrass from OCR and you definitely delivered. I've also been playing through FFVII lately and thinking it would be fun to figure out Farm Boy on my guitar. You've got some great skills and a lot of creativity. Look forward to hearing more from you!

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Jean Of mArc
on 2012-12-21 00:24:27

Congratulations! I knew right from the first WIP that this would be a winner. :)

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Wiesty
on 2012-12-19 15:52:13

So glad to see this got posted!!! Congratz XPRT!

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Tawnos
on 2012-12-19 05:54:34

Fantastic! An utter delight! By far the best video game whistling song since Deadly Premonition's "Life is Beautiful". I look forward to hearing more from XPRTNovice!

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Skyline Drop
on 2012-12-19 01:14:32

Well, I hit play on this one before even starting to read the write-up, and needless to say I was really surprised from the get go. On OCR, we typically get music in one of the 'holy trinity' genres (electronica, rock, or orchestral). I don't think I've heard bluegrass on this site yet, but if this is the first venture into that genre, then it sets the bar quite high. Nice work all around!

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timaeus222
on 2012-12-18 23:54:00

Haha, this is hilarious. Great take on this FF7 track!

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XPRTNovice
on 2012-12-18 19:31:38

Thanks guys! I'm thrilled to finally be a part of the OCRemix community :)

Sources Arranged (3 Songs)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy VII (Sony , 1997, PS1)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"Farm Boy"
"Golden Saucer"
"The Prelude"

Tags (8)


Genre:
Bluegrass,Folk
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Acoustic Guitar,Mandolin,Singing,Vocals: Male,Whistling
Additional:
Time > Tempo: Fast

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_7_Not_the_Taxi_You_Whistled_For_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,844,947 bytes
MD5:
b08e32efbfd6980041153c3c03ac8987
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
4:00

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