ReMix: The Guardian Legend 'The Scarlet Halls of Night'

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I don't know about you, but when I think "Wingless," I think "effeminacy"... no wait, rather I meant "multitalented"... ahh, heck, since he and co-host pixietricks have taken over the reigns at VGDJ and seen fit to mock me (the utter audacity!) in their very first episode together, I figure I'll go with both, just to be safe. John's starting '06 off with a bang, scoring two-for-two in both January and early March, as (relatively) hot on the high heels of his World of Warcraft mix he brings us this take on the Guardian Legend, his third arrangement from its score. The ReMixer writes:

"MENTION THE SITE AND I"LL LOWER MY CAPS"

At this point I'd like to mention that John Allen Burnett, aka "The Wingless," has never had his own personal website, and never will. Moving on... this is an arrangement that essentially sounds like what you'd expect it sound like, given the title - relatively mellow, piano-led, waltz-tempo orchestral arrangement. One half-expects Anastasia (as voiced by Meg Ryan) to pop-up and start dancing in slow motion as the camera pans around her, with a CG background. Have you heard? There's a Wingless in St. Petersburg! Not that either of his efforts from 2002 were bad - far from it - but I think comparatively you can hear the polish and maturity the years between those mixes and this piece have brought; the overall work is more cohesive, piano is no longer battling acoustic guitar for melodic supremacy, the last metroid is in captivity, and the galaxy is at peace. The arrangement does have a Russian flair to it, strings are used effectively, the initial pauses with chimes in the intro are tasteful, things develop fully and the progression becomes more challenging at around 2'13", plus we get some epic brass thrown in for the mid-section pushes. One potential glitch - the entry at 2'41" seems to abruptly expose a too-swift attack on the samples being used, making the entrance artificially sudden. This might be the type of thing that only bothers people like me, but in a sea of otherwise appropriately tranquil waters, it rocked my boat momentarily. Well-handled ending, however - piano gets exposed at 3'32", and at 3'52" the left hand cuts out as well, leaving the music-box melody all alone. Midrange piano comes back in to keep it company for the conclusion, a nicely drawn out, ritardando arpeggio thang. I'm personally glad that with his new job at Midway John's still found the time to remember the little people and continue creating excellent ReMixes. You'll most certainly wanna check this out if you're a fan of TGL, Wingless, or small dancing Russian ballerina girls (and who ISN'T!?!?), and also be sure to witness John and Jill in all their podcasting glory in the latest, 100% less-Canadian (for better or worse) episode of VGDJ.

― djpretzel