Nights Remix ~Another Dream~

Nights Remix does not demonstrate any grounbreaking, cutting edge techno mastery. What it does offer is a considerable, authentic selection of memorable Nights melodies mixed in fluidly with familiar dance music styles. It's a combination that most any fan of the original Nights music or of simple "let's have a good time" dance music should really enjoy.

The CD doesn't start off as much fun at all, though. "Message From NIGHTOPIA (We'll be Back Mix)" comes out with a cliched rap beat (not even qualifying as "hip hop") and obnoxious distorted electric guitar that make for a terribly simplistic version of the main Nights theme. It is neither a promising nor accurate indication of things to come - quite easily the worst of the instrumental tracks.

I make the distinction of track 1 being a poor instrumental track because of the unfortunate fact that there are some poor vocal tracks as well. In fact there are four tracks with a focus on vocals, all of them using the main vocal theme "Dreams Dreams" heard in the game's ending. Only the "Club 12-inch GK Mix" makes a positive impression, with its upbeat use of synth bass and piano. The other three versions aren't terrible in any particular way, but they offer nothing worthwhile over the original version of "Dreams Dreams" in the OST, thus the song is certainly overdone.

Fortunately, once the vocal tracks, "Message From Nightopia", and decent but not especially noteworthy remixes for "Gate of Your Dream" and "Know Thyself!" have been accounted for, the CD gives Nights fans some remixes to remember.

"Paternal Horn (Sweat-T-shirt Mix)" is where the fun starts. The simple get-up-outcha-seat beat gets things going, with a short Nights instrumental sample teasingly thrown in to draw anticipation for some true Nights-style dance music. Once the bright, cheerful Nights melody from Paternal Horn (one of my favorites) enters in full form, the piece becomes a true joy to listen to. It very much captures the spirit of Nights while adding a dance flavor that you can't help but want to move to. There is a short rap sequence thrown in about two-thirds of the way through the song, but its placement and execution make it a boost to the track.

"The Mantle (Acid acid love Mix) has a more no-nonsense, "comin' at ya" feel to its melodies and jazzy instrumentation of horns and keyboard (I think it's from one of the boss themes), with another perfectly placed interlude in the middle - this time a nice piano bit. Meanwhile "Under Construction (Wow wow 70's Mix)" utilizes a simple but body-movin' beat, piano loops, groovy bass, and some disco-style synth strings to provide retro fun.

However, the artists definitely saved the best for last in track 11's "Peak Power From After Hour Climax" remix of "Growing Wings". It starts in deceptively mediocre fashion, inconspicuously introducing the drum beat and Nights main theme (in instrumental form, fortunately) that will be used with great results later on. You don't realize what a treat you're in for until the space launch style radio-transmitted voices begin, the tempo quickens, and the song truly blasts off with the onset of the final stage's Growing Wings melody. That melody is perhaps my favorite from the game, fantastically capturing the bright, cheerful feel of Nights, and the new dance-style additions do nothing to compromise it.

Even at 66 minutes, the CD seems a little short, probably because of the several tracks that are pretty skippable. However, the standout tracks offset any potential feeling of insufficiency. The dance instrumentation isn't as modern or complex as that of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Underground Mixxes can be, sticking to more tried-and-true formulas instead. But strongly in its favor are the extremely lovable and memorable Nights themes, which are mixed in more extensively and fluidly than in other game remix albums like Final Fantasy Mix. Fans of the Nights OST (basically anyone who's heard it) who have an occasional taste for simple, fun dance music will feel entirely gratified to have added Nights Remix to their collections.

I am an enormous fan of the original NiGHTS soundtrack. One of the finest scores Sega has ever produced, it's a magical exposition of marvelously written melodies. A blend of keen techno and pop intuition and hypnotic fever dream ambience all sparked with dazzling creative energy, the original score is a true tour de force interpretation of the soundscape of dreams. More than happy to revisit this delightful aural haven, I snatched up Nights Remix as soon as I learned about it. Hearing it, however, was a shock that left me not only disappointed and disgusted, but outright angry. Nights Remix takes what was a wonderfully diverse, musically innovative score, and ruins it through a degenerative mish-mash of entirely generic techno beats with no sense of musical aptitude and direction.

Everything is so wrong with this CD that it is difficult to choose where to begin. Suffice to say, all that distinguished NiGHTS as special and unique has been removed. The upbeat, enjoyable pop/gospel vocal song "Dreams Dreams" has been dismembered and left to rot in the sun with three entirely needless new remixes. Each version differentiates itself superficially in terms of dance style and sample mix, but this is not enough to overcome the incessant redundancy of hearing the same song exploited with tired, stale beats and simplistic, rudimentary synth accompaniment. The worst offender is the "12' Club GK mix", an eight-plus minute track that will not die, which tumbles endlessly through the main vocal chorus. Strangely, the CD also includes the a capella version of Dreams Dreams contained in the Christmas NiGHTS CD. This arrangement owes itself more to a Boyz II Men album of trite, syrupy R&B disaster than game music.

To me, the biggest joke on the CD is the remix of my favorite piece on the OST, "The Mantle". The original version was an insanely cool slice of bad-ass funk/jazz that featured an intricately patterned, progressively irregular bass drum trip beat entwined by a wild virtuoso jazz saxophone solo and background strings harmony. Miura and Katsuura had the incredible savvy to incorporate none of this into the remix, instead choosing to center it around a barely perceptible nine-note motif that occurs in the background of the original's harp strings and human whispering bridge section. This simple statement repeats ad nauseum to the accompaniment of an equally inane, amateur "I-wish-I-knew-how-to-rock" electric guitar line, as a wearyingly repetitive drum track cycles relentlessly. The original song is completely unrecognizable. Ironically, I would have to say this is the most tolerable selection on the CD.

The whimsical, versatile main theme of NiGHTS has been redone in classic 70's porn movie fashion, with a ludicrously cheesy and overdone hip hop beat and a nightmarish grinding guitar. Anybody up for NiGHTZ G? I'm not. Meanwhile, the infectiously catchy melody of Splash Garden, after an indistinct, spacey appearance roughly 1/4th of the way through the remix, is subsequently snubbed in favor of generously sampled "Yeah!"-ing and a simple techno beat. What's worse, the song has been fixed to include the one ingredient the original was clearly lacking: rapping.

Ultimately what we have here is a generic album of cookie-cutter techno/dance beats, in the midst of whose endless droning the original themes actually pop in for an occasional cup of tea, albeit in very brief, incongrous spurts. For those who just want to "grind to the beat", this album probably serves as well as any of the basic junk MTV-style dance mix CDs for sale at your local record store, but to those hoping for a well-crafted, invigorating reworking of the excellent Nights score, I advise you stay away from this disgrace.

Man, this is how it's done. Go Katsuura and Toshinori Miura must have gotten straight A's at Arranging School. It's a shame Konami didn't enlist these guys to do Dracula X Remixies. Though all the arrangements fall into the dance/club music genre, there is still a refreshing variety that makes each song memorable - unlike the other aforementioned title. Several songs ("Under Construction" in particular) have a hip retro sound, others have typical 90's dance beats, and the remaining tracks pretty much define their own categories. In something of an oddity for arranged soundtracks of this nature, the original melodies are almost always audible inside the pulsing chaos of synth and percussion.

The arrangers made great selections from the original soundtrack, though I would have loved to hear "Suburban Museum". My one insignificant complaint is that they make too liberal use of NiGHT's vocal track, "Dreams Dreams." There are four separate mixes out of 11 tracks on the CD, and they throw pieces of the lyrics in other tracks as well. Luckily, they do enough with the song that each arrangement stands out from the others. They all have entirely different beats and instruments, and markedly changed tempos (one mix is even a capella). Still, I would liked to have seen that space and effort given to other melodies instead. A couple fun novelties other game music fans might enjoy are the inclusion of snippets from the children-performed version of "Dreams Dreams" (which was missing from the OST) and the familiar "1-2-3-4-5-6-Do it!" sample heard in FF Mix's Megamix.

This really is one fantastic CD. For NiGHTS fans, it definitely gets my endorsement, but I'm betting other game music fans will enjoy it too.