Donkey Kong Country Remix Album Review

Donkey Kong Country Remix Album

New remix album available from iTunes, Amazon Mp3 and Cd Baby.

After the critical acclaim of “The Greatest Bits'” first album Mega Man 2, his follow up remix album of Donkey Kong Country has now been released.  After a glowing review I gave of the first album, I was very excited to peek under the hood of the latest offering.

Pre-warned by the composer that it might not sound as “chiptuned” as the first album, being that this was a remix from a 16bit platform rather than a larger 8 bit jump, I wasn’t sure if this one was going to be as interesting to listen to.  And with that, I have to say that as the first song started playing, it didn’t seem to have the same dynamics as it’s predecessor.

Haha, well, I don’t know if that was a deliberate tease by the composer, because after a few seconds of the intro, it suddenly burst into life as a full stereophonic onslaught of modern sounds, while retaining that retro feel.

The first thing I couldn’t help noticing, was how to production sounded even fuller and more profesional than the last album, leaving the mind boggling over how long he must spend creating these tunes.  It was also apparraent that he had spread his wings by experimenting with different ‘real life’ instruments, such as a Chinese instrument which gives the first song an oriental feel which reminded me of Shinobi X on the Sega Saturn.

Then, on the second song, an added pianno gave it a more ‘Final Fantasy’ feel which wouldn’t sound out of place on the Final Fantasy 10 soundtrack.  Hmm, maybe there could be a job for him over at SquareSoft’s studios.

I have to say that probably my favourite track was number 5 (Aquatic Ambiance), a much more serious sounding tune which had a lot of atmosphere, and a tune which I just know will grow on me the more I play it.  This song could eaily be used for a film soundtrack of some sort.

Beyond track 5, the mood then changed again as the album took on a more dancy feel, and sounded very current.  As mentioned before, what I find appealing about his remixes, is they have an up to date sound quilty wise, yet still stays faithful to the original rather than being a complete departure.

As mentioned in my last review, his style is begging for a Final Fantasy 7 remix, or should I say I’M begging for a FFVII remix, I’m sure it would be very popular with his fans and be well received in the gaming community.

As for a rating, I am very tempted to give this 98%, but the problem with that is it isn’t going to be me much room for movement, as I feel each album is going to get better and better.  Therefore, I would like to award this a very solid 97%.  Make sure you listen to the samples HERE, and if you like what you here, for the sake of a few bucks, support somebody who is truly doing something for the Retro Games Community.

You can grab a copy from iTunes, Amazon Mp3 and Cd Baby.