I’m going through each of the original sections one at a time to see what’s there, and to decant them from Cakewalk. The idea is to break them all down into their component parts, (stems, loops, samples, patches, rhythms, and melodies) and then use that as the raw material for the remix.
Unfortunately, that means that I need to listen to every single parade component, no matter how awful.
This one is my third-least favorite. The original idea wasn’t too bad. Layering Powerhouse on top of a manic jungle beat at 175 bpm is borderline seizure-inducing. So far, so good.
But then I went on to add some melodic interest. I really don’t remember why I ended up with Linus & Lucy. I suppose I justified it with a combination of any children’s song is fair game, and that bassline could conceivably come out of a TB-303. It’s dumb regardless.
This is only third-worst because of one element I still like. At about 0:49, the beat gets gated, which I think sounds cool (and was a little more unusual in 1998).
But it barely justifies the overpowering bass honk at 54 Hz that I should have fixed, the irritatingly repetitive and sloppily played piano, the timing collisions between the beat and the melody, and the jarring tempo change to 175 bpm.
Listing image: “Chuck Brown” by Tim O’Brien