Sunday, March 18, 2018

Channel F: SURPRISE ULTRA-MEGA-KING-KONG-SIZED BONUS: Best of 2017 – John’s Picks!




WARNING: This submission is SUPER-DUPER LONG – like “Insane in the Membrane” long!!! Like, take a week to make the track list long!!! It’s the musical version of a “tl;dr”. And now for a non-musical version of one, here’s the explanation (with track list to follow):

If you’re new to Nerd Noise Radio, and feel this is oppressively long, fear not (and certainly unsubscribe not)! This is not at all indicative of a standard episode! Typically, episodes generally find themselves in the half hour to an hour and a half range. This is a once-a-year super-duper track-fest that is as long as it is because I couldn’t be more committal! 

I created a list of all “candidate” tracks from 2017 that I would consider for a favorites episode….and ended up with a whopping 122 tracks! For perspective, an ordinary episode of NNR is anywhere from 20-35 tracks. So, I started pruning back the list with the goal of hitting 40 tracks, mayyyybe 60 at the extreme. I started by cutting the tracks on my list that were already featured via listener picks on C1E25: The Best of 2017 since you, the listener just heard them a few days ago. I did include a list at the very bottom of these notes featuring the tracks that were in C1E25, and were therefore cut from my list so you can know which tracks they were. 

I gradually whittled my list down to 70 tracks, but couldn’t think of any more to cut. And besides, with so many tracks that I would’ve wanted featured absent already, and so many “me tracks” already featured on C1E25, I felt like I was beginning to approach the precipice of this not being worth doing anymore if I cut too many more out. It wouldn’t be representative enough, especially when there was already a good representation of “my tracks” selected by the listeners in the proper Channel 1 episode…..

…..and thus…..

……..a 70 track, 3hr and 23 minute long music block JUGGERNAUT!!!!

Actually, 71 tracks! I realized belatedly that in my quest to trim it back, I trimmed out all the NES tracks….and we just couldn’t have a Best of 2017 episode without AT LEAST ONE NES TRACK, am I right? There were already a pair of FDS tracks which, to be fair, is just an NES and then some, but it’s still not quite the same, don’t you agree? So, our opening track was a last second addition to make sure we got some real deal NES glory in this monster. I hope you’ll feel it fits.

This is already long enough that I can’t feature it on the dedicated Channel F feed, so it will only be appearing on the All Channels Feed, on YouTube, Twitch, Archive, and Blogspot. Also, due to the extreme length, the customary intro and outro of a typical Channel 1 episode were cut, meaning that this episode is pretty much JUST the music block! If you’re catching this via the “video-ified” version on YouTube or Twitch, I will still include pop-ups for each track. But if you’re listening to an audio-only version, like podbean (the All Channels Feed), or Archive, then the ONLY place where you will find track info is in the show notes! So, they are more important than ever! In the case of YouTube, which has a character limit for descriptions, I fear that I may run afoul of that, and may need to move the tracklist to the comments section instead. So just keep an eye out for that. If you don’t see a track listing in the description, then you know where to look next. :-)

All that said, I actually am really proud of this track list – particularly the track ordering. We start out with a fun, happy block, followed by dark, then intense, then weird, and then…..well, you’ll just have to tune in to follow the carefully curated ebb and flow and weave of this winding, twisting musical journey. I will say that other than our very last track, which has a PERFECT “goodbye” feel, we wrap things up with a jazz block. So, it’s truly an “all over the world” musical experience! And how we get from happy, to dark, to intense, to weird….and then to jazz is a question you’ll have to find out for yourself by listening. If you can survive the 3 ½ hour non-stop trip, I promise you that it is the biggest, boldest, broadest, richest, most ambitious journey I’ve taken you on as a podcaster!

Lastly, I made sure to get at least one track from every episode in here. Had I been going by pure preference, the track list may have looked a tiny bit different (though not much), but having as my secondary goal to get every episode involved, I made the list the way I did, picking my favorite track(s) from the episode not already featured on C1E25. In the case of C1E7 (the Sword of Vermilion soundtrack), my favorite track, Statts, was already taken, and it became a multi-way-tie for second favorite, so I just chose a track that I thought would go well in the mix. I chose Dungeon 2.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it! 2017 was a great year for the program, and I’m convinced you’ll find 2018 even better…..I know I do ---- which means this task for me will be even harder next time! Get ready for 90 tracks next time…..maybe 91! ;-)

Cheers!

-John (Nerd Noise Radio)



Track Number – Track Name – Game – System – Composer – Episode Originally Appearing on – Time Stamp

(unless obviously otherwise) :-)

01: Intro – 00:00:00
02: Title Theme – Solstice – NES – Tim Follin – Ep 16: 00:00:15
03: Lovely City - Lovely Planet - Multiplatform - Calum Bowen - Ep 4 – 00:03:09
04: Nice Day - Spindizzy II - X68k - Toshiya Yamanaka - Ep 2 – 00:05:44
05: Chilled Reflection (Feat Rudy Escobar) - DYA – Neon Dreams (Album) - Ep 14 – 00:09:15
06: July 2014 - eShop Music - WiiU/3DS - Kazumi Totaka - Ep 6 – 00:11:35
07: Stage 1 - ChipChan-Kick - PCFX - Yoshio Furakawa, Masahara Iwata, and Hitoshi Sakamoto - Ep 4 – 00:14:28
08: Fun with Laser Guns - FearOfDark - FDS – BotB Winter Chip 8 – Ep 8 – 00:17:40
09: Metro City Subway - Final Fight CD – Sega CD - c: Harumi Fujita, Hiromitsu Takaoka, Junko Tamiya, Manami Matsumae, Yasuaki Fujita, Yoko Shimomura and/or  Yoshihiro Sakaguchi / a: T's Music - Ep 15 – 00:21:11
10: High Sky - El Viento – Genesis - Motoi Sakuraba - Ep 16 – 00:23:15
11: Snow Land - Wiz 'n' Liz - Genesis – Matt Furniss – Ep 12 – 00:25:37
12: Tachy Touch - Knuckles Chaotix - 32X - Junko Shiratsu, Mariko Nanba - Ep 2 – 00:27:53
13: Ethnic Cave and Flame - X-Men - Arcade - The Konami Kukeiha Club – Ep 10 – 00:28:54
14: The Vile Peaks - Final Fantasy XIII - PS3 - Masashi Hamauzu – Ep 10 – 00:31:24
15: Twilight Palace (Outside) - LoZ: Twilight Princess - GC/Wii - Toru Minegishi, Asuka Ota - Ep 4 – 00:34:10
16: Options - Bram Stoker’s Dracula - Genesis - Matt Furniss - Ep 2 & 17 – 00:37:18
17: Intro - Sabre Team - Amiga - Matt Furniss - Ep 12 – 00:38:46
18: Cycle 1 - Streets of Rage 3 - Genesis - Motohiro Kawashima w Yuzo Koshiro) - Ep 2 – 00:41:38
19: Bonus 1 - Second Samurai - Mega Drive – Matt Furniss - Ep 12 – 00:44:51
20: Mission One - T2: The Arcade Game - Genesis – Matt Furniss – Ep 12 – 00:46:19
21: Traveller's Tales - Knight Arms - X68k - Toshiya Yamanaka - Ep 2 – 00:48:30
22: Yug's Stage - Cosmic Carnage – 32X – Hikoshi Hashimoto – Ep 13 – 00:51:05
23: Stage 5-2 – Bram Stoker's Dracula – Genesis – Matt Furniss – Ep 17 – 00:53:01
24: Stage 4-3 - Bram Stoker's Dracula - Genesis – Matt Furniss – Eps 12 & 17 – 00:55:30
25: 4th Cause - Psychosis - TG16 - Atsuhiro Motoyama – Ep 4 – 00:58:17
26: Naja's Stage - Cosmic Carnage – 32X – Hikoshi Hashimoto – Ep 13 – 01:02:47
27: Gong Shun Sheng - Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty (Dark Legend) - Multi - Seiichi Hamada – Ep 4 – 01:04:56
28: Dungeon 2 – Sword of Vermilion – Genesis - Hiroshi Kawaguchi and Yasuhiro Takagi - Ep 7 – 01:07:34
29: Swamp - Samurai Ghost - TG16 - Gappy, Miyoshi Okuyama, and/or Hiroyon – Ep 20 – 01:09:47
30: Passage - Destiny - PS4/XB1 - C. Paul Johnson – Ep 16 – 01:11:26
31: Options - Daffy Duck in Hollywood - Genesis – Matt Furniss – Ep 12 – 01:14:37
32: Title Screen - LED Storm - ZX Spectrum - Tim Follin – Ep 1 – 01:19:00
33: Japonesque - Shinobi 3 - Genesis - Hirofumi Murasaki, Masayuki Nagao, Morihiko Akiyama – Ep 10 – 01:21:39
34: Character Select – Cosmic Carnage – 32X – Hikoshi Hasimoto – Ep 13 – 01:23:58
35: Theme of Solid Snake – Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake – MSX (SCC) -Konami Kukeiha Club – Ep 5 – 01:26:01
36: Opening 2 - Hisou Kihei X-Serd – PC Engine - Masaya Sound Team - Ep 11 – 01:28:58
37: Wacky Workbench (Past) Sonic CD - (All vers.) - Sega CD - Minoru Kanari and/or Makoto Oshitani - Ep 15 – 01:32:31
38: The Vertical - Ghost in the Shell - PS1 - Joey Beltram – Ep 16 – 01:36:11
39: What About the Future - Jet Set Radio Future – Xbox - Richard Jacques – Ep 20 – 01:42:35
40: USA Race 4 - Trickstyle - Dreamcast - Richard Beddow - Ep 4 – 01:46:50
41: Casey Jones - TMNTTF - Genesis - Miki Higashino - Ep 2 – 01:49:55
42: Team Select - NBA JAM – Genesis - Jon Hey - Ep 18 – 01:52:26
43: Inferiority - Hisou Kihei X-Serd – PC Engine - Masaya Sound Team - Ep 11 – 01:54:56
44: Cylic's Stage (Fully Armored) - Cosmic Carnage – 32X – Hikoshi Hashimoto – Ep 4 & 13 – 01:56:11
45: Platforming – Cathedral and Sewers - Batman Returns - Sega CD - Spencer Nilsen - Ep 15 – 01:58:25
46: λαβύρινθος (Labyrinthos – Dungeon) - The OneUps – Songs for the Recently Deceased (album) - orig. From LoZ – NES – c: Koji Kondo / a: The OneUps – Ep 19 – 02:01:27
47: Buying Lumber (Build 2) - The Sims - PC - Jerry Martin Ep - Ep 4 – 02:05:31
48: Esto Gaza - Final Fantasy IX - PS1 - Nobuo Uematsu - Ep 16 – 02:10:27
49: Waltz of Water and Bubble - Liquid Kids - Arcade - Kazuko Umino - Ep 16 – 02:14:06
50: Capital - Sim City - SNES - Soyo Oka – Ep 10 – 02:16:07
51: The Day the Sun Exploded - FearOfDark - SAPx2 – BotB Summer Chip 3 – Ep 8 – 02:18:58
52: Map - Wolfchild – Genesis – Matt Furniss – Ep 12 – 02:21:07
53: Mission Briefing - Time Trax - Genesis - Tim Follin - Ep 2 – 02:22:23
54: Stage 4 - ChipChan-Kick - PCFX - Yoshio Furakawa, Masahara Iwata, and Hitoshi Sakamoto - Ep 4 – 02:29:55
55: Stage 3 – 1943 Kai - PC Engine - Tamayo Kawamoto - Ep 18 – 02:31:57
56: Title Theme - Zelda II - FDS - Akito Nakatsuka – Ep 1 – 02:34:00
57: Zena-Lan's Stage (Fully Armored) -Cosmic Carnage – 32X – Hikoshi Hashimoto – Ep 4 & 13 – 02:36:09
58: Name Entry - LED Storm - C64 - Tim Follin - Ep 4 – 02:38:00
59: Northwall – Actraiser – SNES – Yuzo Koshiro – Ep 3 – 02:41:09
60: Taris Apartments - Star Wars: KOTOR - PC - Jeremy Soule – Ep 9 – 02:44:06
61: Althena's Shrine - Lunar: The Silver Star - Sega CD - Noriyuki Iwadare, Hiroshi Fujioka, and/or Isao Mizoguchi Ep 15 – 02:45:24
62: Waltz of Meditation (part 1) - Magical Chase - TG16 - Hitoshi Sakimoto – Ep 16 – 02:46:26
63: Collision Chaos Zone (Present) - Sonic CD (US Version) - Sega CD - Spencer Nilsen - with David Young and Mark Crew - Ep 15 – 02:49:02
64: Serpent Road - Final Fantasy VI - SNES - Nobuo Uematsu - Ep 18 – 02:52:22
65: Zora’s Domain (Day) - LoZ: BotW - WiiU/SWITCH - c: Koji Kondo / a: Yasuaki Iwata – Ep 18 – 02:54:21
66: Wavelet (Gustava Conversation) - Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake – MSX (SCC) - Konami Kukeiha Club – Ep 5 – 02:57:30
67: Options (D.A. Garden) - Sonic CD (JP/EU Version) - Mega CD - Minoru Kanari and/or Makoto Oshitani - Ep 15 – 02:59:45
68: It's Not Too Late – DYA – Neon Dreams (Album) - Ep 14 – 03:04:01
69: Port Authority (Port Town) - The OneUps – Part Seven (Album) - orig. From F-Zero -SNES – c: Yumiko Kanki / a: The OneUps – Ep 19 – 03:06:22
70: Martinis for Two (Latin 2) - The Sims - PC - Jerry Martin - Ep 4 – 03:11:00
71: End Credits - Ai Chou Aniki - PC Engine CD - Iwasaki Taku Ep 20 – 03:17:13
72:  Shipwrecked (feat Jredd) - DYA – Neon Dreams (Album) - Ep 14 – 03:20:53
73: Outro: 03:22:42

Music Block Runtime: 03:22:48; Total Episode Runtime: 03:23:12 (Yes, that’s a difference of only 24 seconds) :-)

----------------------------------------------------------

Now, the Tracks that were NOT featured in this episode, but would’ve been had they not been already used in the listener-selected Episode 25 (aka: these are the tracks that the listeners and I have in common):

[Relative] Track# - Game – System – Track – Composer – Listener(s) who selected the track – Episode originally appearing on

(unless it’s non-VGM, then….)

[Relative] Track# - Artist – Track – Album (or compo) – composer/arranger – Listener(s) who selected the track – Episode originally appearing on

01: The OneUps - Green Hill Zone - Volume 2 (album) - c: Masato Nakamura / a: The OneUps  - Phillip Vaughn - Ep 19
02: DYA - Chora - Neon Dreams (album) - DYA - Elliot Savva - Ep 14
03: Silent Hill 2 - PS2 - The Reverse Will - Akira Yamaoka - Radoslav Mitrov - Ep 16
04: Contra Hard Corps - Genesis - The Hard Corps - Aki Hata, Hiroshi Kobayoshi, Michiru Yamane - Radoslav Mitrov - Ep 2
05: Quake 2 - PC - Quad Machine - Sonic Mayhem - Phillip Vaughn - Ep 10
06: Tsuri Tarou - Super Famicom - Fishing for Seema - Katsuhiro Hayashi - Phillip Vaughn - Ep 16
07: Metroid - Famicom Disk System - Title Screen - Hirokazu (Hip) Tanaka - Phillip Vaughn - Ep 1
08: Sonic CD (US) - Sega CD - Special Zone - Spencer Nilsen w/ David Young, Mark Crew, and Pastiche  - Phillip Vaughn - Ep 15
09: Futuri No Fantavision - PS2 - Starmine - Soichi Terada - Elliot Savva - Ep 20
10: Sly Spy - Arcade - Stages 4 and 7 - Azusa Hara, Hiroaki Yoshida - Phillip Vaughn - Ep 2
11: Strobe - The Current System - Battle of the Bits Chiptune (using Genesis hardware) - Strobe - Radoslav Mitrov - Ep 8
12: Grounseed - PC98 (OPN) - Betrayal - Masahiro Kajihara - Radoslav Mitrov - Ep 2
13: Yu-No - PC98 (OPNA) - Invasion - Ryu Umemoto - Radoslav Mitrov - Ep 2
14: Super Metroid - SNES - Brinstar Red Soil - Kenji Yamamoto and/or Minako Hamano - Radoslav Mitrov - Ep 18
15: Wolfchild - Genesis - Ancient Temple - c: Martin Iveson / a: Matt Furniss - Elliot Savva - Ep 18
16: Sword of Vermilion - Genesis - Statts - Hiroshi Kawaguchi and/or Yasuhiro Takagi - Phillip Vaughn - Eps 2 and 7
17: Puggsy - Genesis - Flour Power - Matt Furniss - Elliot Savva - Ep 12
18: Wolverine - NES - Bonus Room - Geoff Follin - Trey Johnson - Ep 16
19: Mortal Kombat - Genesis - Warrior's Shrine - Matt Furniss - Radoslav Mitrov / Elliot Savva - Ep 12

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