Today’s broadcast is C1E45 [PART 2] for Wayback Wednesday, July 3rd, 2019. Today’s Episode is "The Best of 2018 pt 2 - St. John's Picks (an ULTRA MEGA KING KONG-sized episode)
Track# - Track – Game – System – Composer(s) - Episode - Timestamp
(NOTE: Tracks in bold and italics were backup tracks I pulled to fill in the gaps left by the tracks on my list that the listeners claimed for their episode. I may get the last word…but they get the first….and first dibs on any tracks).
02) A Strange New World – Papa y Yo – multi – Brian D'Oliveira - C1E30 - 00:00:59
03) Mirage – Gran Turismo 5 – PS3 – Kimmei - C1E27 - 00:03:18
04) Track 2 - Operation Wolf – FM Towns (CD) - Unknown - C1E35 - 00:07:25
05) Reckless Running - Sega Rally Championship – Saturn – Naofumi Hataya - C1E24 - 00:11:26
06) Japanese Four Star - Forza 3 – XB360 – Lance Hayes - C1E23 - 00:15:30
07) Colour - N/A ("OM Lounge 6") - N/A (Music CD c 2004) - c: Soulstice a: Atjazz- C1E28 - 00:20:09
08) Main Menu – Sonic Mania – multi – Tee Lopes - C1E36 - 00:26:23
09) Beach – Plok – SNES – Tim and/or Geoff Follin - C1E27 - 00:27:54
10) Beach - N/A - Genesis – c: Tim and/or Geoff Follin a: Savaged Regime - C1E28 - 00:32:50
11) Milky Lake – Wave Race 64 – N64 – Kazumi Totaka - C1E24 - 00:37:54
12) Smog City Sewers - Spark the Electric Jester – PC – Michael Staple – C1E40 (originally contributed to C1E40 by The Diad) - 00:40:04
13) Jazz 3 – Sim Copter – PC (CD) - Jerry Martin - C1E35 - 00:44:09
14) Adult Talk – Lucid 9 - PC/Mac/Linux - Ultra Kitsune - C1E30 - 00:49:11
15) Bulberry Hill – Zool 2 – Amiga – Neil Biggin - C1E24 - 00:51:02
16) Too Deep - Streets of Rage 2 - Genesis – Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima - C1E31 - 00:53:58
17) Level 1-2 – Turrican 3 – C64 – Soren Lund - C1E35 - 00:57:28
18) Terminal Technicality – Ultrartron – multi – Allicorn - C1E30 - 01:01:00
19) Spin on the Bridge – Streets of Rage 2 - Genesis – Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima - C1E31 - 01:05:35
20) Dialed-In – Forza 3 – XB360 – Lance Hayes - C1E23 - 01:09:55
21) Dual Moon – Metal Black – Arcade – Yasuhisa Watanabe – C1E40 (originally contributed to C1E40 by Electric Boogaloo) - 01:15:30
22) Prophet Fire – Salamander – MSX (SCC) - Konami Kukeiha Club - C1E35 - 01:18:09
23) The Rotating Dungeon (4-2) - Super Castlevania IV – SNES - Masanori Adachi and/or Taro Kudo - C1E37 - 01:19:31
24) Unit - N/A ("Logic") - N/A (Music CD c 1981) - Logic System - C1E28 - 01:20:53
25) Level 4 – Wolfchild – Amiga – Martin Iveson - C1E35 - 01:25:38
26) Visual Installation – Forza 3 – XB360 – Lance Hayes - C1E23 - 01:28:38
27) Process of Elimination – Lucid 9 - PC/Mac/Linux - Blue Wolfie - C1E27 - 01:34:11
28) Arkham Asylum – Batman Forever – Genesis – c: Tim and/or Geoff Follin a: Unknown - C1E33 - 01:38:08
29) The Room of Close Associates – Super Castlevania IV – SNES - Masanori Adachi and/or Taro Kudo - C1E37 - 01:42:21
30) Mystic Invasion - Secret of Mana - SNES – Hiroki Kikuta - C1E21 - 01:44:56
31) Bases 1 & 2 – Contra – NES – c: Kazuki Muaoka a: Hidenori Maezawa and/or Kiyohiro Sada - C1E34 - 01:46:06
32) Aisuru Hito Yo - N/A ("Ai Ga Nakucha Ne") - N/A (Music CD c 1982) - Akiko Yano - C1E28 - 01:47:40
33) City of Flickering Destruction – Legend of Mana – PS1 – Yoko Shimomura – C1E40 (originally contributed to C1E40 by Amber Peary) - 01:52:05
34) Razor Girl – Downwell – multi – Eirik Suhrke - C1E30 - 01:55:21
35) A Wish - Secret of Mana - SNES – Hiroki Kikuta - C1E21 - 02:00:47
36) Level 0 – Tetris – CD-I – Jim Andron - C1E32 - 02:01:43
37) Dark Forest 1 – So Many Me – multi – Christopher Gechan and/or Daniel Byrne-McCullough - C1E24 - 02:03:59
38) Norfair – N/A - N/A - c: Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka a: Luminist - C1E29 - 02:08:37
39) The Tundra Beast – Chakan – Genesis - Mark Steven Miller and/or Jason Scher - C1E38 - 02:09:59
40) Final Mission – Cyber Knight – PC Engine – Michiharu Hasuya, Osamu Kasai, and/or Junko Yokoyama – C1E39 - 02:11:32
41) Kraid's Lair - N/A - N/A - c: Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka a: Luminist - C1E29 - 02:12:27
42) Rikuo – Night Warriors: Darkstalker's Revenge – multi – Takayuki Iwai, Akari Kaida, and/or Hideki Okugawa - C1E27 - 02:14:18
43) Stage 2 – Double Dragon 2 – Mega Drive – Kazunaka Yamane - C1E33 - 02:16:08
44) The Mall - Skate or Die 2 – NES – Rob Hubbard - C1E22 - 02:18:36
45) BGM# 20 – Ginga Ojousama Densetsu Yuna FX: Kanashimi no Siren – PCFX – Takanori Arisawa and/or Aya Tanaka – C1E40 (originally contributed to C1E40 by KeyGlyph) - 02:21:41
46) Copacabana '93 – N/A - SNES – c: Barry Manilow a: Machine Gaming - C1E26a - 02:23:08
47) Pleadians – N/A - Amiga – Beek - C1E28 - 02:27:09
48) Believe in Motivation – Advanced Power Dolls 2 – PC98 (OPN) - Hiroto Saitoh - C1E35 - 02:29:14
49) Little Money Ave – Streets of Rage 2 - Genesis – Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima - C1E31 - 02:31:39
50) Bearhattan Transfur – Fist of Awesome – multi – Brendan Ratliff - C1E30 - 02:34:35
51) Segadore Genesid 64 - N/A - Genesis – Mr Sonic699 - C1E28 - 02:38:00
52) Squash - N/A - Famicom (w/ VRC7 + N163) - TQ_Jam - C1E28 - 02:40:03
53) Dreamer - Streets of Rage 2 - Genesis – Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima - C1E31 - 02:43:05
54) Chill Penguin – Mega Man X – SNES – Setsuo Yamamoto, Makoto Tomozawa, Yuki Iwai, Yuko Takhara and/or Toshihiko Horiyama - C1E26 - 02:45:09
55) Elapsed Time – Forza 3 – XB360 – Lance Hayes - C1E23 - 02:46:36
56) Uranus – Spindizzy II – X68000 – Toshiya Yamanaka - C1E35 - 02:51:53
57) I Cannot Trust Any of Them – Star Cruiser II – PC98 (OPN) - Kenichi Yaguhi - C1E35 - 02:53:48
58) Federal Patrol Office – Star Cruiser – Mega Drive – Toshiya Yamanaka - C1E24 - 02:55:53
59) Level 3 – Tetris – CD-I – Jim Andron - C1E36 - 02:57:06
60) Old Man's Prayer – Ogre Battle – SNES – Masahru Iwata, Hiroshi Sakimoto, Hayato Matsuo - C1E22 - 02:59:33
61) Phantom and a Rose – Secret of Mana - SNES – Hiroki Kikuta - C1E21 - 03:00:48
62) Chrono Castle - So Many Me – multi – Christopher Gechan and/or Daniel Byrne-McCullough - C1E24 - 03:02:11
63) Main Theme – Microsoft Interactive Sampler 1996 – Windows 95 - Unknown - C1E28 - 03:06:18
64) That Bit of Hope – Prune – iOS/Android/Windows - Kyle Preston - C1E30 - 03:07:19
65) Macalania Woods – Final Fantasy X – PS2 – Masashi Hamauzu - C1E36 - 03:10:06
66) Northwall - N/A ("Symphonic Actraiser") - N/A (Music CD c 1991) - c: Yuzo Koshiro a: Tokyo Symphony Orchestra - C1E28 - 03:12:40
67) The Descent – Monument Valley - iOS/Android - Stafford Bawler - C1E30 - 03:15:43
68) Ceremony – Secret of Mana - SNES – Hiroki Kikuta - C1E21 - 03:18:34
69) Different World 1 – Yu-No – PC98 (OPNA) - Ryu Umemoto - C1E35 - 03:19:54
70) Unknown City – Doxa (Unreleased) - PS4 – Daniel Capo – C1E22 - 03:25:07
71) Hanging Waters – Ecco: Defender of the Future – Dreamcast – Tim Follin – C1E40 (originally contributed to C1E40 by Electric Boogaloo) - 03:26:15
72) Outskirts – So Many Me – multi – Christopher Gechan and/or Daniel Byrne McCullough - C1E30 - 03:28:41
73) Lullaby - N/A - Genesis – Freezedream - C1E28 - 03:34:29
74) Menu 2 – Shenmue – Dreamcast – Ryuiji Iuchi, Yuzo Koshiro, Takenobu Mitsutoshi, Osamu Murata, and/or Takeshi Yanagawa - C1E38 - 03:36:39
75) Ending – Super Castlevania IV – SNES - Masanori Adachi and/or Taro Kudo - C1E37 - 03:38:03
76) One More Dash – One More Dash - iOS/Android/Windows - Batterie - C1E30 - 03:42:15
Music Block Runtime: 03:45:00, Total Episode Runtime: 03:46:28
SPECIAL NOTES ABOUT THIS "THE BEST OF 2018" PROJECT (this is a near exact repeat of the notes from part 1 if you read those): This is a once-a-year project that appears in two parts: a listener-picked part 1, which is more or less a standard episode, other than that the tracks are all pulled from episodes we released in the previous calendar year, and that those tracks were selected by the listeners, rather than myself. You heard that episode last week. This one, part 2, is all my picks, and is a MONSTER! 75 tracks, 3hr 45min! There are several reasons that we only resort to that kind of length just once a year. In part, to make it special and an event when it does happen, in part to not overwhelm the listeners and chase them off with it, and lastly…because it's a TON of work! :-D
One thing I like about the format of this once-a-year project is that it favors both the listeners and your host in differing ways. The listeners get the first word, with their episode releasing first. The listeners also get first dibs on any tracks, so if we both want the same track(s), they get them, and I don't. In this case, that happened with 16 tracks. In all those ways, this project favors the listeners. But then, where I come out on top is that I get the last word. Whereas the listeners only get 30-50 tracks to split amongst however many contributors we have (in this case, five), I come along afterwards, with an unreasonably gigantic allowance of 75 tracks….that I get all to myself.
Also, while the regular episodes are me trying to balance tracks I love with tracks that I think the listeners will like (which admittedly has something of a me-centric slant already), this 75 track outing is my one and only time a year where I don't have to worry about that balance at all, but is my lone shot of the year for complete, wanton, reckless hedonism. This one is all about me, baby! It's Papa's birthday! :-D But, if you ever wanted to get the clearest possible glance at where your intrepid host's own personal musical heartbeat lies…the 7X track John's Picks Best of 20XX episodes will be the best place to look, as all the filters are off…
...well, save one: I make it a personal rule to include at least one track from every episode in my collection, even if that episode didn't have anything that would've otherwise made the list. Taris Apartments from C1E9 likely wouldn't have made my Best of 2017 outing last year, and neither Copacabana '93 from the April Fool's Episode (C1E26a), or maybe even Chill Penguin from C1E26, or Base 1 & 2 from C1E34 would've been likely to make my list this year either had it not been for my hard and fast rule to include at least one track from every episode. On the other hand, Taris Apartments, Copacabana '93, Chill Penguin, and Base 1 & 2 are all at least my actual favorite tracks from their given episodes.
Before I ever even approach any of the listeners for tracks, I already have a list of my own made up with a shorter auxiliary list of backups, and even a third list of backups to the backups, so that even if every single track the listeners pick is on my list, I still have enough in reserve to make my full 75. I get my 75 no matter what, but I can also stay completely out of the listener's way in picking tracks, and let them have everything they want. A win win for the both of us!
One last note about the Best of 20XX series (and this is true of both installments):
While it’s totally a labor of love, not only for myself, but also for the contributing listeners, it is also quite an undertaking for me - and in ways deeper than simply putting 105-125 tracks together! What it amounts to, metaphorically speaking, is my lining up all the statues I’ve sculpted over the previous year, and slicing little chunks out of them to use as building blocks to create an all new statue with the goal of making the new statues resemble the previous statues as little as possible.
A good song flow is more important than any of the following rules (and so any of the following are breakable – and were all broken at points – to make the flow work), but what else is going on besides simple song flow management is that I’m also trying to avoid placing tracks from the same episode too close together, or placing too many of the tracks in the same relative vicinity within the new music block as they were in their old music blocks, and even things like trying (in part 1) to limit the number of times where I feature tracks from the same listener back to back (though this rule was my lowest priority, and was the first to go out the window when there was a conflict).
I’m trying to use pieces of music that already have relational connotations in my mind to other pieces of music by way of the earlier episodes to create all new connotations with them. I will tell you that that’s much harder than it sounds. It adds a lot of cognitive "weight" to the processing load, because it creates reflexes with each piece that you now have to work against, more or less. In fact, each of our music blocks saw one or two scrapped iterations before I finally arrived at a track order that worked. And as is the case with part 2, when you’re staring at a list of 75 tracks, and asking yourself “what the hell am I supposed to do with these?”, it really makes you want to just curl into the fetal position on the floor!
But it’s also a lot of fun, and most of all, it gives me a chance to create all new art from existing art, and all new journeys and experiences from existing journeys and experiences. And so, at the end of the day, it’s all joy for me. I hope it will be for you as well, as the listener, and most of all, I hope that the contributing listeners will feel like I did their picks justice. Each of their contributions, from Jeshua’s three tracks all the way to Purnell’s twenty all mean the world to me. These episodes – both theirs and mine, are my love letter back.
As a bonus, for the curious, here is the list of backup tracks from my list that were not picked, and appear in neither episode (some of them I REALLY wanted, though):
Track, Game, System, Composer, Episode (spaces placed between episodes to better highlight)
1) Whisper and Mantra – Secret of Mana – SNES – Hiroki Kikuta - C1E21
2) Take Back – Fighting Run – PCE – Unknown - C1E22
3) Aqua and Trees – Tobal No. 1 – PS1 - Yoko Shimomura - C1E22
4) Vs Mode – Fantavision (US) - PS2 – Ashif Hakik - C1E22
5) Superleggera – Forza 3 - XB360 - Lance Hayes - C1E23
6) Van Air – Forza 3 – XB360 – Lance Hayes - C1E23
7) Inside Vah Naboris – LoZ: BotW - WiiU/SWITCH - Manaka Kataoka and/or Yasuaki Iwata C1E24
8) Copacabana - N/A - NES – c: Frank Sinatra a: NES Music - C1E26a
9) Music to Watch Girls By - N/A - NES – c: Andy Williams a: RushJet1 - C1E26a
10) It's Not Unusual - N/A - N/A - c: Tom Jones a: Lullabyte - C1E26a
11) My Way - N/A - N/A - Frank Sinatra a: JackyBoy - C1E26a
12) Sigma Stage 4 – Mega Man X – SNES - Setsuo Yamamoto, Makoto Tomozawa, Yuki Iwai, Yuko Takhara and/or Toshihiko Horiyama - C1E26
13) Password - Mega Man X – SNES - Setsuo Yamamoto, Makoto Tomozawa, Yuki Iwai, Yuko Takhara and/or Toshihiko Horiyama - C1E26
14) Vile - Mega Man X – SNES - Setsuo Yamamoto, Makoto Tomozawa, Yuki Iwai, Yuko Takhara and/or Toshihiko Horiyama - C1E26
15) Challenge – Chu Chu Rocket - Dreamcast – Tomoya Ohtani - C1E27
16) Ice Pyramid – Final Fantasy Mystic Quest – SNES – Ryuji Sasai and/or Yasuhiro Kawakami - C1E27
17) Brinstar - N/A (Metroid Album) - N/A - c: Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka a: Luminist - C1E29
18) Ridley's Lair - N/A (Metroid Album) - N/A - c: Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka a: Luminist - C1E29
19) Ending - N/A (Metroid Album) - N/A - c: Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka a: Luminist - C1E29
20) Sodden Hollow – Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - Multi Matthias Bossi and/or Jon Evans - C1E30
21) Hypertension – Super Meat Boy - PS4/Vita (these versions specifically) - Scattle - C1E30
22) Meteor – StarFox - SNES – Hajime Hirasawa - C1E32
23) Load BGM - Wolfchild – Sega CD - Martin Iveson - C1E33
24) Slammin' Sea – Bomberman '94 – PC Engine – Jun Chikuma - C1E33
25) Seaside Front – Aero Blaster – PC Engine – Kunio Komatsu and/or Tsutomu Okuma – C1E33
26) Game Over – Juouuki – PC Engine – Tohru Nakabayashi
27) Under the Feet – Super C – NES – c: Kazuki Muaoka and/or Motoaki Furukawa a: Hidenori Maezawa - C1E34
28) Steel Spider - Super C – NES – c: Kazuki Muaoka and/or Motoaki Furukawa a: Hidenori Maezawa - C1E34
29) Mechanic Factory - Super C – NES – c: Kazuki Muaoka and/or Motoaki Furukawa a: Hidenori Maezawa - C1E34
30) Military Fortress - Super C – NES – c: Kazuki Muaoka and/or Motoaki Furukawa a: Hidenori Maezawa - C1E34
31) Jungle – Contra – NES – c: Kazuki Muaoka a: Hidenori Maezawa and/or Kiyohiro Sada
32) Surface of SR388 – Metroid: Samus Returns – 3DS – c: Ryoji Yoshitomi a: Daisuke Matsuoka - C1E36
33) Faron Woods – Loz: TP - GameCube/Wii - Toru Minegishi and/or Asuka Ohta - C1E36
34) New Donk City – Super Mario Odyssey – SWITCH – Naoto Kubo, Shiho Fujii, and/or Koji Kondo - C1E36
35) The Cave - Super Castlevania IV – SNES - Masanori Adachi and/or Taro Kudo - C1E37
36) The Library - Super Castlevania IV – SNES - Masanori Adachi and/or Taro Kudo - C1E37
37) Prologue - Super Castlevania IV – SNES - Masanori Adachi and/or Taro Kudo - C1E37
38) Menu - Vortex – SNES – Justin Sharvona - C1E38
39) Chapter 5 – Cross Wiber – PC Engine – Hiroto Saitou
40) Chapter 12 – Cross Wiber – PC Engine – Hiroto Saitou
41) Vortex – Vortex – SNES – Justin Sharvona - C1E38
42) Red Road – Astyanax – NES – Kiyoshi Yokoyama - C1E38
43) Space Battle - Cyber Knight – PC Engine – Michiharu Hasuya, Osamu Kasai, and.or Junko Yokoyama - C1E39
44) Planet 3 – Cyber Knight – PC Engine - Michiharu Hasuya, Osamu Kasai, and.or Junko Yokoyama - C1E39
45) Mentana – Cyber Knight – Super Famicom -Michiharu Hasuya, Osamu Kasai, and.or Junko Yokoyama - C1E39
46) Ending 2 – Cyber Knight - PC Engine - Michiharu Hasuya, Osamu Kasai, and.or Junko Yokoyama - C1E39
47) Berserker's Base – Cyber Knight – Super Famicom - Michiharu Hasuya, Osamu Kasai, and.or Junko Yokoyama - C1E39
48) Dead Sea/Ruined Tower – Chrono Cross - PS1 - Yasunori Mitsuda – C1E40 (originally contributed to C1E40 by Amber Peary)
…..alright, and now, for all the regular "housekeeping" stuff. :-)
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Thanks for listening! Join us again in July for a VERY SPECIAL Nerd Noise Radio Rerun. And then join us again in August for C1E46 (Channel 1, Episode 46): Face Off Friday - vol. 3 (featuring a very special guest host / curator / vetter) - Delicious VGM on "Noise from the Hearts of Nerds"! And wherever you are - Fly the N!
