Track Listing
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Far away
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Far away “CRAFTY Remix”
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Far away “Main Radio Mix”
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appears “Junior’s Club Mix”
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Far away “HΛL’s MIX 2000″
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Far away “Ocean View Remix”
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End roll “da urban maestro mix”
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Far away “Huge mutual-tried mix”
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Far away “POP ‘e.a.’ Mix II”
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Far away “Dub’s Mute & Feedback Remix”
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Far away -Original Instrumental-
1. Far away
I’ll never understand what was that ~now~ thing at the beginning, but it seems to be the backbone for the song which is an odd thing to do. It does disappear once Ayu comes in for the verses and it’s close enough for me to be an actual ballad. It seems like she did go back an era, but at the same time, it seems to actually sound good in the process and with Ayu’s vocals changing it’s gotten better. Far away is definitely a bit better than her last single “vogue”
2. Far away “CRAFTY Remix”
I like the opening to the remix announcing the title of the song. Then this fast-paced electronic beeping starts up and Ayu’s random breathing heavily going on. The changes made to the song are actually quite broad and adding an echo effect to Ayu’s vocals really made this remix sound more futuristic and wild. I didn’t mind the emptiness of the song at all, so in the end, it made a great remix.
3. Far away “Main Radio Mix”
I don’t know why it was given such a title, but whatever the next remix is more towards trance, so it’s pretty cool that there’s a song like this. It does sound like the missing puzzle piece that was missing in the last remix, before the overdrive of synths started to take over. It’s alright, but it feels like it is missing depth.
4. appears “Junior’s Club Mix”
This 9 minute long club mix of appears comes next on the single and let me tell you, it took forever for this song to get started. By the time we actually get into the song, it still isn’t what I liked to sound like, but the verses/chorus were nice…it was just too drawn out and by the time I got to that point, I lost interest in the song altogether.
5. Far away “HΛL’S MIX 2000″
While, I’ve been continuing to not really accept HΛL remixes, I can actually say they did a good job remixing Far away. It has the right amount of punch and the guitar addition was nicely done here. It doesn’t even have that dated sound to it and after the chorus there’s this interesting synth line that creeped me out. Have to say, it’s oddly the best I’ve from HΛL so far.
6. Far away “Ocean View Remix”
Dang, aren’t we going to far with these Far away remixes? At first I was not liking the empty R&B feel that this remix had and that actually made me frown. It doesn’t go anywhere for me and just felt thrown together in like 5 minutes.
7. End roll “da urban maestro mix”
That’s another problem with this song. End roll’s remix couldn’t have been any worse, but it sounds oddly dated and weird altogether. The fast shuffling does help it out and the straight-foward sound is great, but I don’t know if it actually makes for a good remix. Though it does sound like FFX-2 music doesn’t it?
8. Far away “Huge mutual-tried mix”
Oh, so we get an 8bit remix for Far away? I already like where that was going before the song opens up with a bit more synths and distant guitar. After a while the interesting changes do make me pay attention, but it isn’t the most energetic track off the single. It’s quite something though.
9. Far away “POP ‘e.a.’ Mix II”
Why are the weirder remixes found near the end? It’s got a deeper sound which is kind of cool, but the song suffers from cut n’ hack style with the song itself and I’m not a big fan of that. After a while things do somewhat pickup, but I’m still not liking it. Oh well…..
10. Far away “Dub’s Mute & Feedback Remix”
Wow, this remix takes the cake for oddest remix. I mean that whistle was just uber strange to hear and then this islandy sound comes forth for the remix and take the song to a different route. I’m actually really bored with this remix surprisingly, but I can blame the music for moving too slow.
So the second of the trilogy, Far away was actually worse than “vogue”. The remixes were all over the place and not in a good way. The main track itself is alright but the HΛL remix was actually loads better. Back to the remixes though, there were a few interesting ones, but nothing that made me drop my jaw (except for the one stated above). Oh well, right. I hope “SEASONS” will be the big topper.
