About the review

Title: On Fire: Part I: Fire In My Heart
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Artist: roncli
Genre: Rock/Pop: Ballad/Easy Listening
Reviewed by: Spectra on October 16, 2007 (All reviews by Spectra)

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1Overall Description
Pure emotion is the way to go about listening to this piece...essentially a 4-chord progression (7-chords if you count subtle variances) but giving a very well poised sense of inner peace (indeed like "Chariots of Fire", though with a more "at the summit" mood than a "climbing the mountain" one). Yes, the piano is cheezily thin, yes the drums and tiny synths sound ripped off a pre-tuned General Midi set...but this song has the same degree of soul as a Vangelis tune under this all.
 
2Creativity Description
Again, the main riff is very catchy and soulful. The outro at 1:45 and slight variation of the main at 2:00 barely change the mood, but the chorus/epic section at 2:48 does...the rest of the song consists of switches between these parts. The real killer here the same exact mood persists for about 80% of the song (very similar to Simeon's "Flames" Chariots of Fire-ish track)...and after about 4:00 it starts to feel old even though it's 8 minutes long. The flip/better side is this track is very "Mick-Rippon-ethic"...even though the main riff can be interpretted as crossing 7 chords, just two different sections of two notes can be heard altering in the background (can you say simplistic foundation for variations) and this give the song a token relaxed/settled feel despite all the little variations that accompany the lead melody.
 
3Artistic License Description
While the artist doesn't push any limits he makes a soulful, if overly academic/formulaic tune and achieves a sense of confidence and foundation very few songs have. This song is classic in the same way those summer's at your overly generous grandmother's creaky old house were classic, which actually is quite good. :-)
 
4Arrangement Description
On one hand it's a very standard IE this is the arrangement your old music teacher taught you to do: pianos, very monotone bass, demo-ish synth so thin the harmonics can't possibly touch any other instrument...but this allows for some playful variations (particularly with the piano) that would probably sound cacophonic with "fatter" instruments. Call it "production-ally flawed", but it gives the piece a certain kind of innocence that lends towards its individuality. Also, to note, the intros, outros, main riff...all flow seem-lessly thanks largely to the substantial changes in chord progression that proceed the change in parts (smart move!)
 
5Sound Quality Description
Some people, without a doubt, are going to say this song comes right out of childrens music because of the production choices mentioned above, others may say it lends well to nostalgic charm. Either way it's a mixed bag highly depending on a listener's tastes.
 
6Does it work as a piece of music Description
As an academic piece of music (easy to listen to/clear/well "foundation-ed"), definitely. As an emotion piece of music, yes. As something with a strong enough arrangement to play live, no, but instead this thrives as a more personal piece of music and that should be referred to as a choice rather than a point of "musical amateurism".

Quite enjoyable work...I downloaded it you should as well.
 
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