GTA2's "missing" Prog Rock track: YTZ by the band Aori

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• published: 30 Nov 2015
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http://pilotnotflying.com/ https://soundcloud.com/pilotnotflying... Lyrics available here: http://www.evernote.com/l/ABMncY-y2A1GuIiL09LSubbGO63hN0haen0/ As a huge Prog Rock fan I'd originally planned to create a radio station called "Ridiculous FM" for Grand Theft Auto 2 - broadcasting "Regressive Rock" to the citizens of Liberty City around the clock. The idea was to make it similar to the Country station from GTA1 in that it would only play a single track repeatedly. The joke this time being that the "one track" would be a conceptual suite of 70's Art Rock inspired music clocking in longer than any of the other stations in the game at almost 20 minutes (before adding a DJ or adverts). I did some initial planning for it when we started GTA2 but quickly decided against pursuing it because, a) it would have been way more work to do than we had time for, and b) it felt far too self-indulgent - which is perhaps a little ironic given it was meant to be a Prog Rock homage after all. We'd already got away with putting Country music in GTA1 and people had responded positively to that, but Prog Rock was even uncooler than Country music back in 1998 so it felt like we'd really be pushing our luck to get away with that. In the end, after hearing Bulamatari's excellent "Taxi Drivers Must Die" I reluctantly decided that GTA2's Regressive Rock station would have to wait as faux Brit-Punk provided a much funnier focus for GTA's radio stations second time around. And so, consequently, Ridiculous FM was shelved. Almost... Ever since then, during late night jam sessions (and the occasional lunchtime one too) with my muso friends, I've enjoyed wondering what my Prog Rock track for Ridiculous FM might have sounded like if I'd actually gone through with it. Eventually it became a bit of an in-joke my friends would use to rip the piss out me. Any time I played them something new I'd written they'd invariably ask if I was planning to use it as part of my Prog Rock epic - secure in the knowledge it was never, *EVER* going to happen. Almost... Eventually I decided it was an itch I just had to scratch. So here it is, 15 years late (which surely must be some sort of record for missing deadlines, even by DMA Design's impressive standards), I give you GTA2's "missing" Prog Rock track "YTZ" by the band Aori. To paraphrase Derek Smalls, I hope it lends a more 'sophisticated' perspective to your Kill Frenzies :-) --- The "Credit Where Credit Is Due" List: All music written, recorded, and performed by myself with help from the following people: * Neil Horsburgh - vocals (voices, most lyrics and vocal melodies plus many suggestions for musical improvements, https://www.facebook.com/ethelvince & http://www.lovecommandos.net/blog/ban...) * Robert Burns - additional lyrics (check out some of his other work here: http://www.robertburns.org/works/ ) * Goran Rista - drums (via http://www.gorangrooves.com - bonus kudos for translating my "dubba dubba cha" MIDI sketches into incredible drum performances) * Peter Allan - guide vocal tracks, moral support, and at least one absolutely critical lyrical suggestion * Andy Whyte - drum programming advice and support * Grant Middleton - synth programming advice (https://youtu.be/qRxImioeWvw) * SoundSpectrum - visuals (http://www.soundspectrum.com for *the* best music visualiser software - and apologies-in-advance to the good people at SoundSpectrum for what YouTube's proprietary compression has done to their visuals) And the "Without Whom" List: * Joyce Davidson (fresh perspectives and emotional support) * Steve Carter (ears, eyes, and cover art) * Will Anderson (cover photo and honest feedback: https://www.flickr.com/photos/3517916...) * Chris Harrison (fresh perspectives and *almost* backing vocals! http://isospin.bandcamp.com/) * Rob Bates, Ken Bearman, Richard Price, Andy Hubble, Andy Thorpe, (fresh perspectives and (occasionally) "too much f**king perspective" ;-) Thanks also to everyone else who helped or inspired me along the way, plus the cast and crew of the good ship GTA past, present, and future. It's always great to see our humble little cops and robbers game going from strength-to-strength and evolving spectacularly along the way while still maintaining the irreverent spirit of the original. Oh, and not forgetting Take 2's legal team (in advance) for going easy with the 'cease & desists' - thanks folks, it's just for fun! :-) ---