📀 Hang on to Your Hat | Black Screen Records | Vinyl | Review | (A big band take on the music of Mario 64) 📀 @blackscreenrec #Vinyl #VGM

A huge part of Mario’s charm is in the music and you’d be stretched to find a more fondly remembered title in Mario’s canon than Mario 64, the 1996 release on the Nintendo 64.

Quite different from other vinyl orchestral releases that I’ve heard/covered, Hang on to Your Hat is recorded in a big band style by the Video Game Jazz Orchestra and is all the better for it with the original tunes completely fitting this particular swinging throwback style.

Presented on double 180g vinyl that runs at 45rpm, the version I received was vibrant red/blue, but there are also gold and black variants available.

Hang on to Your Hat features some of the most striking design work in my collection, with the embossed black and gold cover featuring a stylised Princess Peach’s castle -  with the classic Mario star and mushroom at the top and bottom of the cover, respectively - this Art Deco design completely dovetails with the musical style.

The inside of the album is a double-spread, chalk-style drawing of Princess Peach’s castle from an isometric viewpoint; simple and striking, with the tracklisting on the rear also framed in gold and featuring a classic Art Deco font. I’m a big fan of Art Deco and as the band brings these oh-so memorable tunes to life, it’s hard not to glance over at the cover – propped up next to the record player – and crack a smile at the rich and bold approach, completely on point with the music.

The records themselves are contained in anti-static bags – always welcome! – and also included is a full-size 12inch booklet with a cover that echoes the record design in that it is a more zoomed-in look at the castle featuring colours that match the vinyl themselves.

Continuing the classic  ‘dinner and a live show’ feel, that Art Deco font is used throughout and the credits and song details are laid out as if the booklet were a programme that you would purchase at a live concert, down to highlighting the main solos on each track, classy!

There’s a bit of a special place in my life for jazz takes on songs from a few years back when I was in an underground bar in Paris called Caveau de la Huchette and the band playing that night weaved their way through some absolute classics, including elongated versions of songs such as I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire by The Ink Spots (and various others that crop up throughout the Fallout series of games) complete with extended solo sessions, it was an absolutely glorious evening.

The tracklisting that makes up the album is:

Side A

1. Hang on to Your Hat

2. File Select

3. Inside the Castle Walls

Side B

4. Bob-omb Battlefield

5. Jolly Roger Bay

6. Stage Boss

Side C

7. Bowser in the Dark World

8. Dire Dire Docks

Side D

9. Koopa’s Road

10. Koopa Battle

11. Ultimate Koopa

Hang on to Your Hat –

Wasting no time in kicking things off in style, this track comes sailing in with that familiar melody and the richness of the production is immediately apparent. Very different from the symphonic scores of VGM on vinyl which offer a live and often epic sensibility, this feels very controlled and focused in terms of production (courtesy of Christian Bethge’s mastering) with the naturally smaller jazz orchestra allowing much more ‘honing in’ on certain instruments.

File Select –

Who thought that a file select screen could be so emotive? This is a softer track with an alto sax taking centre stage; giving a lazy, Sunday morning feel to the proceedings as a saucy electric bass line (as opposed to the upright bass used in the opening track) jams around underneath it all. The playing – and production – on the drums really comes into its own as the song progresses, very crisp and yet smooth enough to sit perfectly in the mix without seeming overbearing. Gorgeous little piano runs end this track, lovely stuff.

Inside the Castle Walls –

A cheeky sax intro gives way to a jaunty walking upright bass line as the drums take more of a backseat here.  After a minute or so, the piano enters and the song picks up the pace, teasing a crescendo before mellowing out and gifting us with a vibraphone solo (awesome instrument!), courtesy of Beth Gottlieb. Following this, the brass section ramps things up and quite frankly, your head will be bobbing along with that bass line by this point. Heck, your toes may even be tapping.

Bob-omb Battlefield –

Finally, the melodica makes an appearance (thank you Trevor Alan Gomes)! Rolling through that familiar tune, the melody is then picked up by the full band. The middle section of this one is a back and forth between the melodica and brass section in which only the melodica can be victorious. Throwing in a sneaky sax solo - as the drums pepper the track with rolls -  this is a song that is genetically designed to put a smile on your face.

Jolly Roger Bay –

Opening with gentleness, a sax plays the main riff as the first notes of a clean electric guitar accentuate the melody. The slowest pace so far, Jolly Roger bay adds some variety following the ‘all in’ approach of Bob-omb Battlefield and also features a snazzy trombone solo over languid drums which gives way to the sax and eventually a gentle guitar run in tandem with the brass section. You can imagine this song playing over the credits of a movie. A good movie.

Stage Boss –

Slow-paced this is NOT! Featuring possibly the fasted vibraphone playing I’ve heard, Stage Boss soon settles into a stop-start riff in which the drums propel the song forwards under the guise of an ominous tone as if a nefarious jewel thief is tip-toeing through the shadows but stopping every now and again for a quick dance. I love the peppery drums and rimshots in the latter part of this one.

Bowser in the Dark World –

It’s hard not to notice Brian Fullen’s tom-work on the drums here. returning to a more upbeat style, a walking upright bass line underpins the brass section until the instrumentation drops out, leaving only those toms pounding out a rhythm that made me turn around on my sofa to see if Jim Carrey was going to pop out wearing a zoot suit and a green mask. The whole album comes across as if everyone involved was having a ball but, being a sucker for drums, this is a standout track for me, especially with the muted trumpet and stabs of brass leading up to a raunchy, classic ending!

Dire Dire Docks –

Possibly one of the most popular melodies from the game, Dire Dire Docks again brings things down a notch with dashes of electric guitar acting as the intro to a soprano sax solo that lifts the track energy before cascading and revisiting the introductory motif via a shimmering end sequence.

Koopa’s Road –

Building, dual piano and clean electric guitar climb form the basis of the start of this track, gentle rolling drums eventually open into a more expansive sound which gives space for the first guitar solo of the album before ending in other instruments snaking around that central climb.

Koopa’s Battle –

A solid beat leads into a walking bassline that underscores some muted trumpet action (good), this also features a sneaky drum solo, again…good.

Ultimate Koopa –

This is it, the no holds barred album ender and it does it in style! In turns charged and energetic and slow, sultry and seductive, Ultimate Koopa ramps up the tempo in the second half and almost comes off as a conversation between the instruments as they play off each other, ending in some saucy downscales before sudden trumpet blasts signal the end of the album.

The fact that this is the first release by the Video Game Jazz Orchestra just makes me keen for more. The balance of nailing the familiarity of the melodies whilst also giving the band room to experiment is something that I’m completely on board with.

A very unique record both in visual presentation and also in musical terms, it’s an album that, much like Creaks or Deadbolt, can be enjoyed by those outside videogame fandoms.

Black Screen Records : https://blackscreenrecords.com/products/hang-on-to-your-hat?ref=DKckbeLXWw8-aj