Smooth McGroove surprises us with his new The Legend of Zelda a capella theme!
Posted on July 22 2014 by Legacy Staff
Max Gleason, better known for his stage name Smooth McGroove, is a YouTube artist recognized for recording a capella versions of video game songs. He did something really special with the Hyrule Castle theme from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, which was also used in Super Smash Bros., the final result being a total success. He has also made several a capella arrangements for Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Mega Man, Street Fighter and other The Legend of Zelda games.
Gleason used to provide private music lessons to support himself but one day, the official The Legend of Zelda Facebook page posted his cover of Ocarina of Time’s “Song of Storms”. Immediately following this, subscribers jumped from 90 to over 1200. A couple of weeks later, he decided recording was what he wanted to do, so he left his job to fully focus on his a cappella style. Now, Gleason’s Smooth McGroove YouTube page has more than 181,000 subscribers and his videos have earned nearly 9 million views.
When asked about working with modern tracks, he sided against it, stating that “music for video games today serve a more atmospheric role with less of a focus on memorable melodies“; he’s really looking forward to recording more classic songs from his childhood, games like Super Mario, Metroid, Sonic, and the list goes on and on. Even though he receives many requests on his YouTube channel, he has accepted just a few of them.
Each video features multiple shots of himself singing individual parts of the song, complemented by a video of the chosen game being played. Plus, we get to see his lovely cat, Charl, dancing with him!
I believe this arrangement is a masterpiece; it’s a theme we’ve heard a lot but now it’s presented in an original and unique way. If you want to see Smooth’s job just watch it above. Give us your thoughts about it!
