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Firelord - Symphonic - arranged by Glyn R BrownReview by mahoney, 28/01/2003 Glyn, you've made a great SID-song sound fantastic! You know how to avoid all pitfalls and trouble that samples orchestral sounds can give you, and I bow in respect. I just wonder how many sleepless nights and days you spent tameing that orchestra, Glyn! Great work! 😃 |
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Great Giana Sisters - arranged by machinae supremacyReview by mahoney, 28/01/2003 The first time I heard this, I thought This is too good to be true!. And that feeling hasn't left, it's still there. Love at first sight! A good balance between screaming guitars and music (which might give a little hint of what I generally feel about hard rock) makes this song _the best_! 😃 Thanks for the ride, Machinae Supremacy! |
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Scroll Machine (5th Dream About Happiness) - arranged by LManReview by tom, 28/01/2003 Huhh… i love this SID piece that much! Great Job here MARKUS, well choosen sounds, clever arranged and remixed. It's one of my favourite SID remixes!!! |
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Sigma Seven (Chariots of Fire) - arranged by Thomas DetertReview by LMan, 27/01/2003 Awesome! If you wouldn't know better, you'd say it is Vangelis. It sounds so much like Chariots Of Fire, and Sigma Seven fits perfectly into that mood. Very beautiful arrangement, and technically flawless, while the Vangleis-like sound does everything to spark nostalgia. |
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3 Channel Game tune (Tracexperiment) - arranged by Kent WalldénReview by Tas, 26/01/2003 Starting of moody and slow, the piece rips into action around the 2 minuite mark. The remix has strong elements of jarre and 80's dance. There's plenty of variation here to keep the listener fascinated, and the beat goes along in typical foot tapping style. The remix is well produced throughout with some lovelly chosen instruments. i did find however towards the end that trace kinda lost the plot a little as it gets kinda boring. All said tho, it's a really valliant effort and one thats worth listening to, at least for a while anyway |
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Zoids - arranged by o2Review by OJ Oscillation, 25/01/2003 This is the one version of getting my blunt lightened. those pure athmopheric ambience makes me go into myself and chill out to a great melody. also the mixdown could have been much more bombasticly, eventually, but i can't keep stop floating away. someone should throw an anchor for me.o2 knows how to feed you without any oxygenmask. keep breathin' this sound. |
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Last Ninja (Big Beatnik Mix) - arranged by Dr Doom & Komatr:ohnReview by OJ Oscillation, 25/01/2003 Well, this remix makes me really going to funk my bones.it's a perfect big beat style version. it sounds so pressure styled and not boring. it even got the cool sid synth ring modulated bass line in it, i like to hear. some scratches here, some there (cool fx). the right amount of get it on. there's nothing more to say than: perfect 10. |
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Faery Tale Adventure - In The town - arranged by choscReview by beldin, 24/01/2003 The C64 version of the original Faery Tale AMIGA soundtrack is poor and full of errors. With its inaccurate transcription of the notes of the original, this remix also sounds quite like it is based on the weak C64 material. A monotonous drum track and a few synth-sound fill-ins, which don't fit well, stretch this remix to a length of 2:29. It fails to capture the atmosphere of the AMIGA soundtrack. |
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Panther - arranged by PGReview by beldin, 24/01/2003 Surely a working way to remix Panther, speeded up a bit. I find Whittaker's unspectacular original sid somewhat boring except for the synth sounds in the introduction (first minute or so). The remix is better and features a great conversion starting at 1:55. |
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Toni Niemelä - Giana Sisters (psychedelic remix) - arranged by Toni NiemeläReview by beldin, 24/01/2003 To me it sounds like Giana Sisters with a rather unfortunate choice of instruments. The mixture of flutes and synthetical e-guitars, heavily sliding and equipped with vibrato, is too wild for my taste. |
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Terrafighter theme - arranged by FerraraReview by beldin, 24/01/2003 Real nice slow arrangement with a catching theme and an ambient atmosphere. A drawback is the muffled sound and low quality of the used sounds. |
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Lightforce 2k theme - arranged by mladenReview by beldin, 24/01/2003 It's a fast dance-floor style remix of the first part of Lightforce. Comes with some nice sounds and effects. You won't regret the download. |
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Thrust (found on c-tape) - arranged by MixerReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Wow, does this sound like a cop show from the 70s (which is weird, because it should be sounding like electropop from the 80s). After 0:25, it gets very 1981. This must be an early cover, because it's definitely an approximation of the backing and the tune. It works, because it captures the feel of the tune well, as simple as that. However, tune timing gets changed, the backing is slightly different, the bass isn't 100%, and generally the piece feels performed rather than sequenced, although not so obviously performed as PPOT. The SID SFX are noticeable by their absence, though some organ slides put some of the feel back in. Surprisingly agreeable. |
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Last Ninja 3 (Old School Sonny Chiba Remix) - arranged by MistaDistahReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Puzzling vocal sample at the beginning gives way to hard breakbeat and SID from Reyn Ouwehand's LN3 title. Miscellaneous instruments and portions that are out of harmony with the original SID follow, and then the tune takes on its own two-chord tune, with more miscellaneous SFX coming along. Some nice Vangelis bell sounds in places don't really make up for this. This really doesn't have much in common with the SID apart from using the beginning of it as a sample. Puzzling and offputting. |
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Bruce Lee (Psycho Mix) - arranged by Bart KlepkaReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 'You have offended my family… '. True! Hey, he's got a drum machine and a synth! And they can be linked up!!! Wow!!! OK, sarcasm alert. It's SID and drums time. It's hard, it's nasty, my bum remains unmoved. Bruce Lee just isn't the tune to do this to with any effect. At 1 minute the tune stops being horrible and starts being detuned and horrible. Then it returns to abysmal. Not my cup of tea at all, though some of the later basslines and breaks show some rhythmic skill. It's still vomit-inducing though. Almost redeemed by the clever use of Bruce Lee samples in the middle, it could have worked if it wasn't so damned harsh! Urgh. Chris hell. |
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Last Ninja 2 (Into the Ninja Hood) - arranged by Bart KlepkaReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 'It's the music: can't you feel it in your soul? '. Well, kinda, I guess. Very strange slurp-drums make this sinister sounding cover sound trippy, but the beginning doesn't quite work: the triangle lead is out of place for what's trying to do (doesn't quite convey the funkiness that the rest of the piece is aiming for). Once again, clever use of samples and breaks, but the whole track is very repetitive. To some that may be just what the Doctor ordered, of course, since Bart seems to be mostly centred on the commercial dance sound. Quality stuff, but a bit too repetitive for me. You might disagree!. |
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Last Ninja 1+2 (Jungle Ressurection) - arranged by Bart KlepkaReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Oooh, spooky. Some nice atmosphere for the first 20 seconds gives way to a really nasty drum set which the tune could well do without. It's like two different tunes are being played here. At 1:00 a slower breakbeat comes in to lend the piece some badly needed coherence, but this tune stops and starts in a way that severely unsettles the listener (that would be me!). Somewhere in the world, there's a piece of video action from a copshow that suits this piece. It's one of those pieces of art that makes no sense because there's no coherence, unless another consistent element is added (in this case, that would be video footage). Towards the end, it sounds like Fat Boy Slim. An audio experience in dire need of some stable video. |
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Operation Wolf (Tune 5) - arranged by Marcus Hoffrén offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 SID, echoes, filters, drums. If you like that, you'll like this (as long as you're a Jon Dunn fan). The original tune has some unpleasant bits though. Not a great advancement over SID + drums, but more subtle at least. |
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Zoids (Chopper Zoid mix) - arranged by MixerReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Zoids/Ancestors. A majestic tune which stomps its way into our hearts. How can you ruin it? Simple, you speed the tune up by a factor of 2, then add organ stabs. It trivialises the tune, and it's impossible for me to take it seriously. |
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Ninja - arranged by PacoReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 One of Rob's more overlooked pieces, this is a fairly straight cover. Nice gong, some breathy synths. The challenge comes when the Rob bass/drum thing comes in. In this case, nothing much happens to make you funk up. The drum section doesn't have any drive, and the bass is heavy and leaden. In the second part the bass works better because it's up and octave. All in all, a nice version of the SID. It won't knock your socks off, but they may get just a teensy bit dented, and later in the tune the synths sound really 80s, with some nice replication of the SID bending. A cover which gets better as it goes on, this one is worth the download. |
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Gyroscope (Smooth Mix) - arranged by MistaDistahReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 When MistaDistah says 'Smooth Mix', he's not kidding. A hollow whistle/bell instrument combines with razor smooth bass and choir to build up in the middle of the tune to organised chaos. Then a breakbeat and some guitar come in for the repeat of this relatively simple tune. Nicely done, relaxing and inoffensive. With a slightly more breathy choir, it can easily be imagined coming out of hi-fi speakers. Great download. |
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Great Giana Rastas - arranged by MakkeReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Sometimes a tune is covered so strangely that it becomes a work of art in itself. Makke's Great Giana Rastas is one of them. While obviously based on the Great Giana sisters theme, it's really a song about Giana, with Makke singing the lyrics, and a very persuasive reggae beat. Giving this marks would not be the right thing to do: it's a coherent original track in its own right, which is well worth a download. What I will do is (a) say that I'm not 100% keen on those lyrics, and (b) say that overall I'd give it an 7 for entertainment value. I'm not sure I'd listen to it regularly, but creative jumps like this make for a much more interesting C64 scene, and long may it continue. |
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Mustang Monty - arranged by MakkeReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 The start of this is from Auf Monty, the riff done with synths rather than bell-types. The bass follows the unfiltered SID version (i. e. it's wrong) and generally it reminds me an awful lot of LaLa's XM. The tune is correct, the drums are occasionally messy in the fills… plus the bass doesn't always behave like the SID, which is offputting. Later on the tune switches to Monty on the Run, complete with irritating wrong notes 😒 and generally isn't very satisfying at all. Disappointing for fans of the original. Two disappointing renditions. |
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Commando (Little Noise Mix) - arranged by BoulderDash(CZ) offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Of the many ways Commando can start, a lot choir drone is one of the most unexpected, particularly when it goes into a Jarre-like beginning. The choir sounds cheap, and so doesn't really convey the mystery that it's trying to. Then in comes a sped-up version of the SID with some drums. And… er… that's more or less it, except for the disastrous synchronisation of the melody voice with everything else. Occasionally extra SID voices come in to further maim this already bludgeoned piece. While I was reviewing this in my house, I heard slammed doors all over the house as the piece went on. Incredibly, this one contrives to get more and more ear-battering as it goes on, which considering how it starts is a great feat. OUCH! The piece starts out as a 6, and then dives throughout the tune. |
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Last Ninja (Analog Synthmix) - arranged by BetweenzoneReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Some drum lines funk, some don't. This does. Forget about the grandeur of sweeping landscapes, this is Ninja funk. A slightly out-of-time lead filters its way through the tune playing the intro. At 1:17 the tune finally gets started, but the lead doesn't quite work: it's just a little too raw, though you can hear what it's trying to do. Unfortunately when the tune starts, the driving force of the intro drums is lost. Partly that's because the bass and drums don't mesh properly and interact a funky fashion. Ben's guitar solo in the original piece was always a bit out-of-place stylistically, but here, though skilfully played by a human, has way too much modulation, and so sounds ill. Somehow if that bass and those drums could work together, this would have been funky mutha. But instead it leaves me strangely disappointed, especially considering their previous Ninja cover (Wilderness). A superior rework of a samey tune let down by the drums. |
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Delta - arranged by octave sounds offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 A Delta cover that on the surface appears to do the right things: there's the dance breakbeat, the lead is correct, and it's all there structurally. Problem 1 is that the bass doesn't get the most important bit right: that bass run down in the fourth phrase of the verse. If a cover gets that right, it's home free. This doesn't. It's important because the soul of the piece is in this section: it's the first technical test of how well an arranger has understood the piece. Problem 2 is the lead instruments are undynamic, sluggish and generally over-reverbed (hey, sounds like Back in Time 1, hehehehe), and just don't caress the ear like they should. Lead instruments should be pleasant to listen to, not a chore. If you can overlook the accuracy problem, not a bad download. |
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Dizasterblaster - arranged by Max Levin offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 A surprising choice for a tune cover (and a tune I've never heard before). It's a standard Lazy-Jones style romp with New-Order-esque chords (normal Cm, Eb, Bb, Cm stuff). Not a rich source of creative material. As such, this cover (which attempts to dancify it up) does the best it can with the material: dancey bass, fast beat, pianoey house style lead. It doesn't do anything wrong, but equally people are not going to dance in the streets to this: the rhythm is not quite dancey enough, the bass instrument conflicts with the bass drum, and the whole thing sounds too cute to move a dance floor. It's possible to do a better cover of this in the same style (better arrangement, better samples), but frankly I can't see why anyone would bother. It's a cute tune, and should be left that way. |
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Arkanoid Intro (Longer RnB Version) - arranged by MistaDistahReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 This is a cover which, for me, took some time while listening to it to establish its identity. There are some distinct Dr Who moments, along with a general efficient and satisfying treatment of the tune. A lot of the original spaciousness in Martin's tune is initially lost, and the breakbeat performing the drums isn't as apocalyptic as you'd expect. So the cover takes time to grow. But towards the middle and end, it finally persuades you. Repeated listening is a necessity, but a rewarding one. The start could still be more persuasive though, especially the bass, which is too light and hollow. There's also a disturbing drop of one or two bars which makes the chords sound wrong at about 0:42. Initially it sounds like the tune is wrong, but then you realise it's merely repeated too early. 1:22 is when the cover becomes memorable. Well worth your listening ear. |
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Something Stranger - arranged by FeekZoidReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 And Microprose Soccer begat… well, sometimes an idea floats across the Universe, and hits the right person. In this case, that idea was a Microprose Soccer subtune, and the person was Feekzoid. A simple riff that sounds like it came from a Pong game has an entire space station built around it: SFX, vocoded space vocals, whistling wind, beautiful pads, and an entire song structure. It should have been on a Jarre album, but of course, Feekzoid hates Jarre 😊 Probably just as well it wasn't then. Just download it: it's not a tune you'd heard in its original form, but it's a great space overture, which builds and builds into a prog rock masterwork: military drums, wonderful powerchords and a theme which never seems to end. One of the best C64-related MP3s ever created. |
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The Analogue Ninja - arranged by FeekZoidReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Do they play this theme to Ninja babies? A musical box version of the Last Ninja, complete with pizz. strings and some gorgeous instrumentation. At 0:35 it stops being so cute and begins to develop a dark side. Further developments take the piece through an Art of Noise section, replete with banging drums and timpani and piano. An odd combination but it works here. It's weird, but it works. |
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