Listener's Reviews |
all
c64 only
Amiga only
Displaying Reviews 2431 - 2460 out of 2542 |
Login |
The Vindicator - arranged by FeekZoidReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Hmm, didn't like the original, and this cover doesn't persuade me to like it, though it does get much better after the first minute or two. I do however see the improvements that have been made to the tune, and the feel of this cover is such that it hangs together nicely. There's even some cello and strings in there: always a sign of class. It's too muffled in production for me to be totally happy with that, but it's a worthy download if you like the original. STRANGE ending! If you like the original, try it. |
|
7 On The Top (tune 3) - arranged by FerraraReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Dramatic though very compressed-sounding intro conveys a dramatic intent to this cover. A very 90s-sounding chime-lead does the melodic work, and the drums and bass keep the tune moving. It's a strained sound coming from this cover, as if the sounds were too big to fit into it: that makes it less punchy than it could be. There's a very '80s teen film feel to this'. At least one of my toes was tapping. |
|
Last Ninja 3 (tune 7) - arranged by FerraraReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Ear caressing strings and choir, and cavernous taikos convey a wonderful atmosphere, though the sound is overemphasised in the sensitive mid EQ range, which makes it slightly painful to listen to. A suitable bell arpeggio continues the theme, and the piece then goes seriously Terminator-esque and heavy: very atmospheric. This is film soundtrack stuff. Quality download: don't miss it. |
|
Last Ninja 3 (tune 8) - arranged by FerraraReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Slightly tinny beginning (which sounds like a Jarre end-of-album track, strangely) removes some of the suspense and power from this otherwise very nicely arranged cover. There's some real emotion here, struggling to get out. At 1:02, some serious synthy bass works with a church-organesque sound to give a very Vangelis feel. A dodgy pitchbend is needed in the subsequent melody for accuracy, but should have been echoed more, since it doesn't sound right this dry. A varied tune, it's difficult to keep the momentum up, and there are parts where you think 'what's going on here'. The main verse could have been even more powerful with more equipment thrown at it, but what's here is genuine art. A download for fans of real melody. |
|
Chimera - arranged by BozReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Hey, there's SID in them thar tune. Essentially this one is a hyped up SID in XM (no small achievement, I guess). 100% accurate, with some nice extra tracks and SFX doing the business. Although the swirls lack some of the fluidity of the SID (mostly because Rob didn't retrigger the ADSR envelope when he was doing them, whereas here Boz is forced to use individual notes), the whole cover hangs together and conveys the SID nicely. Not the ultimate Chimera cover, but satisfying and accurate, and therefore soul-satisfying. And it must have been a BUGGER to do those swirls. A soul-satisfying treatment of one of Rob's more unusual tunes. |
|
Comic Bakery - arranged by BozReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Very accurate version of Galway's classic: painstaking recreation of every pitch bend and vibrato. Fairly nice breakbeat, possibly the piano-type sound could have been more synthy. Follows the original accurately, with occasional well-placed additions. Any deficiences in this cover are again in the XM format: yes, it's been overshadowed by Instant Remedy and Danko, but it's a good cover of a classic song. Overshadowed by better produced covers, but still delivers the goods. |
|
Detergent - arranged by BozReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 The 80s return with Boz's version of one of the most racy pieces from The Mighty Bogg's 'Album 2'. Nice muted 80s sound, with flowing synth pads, a straightforward but soft-touch synth lead, occasional ringmod SID and some nice filtering, lead to a quality cover, well worth the download. Quality cover of an racy tune by an unusual composer. |
|
Elektra Glide - arranged by BozReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 To get you in the mood for this cover are some whiney engine FX. Really, there's only one way to do Elektraglide without messing with it, and this is it. The XM format ensures average production values, but Boz's extended mix will not disappoint the fan of this piece, though to be fair it won't knock their socks off either. A safe and thorough cover (though was that an unusual chord I heard in there in the bridge section? I guess it's a matter of opinion! Safe cover for fans of the original. |
|
Human Race (Tune 4) - arranged by BozReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 More of a reworking of the SID with some chords filling in the obvious melodic sections: the individual parts hold up well accuracy-wise. An original idea is to have a kind of grunting sound here and there to indicate primitive humans. A safe but unexciting cover. A safe cover for fans of the original. |
|
Max Headroom (Low Bridge Ahead mix) - arranged by BozReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Some nice FX and a Whittaker bassline play round your head, as this quite light piece wends its merry way into a more bassy section. A sid-like lead takes over, and all of the Whittaker twiddles are there. The burble chords are nicely (if subliminally) rendered, and the drums are very Whittaker-esque, with those typical breaks… At 2:00 it becomes clear that there's an 80s breakbeat vibe happening, later accompanied by single voice Whittaker things. Think of this as a 12' development. Not startling, but a pleasant download. |
|
Monty on the Run (highscore) - arranged by BozReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 With a breakbeat and a woman? With the laid back organ, the SID riff present and correct, this pushes all the right buttons to give a retrospective feel to this. Something has ended, we think. And we'd be right. The lead when it comes in is a sax: always a brave or foolish choice of instruments. Here is just about works, though I would have preferred something slightly less icky. Suitable synths play the famous bendy bits, and despite breakbeating this rhythmically straight piece, this is a very pleasant way to spend 6:23 (!). The easiest MOTR High score to listen to. |
|
Golden Axe - arranged by MakkeReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 A great guitar intro sets the scene nicely. The cover itself is suitable Maniacs of Noise: bouncy bass and choppy chords with a boom-tss drum. As such, it's flawless. However, the tune isn't the most interesting in the world, so Makke has done the best he could with the material. If you're fond of MoN covers, this one's superior. A superior MoN cover. |
|
KnuckleBusters Y2K - arranged by Fash offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Knucklebusters is very easy to ruin. And… poof! It just was. Imagine if you will me wincing in a corner, and you've got my reaction to this remix. Detail? Well, timing sucks, the rhythm is wrong, the synths are irritating and the whole remix hangs together worse than a group of friends in a scary movie. Pretty bad. |
|
Samurai Warrior (BadKarma Mix) - arranged by BoulderDash(CZ) offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 OK. Let's take a relaxed Samurai game with a spiritual attitude (and one of my favourite games). Let's force-feed it Red Bull and Espresso, and take it to a local loop factory. SID + Drums. Supremely pointless, badly chosen SID… this makes a mockery of anything the original SID stood for. The piss, here, is being taken mightily. Bad in all senses. You wouldn't even dance to it, so what IS the point?? Duck and cover! Incoming travesty!. |
|
Bulldog - arranged by BozReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 A good cover, but an aging one. From Boz's tracker days, it's an accurate rendition that strains at the boundaries of the format (and the cheap samples) to project some emotion. Occasional ear-candy extra tracks hint at what might have been with more production and equipment. General lack of variety across the cover in dynamics and arrangement relegates this to merely 'nice', but still worth a download if you like Dave W's work. A respectful cover which makes a so-so tune more palatable. |
|
Ark Pandora - arranged by Fash offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Terrible. Timing is bad, and the SID sounds much better and more balanced than this. Music is about orchestration, correct instruments, harmony and timing. This is devoid of all of these qualities, and the second part of the tune is truly horrific. I hear barrels being scraped. |
|
Gyruss - arranged by Fash offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 A bad conversion, badly done. Excrement of the highest order. Drums are inappropriate, the lead instruments are unclear and the arrangers has no feel for the tune: this is one of the most famous tunes ever, and Sky's treatment of it was inspirational. This is not. Just pointless. |
|
Human Race (Goldrunner) - arranged by Fash offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Pretty much each voice of the SID played with different instruments. No additions, no extra material, no extra interest. A rework without much merit, except for the echo lead which is OK. Uninteresting. |
|
Return Of The Mutant Camels - arranged by Fash offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 The intro instrument called upon to play the beginning big drums to this piece isn't a drum! In addition, this Peruvian tune has been sucked dry of emotion: the Ben Daglish tune cleverly used vibrato and flutes to convey a beautiful place. This is hell by comparison. It's lucky the Incas are dead: they would have hated this. |
|
Thundercats - arranged by Fash offlineReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Interestingly the ID3 tag for this used to say 'Unknown Artist'. Good description of Rob Hubbard. Still, what of the cover? Well, it's the SID but without any of the performance or dynamics. Complete waste of time, and part of it are truly dreadfully inaccurate. Rob Hubbard turns in his… seat. |
|
Armakunis Journey - arranged by FeekZoidReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Anything with journey in the title had better be epic! Luckily this is. A simple start has Ben's subtune 3 loading music nicely echoed across the landscape. Then some floating chords come in with the echoes and beautifully complement the SID. At 1:30, in comes a stirring military drumbeat to convey us to the next floaty part of the tune: reminds me slightly of Bolero! Building on that atmosphere, beautiful choirs crash in to convey the scale of the epic journey of the title. Let's face it, it's a classic remix. It tries to convey emotion and it succeeds. Yet it's a simple cover. Classic download. |
|
Beastie Boys (B) - arranged by FTCReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Big chords and an odd splatty sound give this a unique sound. Again, good use of delay gives the tune a wide-open and interesting sonic feel. It's definitely not flat! This is a very disposable cover in the sense that it doesn't really leave its mark on me musically: the original tune sees to that. But as a happy use of 1:55 of my life, I'm OK with it. There's nothing here to dislike, and a lot to enjoy. It's an odd tune to cover though. Happy happy happy. |
|
Arkanoid 2010 - arranged by FTCReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Arkanoid is a very difficult piece to cover. Having done so myself a number of times it's very difficult to balance the delicacy of the ethereal part of the tune with the apocalypse caused by the bass and drums of the SID. This one captures neither very well, and adds some odd melody. When the good bits of a cover are the bits in the original SID, then you know something's up. An OK Arkanoid with oddities. |
|
Thalamusik (from Sanxion) - arranged by FerraraReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Ah, Thalamusik. The classic tune. Tough to cover, with listeners demanding a high standard of Sanxion… The beginning is promising, drums are tinny but purposeful, there's some effective filtered gated synth, and the bass works. However, the main leads are awful, and effectively kill the remix for me. The breaks in the piece are imaginatively done, if lacking in dynamics, and the difficult impossible-to-replicate-without-the-sid bits have been done well (with the SID lurking in there). The first whiney solo bit has been done justice thanks to suitably whiny instruments and that ever-present gated-synth effect. The second difficult bit doesn't knock me out: it's unsubtle, though it's not the worst rendition of this piece I've heard: far from it. The last solo at the end of the piece is a disappointment: the lead is just the wrong sound. It's not whiney, it's not vibrato, and it just doesn't convey that scrapey desperate sound that the SID conveys. Better leads would have given this a 7.5. |
|
Tusker - Finale - arranged by FeekZoidReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Jungle screams and atmosphere permeate this track. The Matt Gray jungle drums are cleverly mixed with other ethnic percussion to create a jungle atmosphere. Most of Matt Gray's SID bass and drums are intact here, but the lead and chords have been re-rendered with a choir-like instrument and FX. Later developments include SIDlike FX that weren't in the SID, phasing, flanging, gated synth and other additions. Some large chords never quite sound large enough. A cool throwaway distorted lead at the end should have been used earlier: it's worth the price of downloading in itself… This remix is well done, but it doesn't float my boat. This is probably unfair on the remix, but it's a reflection of my lack-of-feeling towards the original tune. Quality Matt Gray cover. |
|
Meanwhile, The planet: (FeekZoid2000 mix) - arranged by FeekZoidReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 Wow. Here comes Jarre, but don't tell FeekZoid (he hates Jarre). A gourmet meal based on a tiny bit of SIDtune, this is professional, from the meaty kick drum, to the atmospheric filter usage, the long sweeps over time, the tune building to climax… and relax. Vocoded voices actually fit into this cover along with the floating pads and the rest of the atmospheric SFX, though the tune doesn't have a lot of melody to speak to. One to have in the background, I think. Might not be your cup of tea, but the quality can't be denied. |
|
MicroProse Soccer Intro: Smooth FeekZoid Mix - arranged by FeekZoidReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 It's amazing the difference a good delay can make to a tune. Other arrangers might have rendered this dry and uninteresting, but Feekzoid has simply added strings, timpani, an orchestral feel, bounciness and smoothness to the original SID, all blended in seamlessly. Gorgeous work Feeky: even Galway's patented digis fit in perfectly. Must-download. |
|
The Orchestral Synthasaurus Ninja - arranged by FeekZoidReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 You don't often hear guitar beginning a Ninja track. That's the first surprise with this. The second is that the SID (despite the orchestral track) is still here in FXd form, along with a distinctly Art of Noise set of drums. Then the Orchestral X-files parts starts. It's sublime: great cello, guitar and pianos, wonderful string work, nice X-Files lead, thunder… then it turns into an 80s OMD kind of cover. Well, you can't fault this tune for variety! Oh yes, the guitar solo at the end: marvellous! Must-download. |
|
Savage (Boom!Tsk!Fz!) - arranged by FeekZoidReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 One of Jeroen's bouncy tunes is covered here with some suspense by Feekzoid, who cleverly builds to the payoff bassline with decent synths and restrained. The body of the piece is well done with a standard house/club rhythm section giving it a disco feel. Floaty pads and strings do the business, and clever breaks keep the interest in what is a tune you can easily tire of in its original form. I'm not sure about that lead though: or rather that octave duplication of the lead. It pulls down the piece slightly, and should be more staccato. Quality work. |
|
Hawkeye Highscore Tune (Alltime lowest score ever) - arranged by FTCReview by Chris Abbott, 23/01/2003 A better entry from FTC which has some clever use of the SID. The 80s Chris Huelsbeck rhythm suits the piece nicely, and the space between the bass and the drums which is integral to the feel of a MoN piece has been preserved nicely (never play the bass and drums at the same time for a funky feel!). Some nice spacious instruments all contribute to a very early 80s cover. The original source material is quite limited, but nice enough. Overall a very pleasant cover, strangely reminiscant of Human League except it's cheerful. Nice. Very nice cover of a cheerful tune. If you like 80s, you'll like this. |
|
