Commodore Remix

Tommy Rydling wrote:Back In Time Live

Five hours! That’s how much bitpopbonanza Chris Abbott has managed to squeeze into the DVD-compilation with the complete title of “Back In Time Live: A deluxe, limited-edition 2 DVD and CD set featuring unique performances of Commodore 64 music from Back in Time Live.”

On the first DVD: the whole Back In Time Live-consert from St Likes cathedral in London last year. There performed such royalties as Press Play on Tape, C64 Mafia, Swedsih a capella-group Visa Röster (whose version of International Karate still beats everything else) and, perhaps the most brightly shining star, 8-bit collective Stuck in D’80s – with hippiegrungeish, barefoot frontman, and legendary composer Ben Daglish.

On the second DVD: one piano concert with Rob Hubbard, where he mostly plays a few of his Commodore 64 songs. Approximately half as fun as you’d think and a bit dull after a while of watching. Also a few live clips from Back in Time Brighton 2003 and a minidocumentary from the event.

On the accompanying bonus-CD: the hottest songs from the DVDs conveniently compiled for you listening pleasure.

The first DVD is the most interesting one (even though the printers messed things up so that you have to mount the file in a virtual CD-reader on your computer to watch it), in other words the concert from last year where the C64-live-elite gives it all they’ve got. Foremost it’s Stuck in D’80s that steal the show, and as mentioned earlier Ben Daglish, who might be best known for composing the Last Ninja music.

For 20 British pounds this DVD compilation will be yours. Even if you’ll rarely watch the second DVD this has to be considered a bargain for every true SIDophile.

Tommy Rydling wrote:It’s Binary, Baby!

Marcus “Makke” Nilsson has compiled a classy remix-cd with synthpop versions of Commodore 64 songs. And he sings.

Last time someone sang on a remix album with game music was Press Play on Tape’s latest release. It was horrible on quite a few levels. Makke gets away with it most of the time. The opening Cauldron 2-005 works the best, as his voice is distorted to an unrecognisable robot. It’s nice to not hear that he’s singing about pumpkins, witches and cauldrons.

It gets worse when he’s doing clean singing, like on Sacred Armour of Antiriad:
Oh mighty Tal you must make haste
By enemies you are chased
If they catch you you’ll wish you had
The Sacred Armout of Antiriad.

Ok, it’s a bit witty to manage to rhyme on Antiriad, but at the same time it’s pretty annoying having to listen to someone singing about the banal plot of a 20 year old game. It rarely works. Thought I think it wouldn’t work to sing about the plot from Civilization 4 either when I think about it.

It gets cooler when Makke starts dropping digits, like in Hardware & Hubbard: 6510, 1650, 1525, 1530 and other magical numbers that means things for those who are just thinking about buying the CD in question. And why not? It’s a clear and polished style that’s compelling, despite the sometimes painful singing.

Rafael Dyll wrote:Nice reviews Makke, good work Chris.

There was talk of Revival being reviewed in Spuer Play too - any news on that?

Makke wrote:The new issue of Swedish Super Play is out, and it has reviews of the BIT Lite releases, as well as a report from BIT Lite.

First a review of the DVD:

Tommy Rydling wrote:Back In Time Live

Five hours! That’s how much bitpopbonanza Chris Abbott has managed to squeeze into the DVD-compilation with the complete title of “Back In Time Live: A deluxe, limited-edition 2 DVD and CD set featuring unique performances of Commodore 64 music from Back in Time Live.”

On the first DVD: the whole Back In Time Live-consert from St Likes cathedral in London last year. There performed such royalties as Press Play on Tape, C64 Mafia, Swedsih a capella-group Visa Röster (whose version of International Karate still beats everything else) and, perhaps the most brightly shining star, 8-bit collective Stuck in D’80s – with hippiegrungeish, barefoot frontman, and legendary composer Ben Daglish.

On the second DVD: one piano concert with Rob Hubbard, where he mostly plays a few of his Commodore 64 songs. Approximately half as fun as you’d think and a bit dull after a while of watching. Also a few live clips from Back in Time Brighton 2003 and a minidocumentary from the event.

On the accompanying bonus-CD: the hottest songs from the DVDs conveniently compiled for you listening pleasure.

The first DVD is the most interesting one (even though the printers messed things up so that you have to mount the file in a virtual CD-reader on your computer to watch it), in other words the concert from last year where the C64-live-elite gives it all they’ve got. Foremost it’s Stuck in D’80s that steal the show, and as mentioned earlier Ben Daglish, who might be best known for composing the Last Ninja music.

For 20 British pounds this DVD compilation will be yours. Even if you’ll rarely watch the second DVD this has to be considered a bargain for every true SIDophile.

And the review of my album:

Tommy Rydling wrote:It’s Binary, Baby!

Marcus “Makke” Nilsson has compiled a classy remix-cd with synthpop versions of Commodore 64 songs. And he sings.

Last time someone sang on a remix album with game music was Press Play on Tape’s latest release. It was horrible on quite a few levels. Makke gets away with it most of the time. The opening Cauldron 2-005 works the best, as his voice is distorted to an unrecognisable robot. It’s nice to not hear that he’s singing about pumpkins, witches and cauldrons.

It gets worse when he’s doing clean singing, like on Sacred Armour of Antiriad:
Oh mighty Tal you must make haste
By enemies you are chased
If they catch you you’ll wish you had
The Sacred Armout of Antiriad.

Ok, it’s a bit witty to manage to rhyme on Antiriad, but at the same time it’s pretty annoying having to listen to someone singing about the banal plot of a 20 year old game. It rarely works. Thought I think it wouldn’t work to sing about the plot from Civilization 4 either when I think about it.

It gets cooler when Makke starts dropping digits, like in Hardware & Hubbard: 6510, 1650, 1525, 1530 and other magical numbers that means things for those who are just thinking about buying the CD in question. And why not? It’s a clear and polished style that’s compelling, despite the sometimes painful singing.

My spontaneous reaction to the review is that it's a pretty good review. As for the "banal" lyrics, I guess he didn't quite get that this wasn't supposed to be a Depeche Mode-woe-is-me, or a "Yeah we be pimpin shit up all over town"-album. It was supposed to be fun, and for nerds. So yeah...whatever. I'm pretty pleased with the review anyway, and reviewers are almost always out to make some witty remark about something the don't like (as I myself have been known to do), so I'll take that with some salt.

Oh, and thanks to Max Levin for the texts.