Welcome to the world Remix64 vol 3 CD!

[Chris Abbott]

I'm also finding it amusing that even with all that quality, some people's favourite tune is a SID tune with a vocal in it. I think that shows the scene's heart is still in the right place, and ready to be wibbled by a good SID.

Augurs well for Monotron's forthcoming album and EP!

Chris

[leoni]

hm.. three fav tracks.. no can do! I listen to the almost all songs with a big smile on my face...

Jethro Walrus: In the beginning I didn't like it but one can change opinion, so I have noted, that one is one of the smile tunes now

Broken Bakery: This tune is just gorgeous. Broken Wings and Comic Bakery make a beautiful marriage..

Ghouls N Ghosts: hehe.. Almost everytime I get startled when I don't hear Michael Jackson's voice. I love the beat and it just sings (pardon the pun) of 80's mentality.

Why me: Moog - is there any style that guy can't interpret? Gorgeous lead.

GemX: ooh this is truly a gem! When I hear it I turn into a female, blonde copy of Stewie Wonder and start wiggeling my head to the melody... with a smile, of course

LMan: Bloody brilliant!

Tusker: Low, mellow start and then the rifle sound starts the show. Nice work with Slaygons voice on top of it *thumbs up*

Sanxion: Is a beautiful SID and I love the way Tron worked with different sounds..AND silence...
wich is also what he does in the Arkanoid track.. Herbie Hancock eat your heart out..and bloody hell - those scratches are spot on - Rock it!

ACE II: Such a nice one... It might not be Steve Gahn but it IS MAKKE and he is GOOD! \o/

Dominator: I dunno what to say about this track but - awesome!

Aspar Gp Master: I must say this, and I'm not ashamed of saying it either - Romeo, You are my hero. This is so funky.

Only You: There is nothing I can say more that hasn't been said about this one.. lovely blippety-blops.

[Chris Abbott]

Also there's a big kudos to Boz for producing a track which in my eyes surpasses the original: Flight Path is a much better composition than "Moments In Love", and Hayley makes me smile!

Chris

[merman]

Just had my first full listen through... SUPERB.

It's a great album, standout moments for me are BMX Kidz, Flight Path 737, Dominator and it finishes on a high with Only You. Brilliant work by all those involved!

[Boz]

Also there's a big kudos to Boz for producing a track which in my eyes surpasses the original: Flight Path is a much better composition than "Moments In Love", and Hayley makes me smile!

Chris

Why, thank you Chris!

And a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been buying the album and commenting on the tracks - great to see that the album is "hitting the mark" for so many of you.

Apologies for not being around so much. Guess I should write a post somewhere in General Conversation. RL has suddenly become a bit of a priority of late.

[fac]

You have been asking for reviews, and it has often been said that reviewers are people too untalented to become musicians themselves. So I guess I am one of the few people on this board that can make a review! I have had the “CD” for about 3 weeks now.

First let me take on the geek hat, and look at it from a C64 perspective, and say that there are some really good remixes on this CD, there are also remixes that you have the feeling is just there to fill out the CD, not that these are bad, they are just up against remixes that is so much better that they sort of fall through. So perhaps the CD should have been cut down to about 10 – 15 songs. From the geek perspective I will say songs like “BMX Kidz” and “Only you” are masterpieces, nice combination of C64 sounds and commercial tracks. Also the CD tends to get too perfect sometimes, no SID type noises, just so perfectly produced it almost get boring, so when the noises from Blackmail kicks in, the CD gets interesting again. So from a geek perspective I will say 5 out of 6 C64 logos


If I look at this CD from a commercial perspective and pretend that this CD had to compete with normal eighties compilations, I would say that the CD is close to be preferred over other compilations but there are still a few steps to get there. First off to begin with a track that praises the C64 will scare almost all buyers away from buying the CD. If the CD instead had started with Arkanoid that mixes a C64 tune with one of the catchiest “melodies” from the eighties it would have been better off. Secondly the CD should once again have been cut in size, not sure I would leave out the same tracks as above though, an example is Blackmail that in my opinion sounds more like the nineties and therefore should have been cut here. Thirdly the original songs are sometimes just way better then the remixes (from the commercial perspective) examples of this are “19” and “Only you”. Finally I will say that 2 songs have the chances of becoming radio hits: “Aspar GP Master” and “Flight Path 737”, and “Jethro Walrus” are very close. So all in all I would say 3 out 6 stars from a commercial perspective.

[Tonka]

Thanks for the review, fac!

I think you're right about the commercial aspect (which is no shock, as I don't think any of the remixers were particularly aiming for commercialism) and I do like the fact you have picked up on 2 potentially different viewpoints.

One of the things I personally like about the chip music scene is how they do not deny their video games roots and ultimately embrace 'geekdom'! The remix scene is more of a mish mash of styles and attitudes. Some people on this album would never dream of a C64 remix without SID sounds, others wouldn't dream of making a remix with them! Hopefully we've managed to cater for everyone and the album can be enjoyed on different levels.

There *are* possibly too many tracks on the album to take in all at once, and this will always lead to a perception of 'fillers'. There is a double edged sword here though: Put too many tracks on an album, and it's difficult for the listener to become familiar with it. Don't put enough, and there's no perception of value for money. Hopefully the tunes you see as 'fillers' now will become 'growers' a bit further down the track!

[Chris Abbott]

Thanks for your review

I think commercially speaking, although this is probably the most commercial C64 remix CD to date (at least for some tracks: I wouldn't pretend, as you say, that most of them would be standalone singles), the market outside the usual geek market wasn't really the point: I'm proud of the fact that some of the tunes are well chart-worthy (Dominator especially, in addition to the ones you mention), but the CD was done for fun, and for the scene: so we didn't get too uptight about hiding the geeky heritage within. Hence it was a conscious decision to put our cards on the table with BMX Kidz, and give the fans something instantly to smile about (the appearance of SID in various places also underlines this). And yes, it's a bit smug and self-referential, but it was fun Getting the geek points and having fun definitely outweighed the commercial considerations.

Tonka/Monotron's forthcoming CD which will build on the "Only You" style is much more focussed on both people who like SID, and people outside the scene who just like unusual pop. But in general it's not retro, and it's not remix. It's thus quite a gamble for me. But I'm a Tonka fanboy

Chris

[tomsk]

Tonka/Monotron's forthcoming CD which will build on the "Only You" style is much more focussed on both people who like SID, and people outside the scene who just like unusual pop. But in general it's not retro, and it's not remix.

This is good news - I really enjoyed that track too. Actually, it's quite close to some of the Thermostatic releases - similar minimal SID sound, with female vocals. And they ALSO plan to have a new album out in a few months. Good news for all us hard core SID fans !

As for the Remix vol 3 CD itself - I'm enjoying it alot - although I do firmly beleive it's harder to get a track balance 'just right' when you are faced with the constraints of mixing a known 80's number with a SID tune. It's hard enough doing a great c64 remix in the first place without that extra challenge. For the most part it's a big success with about 10 killer tracks, 4 good tracks and a few I'm not keen on. Of course this is all personal taste and as an overall album it's very good.

A mark out of ten you ask ???? (okay you didn't ask, but you're getting one anyway)
Well let me say 8/10. Well done all involved

[fac]

I know it wasn’t going for a commercial audience, but you (especially Chris) often talks about getting a larger sale of CDs so with that in mind I just wanted to mention what I think was needed for it to reach a wider audience, even tough it was no surprise to you. Also mixing C64 tunes with commercial tracks sort of lead you in a commercial direction

Most of the best CDs I own actually needs to be heard a couple of times with full concentration before they really come to life, so perhaps my review looks different when I get the physical CD.

[Chris Abbott]

I don't talk that much about larger sales these days, though it would be nice if the CD sales reflected more the number of actual C64 music fans there actually are. Still, we're off to a good start with this one. As Tonka said, it's the kind of album where preferences change on repeated listening.

Chris

[Sonic Wanderer]

Been listening to Sonic's "Crazy Comets" for some hours now, and it's getting better every 4:13.
Absolutely fantastic work Mr. Johansson!

I spank you humbly (or perhaps gently ).

I do enjoy making remixes when I can. Been way too seldom as of late.

[Squirrley]

@Boz
Accept all the congrats about your FlightPath remix and stop being so modest hehe
This is an exceptional remix which i truly love
Congrats to Hayley for the vocals aswell
That said, all the other remixes are of top quality and congrats to everyone else involved
It was acceptable in the eighties and now it's acceptable in the the two thousand and 'eight'ies

[omoroca]

One tune's missing on the album:
http://www.remix64.com/tune_66600.html

Would've fit perfectly on this wonderful CD!

[Tonka]

One tune's missing on the album:
http://www.remix64.com/tune_66600.html

Would've fit perfectly on this wonderful CD!

LOL! I see LaLa was on top form in his review...

It`s like seeing a Michelangelo painting (= the superb Spandau Ballet-like accompaniment) that has two large blue stripes painted over it by a child ( = the SID sounds)