C64 Music

Input Tune of the Fatman
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“Edge of Disgrace” by Dane is relatively long at 14 minutes, but it’s so good that I could play it on loop and never tire of it.

You can get a high-quality version recorded on real hardware here:

I looked at http://remix.kwed.org/ for the first time in a while last night. Fortunately, the site is updated as regularly as ever. One of my all-time favorite things there is Reyn Oewehand’s multi-instrument live performances:

There are video recordings as well, so you can see how he does them:

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I’m looking forward to Matt Gray’s Reformation album, which should be coming out soon.

A few more of my favorite arrangements:

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every one of these is a gem and C64 music is still a bit unsung in vgm circles (though i am pleased that pc88/98 stuff is becoming more acknowledged!)

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Martin Galway did a good job with the main theme for The Neverending Story.

Oddly enough, Galway also went on to adapt the Ivory Tower theme for a different game, Helikopter Jagd, which had nothing at all to do with The Neverending Story.

I think my favorite Galway tune has to be Green Beret’s title theme, though.

Matt Gray’s 2017 album “Reformation” has a nice arrangement of the Green Beret title theme.

The whole album is good, and I’m glad its Kickstarter campaign was successful.

He’s following it up with another album due to be released next year.

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Mr Pacman!

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A few more favorites:

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Another Dane song that I listen to regularly:

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These massive Kickstarter-funded albums by popular C64 musicians are pretty impressive. I’ve been listening to “Project Sidologie” a lot since its release (eight hours of music in all), and several of the “Project Hubbard” albums have now dropped as well.

Edit: I just came across something else that others might be interested in. Some free albums of C64 music played on original hardware under optimal conditions (as opposed to just approximated through an emulator). I’ve been listening to some, and it really makes a difference.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1K89oQBNPhsvd0c4YkMWCW8LB5BMfN9hX

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I don’t know whether anyone here would be interested in this, but the Kickstarter campaign for the symphony orchestra C64 recording is going to be close. The group putting this on always delivers beyond expectations on their projects.

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This came up randomly in my playlist while I was driving today and I don’t think I’d heard it before. Marcel Donné reworks a lot of C64 songs in the style of Jean-Michel Jarre, and I think this is a pretty good one.

Sometimes when I listen to a lot of arrangements I temporarily forget how good the original songs are. For example, I often listen to this arrangement (which I mentioned earlier in this thread without posting a playable version):

But I had not listened to the actual C64 song in a while.

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versions & remixes of sanxion loader / thalamusic, even Hubbard’s own, never capture it for me.

the original feels like the instrument is being pushed past its limits, there’s too much going on, the sounds are too coarse and cut up.

everyone seems to want to clean it up, and removing the distortion takes away the energy and mystery. things stop being implied and become explicit and it stops being about alien|space|future because we don’t know much about what those things are like (??).

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o shit this track was in seiklus!

i think i’ll probably always have a soft spot for that particular mix but you’re right, this distortion is divine

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I have been listening to some of my favorite C64 covers again tonight.

Blue Monday by New Order

The Kids Aren't Alright by The Offspring

Tragedy for You by Front 242

Black or White by Michael Jackson

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the tetris and robocop c64 tracks own bones and i love them like the moon and stars
VVVV this one is the robocop one VVVVV

vvvvv this one is the tetris one vvvv

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hi hello welcome these tunes are dank

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A fun arrangement of a Jeroen Tel song. Haven’t heard it in a while but it just came up in my randomized playlist.

While I’m at it, here’s a nice C64 arrangement (with vocals) of a Yazoo song. This duo was supposed to be making an album years ago, but I guess that hasn’t yet materialized.

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Some live choral/orchestral arrangements:

https://remix.kwed.org/remix/6319

https://remix.kwed.org/remix/6307

There are several others if you like those two.

Also, Makke has apparently started posting some of his songs that were previously available only on a commercial album (which I have owned for years and listened to many times).

https://remix.kwed.org/remix/6317

https://remix.kwed.org/remix/6299

Maybe the rest will follow.

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It’s been almost 20 years, so I went ahead and uploaded the song.

It was more of a hassle than I expected to get this song uploaded. Because it’s kind of amusing how many obstacles I encountered, I will list the ones I remember here:

  • I wanted to get a screenshot of the artwork from the music collection, so I had to run the player in an emulator. Because it’s more than 202 blocks, it requires the emulation of a RAM expansion cartridge on top of the disk image. So I had to find one of those and figure out how to use it after discovering from a random comment that it was required.
  • When I had it set up correctly, I didn’t think I did and so I tried many different configurations before I realized that loading * was actually pulling up a totally separate program, a note from the person who ripped the music collection that does not lead to the music collection itself.
  • When I went to open Windows Movie Maker, I discovered that it is no longer included with Windows. I was prompted to get the latest equivalent application. But it wanted me to get it from the Microsoft app store. I refused to connect a Microsoft account with Windows 11 when setting up this computer (I think the only bypass method that still works is the one where you enter an e-mail address that lots of others have entered previously) and I wasn’t going to do it now, so I couldn’t use the app store.
  • I found that it’s still possible to download Movie Maker from an Archive.org link, but the installer repeatedly failed. I then found that there was another thing that replaced Movie Maker before the current one, and so I downloaded that and it at least worked.
  • YouTube didn’t want me to upload a video that’s more than 15 minutes long without going through their verification process. Maybe that’s why this song was not uploaded with the others from its collection in the first place.
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