Several Commodore 64 Mastertronic games had some outstanding soundtracks that graced the SID chip, from the likes of Rob Hubbard, David Whittaker, Jeroen Tel, and many more. It was natural as people fell more in love with these soundtracks that they would think “what if I remade it with some nice instruments and made a remix of it?” – and clearly that struck a chord with both those making and those listening, hence the Commodore 64 remix scene being around for a considerable amount of time.
In this four-part series, I will look at several remixes of Mastertronic games from both freely available and commercial releases, and showcase the wide-ranging talent and various music styles that the C64 remix scene offers, with the quality really shining through from some very talented musicians, some of whom I have been fortunate enough to see playing some of these tracks live at events over the years. If you have not already got these websites bookmarked, then you absolutely should do so, and keep up to date with what is happening – you will be surprised:
Remix64 – https://remix64.com/
remix.kwed.org – https://remix.kwed.org/
This first part will look at freely available remixes (all published at remix.kwed.org) and these are all remixes of original Mastertronic released games. So, as you can already imagine, there will be some gems to listen to and I have had great pleasure in listening to all of them.
An Introduction to Commodore 64 Remixes
Even since the days of the Datahits cassette tape in the mid-1980s, remaking and remixing classic Commodore 64 soundtracks has been around – with many composers being suitably inspired. In the 1990s, there was Triad MP3z, maintained by Linus Walleij (King Fisher / TRIAD) for those publishing for free, and Chris Abbott put together his first commercially released Back in Time album in 1998 with plenty more released from C64Audio and other artists after that. One important change came in 2000, as, in full co-operation with and support from King Fisher, Jan Lund Thomsen (Kwed / Triangle) started to put together the site remix.kwed.org – which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. This soon became the de facto site to both composers to upload and listeners to download free remixes from.
Around the same time, Markus Klein (LMan) and Neil Carr (Tas) got together, and in Markus’ words “It was born out of the idea of combining our efforts to create a C64 remix related magazine (which Neil had just then initiated), and to create a forum for background data, voting and discussion for the tunes released at remix.kwed.org” – and so in 2001, Remix64 was born. This allowed both discussion of remixes but also pages for each remix, with playable links from remix.kwed.org (and later amigaremix.com for Amiga remixes when that was launched) and with its articles, interviews and news has become the site to go to for both the C64 and Amiga remix communities. Markus and Neil are still active today, with Imre Olajos Jr. (LaLa) also being one of the site editors – no less than the creator of the SID Tune Information List (STIL) which gives you lots of information and trivia about C64 SID tunes in the High Voltage SID Collection (HVSC)
So that was a little introduction and overview. So, let’s get on with some quality listening. And just to be clear, ten different games will feature and with ten different composers offering the remixes, so that means everyone gets a fair go, which only seemed fair. Here we go:
Action Biker (original by Rob Hubbard, remix by Johan Andersson)
Listen to Action Biker on Remix64 here – https://remix64.com/track/johan-andersson/action-biker/
Action Biker was a game tied in with the KP Skips character Clumsy Colin, but in its own right it was an enjoyable isometric biking collect-em-up, with a simple but gorgeous Rob Hubbard soundtrack. Here, Johan has kept the clean uncluttered feel intact, with some lovely acoustic guitars to open up, followed by a warm and cosy synth lead and some electric guitars which blend in beautifully. The second part becomes more country rock as it builds with the acoustic and lead guitars having room to breathe well as it comes towards a more dramatic feel in that part, before coming back to the main opening hook to end things well. Its strength is keeping that simple yet melodic feel that the original had, and full kudos to Johan for that.
Further remixes of Action Biker – https://remix64.com/track/more-of/sid/MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Action_Biker.sid/index.html
Further remixes by Johan Andersson = https://remix64.com/act/johan-andersson/
Did You Know?
The Commodore 64 version of Action Biker not only was released on a yellow cassette on some copies, but some of those also included a yellow cassette case, similar to what would normally be bundled with ZX Spectrum Mastertronic titles.
Agent X II (original by Tim Follin, remix by Tim Forsyth)
Listen to Agent X II on Remix64 here – https://remix64.com/track/tim-forsyth/agent-x-2/
The original Agent X never made it to the C64, but the sequel was a three-part game, with the first level tune is the one that has all Follin’s lovely SID trademarks, so natural that became the one to remix here. In one of Tim’s earlier works, armed with a Roland JV-1080, the opening comes in (albeit with a different key at first) all those lovely sweeps of the original complete with its bright and breeze melody comes to the fore. It sounds like progressive synth rock, and really grows and breathes life as the original does, with the blend cascade of ascending and descending notes beautifully produced (and played live incidentally) too – with a drum gradually coming in and being some nice rhythmic backing but not getting in the way too much either. Even then you could hear just how good Tim was going to be, and shows a lot of care and attention.
Further remixes of Agent X II – https://remix64.com/track/more-of/sid/MUSICIANS/F/Follin_Tim/Agent_X_II_The_Mad_Profs_Back.sid/index.html
Further remixes by Tim Forsyth – https://remix64.com/act/tim-forsyth/
Did You Know?
The level complete music to Agent X II on the C64 is no less a version of the music that plays from the Shake n Vac advertisements – which are forty-five years old this year. It was catchy for anyone that listened to it, and almost on every single commercial break at the time on television. No wonder it got into Tim’s head to cover it!
Amaurote (original by David Whittaker, remix by Martin Dodd)
Listen to Amaurote on Remix64 here – https://remix64.com/track/martin-dodd/amaurote-full-sci-fi-horror-mix/
Although not a very good C64 conversion, Amaurote does keep intact the David Whittaker soundtrack, especially the in-game theme, which is delightfully sparse and haunting. Martin had already produced a remix of the title theme but went back to do a sci-fi horror version, inspired by the bleakness during the Covid pandemic. Straight away as the tune develops, there is that haunting feel with the piano being particularly piercing and dark, with strong John Carpenter vibes, and a little bit of the Whittaker SID background drum for context. The high piano notes that resemble the original really do punctuate, before the swathes of synthesised darkness come with each passing phrase and the bass line being particularly evil as it steps in, and then grows and overtakes the whole feel to build to a final crescendo of desperation. It is one of those that takes time to appreciate, but when you do, it all falls into place.
Further remixes of Amaurote – https://remix64.com/track/more-of/sid/MUSICIANS/W/Whittaker_David/Amaurote.sid/index.html
Further remixes by Martin Dodd – https://remix64.com/act/martin-dodd/
Bump Set Spike (original by Rob Hubbard, remix by Nicklas Schmidt)
Listen to Bump Set Spike on Remix64 here – https://remix64.com/track/nicklas-schmidt/bump-set-spike-schizo-classical-remix/
Rob Hubbard’s soundtrack to this volleyball game had the indoor and beach courts each with their own flavours. Here, Nicklas takes the indoor one and puts on a beautiful classical arrangement. The opening stanza with mainly the piano solo is just beautifully played, with a real sense of timing and skill. Then the classical waltz version comes in at 1:23, which is how Andre Rieu would probably play this if he had a go at it. Lots of gorgeous rise and fall that back the main melody and its Viennese feel as it blends its way through and builds. The third main verse pass at 2:20 has a large orchestra concert hall feel as it has a lovely backing, with plenty of large build ups to dramatic punctuations as the instruments just bring forth in absolute joy. It really does stand up well and shows that taking on a different genre does mean a loss in quality either.
Further remixes of Bump Set Spike – https://remix64.com/track/more-of/sid/MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Bump_Set_Spike.sid/index.html
Further remixes by Nicklas Schmidt – https://remix64.com/act/nicklas-schmidt/
Kikstart II (original by Shaun Southern, remix by Nadin0xD400)
Listen to Kikstart II on Remix64 here – https://remix64.com/track/nadin0xd400/kikstart-ii-remix/
I love this game (as if you did not guess from my review) and even the soundtrack was pretty catchy. Nadin0xD400 seemed to agree, and produced this, which won the Arok party in 2023. Although not fully my cup of tea, plenty of others love it – and for a good reason. It is punchy and powerful, with drums really kicking in along with the bright lead and a good backing that gives it all that sense of speed and power with the trance feel really applying well to it all here too. As the tune gradually develops here, there is a main bass lead that sticks out like the original does, before its middle section with some good backing throughout. Ultimately, it showed a lot of promise and struck that chord of keeping the original’s soundtrack intact while injecting the pace that is needed for it being truly trance.
Further remixes of Kikstart II – https://remix64.com/track/more-of/sid/MUSICIANS/S/Southern_Shaun/Kikstart_II.sid/index.html
Further remixes by Nadin0xD400 – https://remix64.com/act/nadin0xd400/
continues…
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