| PRESS PLAY ON TAPE - RUN/STOP RESTORE |
RUN/STOP RESTORE is the second effort of the Danish band Press Play On Tape. It's good. Get it!
Oh, what? I have to do a real review? Very well...
Press Play On Tape is a band who plays rock versions of old C64 tunes. While most of the remixes around tend to be heavily synth/dance oriented, these guys are like a breeze of fresh air in the C64 music remix community. Their heavy use of distorted guitars and fifth chords sometimes bring images of 80s hair-bands in mind.
What a surprise, really I wasn't prepared for this album and I must admit that I'm really impressed here. The album is very fresh and dynamic. PPOT have been able to successfully capture the feeling of each tune and transform them into modern rock songs. The musicianship is impressive throughout the CD. I am a metal-head and guitarist myself, so I know the difference between tight-musicianship and fluff. A few of the tracks also feature vocals, which show how well those SID tunes can be converted to vocal driven rock songs.
You will need all your attention to really appreciate this CD, as it is NOT a "fast food" album. It will grow on you and the songs will have a deeper impact the more the time will pass. The maturity of the song-writing is simply excellent and the song variety is yet another great thing about this CD. It is well-structured and I'm sure it can please almost any C64 music fan.
The CD contains 18 tracks in total, clocking around 57 minutes. Here is a few words on some of the tracks:
-The first track, Hypa-ball vs Mission AD is my absolute favourite. It opens with a stadium-like ambience and then a band of cheerleaders singing..."Let's play Hypa-ball!"...The whole track is a high-tempo adrenalin-driven fist-pumping melodic rock gem. Guitars roar full-throttle while the decent bass and drum work provide the backbone. The clever use of keyboards leads the whole thing to perfection.
-The fourth track, Phantom of the Asteroid is the first track that is vocal-driven. Søren Trautner Madsen (the drummer) is behind the mic, and he can actually sing! It kinda reminds me of Motley Crue's Dr.Feelgood.
-Track five, Kettle is a strange choice. While the original SID is a good tune, it is far from being one of the Ben's best tunes. However, PPOT has been able to pull it out amazingly well.
-The eighth track, Nemesis the Warlock is another one of my favourites, right after Hypa-ball. It starts like a groovy ballad, but kicks into an awesome mixture of melody and heavy guitars around the 3:30 mark. The color and richness of the piano is simply amazing! I can't help but skipping the CD back and listening to it over and over again. The aside from the guitar and keyboards, the excellent bass/drum section also must be mentioned. The whole thing is an almost flawless piece of music. I'm sure Rob Hubbard is very pleased with this remake of his song...
-Track nine, The Way of Exploding Fist features some impressive musicianship. My only complain is that it is too short.
-Star Paws is one of the faster tracks, which reminds me of Joe Satriani in his "The Extremist" era.
-Defenders of the Crown is a big surprise. The whole track is the bards singing a song (to the melody lines of the original tune) to the king. You'll enjoy it even more if you know the story of the game. The lyrics are also very funny, I mean how can you listen to a bunch bards singing "You have to raid, rescue a maid! Bring her home, she is not alone, 'cause now you have eight!!" and not laugh?! :D
-Roland's Rat Race features saxophone which gives it a jazzy feel. To the PPOT's credit, they were not afraid to experiment with new ideas and instruments, and the result turned out very well. It shows how vast their musical abilities are. I hope they will do more of this in the future.
-Wizball High Score leaks groove and atmosphere. It is probably as atmospheric as you can get in re-doing the song.
-Sacred Armor of Antitiriad is another crunching tune. The heaviest track on the CD, it features a very interesting blend of bass, guitars and keyboards. I wish they had used the same chuggy distortion on all the songs. The bass line is also awesome. The whole thing is a dark and heavy song, as the non-muted heavily-distorted power chords are exploited to perfection and conjure a grim but poignant soundscape. You have to listen to it to know what I mean.
The booklet is printed in the style of Zzap 64! magazine. It contains some info for each of the tunes, lyrics to the songs and a lot more stuff. It is full of subtle humorous lines; you are guaranteed to find something new every time you read it. However, it would have been better if they had included some more information on the band members.
My criticisms of this album are minimal. One of the few complaints I have is the production. While it is actually pretty decent, it is a bit inconsistent and sounds a little amateurish in some places. For example in track 2 (Arkanoid) the vocals get drowned in the guitars, or in the first track the bass could've been a bit louder. The compression effect on t clean guitars is also a bit too high. I'm probably being a bit too harsh here though, since I'm used to the crystal clear and perfectly balanced production of European metal bands. Let's hope these guys can afford Fredrik Nordström for their next CD :)
Another complain I have is about the selection of the tunes. There are many Galway and Hubbard tunes present on the CD, while a lot of other C64 music-Gods (such as Matt Gray, Dave Whittaker, Chris Hülsbeck,...) are missing. I know it must have been hard to choose from 15000+ C64 tunes, so I think I shouldn't complain. I'm sure they chose the tunes they liked the most. I would've chosen some other tunes, but as Jeff-The Dude-Lebowski would say, "Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man".
All in all, RSR is a very good CD. I'm sure it's gonna be spinning in my CD player for a long time. If you read my game reviews, you'll see I don't normally dish out compliments on these things, but then again, RUN/STOP RESTORE is no 'normal' album either...Let me put it this way, if RSR was a kind of food, it would be your Mom's hot baked bread...nice, fresh, and tasty! I hope it will set new standards for things to come.
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A sister site to Lemon Amiga. Made in Sweden by Kim Lemon 1998-2021.
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Press Play On Tape are: Martin Koch and Jesper Holm Olsen on guitars, Uffe Friis Lichtenberg on bass, Søren Trautner Madsen on drums and Theo Engell-Nielsen and André Tischer Poulsen on keyboards. You can visit them at pressplayontape.com.
Tracklist:
1. Hypa-ball vs Mission AD
(Keith Tinman / Fred Gray)
2. Arkanoid
(Martin Galway)
3. Tiger Mission
(Johannes Bjerregaard)
4. Phantom (of the Asteroid)
(Rob Hubbard)
5. Kettle
(Ben Daglish)
6. Bionic Commando
(Tim Follin)
7. Comic Bakery (PPOT remix remix)
(Martin Galway)
8. Nemesis the Warlock
(Rob Hubbard)
9. The Way of the Exploding Fist
(Neil Brennan)
10. Fairlight
(Mike Alsop)
11. Star Paws
(Rob Hubbard)
12. Flimbo's Quest
(Reyn Ouwehand)
13. Defender of the Crown
(Jim Cuomo/Richard Joseph)
14. Roland's Rat Race
(Martin Galway)
15. Wizball Game Over
(Martin Galway)
16. Wizball High Score
(Martin Galway)
17. Sacred Armour of Antiriad
(Richard Joseph)
18. Crazy Comets
(Rob Hubbard)
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