Comments for Howard Tomlinson's Blog http://www.howardtomlinson.com Wide-ranging writings of an expert unspecialist Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:19:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 Comment on Music From Games : Conclusion by Kirk http://www.howardtomlinson.com/2011/02/music-from-games-conclusion/#comment-18 Kirk Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:19:29 +0000 http://www.howardtomlinson.com/?p=327#comment-18 Where do I start? There have been so many great soundtracks over the years that bring back fond memories; I'll list a couple that still inspire me :) The original C&C from 1995 totally blew me away when I first played the game. I loved the combination of heavy industrial guitar with electric synth and then switching to the more eerie slower tracks. This mix of songs in the game just seemed to fit so well and has definitely created a legacy in the C&C series. Check out http://www.frankklepacki.com/ he did the music for Dune II back in 91 and then progressed to do a few of the C&C soundtracks (Before EA bought out Westwood Studios) he's a really nice buy btw and I was well chuffed when he personally responded to a few questions I asked him many years ago. A few personal favourites would be: "Prepare for battle" which as the name suggests had an epic build up before the guitar kicks in and "Full Stop" which I always played when in the midst of battle (Warning: These tracks contain Heavy Synth/Guitar so don't have your headphones/speakers too loud ;) ). If you go to the above link he has a player on his site that has most of the music he has done including the tracks above :) Just to mix it up from the heavier stuff I posted above another classic favourite of mine was the original Diablo theme from Tristram the starting town. The song is so moving and inspiring yet fitting to the plight of the town. I Love the acoustic guitar sound (12 string I presume?) and can sit and listen to this track for hours. The track can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2evIg-aYw8 Where do I start? There have been so many great soundtracks over the years that bring back fond memories; I’ll list a couple that still inspire me :) The original C&C from 1995 totally blew me away when I first played the game. I loved the combination of heavy industrial guitar with electric synth and then switching to the more eerie slower tracks. This mix of songs in the game just seemed to fit so well and has definitely created a legacy in the C&C series.

Check out http://www.frankklepacki.com/ he did the music for Dune II back in 91 and then progressed to do a few of the C&C soundtracks (Before EA bought out Westwood Studios) he’s a really nice buy btw and I was well chuffed when he personally responded to a few questions I asked him many years ago.

A few personal favourites would be: “Prepare for battle” which as the name suggests had an epic build up before the guitar kicks in and “Full Stop” which I always played when in the midst of battle (Warning: These tracks contain Heavy Synth/Guitar so don’t have your headphones/speakers too loud ;) ). If you go to the above link he has a player on his site that has most of the music he has done including the tracks above :)

Just to mix it up from the heavier stuff I posted above another classic favourite of mine was the original Diablo theme from Tristram the starting town. The song is so moving and inspiring yet fitting to the plight of the town. I Love the acoustic guitar sound (12 string I presume?) and can sit and listen to this track for hours.

The track can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2evIg-aYw8

]]> Comment on Music From Games : Conclusion by Howard http://www.howardtomlinson.com/2011/02/music-from-games-conclusion/#comment-15 Howard Sun, 20 Feb 2011 13:38:25 +0000 http://www.howardtomlinson.com/?p=327#comment-15 Indeed, awesome Bomb The Bass track (with the bassline from Assault On Precint 13)... the Wikipedia article on Xenon 2 lists the BB's as having worked with Tim Simenon... a.k.a. Bomb The Bass... so maybe the licensing wasn't as murky as rumoured! Indeed, awesome Bomb The Bass track (with the bassline from Assault On Precint 13)… the Wikipedia article on Xenon 2 lists the BB’s as having worked with Tim Simenon… a.k.a. Bomb The Bass… so maybe the licensing wasn’t as murky as rumoured!

]]> Comment on Music From Games : Conclusion by Steve http://www.howardtomlinson.com/2011/02/music-from-games-conclusion/#comment-14 Steve Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:58:18 +0000 http://www.howardtomlinson.com/?p=327#comment-14 Oh ... and my all-time favourite ... Xenon 2 Megablast ... awesome game tune, but I seem to remember that the Bitmap Brothers neglected to license it. Oh … and my all-time favourite … Xenon 2 Megablast … awesome game tune, but I seem to remember that the Bitmap Brothers neglected to license it.

]]> Comment on Music From Games : Conclusion by Steve http://www.howardtomlinson.com/2011/02/music-from-games-conclusion/#comment-13 Steve Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:26:17 +0000 http://www.howardtomlinson.com/?p=327#comment-13 That reminds me of one of my favourite game tunes from the past. Shadow of the Beast had a wonderfully sad, haunting sound, using an 'instrument' sound close to pan pipes as I remember it. Although I also have strangely fond memories of playing the original arcade version of Splatterhouse with its background tune that used the classic guitar riff from Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water'. Rock on dude! That reminds me of one of my favourite game tunes from the past. Shadow of the Beast had a wonderfully sad, haunting sound, using an ‘instrument’ sound close to pan pipes as I remember it.

Although I also have strangely fond memories of playing the original arcade version of Splatterhouse with its background tune that used the classic guitar riff from Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’. Rock on dude!

]]> Comment on Better Than Jesus by Howard http://www.howardtomlinson.com/2006/03/better-than-jesus/#comment-12 Howard Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:42:47 +0000 http://www.howardtomlinson.com/?p=82#comment-12 I was unable to save this. It was very tasty. I was unable to save this. It was very tasty.

]]> Comment on Catch 22, Joseph Heller by Howard http://www.howardtomlinson.com/2005/05/catch-22-joseph-heller/#comment-11 Howard Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:43:14 +0000 http://www.howardtomlinson.com/?p=48#comment-11 Worth mentioning that years later, the book (and concepts) have grown on me considerably! Worth mentioning that years later, the book (and concepts) have grown on me considerably!

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