Some of the tunes that Steve did were certainly very inspired by music they were listening to at the time (the Creatures Shop music is based on Izit/Stories.They also did a version of The 45 King/The 900 Number for one of their demos. Generally speaking, Steve was usually inspired by a riff or beat or bassline; when we went clubbing, you would occasionally see him staring off into space trying to pick apart a tune and memorize it.
A brilliant game with fantastic music. Played it right thru several times. Remember reading the review in Zzap over and over again until I finally got the game for Christmas. That was the first Apex game and I was a fan for life after that! Can't wait for the remaster (see Thalamus Kickstarter)
The disk version was the original version of this tune. While mastering the game, the cassette loader would always hang at the "pause" in the music (the point where everything stops for a moment - listen for this at 1:31). They tracked this down to the pause in the music and thus the cassette loader uses a slightly different tune which doesn't stop.
No one mentions the title music... which the screen groans in beats to the awesome music behind it.. superb presentation that only the Rowlands brothers were capable of ... Creatures 2 is still, without any doubt the BEST presented game I have ever seen
The new HVSC update has been released a couple of days ago. There you can find the tape version of this tune, finally... So, there were two versions of this tune actually, and none of the two is the "bugged" one. Case closed (maybe)! :)
Love this song, fantastic stuff, doesn't play properly on any of the SID players though :( I remember playing this game for ages, finally beat it and it crashed on the end sequence, never got to see it!
Sure, feel free to add to the list. I also forgot to add that the Level Complete music from Retrograde is based on "Jack your Body" by Steve "Silk" Hurley. :)
@toxicgte I own the original tape too, and I though there was a bug in the HVSC version (disk rip); I talked about this issue with the HVSC crew, and I think the tape version of the tune is bugged. When the sound suddenly stops, the volume register is involved, and the tape version doesnt' recognize the tweak properly: to check this, listen to the tune until the end, and you'll notice that the tape version doesn't fade (and the fading out effect is, again, done by tweaking the volume register)..
I think Steve Rowlands was up there with the best, but sadly he didn't work on many games. As such, he doesn't have the extensive resume the likes of Hubbard, Galway et al do.
Thanks for all the information, Andy (Roberts?)! I've been looking for this information for years, really... This information would also be very useful to the STIL (SID Tune Information List - it's a text file included in the High Voltage SID Collection, the most accurate SID collection on the web) crew, so may I send it to them? Also, if you've got more information about Steve Rowlands' music, we would be pleased to hear :) Thanks again!
I remember reading that most of the Steve Rowloands tunes where actually "covers" of the music he used to dance in the clubs. Does anyone know where he took the tunes from? I know it's not a legend, as I listened to the Creatures' shop tune on TV twice (in a documentary) and to the Retrograde's second boss at the beach some years ago (I guess the tunes are from the late 80s - early 90s). Thanks for the help!
![DRUID II: ENLIGHTENMENT / FAIRLIGHT CRACK INTRO (1987) 🧙 - C64 REMIX [LukHash]](/img/1.gif)
30 years later and this music still stands to this day. Never ages. Was ahead of its time!
I disagree, the music was very much a product of it's time. It's still great, though. 😊
Some of the tunes that Steve did were certainly very inspired by music they were listening to at the time (the Creatures Shop music is based on Izit/Stories.They also did a version of The 45 King/The 900 Number for one of their demos.
Generally speaking, Steve was usually inspired by a riff or beat or bassline; when we went clubbing, you would occasionally see him staring off into space trying to pick apart a tune and memorize it.
I was such a fan, I had this on tape and listened to it on my bus trip to college, awesome music.
A brilliant game with fantastic music. Played it right thru several times. Remember reading the review in Zzap over and over again until I finally got the game for Christmas. That was the first Apex game and I was a fan for life after that! Can't wait for the remaster (see Thalamus Kickstarter)
Great tune for the time, this tune is still in my head 30+ years later, long live S. I. D👍🎶.
The disk version was the original version of this tune. While mastering the game, the cassette loader would always hang at the "pause" in the music (the point where everything stops for a moment - listen for this at 1:31). They tracked this down to the pause in the music and thus the cassette loader uses a slightly different tune which doesn't stop.
Andy Roberts The pause bit was fantastic and should not have been fixed.
I remember that from my own tape copy. What was the actual bug that caused it?
Just found a tracker module cover I made of this in around 1998 on my Amiga floating around the internet. God damn.
Cool. Is it on RUclips? I wouldn’t mind checking it out. :)
@@inphanta play it online here modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=54927
Bit crappy :)
No one mentions the title music... which the screen groans in beats to the awesome music behind it.. superb presentation that only the Rowlands brothers were capable of ... Creatures 2 is still, without any doubt the BEST presented game I have ever seen
The title music is epic. Think I'm going to have to install an c64 emulator just to capture it once and for all.
Hell... Is.. forver
And i’m back. Still loving this.
It pumps me up everytime
The new HVSC update has been released a couple of days ago. There you can find the tape version of this tune, finally... So, there were two versions of this tune actually, and none of the two is the "bugged" one. Case closed (maybe)! :)
Awesome track 😊🙂😎
Thank you very much :) both for the info and for the great games that Thalamus produced for the Commodore 64 :)
Great tune one of my favourites!!
It is good
Great game, and loading tune. Even better was the IHATEBROS cheat that made your guy indestructible:)
Love this song, fantastic stuff, doesn't play properly on any of the SID players though :(
I remember playing this game for ages, finally beat it and it crashed on the end sequence, never got to see it!
Sure, feel free to add to the list. I also forgot to add that the Level Complete music from Retrograde is based on "Jack your Body" by Steve "Silk" Hurley. :)
@toxicgte I own the original tape too, and I though there was a bug in the HVSC version (disk rip); I talked about this issue with the HVSC crew, and I think the tape version of the tune is bugged. When the sound suddenly stops, the volume register is involved, and the tape version doesnt' recognize the tweak properly: to check this, listen to the tune until the end, and you'll notice that the tape version doesn't fade (and the fading out effect is, again, done by tweaking the volume register)..
love this :P
Classic
Classic. One of the best Sid tunes not by Hubbard or Galway etc.
I think Steve Rowlands was up there with the best, but sadly he didn't work on many games. As such, he doesn't have the extensive resume the likes of Hubbard, Galway et al do.
That beat just turned into "Robo's Theme" from Chrono Trigger for me, someone please send help.
Thanks for all the information, Andy (Roberts?)! I've been looking for this information for years, really... This information would also be very useful to the STIL (SID Tune Information List - it's a text file included in the High Voltage SID Collection, the most accurate SID collection on the web) crew, so may I send it to them? Also, if you've got more information about Steve Rowlands' music, we would be pleased to hear :) Thanks again!
Tuuune. Better than 'Megablast' from Xenon 2
The game's not bad too!
I remember reading that most of the Steve Rowloands tunes where actually "covers" of the music he used to dance in the clubs. Does anyone know where he took the tunes from? I know it's not a legend, as I listened to the Creatures' shop tune on TV twice (in a documentary) and to the Retrograde's second boss at the beach some years ago (I guess the tunes are from the late 80s - early 90s). Thanks for the help!
I wouldnt even look at a porn pictures at 64k ahahahaha !!!! how the fuck they created a game out of that is amazing !
The best part is that what was actually available for developers to work with was more like 40K! 😆
@@sjake8308 40k ? really ? thats like smaller thats a jpeg thumbnail, thats crazy.