C64 Orchestra - Run 10 (Rounder Europe) Housed in an unavoidably gorgeous, retro-styled floppy disc box, this is a fine example of high brow meeting with low culture. The two discs (or should we say diskettes?) celebrate the music scored for games of the Commodore 64 computers of the mid to late 80’s, predominantly the work of Rob Hubbard and Jeroen Tel. In reverse order, Disc two reawakens the original scores: 1. “Cybernoid II”, 2. “One Man And His Droid”, 3. “Supremacy”, 4. “Delta High Score”, 5. “Hawkeye”, 6. “Myth”, 7. “International Karate”, 8. “Master of Magic”, 9. “Commando”, 10. “Monty on the Run” and 11. “Commando High Score”. That should be enough pure masturbatury material for those retro computer geeks out there, yet with the now advanced computer age we expect more, so there’s extra remixes and a zipped file to enable the avid technophiles to make their own remix and even enter it into a competition! The first disc features orchestrated versions, scored by Rob Hubbard, of the first ten tracks of disc two (in the same order) and really sheds light on the true nature of the music which was delivered originally (because of technology it has to be said) as a dumbed down collection of (dare I say “irritating”) clicks and bleeps. The C64 Orchestra (alias The Ricciotti Ensemble) itself intends to bridge the gap between the realms of the high and low and choose to perform works in unusual and extraordinary locations, such as prisons and hospitals as well as playing for the masses on the street. The juxtaposition of the two sets of same composition is dumbfounding and “serious” music lovers should open up their collections to the likes “Cybernoid II”. www.roundereurope.com Will F. Next Past Reviews: March 07, April 07, May 07, June/July 07, Sept/Oct 07, Dec07, Jan08, Feb 08, Mar 08