Christmas Special Editorial: 20 years of RKO (The charts revisited)
Published: 24/12/2020 by Neil Carr
In the year 2000 Jan Lund Thomsen's RKO (remix.kwed.org) was born. Finally, a resource that enabled remixers to uploaded their remixes for the world to enjoy. Before that time the remixing scene were made up of several websites spread around the internet. Finding these sites and jumping around from one to another was a painful and a somewhat chaotic experience. Over the years RKO would establish itself to be the one stop shop to get your c64 remix fix. In this Christmas editorial special we go back through the years and present the top 3 remixes voted by our readers from each year to the current day. So grab a cuppa sit back and enjoy whilst we take you on a nostalgia trip. Oh! and if you haven't voted yet on these remixes here's a chance to do so. Happy Christmas everyone.
*Ratings are correct at the time of publish. Ratings subject to varience should votes be cast.
YEAR: 2000
condor: Never commented this one... With Zoids, I think it can von title of your best remix.
das.Mordschaf: Its just GREAT <3
prq: Excellent tune
93%
soppa: Absolutely stunning remix, so simple (as the sid) but yet so eerie and deep feel to it, also love the selection of ambient sounds in this.
mfe: To take something so simple and make it this atmospheric requires skill. Kudos!
Zilog: This is AWESOME!
92%
Trydowave: Best version of zoids. Obvious Jarre influence. Great stuff
Melaure: Excellent, I have found Jarre's fealings in this tune :D
condor: Agreed with ommoroca - wonderful!
91%
Year 2001
machinae supremacy - Great Giana Sisters
Ansoe: ... What can I say? Awesome...
ulfepulf: Why give this anything but outstanding?
deadguyfromhun: Cool music
96%
Tonka - Last Ninja - Palace Gardens (Loader)
Jogeir: What can I say! Probably the best tune on the site!! STUNNING!!!!!
Nebdar: Awsome remix cool one with proper soul
cyphax: Why is there still only ONE song from Tonka? I sure would love to hear more like this, cause this is, for me, still about perfect.
93%
DHS - Max Headroom (Orbital 3241 Elevator Mix)
madrigal: Wonderful remix, DHS is a guarantee for quality!;)
chairmankaga: One of my favourite SID remixes.
aero: Simply gorgeous
91%
Year 2002
Glyn R Brown - Firelord - Symphonic
kaus: Yeah my glyn favourite
amfr: This is great!
niccin: Awesome!
96%
Mahoney - Armageddon Man (Vocal Jazz feat. Karin Öjehagen)
Melaure: Very nice voice
Mrcookie: Marvelous!
LaLa: Emotional, excellent, superb, magnificent, outstanding, unbelievable, beautiful, moving, amazing, rocks, perfect.
95%
Glyn R Brown - Gordian Tomb Adventures
ricky: !
Sodden: Red face... Is a understatment, Simply stunning. After 31/01/02 Glyn is the master.
brix: WTF? !! This is great!
95%
Year 2003
Lagerfeldt - Dutch Breeze/Robocop 3 (Progressive Uplift)
decibel: I simply love this remix, I defy you to sit still while listening to it
NecroPolo: That's what I'd call a proper sonic threatment! Not my style but I don't really care when I meet such high quality work.
zera: I hear the song already for years. And I will hear it still many years. Ingenious.
93%
Thomas Detert - Supernova (the slow tune)
lolicon: Love Vangelis, love this tune! Very well composed. This delivers!
soppa: Marvelous remix, the production is of course excellent but this is just so well thought out it's bound to stay on my playlist for a long long time.
Ryrynz: Beautifully done.
93%
bratac: Simply wonderful!
Chainsaw: Very great
bar: The art of Vangelis+The sound of Neuronium+The touch of Suzanne Ciani=one of the best tune on RKO
91%
Year 2004
exo: Its gettin hot in here.
tusy: Great
InternetRebel: Absolutely fabulous! Sounds like a first class movie score. Great arrangements, very well done. Respect!
97%
Amok: GREAT!!!
Zieman: You can fall into a SWEET, endless near-sleep while listening to this :)
migu: This is just perfect for me. Love the Sweet theme.
96%
DHS - The Human Race (Bando alle Seghe)
Ziphoid: Still, after all these years - this is simply beautiful!
esg: I love this song and the two musician too!
prq: Beautiful melody, beautiful voices.
94%
Year 2005
Makke - Artura(Dublin Delight Mix) feat. Andreas Wallström
macb3t: Absolutely brilliant!!!
NecroPolo: AYYYEEE!!!! :D Yikes! Me likes!
tags: Absolutely brilliant :)
95%
Marcel Donné - Something Stranger Remake
Tas: Ding, dang and dong!
blue.flame: ^^ Just amazing how one mans sound can rule my feelings for 5 minutes....... Jean-Michel Donné ROCKS!!!!!
Waz: Marcel just completely rocks my world, again! An excellent improvisation on a quite limited SID with plenty of emotion and feel, and working around the original tune. Superb stuff.
93%
Danceaway: I met Glen again on Saturday night at B. I. T, we had a chat and I asked him when he is doing more remixes and he said he had just uploaded this track and well, pure beauty and those choire vocals are perfect!!! THIS GUY IS THE NO. 1 remixer without doubt
nec5: Really. You won't get better than this for orchestra/chant music. A+
Dumper: Everything Glyn touches turns to gold. Another classic.
92%
Year 2006
Andy Gilmour & LMan - Robocop Title
lagerfeldt: Take My Breath Away
buzzard: Although a little sedate for my taste, technically awesome, would love to see something more upbeat. Don't ever stop remixing!
DHS: I have no words to describe this. Just listen to it.
95%
moog (Sebastian Bachliñski) - Tristess
Reyn: Great great remix! And also a very nice composition! Superb..
nickenstien: WOW!! This is fantastic, have been listening on a loop all day! One of those tunes that when it is finished you need to hear the start again, and then the middle and end again, so you just play it over and over. AWESOME MOOG!!!
drax: Damn, Sebastian you did again. You got pretty close to how I played it on the piano when I composed it ;)... Really nice production aswell... Love the piano and the strings!
94%
machinae supremacy - Sidology 2 Trinity
jokesoldier: Orange face + you got boost powa for the F-Zero intro!
Sargon: Really nice Sid Metal!
Caboose: This is definately top 10 on the whole remix64.
93%
YEAR 2007
Reyn Ouwehand - Green Beret [live at The Church]
cyphax: Simply beautiful.
Noisywan: I'm not familiar with the original SID song but I loved it.
Cifu1978: Perfect. Cannot express more plainly.
97%
Dafunk - Destruction - The New Beginning (rmx)
Skitz: Dafunk needs a god damn recording contract! Everything he is producing lately is seriously good and commercially viable!
snorski: Smooth!! Like it a lot!
Peter W: Here's that dreamy sound again with a taste of a melodic trance breeze, great stuff!
93%
feark: Heard this on "C64 take-away" and after that I had to get this tune.
sardjent: Very nice tune, you wouldn't happen to be a Skinny Puppy fan concidering the samples at the end?:)
infamous: There is nothing this man touches that doesnt turn to gold, absolutely stunning tune.
93%
YEAR 2008
Mordi - Plastic Pop (I Miss You mix)
nummer2: What can I say its Mordi time again :D Nice to see that you read the song in a several way as Anthonys The Past Remix.
karter: Very well done. If you check out the original composers site (http://www.danko.se/) you can find his own remade version under the playlist section.
bahamut_ger: Ums auf Deutsch zu sagen. EINFACH GEIL!! Sehr guter Track. Bitte mehr davon.
93%
Dafunk - Hardcore Power (We Believe In Goa - Remix)
knotti: Oh yeaa partytime!!
spellcoder: Bit of '90 Cappella en some Scooter style
Danceaway: Starts 08 as he left 07... Top stuff and the sounds are bang on, along with top mixing... Keep it up Master Dafunk......
93%
Peter W - Stargate (Not As Trancelucent As)
xo: Su-bloody-perb.
Amok: Just great...
Dr-Duke: Very well done Peter W! (Not my fault but I love trance) :)
93%
YEAR 2009
Firestorm - Commando (Sound of SceneSat Edit)
pj: You took me by surprise. Very powerful and original interpretation.
Xenox.AFL: Excellent....!
inqisit0r: Stuff it. Ill give it an outstanding. What makes it good seriously outweighs its imperfections. (eg, the transition to guitar at 3:16 is great. But thats the end of the track. The rest after 4:29 is just "following the rules" with a lacking end section)
96%
Jogeir Liljedahl - Synth Sample - The Stationary Ark
DoubleMan: Oh my God... Thats so beatifull...
deleyt: Great stuff!
TNT: This is my ALL TIME favorite remix! Very emotional. I just love it!
96%
Kate Eternal: Out-stan-ding!
russ: This is just amazing, I cant stop playing this :-)
Mrcookie: With this one, it can load for hours without making me impatient
94%
YEAR 2010
horizoner: This one blew me away - AWESOME!!!
Mayhem: Sweet ;)
SarahKreuz: Sweet? Never heard of it. I GUESS it`s a C64 Game, eh? XD This song is strong, got a powerful sense of emotion and reminds me a little bit of Jogeir Liljedahl`s tracks (especially @ 4:30 min). Great tune. And now SHUT UP-I wanna listen to it once more.;)
95%
Chabee - Baboon (Skydive ReMix)
Mordi: Cool tune. Great sounds and lovely percussion. I love your style!
Melaure: Excellent!
Metal_VIB: Pure porn! A tad too mellow for my taste though, but a really good arrangement of the track.
93%
SIDrip Alliance - From First to Last (AROK12 tribute mix)
maindrian: Makes me want to dry hump my speakers. It's THAT filthy. The lead does feel a little flimsy over the top of all that crunchy guitar, but boy, oh boy, does that guitar crunch.
Mordi: Flakey lead, but otherwise great.
hillsman: Some of the leads aren't great, but this is an otherwise awesome compendium of some top LN tracks. Not a huge electric guitar fan, but it sounds great here!
93%
YEAR 2011
moog (Sebastian Bachliñski) - Jazzcat (007)
jokesoldier: No need to say that's really, really, really nice& smooth :)
NecroPolo: _steve_: Someone needs to grow taste or ears, maybe both :) I'd really appreciate some explanation coming with bad rating instead of trolling with no name. That's coward in a way, eh?
Melaure: What a wonderfull piece of Jazz. Sax, guitar, ... Not far from perfection!
93%
Dees Productions: The perfect mix of a perfect song. Like to drizzle honey all over the floor and just roll around!
aero: It just feels groooooooove!
Ryrynz: Once again Mordi delivers us beautiful sounds.
94%
Peter Clarke - Ocean Loader 3 (Cinematic remix)
The Real Deaders: Such a good remix
MattMaybee: Wow! Really different but really good!
NecroPolo: I'm not really into orchestral remixes but only lack of hearing would let me say that I don't appreciate the work behind it much. It's a great track with great arrangement but I like the other version better.
94%
YEAR 2012
winc: The sound in this the way it just mixes together, and the harmony just made this the best song of 2015!!
Chronberg: Bravo!
Shark: Best version by far IMPO, love the emotion in the main lead! Great work as usual!
94%
Andreas Wallström and NecroPolo - DMC demo IV 2 (Celtic Mission mix)
LaLa: Head-bangingly powerful! Guitar-smashingly heavy duty! Rock on!
_steve_: Just need to bring that bass end out more, to really feel the bass drum and bass guitars.
Melaure: Incredible guitars and great sound; not oversaturated or too compressed! Feels like Satriani, that I like a lot!
94%
bordeaux: Great tribute, awesome guitars - thanks a lot!
Ryrynz: Love it.
Chainsaw: Just awesome great. This rocks!!! Red smile, because there is no higher one!
93%
YEAR 2013
bastard: Wonderful!
Grigul: Wow, great tune. The influence by Jean-Michel Jarre is obviously, but hey - I'm a huge fan of Jarre since 1979. Great Job, Peacemaker.
Slayer: Nice work.
94%
LukHash - Supremacy [youtube vid]
p2: Love it! Just like all the other work of LukHash!
Crono: Masterpiece!
Volkans80: Very good
93%
BeeZerk - BeeZerk - Blasphemy (Feat. Pallaso & Kage)
ziona: Awesome piece, very pleasant, I am addicted to it, looping all day!
LMan: Wow this is some serious billboard-charts-wothy summer pop!!
_steve_: Wow. Beezerk does it again! This is just fantastic.
93%
YEAR 2014
Slaygon - Platoon (Inexperti belli)
LaLa: Grungy, metallic, dirty. Just like war. I can just see the platoon marching through the muddy jungle. Very, very well done!
80sFreak: Just awesome!
The SIE: Outstanding it is..
95%
Robert Engstrand - The Mansion Gardens (Last Ninja medley)
Acceptus: Magic
Jojje70: The female vocals does a wonderful job in this remix, totally lifts it to a higher level! Great production and arrangement, nicely done.
Mayhem: Excellent for what's there, now how about the whole track?:)
93%
Markus Schneider - Enlightenment - Druid II
Ahriakin: Great work! Another for the 'cant believe that's a C64 remix' playlist for the family :)
Marcus: Just aewsome!
LaLa: Cinematic! Epic! Orchestral! Welcome back, Markus!!!
93%
Year 2015
Slaygon - Never Die (Skitz lives forever)
L0rd3vyL: What an amazing mix. Early favorite for Best C64 remix for 2015. Can't wait to see what this year has in store.
gator: This is an amazing track!
Nickenstein: This is seriously fucking beautiful, Slaygon! (In my head, Skitz will never die.)
96%
Dr Future - Fist II - The Legend Continues
XxDUSTYxX: Great work! Very enjoyable!
NecroPolo: All I can say, it nailed the feel of the original to the bone. Goosebumper.
chosc: Hello! Well Done man, your tune is so wonderful and sometimes it remembers me of the old kung fu movies.
95%
MRT - Eagles (Easy Flight mix)
Dr.Piotr: Lindsey Stirling she played Mr. T
Pepe Pinapple: Two Steps ahead!
James T. Kork: Just brilliant.
95%
YEAR 2016
Samarium13: Very punchy feel, great beat!
ChrisBond: Wow - that is a really good remix, good sounds good arragement, but a little static beat - love it anyway, and thanks a lot for the Cybernoid I Bonus at the end - lovely
Sokratekk: Would fit in any Italo Disco set.. Great!
96%
Johan Andersson - Out Run - Splash Wave (surf mix)
Aule: The Beach Boys would have done it exactly that way!
vurtx: Just perfect in all areas.
Breadbox Bill: Great jazzy remix!
95%
Dr.Piotr: Leds dance!!! Greats!
NecroPolo: Despite that I hate dancing and dreamy stuff to quite a high degree I'd be a fool not to see the values of this quality track. Great work and a floor filler contender on a demoscene party.
bgmnt: One of the best!
94%
YEAR 2017
SIDNIFY - Supremacy (Overprime mix)
L0rd3vyL: Fantastic remix, dude
oxygen: Amazing remix :-)
Haxel: Beautiful mixing and gorgeous arrangement!
97%
Double_maggic: Listen - vote - repeat...:)
NecroPolo: Not my kind of stuff at all (there is no blood) but it is quality at its best. Great work!
LaLa: A surprisingly downtempo, melancholic arrangement, which I didn't think I'd like, but this is expertly crafted! Just lovely!
95%
95%
YEAR 2018
FastLoaders - Commando High Score
MareckiMarek: Perfect!
YogibearRenoise: Awesome!
TbB: I want back in time.... GOD! I miss my c64 ;) Please write at least 15 words. WTF?!:-)
97%
Tas: WOW! Love the angry yet calm feel. Markus, this is sooo good. Thank you for sharing this.:)
kwed: "Epic" is the only word that can describe this one.
Erestor: Perfect!
96%
FastLoaders - Ghouls and Ghosts
LaLa: Straight off their Progressive 64 album. Superb there, superb here.
Ryrynz: Professional. Excellent.
Amon73: Uno dei migliori che ho ascoltato qui :) Ci vorrebbero più FastLoaders nel mondo :) Perfetto!
95%
YEAR 2019
Peter Clarke - Firelord - Symphonic (a nod to Glyn)
bastard: Absolutely wonderful arrangement!
C64_Gamer: Love the 2002 version and now I love this too
_steve_: Love Glyn's original - this re-imagining of that is very well put together and is a great addition to it. Not sure omoroca is hearing the same tune as eveyone else.
97%
Glyn R Brown - Firelord (from 8Bit Symphony)
SID-Spieler: Epic Tune
Mano: Top notch.
kwed: Turns out the only way to top Glyn R Browns 16-year old symphonic remix was to have Glyn himself come back and update it. Amazing stuff and instant classic if I ever heard one!
97%
mrt: Fantastic work! Thanks
omoroca: After 20 seconds I knew I have to vote "Outstanding". Because... It is. Great job!
aix: I don't comment very often, but when I do... Whoa.
97%
YEAR 2020
NecroPolo: Lovely stuff Peter! I love the guitar playing especially.
Mayhem: Erm... Wow!
Makke: After a number of listens I updated my vote to red. Sega Super Sonic Team Band quality!
96%
Peter Clarke, ziona & Slaygon - Tales of Boon (The Collaboration Mix)
MagicMosher: You guys should absolutely keep up the work together the harmony between the 3 styles of music takes me on a journey
Ryrynz: The synths don't really have the punch I want, they really need to be front and center, orchestra sounds good. Overall a nice atmosphere. Dat Slaygon tho.. @3:30 my jam.
Poppykuk: Another musical journey with peter clarke. I hear the other players and it all works beautifully together. I love the way the soundscape changes.
95%
SIDNIFY - The Last Ninja - The Wilderness
XxDUSTYxX: Thank you for your powerful and catchy hi-quality remix, SIDNIFY! Ben Daglish will never be forgotten!
Makke: Solid rocker!
Bistecca104: Wow! Just WOW!
95%
People, we should considder ourselves lucky to be part of a community diverse enough to cover everything from the solitary hobbyist with a copy of Fruityloops to an 80-piece symphonic orchestra. The solitary remixer can afford to be out of pocket on a remix since the music isn’t his/her day job - the professional musician doesn’t have that luxury. Dismissing one over the other isn’t a way to take the hobby in new directions. If you prefer the freely available renditions, that’s fine by me - but don’t knock commercial efforts simply for having a cost. No one is in this to get rich.
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