Day 46 - Follin two pieces

I've been on a bit of a 64 music kick lately (sorry, Speccy fans - I know the 128K had some great tunes too!), so in that vein I've been looking at another musician - Tim Follin.


Like Jeroen Tel, he wrote a number of highly-thought of tunes and, also like Jeroen Tel, he produced his work toward the back end of the C64's commercial life.  Their appearances were very timely, as by now the Commodore's big notes in the music field had pretty much moved on to other things.  We were thankful that such talents were available to fill the void!


One of Tim's most talked about pieces was the title music for Bionic Commando.  It was raved about in ZZAP! 64, but I remember when my mate bought the game... I went to his house, he loaded it up, and I sat there in anticipation, waiting for this amazing tune to strike up, only for it to sound like a small child was banging biscuit tins with a fork and a wooden spoon.  I didn't get it.

Hmmm.  Not sure if I wanna go up there with that fat lad running around.

Nonetheless, it was a more interesting sound than many attempted to achieve.  I don't think I really appreciated it until I heard the opening drums to Rush's One Little Victory when I was playing Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2.  They're totally different styles of tune, but both very reliant on the drumming sound.


Another favourite was another game I played for hours... LED Storm.  For some reason, people thought that was a strange title for the game, although I never questioned it; it seemed perfectly OK to me.  The title, though, was changed for the UK release... its original name was Mad Gear.  Given what was going on in Manchester at the time, I can certainly see why there was a need for a change!

In the future, cars will jump huge distances but be crippled by frogs.

Again, my friend had the game... but on the Amiga, this time.  I loved playing it, and eventually ended up with the C64 version, where the music was arguable better!  It certainly helped to push you along in what was really just a tarted-up Bumping Buggies clone (albeit a really enjoyable one).


So, Tim Follin is another name on my hit-list.  He has his own website, so I'll be calling on him shortly, no doubt.  His would be another name I'd love to have in the book.