Interstate '76 Revisited... again.
I just can't get over my newly renewed obsession with the Interstate '76 soundtrack. As I'm prone to on occasion, I went into a mad frenzy last night at 2am scouring the net for I76 soundtrack news. Someday I hope to uncover the "lost" tracks of the official soundtrack. So I snatched up some cheap copies of the original game off eBay to replace my missing CDs and the Nitro expansion pack, which supposedly has a few new tracks.
But I also hit the jackpot: Not one, but TWO live Interstate '76 cover medleys. JOY OF JOYS! Check 'em out on mySpace! I hate mySpace, but I could kiss it right now.
Five Alarm Funk - Suite of '76 (live in Vancouver)
This is probably THE cover find of the year for me. An 8 1/2 minute jam of three of my favourite tracks from the original soundtrack. Wow. My mind is completely blown by finding this cover. And it's Canadian to boot, ha!
Federation of the Disco Pimp - Interstate '76 Medley (live)
Not as instantaneously great as the other track, but 1000 points for covering Interstate '76 anyway. It's actually pretty sweet since it covers some different I76 tunes than the other medley, although it replaces the rousing horn section with a frenetic synthesizer thing. Not bad, just different. Finding these two covers is proof of the lasting influence of the Interstate '76 soundtrack.
If anyone's feel particularly left out of this recent string of Interstate '76 nostalgia, check out this video of the game's intro in all of its polygonal Dire-Straits-Money-for-Nothing-music-video 70's retro glory. And don't worry, I'll be back to posting other covers soon.
10 comments:
I understand and respect your obsession with the Interstate '76 soundtrack! Feel no shame, my brutha!
Years ago, when iTunes first let you import tracks from your CDs, the I76 soundtrack found a permanent home on my hard drive. Years later, it's still part of my daily work mix.
Back when I76 came out, it inspired me to check out funk bands like The Ohio Players. And while I've listened to a lot of stuff from the golden age of funk, I have yet to find something as singularly funky as the I76 soundtrack. Those guys did a fantastic job!
Tracks 4 and 6 from the game CD are my all-time favorites.
Rats. I meant 4 and 7. 7 kicks the doors down.
It's funny how the funk of i76 is somehow better than the source material it pays homage to, IMHO. I've also listened to some stuff like Tower of Power, The Brothers Johnson, and the Ohio Players, yet I haven't found anything to compare to the Bullmark material.
Thanks for the comment, I like to hear about other fans of the Interstate '76 music.
On a side note, I tried replaying the Nitro pack expansion pack and the game itself has not aged well. In fact, it's pretty brutal.
My PC at home is ancient, so I tend to play and re-play old favorites. A few months ago, I loaded up I76 again. It's looking especially blocky these days. It's a museum piece, a reminder of the heady time when Pentium was born and 3D video cards were first hatching.
Fortunately, funk never goes out of style and never loses resolution. How many games are survived by their soundtracks? The only other one I can think of is Homeworld, which had Barber's haunting Agnus Dei and a slew of new agey space music. It's good, but funk always wins!
Some of my favourite PC game music is from the ol' Lucasarts adventure games like Monkey Island, Sam & Max, and Full Throttle. Though it's not really a case of the soundtracks surviving the game since if you go back and replay them, the games are pretty much as awesome as ever!
The "Hell March" main theme from Red Alert was wicked at the time, though I doubt I'll ever play that game ever again.
I know it's tacky to post to a thread that's almost a year old, but I've never been known for my social graces and I've always had a problem with time.
I hope all is well. In my eternal quest for the one true funk, I recently got into the New Orleans band Galactic. You might've heard them already, but I thought I'd share anyway.
While they're pigeonholed in the questionable realm of "acid jazz," there's definitely a lot of funk going on in there. They might not be Bullmark, but they occasionally come close.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAk03R66Uw
http://play.rhapsody.com/galactic/ruckus/themoil
Take care, man.
-Randy J.
Hey, comments are welcome anytime. Year old or not, they all end up in my inbox (and I read 'em). Thanks for the funk tip on Galactic. I haven't heard of them before, but the prospect of funky Led Zeppelin covers has me hooked.
I know this blog entry is ancient news, but if you dig the I76 soundtrack, you absolutely MUST check out the song Get the Funk Out Ma Face by The Brothers Johnson.
Hey, you said you are in Galactic? You guys played with Chali 2NA, right?
For those trying to find the soundtrack, you can download the whole album plus some extras here
http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/189265593/Interstate+76+Soundtracks?tab=summary
Thank you again Fongolia
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