In a recent AMA on YouTube, the former Rare composer Grant Kirkhope gave some insight into the making of Rare Treats: Donkey Kong 64 Revisited — his upcoming remix album that will see him rearranging classic tracks from his original Nintendo 64 soundtrack for Donkey Kong 64. This included an explanation for why he decided to exclude several tracks from the album, with the musician referring to the licensing situation as "tricky".
In case you've not been following along with the announcements so far, Kirkhope first revealed that he was working on the celebration album back in August. As he shared back then, it is being made in collaboration with the Materia Collective, and will also feature some original cover art from the Diddy Kong designer Kev Bayliss (who also worked on the popular N64 platformer as part of the support team).
The album is set to feature 18 tracks in total, including DK Rap, DK Island, Jungle Japes, Mine Cart, Angry Aztec, Dogadon, Lanky Kong, Frantic Factory, Candy Kong, Gloomy Galleon, Pufftoss, Fungi Forest, Dogadon Reborn, Funky Kong, Crystal Caves, Ice Slide, Creepy Castle, and Hideout Hel. However, as you may have noticed, this doesn't equate to all of the music in the game, with many of the game's tracks being conspicuously absent from the running order.
As a result, an Instagram user named @Tyronestrom90 asked Kirkhope "What are the tracks you wanted to include but could not?" leading the composer to explain that he could only include remixes of the 18 songs previously included on the 1998 soundtrack album, due to the licensing obstacles involved elsewhere.
"Legally, you’re only allowed to do cover versions of tracks that have already had a release," says Kirkhope. "So I could only remix what was on the original CD that I put together back in 1998 [or whatever it was]. So I could only do those tracks. I couldn’t do anything else because the licensing was tricky."
Obviously, this will be disappointing news to fans who expected a more comprehensive release this time around, featuring some of the missing boss themes and other music. But we have to imagine there would have been an unbelievable amount of barriers involved in getting permission from all the relevant parties so we're not exactly considering this a dealbreaker.
After all, the album is already set to include some fantastic remixed versions of some of the game's most notable tracks, including a new rendition of perhaps our favourite piece of music from the N64 title DK Island — a song that famously plays in the original game as you explore the hub world. There's even an incredible new take on the DK Rap, featuring a collaboration between Kirkhope and the rapper Substantial.
If you want to pre-order the soundtrack ahead of its release later this week, you should head over to Grant Kirkhope's Bandcamp, where it is being sold on Vinyl ($40), as a CD ($25), and digitally ($12).