Four key Richard Joseph compositions for Palace Software - listen on DeepSID. For his full biography and extended catalogue, visit the Richard Joseph dedicated site.
Richard Joseph composed music for Palace Software throughout 1985–1990, but his career extends far beyond Palace: Bitmap Brothers, Sensible Software, and 25+ titles across two decades. His full biography, complete catalogue, and HVSC archive are covered on the dedicated Richard Joseph fan site.
The SID player bar at the bottom of this page cycles through these four tracks. Click "Listen on DeepSID" for full in-browser SID playback.
1987 · C64 · Richard Joseph
The defining Palace Software SID track. Atmospheric, dramatic, and instantly
recognisable - the Barbarian theme set the standard for late-1980s C64 game music.
Preserved in the HVSC under MUSICIANS/J/Joseph_Richard/Barbarian.sid.
1988 · C64 · Richard Joseph
The sequel's score maintains the epic tone of its predecessor while shifting to a more adventure-oriented feel, reflecting Barbarian II's side-scrolling dungeon format. Also available as an Amiga MOD.
1986 · C64 · Richard Joseph
An early Palace Joseph composition, demonstrating his craft before the Barbarian breakthrough. Cauldron II's SID theme shows Richard Joseph's growing command of the chip's voice channels.
1986 · C64 · Richard Joseph
The Antiriad theme has a post-apocalyptic, slightly eerie quality that matches the game's futuristic armoured-suit setting. A cult composition among Palace enthusiasts and C64 music fans.
Richard Joseph's Palace Software SID files are preserved in the High Voltage SID Collection
(HVSC) under MUSICIANS/J/Joseph_Richard/. The HVSC is the definitive archive
of Commodore 64 SID music, with over 50,000 files.
The Amiga versions of Barbarian and Barbarian II feature full MOD-format soundtracks by Richard Joseph, taking advantage of the Amiga's Paula chip for four-channel stereo audio. These scores are preserved at the Amiga Music Preservation archive (AMP).