History Reinvented

You can blame it all on Tom Moulton, for inventing the remix in the 1970's and creating floor-filling club classics, resurrecting 'old' hits by The O'Jays for the disco generation. For the past five decades, there has been a continuing, arguably obsessive, need to review, refresh and reinvent our rich musical history to reflect changing dancefloor tastes. Ironically, the remixes themselves end up being a snapshot of a particular period in time. From Tom Moulton to Ben Liebrand to 808 State to Blank & Jones to Luxxury and The Reflex, there is a constant stream of DJs and artists diving into their record collections to pull up (& pull apart) a classic song.

Some artists appear to embrace the deconstruction and tinkering, for example The Cure and Soft Cell. Others take a much different view. When Talk Talk's former record label EMI, buoyed by the success of singles compilation Natural History, decided to release a follow-up, History Revisited: The Remixes in 1991, Mark Hollis asked them not to. When EMI did it anyway, Talk Talk successfully sued and EMI was forced to withdraw and destroy all remaining copies of the album. The Wikipedia entry on the remix album includes an extract from a contemporary Melody Maker interview with Hollis and you can understand where he's coming from:

 

"I've never heard any of this stuff and I don't want to hear it . . . but to have people putting this stuff out under your name which is not you, y'know, I want no part of it. It's always been very important to me that I've got on with the people we've worked with. People's attitude has always been really important to me. So much of why someone would exist on one of our albums is what they are like as a person. So to find you've got people you've never given the time of day to going out as though it's you . . . it's disgusting."

 

Manager Keith Aspden put it even more succinctly:

"It's a distortion—more like History Reinvented".

 

I'm guilty of having bought - and enjoyed - the Talk Talk remix 12" singles and album (okay, with the exception of the Talk Talk Recycled megamix by Jive Bunny, which is an abomination). I also have a broad interest in new remixes of old songs, although there's generally more shit than shine.

To be honest, you'll find a bit of both in this selection, depending on your attachment to a particular song. My approach to the playlist was a very simple one: I've simply referred to the running order of 2005 compilation 12"/80s and pulled together a selection of updated remixes and reworks that I happened to have in my collection. Arguably, none are better than the original version, and some do little more than sling  some dance beats under the song. Others take the song somewhere new or present the music in a new and interesting way. I'm particularly fond of Fluke's remix of The Human League, Jakatta's remix of Tears For Fears and, yes, Dominic Woosey & JJ Montana's controversial Talk Talk reinvention.

1) A Forest (Tree Mix By Mark Saunders): The Cure (1990)

2) Tainted Love '91 (Remix By Julian Mendelsohn); Soft Cell (1991)

3) Promised You A Miracle (Mylo Promised U A Remix): Simple Minds (2013)

4) Love Action (I Believe In Love) (Fluke's Dub Action Remix): The Human League (2003)

5) Fade To Grey (Bassheads 7" Edit): Visage (1993)

6) Situation (Richard X Remix): Yazoo (2006)

7) It's My Life (Tropical Love Forest Mix By Dominic Woosey & JJ Montana): Talk Talk (1990)

8) Kiss Me (Remix By Rusty Munno): Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy (1993)

9) Pull Up To The Bumper (Funk's Extension Mix By Funkstar De Luxe): Grace Jones (2000)

10) Sinful! (Scary Jiggin' With Doctor Love) (Remix By Pete Wylie): Pete Wylie ft. The Farm (1991)

11) Shout (Jakatta Thrilled-Out Mix By Dave Lee): Tears For Fears (2004)

12) Ever So Lonely (Remix By Ben Chapman): Monsoon (1990)

13) Wonderful Life (Deepend Bootleg): Black (2013)

14) Dr. Mabuse (Blank & Jones so80s Reconstruction): Propaganda (2014)

History Reinvented: 12"/80s Reimagined (1:24:32)