All You Need Is Dub

As a Bank Holiday special here in the UK, here's both sides of a mixtape I compiled on 5th September 1993. Nearly thirty years ago. What happened?

I've recorded two compilations called All You Need Is Dub, this one on cassette and the other in 2005 on CD-R, both very different selections. The latter was more rooted in old school dub and it's influence on later artists. This mixtape is very much all about electronic music circa 1990-1993, vocals dubbed to a minimum or removed altogether to enhance the dancefloor experience.

 

Setting the bar high is Andrew Weatherall's still jaw-dropping remix of Papua New Guinea by The Future Sound Of London. The 12" single was packed with top notch mixes but this one was on another tier altogether. 

 

Fearlessly following up are the Hartnoll Brothers, Phil and Paul adding a heft to Daydream by Back To The Planet that makes me wish the band had got Orbital to remix more of their music. I first got this on 7" vinyl, the flip side to the original version and an Adrian Sherwood dub. Probably paid less than a couple of quid for it at the time. What a bargain.

Miranda Sex Garden were on the Mute record label but always felt more suited to 4AD. This remix by Danny Rampling only appeared on the 12" single along with a couple more mixes, including another rather good one by Thrash aka Kris Weston of The Orb.

I'd like to pretend I was so on it that I picked up the Palatial single by Love Corporation aka Edward Ball of The Times. Not a chance. However, Creation Records were good at ensuring you didn't miss out by putting out a shedload of compilations that mopped up lots of essential purchases. This version turned up on Do You Believe In Love? released in 1990, the same year as the single. Palatial II was originally a B-side and perhaps in the shadow of Danny Rampling's monumental remix, but I like this mix by Doug Martin a lot.

 

After several attempts with What Time Is Love?, The KLF finally released a chart-smashing version in 1990. I went for the limited edition 12" single which featured an unexpected remix by Echo & The Bunnymen. Much as I'd love to imagine Ian McCulloch at the controls, he was long gone by this point and this is the unloved incarnation that released the Reverberation album which hasn't quite been erased from Bunnymen history. The remix is credited to the band but I'm guessing it maybe largely if not solely Will Sargeant's work. Lots going on, with sitar and tabla replacing the main chord, fuzzy guitar, Star Trek transporter SFX, soundbite samples including Gordon Rollings' "Herbidacious" from a beloved TV series from my childhood. Great stuff.

From Bunnymen to Bowie, with his 1992 comeback single and one of three remixes by Leftfield, who at the time were embroiled in record label shenanigans that prevented them from releasing new music of their own and resulted in some astonishing remixes for other artists. Their 'Dub Oddity' mix of Jump They Say was one of three but (hard) hands down, the best.

Sunsonic were born from the ashes of The Flowerpot Men, who I also liked a lot, though sadly even more short-lived, producing a brilliant album (Melting Down On Motor Angel) and three fantastic singles in 1990. Driveaway was their last, the main single remixed by Graham Massey/808 State, the limited edition 12" single reworked by the band themselves. The Primate Mix strips away the vocals, ups the tempo and adds sparkling synth lines to great effect. 

 

Cabaret Voltaire took what many considered a back step in 1989/90 by making a commercial album that seemed rooted in the present music scene rather than setting the pace for others to follow. Regardless, I loved what they were doing although even I questioned the choice of Easy Life as the third and final single. No matter, the remixes were great including the suitably named Very Strange Mix by Robert Gordon of Forgmasters/Fon Force fame (oh, and a co-founder of Warp Records). 

 

White Love by One Dove was one of those singles that I bought in multiple formats as it was impossible to choose just one. The CD single included Andrew Weatherall remixes and a beautiful 10-minute demo version, whilst the limited edition 12" single featured a brace of Slam remixes that redefined epic. This mixtape features the first of these, a fifteen-and-a-half minute journey from ambient to vocal to techno and back again without ever seeming like it's time to end. Still stunning today.

 

Happiest Girl was one of two new songs accompanying the single release of World In Your Eyes by Depeche Mode. To be honest, I wasn't all that blown away by the single or 12" versions until I bought the (you guessed it) limited edition 12" single. It was a sod to get into, sealed in a blue plastic outer sleeve that you had to physically cut to retrieve the record inside, which included a 'standard' 12" and lavish inner sleeve. Goodness only knows how much the band lost on this one. But the music within was a revelation, not least The Pulsating Orbital Mix of Happiest Girl. Not to be confused with Phil and Paul, who appeared earlier, this was Alex Paterson and Kris Weston aka The Orb, who also had a habit of using the word Orbital in their mix titles to confuse the heck out of we mere record-buying mortals. The Vocal Mix is more readily available these days and pops up on most compilations. No offence Dave Gahan, but this is the go-to mix for me.

 

System 7 had already made an impression with their debut album and singles and 7:7 Expansion was an encouraging primer for the new material that was to follow in 1992. Youth aka Martin Glover delivers a brilliant 10-minute mix with vocal samples echoing Buffalo Gals by Malcolm McLaren and trademark guitar squalls from Steve Hillage. 

 

And back to where we started with the Dub Mix reprise at the end, Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain remixing their own song in succinct fashion.

 

The majority of these versions were only available on vinyl formats back in the day and many have yet to be re-released digitally and/or duplicated in my collection. In other words, there's a fair bit of crisp and crackle in several tracks, betraying their wax origins. I don't think any of it detracts from how bloody good the music is though. 

 

Side One

1) Papua New Guinea (Andrew Weatherall Mix): The Future Sound Of London (1991)

2) Daydream (Orbital Mix By Paul Hartnoll & Phil Hartnoll): Back To The Planet (1993)

3) Gush Forth My Tears (Dance Mix By Danny Rampling): Miranda Sex Garden (1991)

4) Palatial II (Remixed By Doug Martin): Love Corporation (1990)

5) What Time Is Love? (Echo & The Bunnymen Mix): The KLF ft. The Children Of The Revolution (1990)

6) Jump They Say (Dub Oddity Mix By Leftfield aka Neil Barnes & Paul Daley): David Bowie (1992)

Side Two

1) Driveaway (Primate Mix By Sunsonic aka Adam Peters & Ben Watkins): Sunsonic (1991)

2) Easy Life (Very Strange Mix By Robert Gordon): Cabaret Voltaire (1990)

3) White Love (Slam Mix By Stuart McMillan & Orde Meikle): One Dove (1993)

4) Happiest Girl (The Pulsating Orbital Mix By The Orb aka Alex Paterson & Kris Weston): Depeche Mode (1990)

5) 7:7 Expansion (Conspiracy Mix By Youth): System 7 (1992)

6) Papua New Guinea (Dub Mix By Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain): The Future Sound Of London (1991)

Side One (46:35) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two (46:04) (KF) (Mega)