Walk A Mile In My Shoes by Coldcut featuring Robert Owens popped up on my music shuffle and it was a blast to hear it again.
Back in my former blogging life, I wrote about the single on it's release in 2006.
Single number four from Coldcut’s Sound Mirrors albums sees the duo team up with Robert Owens to rework a classic 1970s number by Joe South. The album version and radio edit included here call to mind the string laden sounds of Massive Attack, the Now Voyager remix of You Got The Love by The Source featuring Candi Staton and, closer to home, their early 1990s cover of Yves Montand’s / Nat King Cole’s Autumn Leaves.
Typically, there’s a diverse selection of mixes available on the CD. Tiga’s mix recalls his darker dancehall moments, with an urgent yet simultaneously unsettling beat. Tom Belton tries for a more uptempo, hands in the air feel (or, more specifically, Tom Middleton’s Cosmos sound), but doesn’t quite pull it off. Timo Garcia + the Cheshire Catz keep up the bpms, though retain the melancholy of Robert Owen’s outstanding vocals.
However, only Henrik Schwarz really manages to enhance the Coldcut original, creating a sweeping epic that just builds and builds. The edit featured here serves as a teaser for the majesty of the full, nine minute version included on the 12” single, so maybe you need to buy or download that too.
Four singles in, and there’s no sign that Coldcut are milking it.
I guess Ninja Tune agreed with my thoughts on the standout remixes, as both Tiga's and Henrik Schwarz's versions were included on the Sound Mirrors Remixes compilation, issued later that year.
Both the remix companion and the original version of Sound Mirrors are available digitally via Bandcamp for less than a fiver, and highly recommended.
Joe South must be turning in his grave.
ReplyDelete