I'd forgotten how much I loved listening to this tape, especially in my car. I owned a Mini Metro with a crappy tape deck that had been bolted to the underside of the glove compartment and wired in a similarly DIY fashion with copious amounts of black electrical tape where there shouldn't be. Windows down, volume up and the morbid thrill of wondering if the crappy tape deck would chew up and spit out the cassette at some point (which happened with alarming frequency).
Thankfully, this one survived both the tape deck and the eventual ditching of the car when I lived sufficiently close to Bristol city centre and with sufficiently awful street parking that I managed without a car for several years. The compilation continued to get regular airings but nothing quite matched those rock and roll lo-fi hi-fi years in the car.
This selection is resolutely and relentlessly upbeat for three quarters of an hour. Even Youth and Thrash's attempts to inject some darkness (sampling the Stones' Gimme Shelter) into Movin' by Marathon cannot suppress it's innate joy de vivre. And World Of Twist's take on another Stones classic remixed by Fluke is about as uplifting as one can get. And that's saying something, coming hot on the heels of another of their remixes, the aptly titled Celebrate.
It all gets off to a euphoric start with The Grid's superb remix of Bow Down Mister by Jesus Loves You, which in my opinion is still a career highlight for Boy George, albeit criminally overlooked and underrated. Messrs Ball and Norris put George in the backseat for this one, letting him back up front with the choir towards the end. For the most part though, it's all about Asha Bosle and it's all the better for it.
Another iconic singer gets a look in later on, when the unique presence that is Nina Hagen lends her singular style to Get Your Body! Adamski's bubble of commercial success and chart hits the previous year had burst by 1992, which is a shame as I think the singles at least were just as good, if not better than what had gone before. I picked up this 12" for pennies in a bargain bin in 1994 and it's a great track that deserved better.
Devo is sadly not a tribute to the American band but the product of progressive house duo Crunch aka Terry Marks and Kevin Brewster-White from the UK. They loved their cheese: the three mixes on the 12" single are named Mozzarella, Red Leicester and Stilton. Nothing cheesy about this song though, which I first discovered on the Welcome To The Future² compilation in 1993.
I was (and still am) a huge fan of Justin Robertson and actively sought out his work as Lionrock and his prolific remixes for other artists. If? were already on my radar due to previous 12" purchases of Open Up Your Head and Everything & More, both featuring stunning remixes by Leftfield. With Saturday's Angels, Justin Robertson is more than up to the challenge, delivering an astonishing eight minutes. Most Excellent was the name of his club night at the time but also fairly sums up his remix and this selection, if I dare say so.
1) Bow Down Mister (Floating In The Ganges - Grid Mix By Dave Ball & Richard Norris): Jesus Loves You ft. Asha Bhosle (1991)
2) Devo (Mozzarella Mix): Crunch (1993)
3) Saturday's Angels (Most Excellent Vocal Remix By Justin Robertson): If? (1992)
4) Movin' (Original) (Translunar Injection Burn Mix By Youth & Thrash): Marathon (1992)
5) Get Your Body! (12"): Adamski ft. Nina Hagen (1992)
6) Celebrate (Magimix By Fluke): Horse (1994)
7) She's A Rainbow (Right Foot Yellow Mix By Fluke): World Of Twist (1991)
