There's Always Help, If You Know Where To Look

Side 1 of a mixtape, recorded sometime in 1998. 

 

If it's Tuesday, it must be time for trance, with four epic slabs of sonic bliss. I posted side 2 back in February 2022, commenting that I'd discovered the track listing whilst sorting through a box of paperwork, the original C90 long since lost or given away. 

 

Starting things off is one of the best remixes that Underworld ever produced, Sound System by Drum Club stretched out over nearly 12 minutes with vocals from Wonder Schneider dropping in. 

Visions Of Shiva aka Cosmic Baby and Paul Van Dyk up next with a remix of L'Esperanza that ups the ante (and the tempo). The first Sven Väth record that I ever bought, fact fans.

The video for Liquid Cool by Apollo 440 was featured here in May, along with a YouTube posting of the 2CD single release with 9 - count 'em, 9 - mixes. Here's one of 'em, the 14-minute Space Colonization by Rhythm Of Space.

Finally, Suzuki K1 aka Keiichi Suzuki with Satellite Serenad, which I originally bought on CD without hearing a note, as it included a couple of remixes by The Orb which was reason enough to buy back in 1994. This version also came as a pair with - you guessed it - the Sunday Mix, both by Ryoji Oba and Simon Posford. All good, but I don't think I've heard any of Suzuki's music apart from this one song.

 

1) Sound System (Underworld Mix By Darren Emerson & Rick Smith): Drum Club ft. Wonder (1993)

2) L'Esperanza (Hope Will Move Mountains Mix By Visions Of Shiva aka Harald Blüchel & Paul Van Dyk): Sven Väth (1993)

3) Liquid Cool (Space Colonization Remix By Rhythm Of Space aka Steve Musham, Simon Lord & Jonathan Podmore): Apollo 440 (1994)

4) Satellite Serenade (Saturday Mix (With Japanese It's All Right Song) By Oba & Simon Posford): Suzuki K1 (1994)

 

Side Two (45:37) (KF) (Mega)

Side One here

Themes For Cryonic Suspension

Liquid Cool by Apollo 440 popped onto my playlist, prompting a discovery on YouTube of the accompanying video for the single from three decades ago. A bit disappointing to be honest (the video, I mean) but a testament to modest budgets and what you can come up with when all you've got is a corridor, a gurney, a chair and a small box of props and costumes.

 

To give the song it's full 'proper' title, Liquid Cool (Theme For Cryonic Suspension) closed side 1 of Apollo 440's debut album Millennium Fever in 1993 and a remix appeared on the B-side of the Rumble EP the same year.

In September 1994, a promo triple pack 12" started doing the rounds, following by the then de rigeur single release across two CDs, all packed with remixes. 

 

I bought the latter shiny discs, containing 9 versions in total, which Additive Sphere has thoughtfully collected as posted as one album-length experience.

 

Probably a bit much as a single listening experience but, mindful of that, there are jumping on points for each of the individual mixes. Deep Forest was very much in vogue at the time so you get three from them (tracks 2, 6 & 8). Of more interest to me at the time were the remixes by The Future Sound Of London and Jah Wobble, the latter dipping into drum 'n' bass waters, whilst the legendary bass floats over the top. 

 

There are a couple of versions by Apollo 440 themselves and rounding out the CD package, two by Rhythm Of Space, the Space Colonization Remix providing nearly 14 minutes of deep techno. 

 

The second is titled Space -320°F Biostatic Ambient Mix Part 1 and is just over eleven minutes of, you guessed it, dub-heavy ambient sounds. As the title suggests, it's a truncated version of the full-length excursion to be found on side 4 of the promo 12" vinyl and runs to twenty four and a half minutes. Ultra evolution? Not half!