A (very) occasional dip back into my previous blogging life and music reviews that I used to post under the "Jukebox Juicebox" heading. Here's a quartet of remix compilations from December 2006, the original text 'as is' and very much of it's time. To (kind of) update things, I've added a YouTube link to one of the tracks and trawled Bandcamp for an additional sampler from each of the remix artists featured. Enjoy!
I
forget who coined the phrase ‘repetition celebrates and devalues’, but
this is aptly applied to the music industry. Artists and songs are
resurrected, repackaged, rereleased, reworked and remixed ad nauseum,
The Beatles mash-up/megamix Love being one of the most recent examples. With
downloads of all stripes likely to be eligible for the ‘singles’ chart
in the near future, U2, Oasis, Westshite and McFly will likely be
jostling for pole positions with the Fab Four, Elvis, Abba and Michael
Jackson.
The 1980s, which seems to have enjoyed a continual revival since, er, the 1990s will probably figure strongly in this. The
fascination with the decade that taste arguably overlooked has resulted
in countless contemporary updates of it’s memorable – and not so
memorable – musical moments, the latest being the Future Retro
compilation. Currently
available in the UK on import only, the project is a labour of love for
compiler Craig DeGraff who commissioned all of the remixers on this album.
On the whole, it’s a pretty consistent collection though inevitably there are a few tracks that miss the mark. Tiga’s mix of Depeche Mode’s Shake The Disease is halfway through before it starts to make an impression, whilst Jaded Alliance’s take on Erasure’s A Little Respect sounds like an ill-matched mash-up. Surprisingly, several tracks remain faithful to their origins: The Crystal Method speed up New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle, losing some of the key hooks in the process, but without undermining the main melody; Infusion’s similar handling of The Walk by The Cure is even more effective.
The latter part of the album contains some real gems. Devo’s Girl U Want is roughened up by Black Light Odyssey whilst obscurity Boy by
Book Of Love (which I admit I’ve never heard of) benefits from a beefy
“rockstar mix” by the equally unknown DJ Irene (presumably not the Home
And Away character moonlighting on the wheels of steel). Adam Freeland transforms B-Movie’s Nowhere Girl into a guitar dub dirge that echoes U.N.K.L.E.’s Unreal, but the best is saved for last with the unexpected yet obvious pairing of Morrissey and Sparks. Moz’s debut solo single Suedehead gains
an epic stature, with chopped up vocals laid over sweeping strings. A
perfect close to an imperfect but worthwhile compilation.
Craig DeGraff is one half of LA-based duo Black Light Odyssey. Here's an intriguing cover of Sex Gang Children's Deiche, released in 2021.
On
the surface, a project that seems completely unnecessary. That is,
until you realise that this album followed hot on the heels of the Welsh
diva’s collaboration with Propellerheads on History Repeating, which became both a theme tune (Channel 4’s So Graham Norton) and a chart hit.
Unsurprisingly, Propellerheads reappear here, with Goldfinger repeating
their then-successful formula of funky beats and wah-wah guitar.
Groove Armada and Nightmares On Wax also play to type, the latter to
particularly good effect on Easy Thing To Do.
Some tracks miss the point entirely, notably the dreadful comedy cut-up of Big Spender, but Kenny Dope’s drum-driven reworking of The Doors’ Light My Fire perfectly
complements Bassey’s belting vocals. Given it’s inconsistency, it’s
advisable to either pick this up cheaply as I did or download key
tracks. Either way, don’t overlook it altogether.
Kenny 'Dope' Gonzalez needs no introduction, a formidable reputation with 'Little' Louie Vega as Masters At Work and a vast body of work as a solo artist, producer and DJ. This track is from 2016's 25-track behemoth Dopewax Approved: Kenny Dope & Friends Vol.1
…And if the Shirley Bassey remix album seemed unnecessary, then what the heck does one make
of this?
Carl Douglas’ early 1970s disco track is not one that immediately
suggests a relationship to dub and in truth, not all of the artists
involved strictly adhere to that principle. The
frankly bizarre concept of stretching this single track over 16 remixes
(17, counting the hidden a capella track) and 80 minutes also means
that it’s nigh on impossible to listen to the end result as an album in
it’s own right. Anyone
who has previously bought dub remix compilations on the Select Cuts or
Echo Beach labels will find the usual suspects here: Rob Smith,
Dreadzone, Don Letts/Dan Donovan, Kid Loco; however, it’s the lesser
known acts that impress, notably G-rizo, Pole and Dubbelstandart.
The Ruts’ Andy Gill delivers a funked up but essentially unchanged version of the original whilst Audio Active take the track to it’s logical (ludicrous?) extreme. It’d
be nice to think that the songwriters – Carl Douglas and kitsch
producer Biddu – will benefit from further royalties as a result of this
album. However, given it’s limited appeal, I wouldn’t recommend that they break out the bubbly just yet.
Bristol legend Rob Smith is frequently featured here, whether for his work with Ray Mighty as Smith & Mighty or his own impressive and sweeping catalogue of releases and remixes under his own name or various aliases. Not Easy (Motherless Child) is a beautiful track by RSD from the 15-track collection Decades, released in November.
One of the consequences of a ubiquitous remix culture is that it’s possible to own tracks but have no idea what the original version sounded like. This is a case in point, the result of a trawl through the ‘5 for £16’ shelf at Plastic Wax Records in Bristol. I
have no idea who Visit Venus are, or what they sound like but, looking
at the artists involved, figured it was worth shelling out a few quid
for. As it happens, it turned out to be another one of those serendipitous musical purchases.
Rae & Christian kick off proceedings with a typical funky breakbeat mix of the charmingly titled Space Nazis Must Die. The opening bars of For A Few Euros More are reminiscent of Adam & The Ants’ similarly Western-inspired The Magnificent Five, before Carsten Meyer aka Erobique takes it back to late 80s Chicago house.
There are three remixes of Planet of the Breaks: Matthew Herbert’s mix actually sounds a bit like Slam in places, whilst Jazzanova’s ‘mix of two halves’ with languid lounge beats
during the former, welded to an uptempo jazzy latter more
characteristic; my favourite of the three is Omar Santana’s electro
edit, with hip hop beats, computer game vocals and ominous synth
strings.
Another highlight is Jimpster’s Hurt Of A Nerd, a funky, bass-driven number with some 1970s inspired flute and strings. Closing track Kinski Disko Fox Machine
starts off like a Transglobal Underground track, with Eastern beats and
driving bassline, before reverting to the more typical Groove Armada
sound.
And, just when you think it’s all over, there’s an extra tucked away at the end. Leading off with some hilariously inept rapping, there is a brief acoustic/vocal reprise of For A Few Euros More, with sci-fi samples from The Big Tilt thrown in for good measure. An
hour or so’s worth of great tunes, with several surprises, make this a
great album to hunt down on eBay or, better, in your local secondhand
record store. And maybe I’ll get around to checking out Visit Venus one day too…
A quick scan of my digital music collection reveals nothing from Visit Venus. I'm pretty sure I haven't ditched the CD so I must dig it out and rip it. I'm also pretty sure that I didn't get around to checking out anything else by them. Maybe in 2024... In the meantime, this is Groove Armada with the title track of a 6-track 'cassette' that they posted on Bandcamp in 2014. And very good it is, too.
