REmix Music - Pat Reviews Volume 9

REmixes – tracks 1, 8 and 9
Covers – tracks 2, 4, 6, and 10
Live – track 3
InspiREd by – track 5 and 7

That’s my tally anyway, and actually quite a diverse assemblage under such a simple banner. I have opinions generally about all of these subtypes and will elucidate further as things progress.

General thoughts:

The idea of an all-cover collection crossed my mind, and I pursued it far enough to know I couldn’t really pull it off in a very satisfactory way. Perhaps AJ went through the same contortion, finding himself on right foot red, left hand blue and no way to get left foot yellow. Maybe not. I half expected an intro to jazz this time around.

This is the first collection put together by someone other than me where I 'know' all of the songs (the source material) though not necessarily these versions. I’m not sure whether that makes me a fair judge relative to these varREations on the themes, since I have a strong connection to most of these.

Quite a wide variation of quality to my ear, ranging the full gamut on TClog’s crossed rubricon of music (more on that coming from the man himself). And with that, onto the specifics. (and I’m going to review these without listening to the source material, relying on my memory to draw the comparisons – there will be errors)

The REmixes

In my experience, REmixes are made by people who think the original songs aren’t quite dancey enough to make frequent rotations at dance clubs. To that end they add a bass track that deaf people could dance to, one that you feel more than you hear. All subtlety found in the original song is thrown entirely out the window, and you’re left with something that people who otherwise would get lost in the rhythm can navigate with ease. In most cases, I despise Remixes, as you well may have guessed from the previous passage, but occasionally there can be a good one.

Track 1 – Bit Rate Variations in B-flat (girl)

This is not one of the good ones. It doesn’t really suffer from the usual REmix problem, but where ambient artists LOVE space, REmix artists seem to revere early video game music, and this song takes that love to a whole new level. I’m actually surprised that the title doesn’t say something about Nintendo circa 1984. My ears hear the original Super Mario, perhaps a little Excite Bike, and a whole lot of Moon Patrol. Yuck. If the original people who created the music for those games could have programmed something more elaborate than they did, they would have, and while their original efforts should be praised for making the most of a bad situation, it should not be held up as a goal. This version takes a good little Beck song and makes it something far worse than it was. As someone who rode the wave of early video games, and loved every minute, I might be one who would feel some nostalgia from this, but I do not. It makes me wince.

Ah, driving across the lunar landscape jumping craters all the while. I was never good at that game.

Track 8 – Father Lucifer (Sylkscreen Remix)

Now this one is subtle. This one, with the last totally destroys my premise about REmixes, though I’ll stand strong on that even still. I like the original version of this song, and like this version as well. This seems like it could have been the original version, and that’s a good thing for me.

Tori Amos exploded onto my scene in my last year of college. Her first album (Little Earthquakes) was quite amazing. The albums since have been good though none quite as remarkable as the first. Hard to follow up such a strong debut. I saw her in concert once, in Cedar Rapids, and she was excellent.

Track 9 – Big Time Sensuality (Indeterminate Remix)

I know this version from somewhere, though I cannot recall where or what. Perhaps it shows up in a movie?

This one fits the dance club mold of Remixes a bit better than the other two. It does more than the original version to maintain a danceable beat, though it still has the slow beginning, which I would think is just death for a dance club.

All in all I find this version to be palatable though I would never seek it out in lieu of the original.

The Covers

Covers have a generally long and positive history. There are plenty of bad ones, but where would the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin have been without their early versions of 50’s blues and early rock and roll songs; probably far less popular than they were. I’m pretty tolerant of covers. If it’s a song that moves you, and you feel you can do something with it, have at it. If there were no covers would anyone know All Along the Watchtower?

Track 2 – Against All Odds

Boy, who would have know the splash that Mr. Gibbard would make in this club? He’s now shown up on 1/3 of all the collections so far, in one form or another. And what of Phil Collins? Recently divorced from his latest wife, a lifetime removed from his success of the late 80’s. The man was nearly unstoppable. From the last years of Genesis, to his performance at both venues of Live Aid (London and Philadelphia) to his appearances on Miami Vice, the man was everywhere. Then what? Too much success stripped him of what edge he had and then the dreaded Disney. Today, a footnote.

I have to say, the lyrics of this song are pretty good for what they are. I wouldn’t play it at a wedding, but there are some good things in there. As to the Postal Service version….I don’t find that it adds significantly to the song either musically or emotionally. I’m not a fan of the distant vocals at the beginning, and while the staccato/syncopated percussion is interesting, I find it distracts from the message of the song.

Track 4 – Little Wing

I’ve long owned The Sky is Crying, and while I don’t listen to it often there is a great deal to like on it. The man was a virtuoso guitarist and this song shows his talent off to a great degree. He doesn’t overdue it or ham it up. It seems to be in the spirit of the original, though compared to inimitable guitar virtuosity, it would be hard to match the original. A good song.

Track 6 – Friend of the Devil

Torn. My dislike of The Grateful Dead is deep. I find them unbelievably bland, in the same way that I find Steely Dan boring to tears. Both may exhibit remarkable musicianship, but despite rather large lexicons neither has created much that cheered my heart.

I do however like Lyle Lovett. He’s a credit to music. Anyone that can make a beautiful song about riding a pony on a boat gets kudos from me.

So lucky for me, Lyle has decided to cover one of the Grateful Dead songs that I kinda like. That and Ripple, of which Jane’s Addiction does a lovely version on the same tribute album.

Track 10 - Hurt

This song fascinated me when I first learned of its existence. Johnny was going through an experimental stage (some may call it crass commercialism) at the time and this seemed like an interesting choice from a man who had spent a portion of his life battling the demons that this song seems to summon. I was a fan of the original, a NIN tour de force from an excellent album.

Alas, listening to this song over and over as part of the club, its weakness has been made apparent. The lyrics don’t seem strong enough for such a spare arrangement. The soundscape of original did more for it than I would have thought. But I still like it. It’s just less than I imagined it might be.

Live

Live tracks are tricky bunch. If you weren’t there it’s often tough to get the most out of them. There are things that the crowd is responding to that you obviously can’t fully understand. (this is for tracks recorded live including crowd noise – as opposed to tracks recorded without) You can get some pretty good performances, and there are some live versions of songs that I like as much or more than the originals, but more often than not they are best if you’ve experienced the live in person.

Track 3 – God Only Knows

When I bought the Juliet Letters shortly (1993) there was no ‘bonus disc’. Or perhaps I was too cheap to buy the 2 cd version. I simply don’t recall. Update - according to Allmusic, the 2cd version is from 2006.

I know this song, but it is not on the Juliet Letters that I have. Duh. Beach Boys. From the supposedly revolutionary Pet Sounds – the Sgt Pepper of the west coast beach scene. I still have never listened to Pet Sounds and I’m reasonably certain I would be underwhelmed, now almost 40 years removed from the context that made it revolutionary. I struggle with the revolutionary nature of Sgt. Pepper too, though it’s filled with great songs. I just can’t put myself in the place of 60’s teeny bopper; too much water under the bridge.

Back to the task at hand…. the Juliet Letters cd has lots of good stuff on it, though since I am not the one to be judging the quality of classical quartets, I’m left reviewing the Elvis Costello parts. This version is certainly an enjoyable one, though I find myself distracted by the crowd noises. They seem to be in on something that I never will be, and that hurts me. I want to be part of the in crowd. But again, alas, I shall sit here alone typing my comments, the sound of happy people reverberating through my head. EC is in fine voice, for him, and the vibe of the whole thing is fine enough.

InspiREd by

Hollywood has taken the Inspired by notion and turned it into a minor soundtrack industry. My first recollection of this sub-sub genre was the soundtrack to Dick Tracy, which I think Mighty Tom may have owned – may still – more as a symptom of his Madonna-mania than anything else, and possibly for revealing pictures of said artist to be found therein. There have been a number of such soundtrack-esque albums since then.

These two tracks aren’t exactly that phenomenon, though they do seem to be in the same family.

Track 5 – Like Someone in Love

I get the jazz standard connection, but this track of the ten is a stretch to fit in the RE concept. I suppose that I could have lumped EC and TBQ into the ‘inpired by’ camp, though TBQ is a classical quartet, so it would really only be EC being inspired. Whatever.

I like Bjork a lot, and I like this song too. Lots of interesting things going on in the background at various times, and her accent makes her all so lovable.

Track 7 – Mixed Buziness

This track sounds familiar, though without listening to the source material, I’ve doomed myself to ignorance.

I like Beck, and this jazzy interpretation is enjoyable.

Wrap It Up

I feel like I was pretty hard on AJ, or on his choices, but despite my criticism most of what I found here-in was very listenable. The only track I found objectionable was the first one. Sadly, this collection doesn’t really open any doors for me. Oh well. Better luck next time.

BS – the Remix of Father Lucifer.

SIWHI – too hard to choose