Well, after months of waiting, the remixes of Hashim's Al-Naafiysh
(the Soul) finally became available as part of Network's "retro"
series, pressed on Clear (ish) vinyl. It's actually part of a "retro
remixes" sub-series, but whatever, it's the first of these I have
bought, as the rest were either stuff I already had or stuff I wasn't
into when it came round the first time. This one was slightly
different - some remixes of a classic track that I really rate, so
with cash burning a hole in my pocket I decided to give it a try.
I guess it's on the periphery of idm to review it here, but where
else? Anyway I like you guys and there's been a certain amount of
interest in electro in these circles in the last few weeks, so here
goes.
The first side of the 12" contains the two main mixes from the
original 12", but neither of the short bonus versions. The second
side has the two new remixes. "Remixed with love" it says on the
sleeve. So what did I make of them?
1. Kiligore Trout's Lingo Three mix (by John McCready)
Oh dear. The intro is good, but that's about it. All the energy and
most of the original track have been removed, replaced by a garage
dub (I don't mean real dub) kinda tune with bits of the vocoder from
the original. There is no bassline, no melody, and really nothing
going on. Strangely, I noticed a sample from the intro of Hercules'
"7 ways to Jack" in there.
2. Disciples of Jovan Blade Remix (by "Jovan Blade" who is
Terrence Parker)
Ok, this is a bit (but only a bit) more like it. Still a plain 4/4
beat like the other, but the bassline has some energy and sounds like
it was derived from the original, and there's a whole lot more of the
original vocoder in there. The original melody has gone though,
replaced by lines more reminiscent of Farley Jackmaster Funk's "Give
Yourself to Me". Not exactly my idea of how this should have been
remixed, though floor-friendly for house clubs I suppose.
That last comment just about sums it up actually. The Chicago-house
references (both tracks mentioned are from the first major TRAX
compilation) show where these remixer-guys are coming from, and while
I don't doubt that their efforts are genuine, I feel that an
opportunity has been wasted here.
Remixing greats is fraught with dangers, but surely someone like
Drexciya or Aux88 could have beefed it up and stripped it down into a
contemporary Detroit Electro track, while the Jedi Knights could have
been given free rein to make it sound the same, only more so, as it
already does, and Autechre could have made a beautiful slowed-down
chillout version of it. Ah, well.
J
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steady-J@firefox.co.uk