Home
Reprise Remixes
Loading Inventory...
Barnes and Noble
Reprise Remixes
Current price: $35.99
Barnes and Noble
Reprise Remixes
Current price: $35.99
Loading Inventory...
Size: OS
*Product Information may vary - to confirm product availability, pricing, and additional information please contact Barnes and Noble
Nearly all of
's major full-lengths since his 1995 critical breakthrough
have been accompanied by remix albums, ambient translations, or other reworks of his material.
, released by
in 2021, consisted of full orchestral re-recordings of his most familiar songs (as well as a cover of "Heroes" by primary influence and close friend
), accompanied by a cast of guest vocalists including
,
, and
.
focuses on nine of the songs from
, with several appearing in multiple versions. Many of the remixers attempt to do something new with the source material, which is welcome, since even the most casual
listener has heard the original versions of these songs countless times. "Go," for instance, has seen an infinite number of remixes since it jump-started
's career in the early '90s, and he impressively manages to refresh the song with his own "Trophy Mix" (presumably named after his short-lived underground
sublabel,
). The track starts out with heavy bongos, shakers, and kick drums, taking more than two minutes to arrive at its dramatic
melody, and splendidly combining orchestral grandeur with raw beats.
's mix of the same song is more subtle and levitating, only briefly working in that haunting string melody. The most radical deconstruction on the album is
's take on "Porcelain," which submerges
's and
' vocals in ring-modulated glitchiness and
-style skittery breaks.
also contributes two contrasting versions of "Porcelain," a hypnotic minimal techno mix followed by a much more relaxed
-esque dub. The biggest, boldest house tracks on the release are the reinterpretations of the gospel-derived hits from
, although
's own "West Side Highway Remix" of "Natural Blues" goes for more of an organic, guitar-based funk angle, and
pulls the song apart with excessive time-stretching on the vocals, eventually heating it up to a fervor with stomping beats and atmospheric strings. As with nearly all remix albums, particularly ones with multiple versions of the same songs,
is uneven, but it's much more varied and surprising than the faithful, big-stage adaptations of
, and it does find creative ways to approach well-worn material from a variety of fresh perspectives. ~ Paul Simpson