Archive for October, 2019

Madonna Minutiae

Sunday, October 27th, 2019

Madonna
Papa Don’t Preach (Edit)
Lucky Star (Single Version)

A few months back I promised to finish the long-delayed third part of my guide to Madonna’s remixes, covering the 2000s. (Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 if you’re interested). But that proved to be much harder than I anticipated thanks to the utterly confusing of digital-only, promo-only and (possibly) streaming-only remixes. I do still plan on getting it done, but I have no idea when that will be.

I also have to update the first two parts of my guide, thanks to (usually very polite) commenters pointing out small mistakes and lesser-known remixes that I missed. But even that’s been a bit of an issue since a lot of them don’t site their sources or provide any evidence for their claims.

For example, many have told me that there’s an exclusive remix to “Open Your Heart” that’s only on the 7″ single to that song. Make sense, a lot of Madonna tracks have 7″ single remixes, and many of those single mixes have yet to find their way to any CD at all. I went ahead and bought the “Open Your Heart” seven inch a few months back, which even has “(Remix)” in the title.

I had to listen to it several times before I was able to pinpoint any differences between that mix and the mix on the Immaculate Collection. From what I can tell, the main difference is that the ending fade out is a little different. The actual mix/master of the song might be different too, but that’s hard to judge when comparing a vinyl rip to a CD version. It’s so similar that I’m not comfortable sharing it here unless someone can’t point out another worthwhile difference I’m missing.

I had the same problem when I picked up a very rare promo 12″ single for “Papa Don’t Preach.” Again, I read that it had an exclusive remix, but I couldn’t figure out exactly how it was different until I listened to it and the album version back-to-back. Turns out that, once again, it’s nearly identical to the album version until the very end, where the fade out is different. However, unlike the “Open Your Heart” remix, it’s a pretty radical difference so I’m sharing it here.

The B-Side to the “Papa Don’t Preach” single is just the album version of the track. However, the B-side to the 7″ single of “Open Your Heart” is “Lucky Star.” Thankfully, it’s also the 7″ version, which has never been released on any Madonna CD. Unlike the “Open Your Heart” remix, it’s easier to hear how this one is different, as it is substantially shorter than any other mix of the track.

It absolutely maddening to me that Madonna has never bothered with a proper re-issue campaign of her classic albums with at least a few of these mixes included. Sure, remixes like the promo edit of “Papa Don’t Preach” are minor and only the die-hard (i.e. gay) fans like me really care about them, but there are plenty of other rare cuts and mixes that regular people would probably care to hear.

There are rumors about that a new 4CD deluxe edition of Like A Prayer is in the works, with a supposed catalog number being leaked a while back. If that does come to pass, it’ll be interesting to see what is included on it. I can imagine that some of those demos that were shared online would be part of it. But what remixes would be included? There are at least 10 remixes of “Like A Prayer” and while I can’t possibly imagine all of them would be there (some of the differences are just too minor to care about) I think that at least half of them are different enough to warrant inclusion. Same goes for “Express Yourself.” An entire CD could be filled of remixes of just those two tracks, but would they even bother with the effort?

Are they looking for someone to help? Yo, Madonna people, I’m available and I work for 12″ promo singles.

Posted in Madonna, remixes | 5 Comments »

Trevor Rabin’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Disco

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2019

Disco Rock Machine
You Keep Me Hangin’ On
Living For The City
You Really Got Me
Gimme Some Lovin’
Mr. Magic

Trevor Rabin joined Yes in the early 80s (it’s actually a long story that involves Yes breaking up, a new band called Cinema being formed, and then that band becoming Yes again but I don’t want to get into all of that). For audiences in the UK and US, Rabin was a relative unknown, with just a handful of albums to his name, none of which made any dent on the charts on either side of the Atlantic.

But Rabin’s career actually went back a bit further than that. Before he made his way to the UK to start his solo career, Rabin was already an established musician in his native country of South Africa (he was anti-apartheid by the way, just to get that out of the way) as a member of the pop/rock group Rabbitt. I don’t know much about Rabbitt, but they seem to have a rather eclectic discography that includes sappy 70s cheese, prog rock covers, and tracks that wouldn’t sound out of place on a record by Sweet.

Rabbitt had a few hits in South Africa, but they didn’t break through internationally and they broke up in 1977. Rabin started his solo career just a year later with his first record. But at the same time he was trying to make it as a rock-n-roller, he was also plugging away with multiple disco projects. One such project was The Tee Cee’s, who released a sole album the same year Rabbitt called it quits.

 

 

The other was Disco Rock Machine. Under that name, Rabin pumped out two albums in just two years. While The Tee Cee’s album featured entirely original material written by Rabin, the Disco Rock Machine were heavy with covers. And like their name suggests, most of their covers were of rock songs, redone in a disco arrangement.

Disco Rock Machine’s first album features just four tracks, each clocking in a dance-floor friendly seven minutes. Sandwiched in between two forgettable Rabin originals are covers of Stevie Wonder’s “Living For The City” and “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks. The second album was a bit more pop friendly, with shorter tracks that would play better on the radio. Among the albums six tracks were three Rabin originals, alongside covers of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” “Higher Ground,” and “Gimme Some Lovin’.”

Albums comprised almost entirely of discofied rock covers were definitely a thing in the late 70s. Rabin even served as a session musician for Hot RS, another South African act that specialized in extended disco takes of classic rock tunes. And one thing I’ll say about Disco Rock Machine (and Hot RS for that matter) is that their disco remakes of rock tunes sound a hell of a lot better than others that I’ve heard. I have two disco covers of “In A Gadda Da Vida,” one by Hot RS and another by an act called Disco Circus. The version by Hot RS absolutely blows the Disco Circus one out of the water.

 

 

A disco cover of “You Keep Me Hanging On” or “You Really Got Me Now” is intrinsically stupid bullshit. There’s no way around that fact. The world did not need disco covers of Kinks songs. Or Steve Winwood songs. Or (multiple) Stevie Wonder songs. But if someone was going to attempt them, at least it was Trevor Rabin, who clearly shows his studio mastery with these tracks. Disco Rock Machine’s cover of “You Really Got Me” simply does not fuck around. Rabin channeled that song’s natural intensity and energy and skillfully transmorphed into a banger of a dance tune thanks to a groovy bassline, excellent high-hat beat, and some shredding guitar. Ditto for their take on “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” Stretched out to seven minutes, the track builds and builds, breaks down and then explodes back up to a feverish conclusion, with a killer beat and some truly inventive guitar work by Rabin backing the whole thing up.

Truth be told though, the thing that shines through on all the best Disco Rock Machine tracks isn’t Rabin’s production or playing, but the wonderful voice of the singer, René Veldsman. When singing disco, a vocalist has two options; they can go smooth and sultry, or they can be as big and loud as humanely possible. Veldsman definitely favors the latter, often booming and blasting her way through a track. Sometimes that can be a bit much, but it’s a style that definitely fits the rock-n-roll feel that these tracks are going for. She’s particularly strong in her performances of “Gimme Some Lovin'” and “You Really Got Me,” belting those numbers out with no regard for anything remotely resembling restraint. Pure power.

These are cheesy tunes, for sure. And they haven’t exactly aged all that well. But they’re fun! And in my opinion they serve as a preview of the studio wizardry and production prowess that Rabin would become known for in the following decade. Most of the tracks I’m sharing from these two albums are the covers, they’re the highlights. But “Mr Magic,” a Rabin-penned original, ain’t half bad so I’m throwing that one in too. It’s also a good example of Veldsman holding it back a notch to show she’s more than capable of delivering a more varied, subdued vocal performance as well.

After calling it quits with Disco Rock Machine and his assorted other disco acts, I don’t think that Rabin ever went back to dance music. After leaving Yes in 1994, he went on to mostly do film scores. Right now, he’s working with former Yes members Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman as Yes featuring Anderson, Rabin, and Wakeman. They’re allegedly going to tour again soon, and I hope that they stop by Japan before calling it quits (Wakeman has repeatedly referred to his next tour as his “farewell tour”).

I’m not holding by breath for any Disco Rock Machine covers to make their way into the set, however.

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Japanese Ambient Chill Vibes with Dip In The Pool

Tuesday, October 15th, 2019

Dip In The Pool
Silence
Hinamari
Hasu no Enishi
Facing The Sea
Dip In The Pool is a strange group. One that not many people have heard, yet conversely, many people have written about. They kind of got swept up in that whole “city pop” thing a few years back, despite not even being remotely connected to it. Later on, they were more accurately grouped as “Japanese ambient pop.” I don’t know if there are enough acts around for such a genre to be a proper thing, but the tag fits good enough. Dip In The Pool are chill. Super chill. And quiet. Super quiet. Dip In The Pool have their upbeat numbers and pop tracks for sure, but when they slow things down, they take things so minimal and ambient that they push the very definition of what a pop song can be.

Oh, and did I mention their fucking incredible? Because they’re fucking incredible.

Very few acts pull of “ethereal” quite like Dip In The Pool. I often compare them to Cocteau Twins. Their otherwordly charms and haunting vibe create an atmosphere that is simultaneously comforting and alien. Both relaxing and off-putting. This is almost entirely due to the incredible vocals of Miyako Koda. Yes, the sparse instrumentation does well to create that distant-yet-calming feel, but it’s really her voice that puts it all together. Simply put, its heart-crushingly beautiful. An aural sedative. Nothing, absolutely nothing, rips out my anxiety and throws it into a sonic wading pool of chamomile tea and lavender essence quite like Miyako Koda’s voice. It’s heaven.

Of course, nearly everything the band has ever released is out-of-print. Because of course it is. As of right now, only a handful of singles and remixes on for sale on iTunes. And Spotify only has a smattering of tracks and one album, none of which are their best. Dip In The Pool’s early work, all of which came out in the 80s, is just heaven on earth. And it’s a hell of a situation that we can’t listen to any of it easily.

I’ve been lucky and have been able to snag up quite a bit of their work since I moved to Japan, but even then it’s not easy. I got two albums only because they were re-released (on vinyl only for some reason). Everything else I got is vintage, and I paid accordingly for it. I’ve never even seen a CD of theirs for sale. Some can go for a quite a bit online.

The tracks I’m sharing tonight are some of my favorite by the group, and make up the entirety of their 1985 self-titled debut EP. All of these tracks would later on appear on the band’s 1988 debut album, which was released as Silence in the UK and was self-titled in Japan. Rough Trade actually released the album in the UK, and if it was their decision to name the album after “Silence,” I can totally see why. For me, it is the stand out tune by a group that has loads of them. Koda’s vocals (did I mention that I like them) are absolutely angelic here, and the complete absence of any real beat lets the song just float over you like a cloud.

After the brief interlude “Hinamari,” things kick up a notch with “Hasu No Enishi.” There are actual beats! It has a tempo! A lot of Dip In The Pool sounds like this, honestly. I’ve been focusing a lot on their more minimal and ambient side, but they had their share of upbeat numbers. Still, “upbeat” for Dip In The Pool is rather chill. Koda’s not Madonna, even on a track that has the tempo to qualify as a dance number, she’s still going to take her damn time and deliver a sedate, prolonged vocal that slows the whole thing down to her pace.

The EP closes with “Facing The Sea,” which splits the difference between the purely ethereal “Silence” and more beat-driven track that precedes it. There’s a pulsing beat here, but it’s little more than a click track, pushed back in the mix in exchange for some lovely synthesizer bells that work to match the melody put out by Koda. Again, it’s the kind of lovely, happy, pretty music that, after the reading the news or dealing with an exceptional bad day at work, is all I want to listen to.

Let’s chill.

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Techno Bagpipe Style

Sunday, October 6th, 2019

I know I said that I was going to post some Canadian disco, but in a decision that will disappoint absolutely no one, I changed my mind and will instead share some rare Orbital remixes.

Orbital
Bagpipe Style
New Style
Old Style
I actually found a 12″ single in Japan! This is a rare feat, believe me. Sure, there are plenty of stores that sell 12″ singles of obscure disco and funk here, and there are loads of 12″ singles of ultra-obscure house, trance, and such. But finding a 12″ single by an act that people have actually heard of doesn’t happen all that much here. I don’t know what the deal is with that. Maybe 12″ singles for pop acts never really took off in Japan? I certainly have an easier time finding CD singles, so maybe that format had a stronger foothold back in the day, and that contributed to 12″ singles not being as prominent. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just talking out of my ass. I’m good at that.

I found this single in Tower Records’ new(ish) used vinyl store in Shinjuku. Someone had apparently unloaded all their 90s UK singles, because in the same bin were singles by other UK acts like Primal Scream, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, The Stone Roses and so on. If you’re wondering why I didn’t purchase those, it was because I either had (and shared) all of them already, or they cost upwards of $20 or more.

Since no one here actually sells 12″ singles worth a damn, whenever they do come in, they tend to go for a bit more, which is a bummer.

For the longest time the focus of my collection was 12″ singles, and the focus of this blog was the remixes that I found on said 12″ singles. So, whenever I do stumble across a 12″ single in Japan that I do want, that has songs I can share online, I get a little nostalgic. Blogging like it’s 2009 up in this bitch!

The original version of “Style,” which is a banger and totally worth having, is on the album Middle Of Nowhere. In America, these remixes were available on the 2CD edition of The Altogether. That version of album appears to be out-of-print on physical and digital formats for some reason, so I got no qualms about sharing them here tonight.

All versions of “Style” are rad as hell (dope stylophone use – hence the track name) but my favorite will always be “Bagpipe Style.” The world needed and continues to need more bagpipes in dance music. The world needs more bagpipes overall. That’s what’s wrong with the world today, a lack of bagpipes in modern music.

I mean, there’s a lot of other things wrong with the world today too, obviously, but a lack of bagpipes in pop music is definitely in the top 100.

More Orbital next time. Maybe. I got a lot of weird shit I need to share. I know, shocking, right?

Posted in Orbital, remixes | 1 Comment »