Archive for the ‘remixes’ Category

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All You Ever Think About Is Sparks

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

Went about a full week without an update! No, I didn’t forget that I had a blog, I was in NYC to see New Order!

New Order was awesome, but since I’m covering that for a magazine I really can’t go into much detail. I do have a lot to say about NYC otherwise though, in particular its record stores and I hope to get something written up about them rather soon.

I hope to do a lot of things. I’ve been teasing a big announcement both here and on my Twitter. Something I’ve been working on for a while. It’s still not ready. False starts. Illness. Distractions. Life. Things are getting in the way. It’s been very disappointing for me.

But I hope to get it all together soon. I know it will work out. And I think it will be something you will all be interested in. At least, I hope so. Shit. I don’t know.

It’s kind of been a long month.

Anyways, here’s a post I wrote before I went to NYC but couldn’t put up for various reasons. Enjoy the Sparks and keep checking here for my announcement (it will happen soon…I hope) and if nothing else, keep checking back here for some rad tunes. I got some stellar shit recently, both in NYC and in Pittsburgh, and I can’t wait to share it all with you.

Sparks
Fingertips (Extended Club Version)
The Scene (Special Club Edit)
Cool Places (Live with Jane Wiedlin)
All You Ever Think About Is Sex (Live)
Sparks is one of the most indefinably weird bands in the history of music. They’ve barely had any success in the 40+ years of their existence, and whenever they do manage to scratch the bottom of the Billboard charts or score a minor hit single it just seems like a crazy fluke, like someone at some computer pushed the wrong button. I honestly don’t know how they’ve managed to keep going this long. Are they freakishly popular in Europe or something? Do the brothers Mael have an incredibly successful side-business that they keep hidden from the public? Maybe they’re secretly drug lords or high-priced hitmen, and they partake in a life of crime to fund their quirky pop music. Sound weird? Possibly, but not as weird as half of their albums.

Sparks recently put out a 2CD 12″ mix collection. And while it’s not available in America, it is a pretty good representation of their early 80s singles output, and I recommend picking it up if you can locate a copy. It’s not all-inclusive though, and the mixes and live cuts above represent some of the stuff that didn’t make the collection. The live stuff is great, as is that mix of “Fingertips,” but the real highlight is the amazing club mix of “The Scene,” which takes a great song and makes it even better.

Posted in remixes, Sparks | 6 Comments »

Yabba Dabba Dumb

Monday, October 15th, 2012

I’m on cold meds right now and I feel like that whenever I’m on anything for my sinuses my copyediting skills vanish. So apologies for any drastic typos or poor sentence structure.

And now with that out of the way, here is the latest in my continuing efforts to provide you with the dumbest and most pointless remixes to ever grace the Earth.

The B-52s
(Meet) The Flintstones (Quarry Mix)
(Meet) The Flintstones (Bam Bam Tribal Beat)
(Meet) The Flintstones (Bedrock Dub)
(Meet) The Flintstones (Rock Charleston Dub)
Tell It Like It T-I-Is (MK Respect Mix)
Tell It Like It T-I-Is (Instrumental Respect Mix)
Tell It Like It T-I-Is (MK Underground Mix)
Tell It Like It T-I-Is (MK Mix)
Tell It Like It T-I-Is (MK Dub)
When The Flintstones movie came out in 1994, they of course had to include some version of the classic theme song on the soundtrack, and for this monumental task they turned to The B-52s, because when I think family friendly party music, I think The B-52s. However, in keeping with the original TV show’s “hilarious” tradition of taking popular bands and stars from the modern era and giving them stone age puns, The B-52s were credited as The BC-52s.

GET IT?!?! B.C.!??! Like the designated term B.C. (Before Christ) that is commonly associated with the prehistoric era? Isn’t that just so damn clever!?!

Sigh.

This is another case though where I wonder what came first; did someone get The B-52s and then figure out that their name could be so easily modified to fit the Stone Age theme? Or did someone think up “The BC-52s” all on their own and then ask The B-52s if they would do it (and by “ask” I mean throw a truckload of money at them). Maybe The B-52s agreed to do it because they heard that some people thought that “Shiny Happy People” was the worst song of all time and they wanted to give it a go at topping it.

Whoever thought of it was probably the same creative genius who decided to put “Walk The Dinosaur” by Was (Not Was) on the soundtrack as well. That’s not exactly deep digging for prehistoric cuts. I would have gone for “Caveman” by The Cramps, but whatever. You know that if they made the movie today some neanderthal would probably insist that “Dinosaur” by Kesha (I refuse to stylize her name) be put in there.

Needless to say, these “Flintstones” remixes are stupendously stupid, but since I’m a completionist who wants everything B-52s, I had to grab it. Now you get to hear it. I hope you’re happy.

After you listen to all four versions of “(Meet) The Flinstones” (and you have to listen to all four of them, I did), then cleanse your pallet with the non-Flinstones related track “Tell It Like It T-I-Is,” a far better tune from the underrated Good Stuff album.

Posted in B-52s, remixes | 3 Comments »

I’m the man in the box, buried in my killer beats dawg.

Friday, October 12th, 2012

I’ll be adding a bunch of singles and albums to my sale soon, so if you haven’t checked that page out, please do.

Okay, now that I have that out of the way, who wants to hear some incredibly stupid remixes?

I briefly touched upon this a few days ago, but I recently bought a metric crapton (that’s a lot) of DJ Mix singles. These are special 12″ singles that are sold to DJs only, usually via a subscription service, and they feature special mixes that are never made available anywhere else. Sometimes they’re unofficial bootlegs, other times they’re legit. Often it’s hard to tell.

Tonight’s mixes are from a 12″ single called Rock ‘n’ Beat Turbo 4. As if the name didn’t make it obvious enough, these are dance remixes of rock songs. Actually, if I wanted to get specific and accurate, they’re more just edits or mixes than full on remixes. A remix typically implies that the track was altered at the base level, and that the mixer in question had access to the master recordings or even recorded new material to interpolate into the original song. Most of these just extend the original songs’ breakdown and instrumental sections while throwing in some chorus effects and extra beats (hence that Rock ‘n’ Beat title). It’s all really weird and goofy and while a lot of the mixes are just “lets loop shit to make it longer” I find them all fascinating nonetheless, if for track selection alone, so let’s get into it.

U2
Mysterious Ways (Beat Box Mix)
I hate U2 more than the Thompson Twins, so I got nothing here. I think this is just a small re-edit though.

Alice In Chains
Man In the Box (Tore Up From The Floor Up Mix)
Okay, to start; this remix of “Man In The Box” is seven and a half minutes long. SEVEN AND A HALF MINUTES LONG! That is insane. How does one make “Man In The Box” seven and a half minutes long? Well, for starters you take the opening bars and repeat them about five times longer than they were in the original, then you do the same for the closing bars as well. Then you take the rest and loop the shit out it, add some extra drum beats and then pat yourself on the back for turning a grunge song about addiction and homelessness into a dance tune for the clubs.

Fuck the 90s were weird.

Counting Crows
Mr. Jones (The Sick Mix)
I never in a million remixes thought that I’d be deconstructing a Counting Crows dance mix on this blog but here it goes. Much like the “Man In The Box” mix this edit of “Counting Crows” expands the original song to a club-friendly six minutes mostly just by extending the opening and closing measures. This one is a little more obviously remixed though, thanks to the very apparent drum beat that is pasted in out of nowhere.

90s. Weird.

Melissa Etheridge
I’m The Only One (The Blue Mix)
Eight minutes. That’s how long they stretch this one out. Eight Minutes.  But hey, if you like Melissa Etheridge then that’s just eight minutes of awesome.

John Mellencamp
Wild Night (Maple Tree Mix)
Okay, I’ll be honest, I haven’t heard this song in 10 years and I’m not going to revisit the single version now. Based on my recollection of it, I don’t hear much of a difference here.

Bachman Turner Overdrive
Takin’ Care Of Business (Rippin’ Mix) 
This version of “Takin’ Care Of Business” incorporates a sample from Afrika Baambaataa’s “Planet Rock.”

Let that sink in before you listen to it.

Posted in Alice In Chains, Counting Crows, I refuse to create a BTO category, John Mellencamp, Melissa Etheridge, remixes, U2 | 2 Comments »

Dance Music With Exxtraneous Xs

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

Eighties dance compilations are great because you never know what you’re going to find on them. For example, check out the four radically diverse songs that I’m featuring tonight. I grabbed them all from the same 2LP set, the descriptively titled Dance Traxx. In addition to these songs, the compilation also includes mixes of songs by artists as diverse as Mantronix, INXS, Steve Arrington and even Yes. Because remember kids, all you needed to make your song a “dance track” in 1986 was a good synth line and some drum machines!

Shannon
Let The Music Play (Remix Version)
This is my favorite kind of disco, if you even want to call it that (and I do). It’s after Moroder’s influence revolutionized the genre, but before synthpop really replaced it outright. Part traditional disco, part electro, and part electronic music; a perfect mix if you ask me.

Phil Collins
Sussudio (Extended Version)
A lot of people have pegged “Sussudio” as one of the worst hit songs of all time. That’s bullshit. Hell, it’s not even the worst hit single of 1985 (“Everytime You Go Away,” “Broken Wings,” I’m sure Corey Hart had something out that year that was worse, the list goes on).

Nor is it the worst single by Phil Collins (“You’ll Be In My Heart,” “Groovy Kind of Love”). “Sussudio” is not a bad song at all. It’s catchy, fun and upbeat. It’s not great, but I can’t see how anyone could be offended by it either. I like it.

However, it is probably one of the stupidest fucking songs of all time.

Do you know what “Sussudio” means?

It means nothing. Nothing at all. Not a damn thing. It was a fake word that Phil Collins improvised while composing the song. He couldn’t think of any other word that fit the song better, so he left it in. Lazy bald bastard. I mean, if that’s all it takes to make a hit track, why stop there? Why not a song called “Gobbly gook” “Blargh” or “omgwtfbbq?”

Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if Will.I.Am or either of those idiots from LMFAO have songs in the works with those titles, so forget I said anything.

Laura Branigan
Gloria (Remix Version)
“Gloria’ is a pretty direct song when it comes to the lyrics, but it’s still hard for me to pin down exactly what Gloria is doing that is drawing the ire of Laura Branigan. She obviously wants Gloria to slow down, but is it because she’s sleeping around? If that was it then men would certainly be calling her, but that’s apparently not the case. Or maybe she is sleeping around and the men just aren’t calling her back?

I like to think that Gloria is a bit on the delusional side (hence the line about the voices in her head) and she just thinks she’s hot shit, but in reality no one is calling her, even though they got her number and the alias that she’s been living under.

Whatever it is, it’s really pissing off Laura Branigan. She really wants Gloria to know that she doesn’t approve of her lifestyle choices. In fact, I like to imagine that this version of the song is actually a toned down one, and that the original included verses like  “Gloria/get your shit together/I mean seriously, what the fuck’s your problem?”

Then maybe they could have gotten a fake Gloria (ala Roxanne) and she could have written a reply track with lines like “Laura/fuck you and your advice/I’m living my own life/I’ll date who I want to.” Then someone could’ve mashed them together into a rad megamix that would have been on Dance Traxx 2

Sigh.

I think about shit like this all day. Must be why I can never get anything done.

Stevie Nicks
Stand Back (Remix Version)
Stevie Nicks dance party! Quick, everyone grab some lace and spin around in slow motion while I go get a backlight! And some cocaine.

This version of “Stand Back” is only about 20 seconds longer than the original, and aside from that I really can’t tell much of a difference between the two. But I really wanted to work that Stevie Nicks dance party joke into tonight’s post and I couldn’t do that without putting this song here. So…yeah.

Posted in Laura Branigan, Phil Collins, remixes, Shannon, Stevie Nicks | 2 Comments »

Robert Palmer Is A Liar

Sunday, October 7th, 2012

Busy times coming up for me. In all the excitement and planning for my December/January trip to Beijing and Tokyo, I almost forgot that I’m going to New York in less than two weeks to see NEW ORDER. I know I’m having a good fall/winter when the trip to the most exciting city in America to see one of my favorite bands of all time is my “lesser” trip.

Still, I’m completely stoked to go to NYC, even with the whole “millions and millions of people” thing. I’ll be spending the majority of my time in Brooklyn anyways, checking out a seemingly endless selection of hipster-run record stores. If anyone has any recommendations for quality record stores in the NYC area, preferably in Brooklyn, let me know. I’m not looking to break the bank when I’m in NYC (that’s my Japan plan) but I hope to pick up a few good records while I’m there. Y’know, quality, highly regarded stuff like this.

Elton John & RuPaul
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (Remix)
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (Don’t Go Dubbing My Heart Mix)
Has Elton John ever been on an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race? I don’t think so, someone’s agent is fucking something up.

Robert Palmer
I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On (Extended Dance Mix)
I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On (Dub Version)
I don’t believe that for one second, although at least it’s a lyric that makes sense. Has anyone ever figured out what “she’s so fine there’s no telling where the money went” means?

Ready For The World
Oh Shelia (Extended Version)
Oh Shelia (Dubstrumental)
Oh Shelia (A cappella) 
Ready For The World has to be one of the worst band names of all time, but give them credit, they were light years ahead of the whole “our band name is a complete sentence” trend that seemed to hit the Hot Topic set a few years back. They’re also light years better than As I Lay Dying,  Cute Is What We Aim For and This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb. Although at the same time you could basically describe their genre of music as “Prince.” But whatever, originality is for suckers, and “Oh Shelia” is a great slice of 80s cheese.

Posted in Elton John, Ready For The World, remixes, Robert Palmer | 5 Comments »

90s As Shit

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

Since I know some people only read my posts that have MP3s, I want to mention again really quick that I am currently selling some of my LPs and singles to help fund my trip to Japan. Check out my “For Sale” post and if you see anything you want, follow the instruction on that page.

Now let’s listen to some dope 90s remixes.

Information Society
Now That I Have You (7″ Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Dub)
Now That I Have You (12″ Alternative Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Alternative Dub)
Now That I Have You (12″ House Dub)
Information Society (who will herein be referred to as InSoc) occupy a weird space of electronica, “cyberpunk” and neo-hippie wackiness I like to call the early-90s. A time where ideas like the Sega CD, multimedia and the film Johnny Mnemonic seemed totally rad.

InSoc did a lot of wacky shit during this time. For instance, their first CD was a rare example of the CD+G format, which basically allowed for silly low-res karaoke style videos to play during the music. I remember popping in my copy of the album into my Sega CD and even thinking back then that it was pretty damn stupid.

What was cool though was the band’s idea to include tracks of modem noise on two of their albums. On Hack the modem tones could be decoded into a text file, while the story behind the modem tones on 1997’s Don’t Be Afraid (no longer the early 90s, I understand, but it was in spirit) could be used to start a wild goose chase on the Internet to find a hidden song. You can read about it here.

Anyways, I find it funny that surrounding all that wacky shit was a pretty damn great pop band who took a lot of the conventions of 80s synthpop and expanded upon them in a slightly more modern way that definitely made their overall sound feel very “90s,” at least for a couple years.

“Now That I Have You” is a lesser song (in terms of popularity) in the InSoc singles discography, but I still like it. I got all these mixes from a 12″ promo single. I don’t think that a non-promo version of this single was ever released.

Sting
Demolition Man (Soulpower Vocal)
Demolition Man (Jazzy Hip Hop Mix)
Demolition Man (Soulpower House Dub)
Demolition Man (Ridiculous Tribal Mix)
Demolition Man (3rd Floor Hump Mix)
Demolition Man (Hip Hop Dub)
I wonder if the makers of the 1993 Stallone/Snipes/Leary/Bullock opus Demolition Man came up with that name for the movie first and then realized there was a song with the same name, or if they got the idea for the name from the song? Either way, it’s pretty damn weird. When I think of non-stop action and adventure, I don’t think a Sting song that Grace Jones covered. But hey, I’m not in Hollywood.

The Grace Jones version is, of course, the superior version of this song. And it also has one of the most batshit crazy performance videos you’ll ever see. So I suggest you check that out. The Police version is…okay, but it’s just a little too jazzy for my tastes. I actually prefer Sting’s solo version over it, it’s one of the few times that Sting took something he did with The Police and made it rock harder.

These remixes, on the other hand, they’re kind of a letdown. As the titles indicate, they are more jazz, pop and hip hop-influenced takes on the song, with the heavier elements and guitar solos completely removed. They’re certainly great examples of how production can change the feel and even the genre of a song, but they still kind of bum me out. I assume someone out there will like them though.

Posted in Information Society, remixes, Sting | 1 Comment »

Depeche Minogue

Monday, October 1st, 2012

Records are like drugs, and a good record dealer is like a good drug dealer in that he/she knows just what it takes to separate you from your hard-earned dough.

I was at Jerry’s Records last week (as I am apt to be) and within seconds of walking in he tells me that he has boxes of singles that I’m going to want to look through, boxes filled with “the kind of shit I like.”

Sighing, because I am trying to save money, I am led to the boxes, where I proceed to grab about 50 bucks of awesome 12″ singles from Sparks, Aztec Camera, The B-52s and more. As I go to pay Jerry, he points to two more boxes and says “oh, you should look through these too, they’re all rare DJ mix records.”

I glance over at the stack of boxes and turn my head away, “No!” I say with the kind of authority a junkie says when presented with a hit, “I’m trying to save money, whatever is in there, I don”t need it.”

“Are you sure?” I got some good stuff in there?”

“No, I need to save-”

“I saw some rare Depeche Mode in there.”

“Where are these records again?”

Sigh.

Anyways, he was right. Those boxes did have some pretty oddball Depeche Mode stuff. Oddball Depeche Mode stuff that I of course bought. So enjoy.

Depeche Mode
Mega Mix Part 1
Mega Mix Part 2
Depeche Mode Medley 1987
The two “Mega Mix” tracks are taken from an unofficial 1990 single put out by the bootleg label On-USound, who released several bootleg mixes in the late 80s and early 90s. Despite being a bootleg, it’s very professional sounding, and rather creative as well, incorporating album cuts, single remixes and even some live stuff. Quality shit all around.

“Depeche Mode Medly 1987,” is an official remix, but ironically it’s not nearly as good as the bootleg mix, and the single from which it came is incredibly unprofessional and cheap looking. First of all, it has no real title, just a generic “M” logo at the top, it turns out that it’s from a DJ remix series that was just called “M.” This is the first in the series, so its official name is M1.

On side one are the two standard versions Enigma’s “Mea Culpa” and Eon’s “Spice.”  Good songs to be sure, but they really don’t have much in common so their combined inclusion is bizarre. Furthermore, “Mea Culpa” is spelled wrong (“Mia Culpa”) giving the whole thing a very amateur feel. The DM medley takes up the B-side, and like I said before, it’s not as good as the bootleg mixes, but if you’re like me and worship the Mode, it’s worth a listen if for curiosity sake and nothing else.

Kylie Minogue
Confide In Me (The Truth Mix)
Confide In Me (Big Brothers Mix) 
I’ve mentioned this in the past, but my knowledge of Kylie’s early 90s output is really limited, thanks to be me being in the one industrialized country on the planet who didn’t care about Kylie Minogue during most of the decade. As such, I’ve been trying to catch up ever since. I just heard this song for the first time when I picked up this single last week and, damn if it isn’t one of the best pop songs I’ve heard in a long time. This is an amazing tune: dreamy, sexy, beautifully-produced and, most of all, perfectly sung by Kylie. Damn. It’s annoying that this song wasn’t a hit in the states. How the hell did that not happen? My country is dumb.

Also, while “The Truth Mix” is probably the better of the two, I love the “Big Brothers Mix” because it discos the fuck out the song. Fabulous.

Posted in Depeche Mode, Kylie Minogue, remixes | 2 Comments »

Duran Michael Duran

Friday, September 28th, 2012

Been a hectic week. Deluna Fest was a lot of fun and I plan on writing something about it next week sometime. I’ve also had a lot of actual honest to goodness writing work to do too, which feels great. Although whenever that happens the blog kind of falls to the back burner. Hence the lack of posts all week and the relatively brevity of tonight’s post. But hey, the music is pretty rad. More music next week I promise. I got a lot of great stuff to record, you’ll all dig it.

Duran Duran
Girls On Film (Tin Tin Out Mix)
Girls On Film (Tall Paul Mix 1)
Girls On Film (8 Millimetre Mix)
If I made a list of Duran Duran singles in order of greatness, I think “Girls On Film” would fall somewhere in the middle. Sure, it’s no “Rio” or “Hungry Like A Wolf,” but it’s certainly better than “I Don’t Want Your Love” or pretty much anything the group put out int he late 80s that I can remember. What I’m saying is, I think it’s good, but I really have no strong feelings about it either way. So…yeah…sorry if that’s not enthralling copy for y’all, but sometimes I got nothing.

George Michael
Killer/Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone (P.M. Dawn Remix)
Killer/Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone (P.M. Dawn Remix) (Extended Version)
“Killer” is the “Bridge Over Troubled Water” of dance/pop song. Who hasn’t done this song by now? I don’t know why anyone bothers though, any of the versions featuring Seal are the best. The most anyone else can hope for is second place. Actually, make that third place, because these remixes of George Michael’s version (that is a medly with “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”) are pretty damn great too. That’s really saying something coming from me too, because I fucking hate “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.”

Posted in Duran Duran, George Michael, remixes | 3 Comments »

I should really just go to bed already

Friday, September 21st, 2012

As I write this I have to leave in six and a half hours to catch a plane to go to Florida to go to Delunafest to see Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Joan Jett, The Joy Formidable and a few other bands I love. And I know that was a poorly constructed run on sentence but I’ve been writing like a madman all week and I think all my grammatical abilities are nearly shot.

But not shot enough to plug my fire sale! Please, if you’re interested in buying any of the records I have for sale let me know! I’ll be taking them off my site sometime next week and moving them to eBay. Don’t forget, all prices are negotiable! Also, I plan on selling some concert posters (mostly Pearl Jam) as well. So keep an eye on that if you’re interested. I might even try to sell my comic book statues. So if you REALLY like Spider-Man or Punisher, let me know.

But until then, hey, music.

Cutting Crew
(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight (Remix)
Me buying this 12″ single just proves that I will buy damn near any extended version of a pop song from my youth. Well, I guess that’s not true. You’re never going to see any 12″ singles from the Thompson Twins (“Hold Me Now” can fuck right off), but that’s really about it. Shit, if there’s an extended mix of The Outfield’s “You Love” I’ll probably get it at some point.

Also, this song is gross. Google it.

Siouxsie And The Banshees
Kiss Them For Me (Snapper Mix) 
Staring Back/Return 
I bought this single and then less than 24 hours later a friend of mine emailed me and asked if I had a remix of another Siouxsie song. That’s some Siouxsie symmetry right there. As great as “Kiss Them For Me” is, the real star of this 12″ is “Staring Back/Return,” a two-song suite that is powerful, beautiful and a must-hear for fans of Siouxsie. I can’t believe it was never released on a proper album by the group.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Brothers In Rhythm Rollercoaster Mix)
Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Elevatorman’s Non-Stop Top Floor Club Mix)
Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Elevatorman’s Deep Down Bass-ment Dub)
My quest to get every single Frankie Goes To Hollywood remix continues. I know it is an exercise in madness, because the discography of “Relax” remixes is greater than some bands complete musical output, but dammit I’m still going to try. I know own five different versions of that 12 inch, and three different 12 inch singles for this track. These remixes aren’t “original” mixes, instead they come from a 1993 re-issue, but I don’t care. I love me some Pleasuredome and I will take it anyway I can get it (I’m sure that’s a phrase that one person from Frankie Goes To Hollywood said at some point).

Both the Elevatorman remixes are decent, but if you want some bang for your unspent buck, check out the Brothers In Rhythm mix first. It is 16 minutes of hedonism-loving joy.

Sneaker Pimps
Spin Spin Sugar (Farley + Heller’s Fire Island Vocal Mix)
Spin Spin Sugar (Phlude’s Creeping Vine Mix)
Sneaker Pimps is a hideously horrendous name for a band. I posted these remixes a few years ago, but I totally forgot I own this single and I just bought it, and recorded it again this week. So hey, this recording sounds better probably, so you should just go ahead and download it even if you have the other one.

Also, if you want to buy this fucker, let me know. Because I’m stupid and I forget what I own apparently.

Posted in Cutting Crew, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, remixes, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Sneaker Pimps | 3 Comments »

Beep! Magazine video-game flexi-discs!

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

In recent years I have developed quite a fascination with video game soundtracks that have been released on vinyl. Unfortunately, these are pretty rare in the states, with only a few marquee titles like Halo and some cult hits like Sword & Sworcery getting the vinyl treatment.

However, in Japan things are different. There, video game music gets the respect it deserves. Back in the 80s, nearly every game that was worth a damn had a soundtrack release, either in its original form or as an arranged (remixed/reproduced) version. Either they were given an album of their own, or highlights were included on compilation LPs that featured a selection of video game music from a particular game company such as Namco or Sega.

Some were even given away for free in flexi-disc form as bonuses to readers of Japanese video game magazines like Beep!, a popular magazine from the 80s that stuck around in some form or another until this year.

I know this because I have a very awesome friend named Anna Hegedus. And she got me two of these amazing discs for my birthday! So let’s take a look at them, shall we?

 

Wai Wai GAME MUSIC (March 1988)
Music From Ninja Warriors
Che!
Are you Lady? (Kunoichi’s Theme)
Name Entry

Namco x-Mas Charity Concert Live
Berabo-man
Toy Pop
Member Introduction 

According to VGMdb, this flexi was a supplement for the March, 1988 issue of the magazine. Side A is a collection of original music from the Taito arcade game Ninja Warriors, a uniqe beat-em-up that used three monitors to create a widescreen-style experience. (You can find out more about the game at this site). I never played any incarnation of this game from what I can remember, but this music is great, an excellent example of the kind of diverse and shockingly complex tunes that games of the time were able to produce.

On side B we find three more tracks, but instead of music taken directly from a game, they are live reproductions that were performed at a special Namco charity Christmas concert! I don’t know anything about this concert, or what charity it was supporting, so if anyone out there who does know anything about it is reading this, please let me know!

As far as the songs themselves go, the first is the theme music to Berabo-man, an arcade shooter that never made its way out to the states. Judging from the sound of this recording, it sounds like the live version still used a fair bit of synthesizers and drum machines, but I think I hear some live strings and other instruments in there as well. The second track is for another Japanese exclusive title, Toy Pop, and it’s a purely piano arrangement of that game’s theme music. It’s cute. The final track features the MC announcing the concert’s performers (each of whom perform their own quick little solos).  All very interesting stuff and something I bet most gaming fans have never heard before!

SUPER ARRANGE GAME MUSIC (November 1988)
Chase H.Q. – Stand By (Arrange)/Los Angeles (Arrange)
Syvalion – Round Start Arrange)/Main Theme (Arrange)
Assault – BGM 1 (Arrange)
Marchen Maze – Round 1 (Arrange) 
Next up we have this flexi disc, which was originally included with the November 1988 issue. Unlike the Ninja Warrior tunes from the previous disc, these songs are arranged (remixed/re-recorded) versions that sound substantially more complex and intricate than the original game versions.

The disc really starts things off with a showstopper, both in terms of music quality and in game reputation, with an amazing arrangement of music from the car pursuit classic Chase HQ. I don’t know if the bassline in this version is real or the work of a synthesizer, but if it is legit, then Squarepusher and Les Claypool could learn something from whomever is responsible for it, as it’s freaking unbelievable.

Paling in comparison but still worthwhile is the theme to the Japanese-only Syvalion, which has a great sci-fi feel that fits its space shooter genre very well. After that there’s an arranged version of the background music (BGM) for the generically titled Namco game Assault, another title that never saw a US release from what I can gather. It’s probably the second-best track on the disc, thanks in large part to its awesome synth guitar solo. MIDI shredding is the best shredding.

Finally there’s the stage one music for Marchen Maze, an isometric platformer based on Alice In Wonderland. As you may have guessed considering its source material, the music is rather jaunty.

All in all this is excellent stuff, and a peek into the era. If you like it, remember you have Anna to thank for it, and if you want to make her happy, follow her on Twitter and visit her website, where she often posts crazy technical videos that are so awesome they make my brain hurt.

And I’ll be back later this week with another Japanese-themed post! Until then, enjoy this 8/16-bit goodness!

Posted in live, remixes, soundtrack, video game music | 5 Comments »

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