bad remixing should be a criminal offence!

I'm a soft-touch about remixes - if its a decent song to start with I find something intriguing about hearing someone else's take on it. And a top remix can freshen up a great track gone stale so you can get back some of the joy of hearing it the first time (I think the richard x BLT does that to an extent, though its diminishing returns). Which makes it all the more infuriating when someone has the chance to remake a classic and churns out some piece of annoying crap, usually in the mistaken belief that the brief is 'you are a creative genius, more important than the original artist, make your own song and stick some bits of the original vocals on it'.

Feel like saying this cos I stuck Armand van Helden's BLT mix on a compilation recently having not listened to it for yonks and forgotten what it sounded like, only to find myself hating it all over again even while I couldn't remember what it was till I checked the tracklist.

Does anyone like that abortion of a remix? What was he thinking of? And is it worse than those two awful 1963 mixes?

I actually don't mind the reggae RUIAD mixes that everyone seems to hate (though admittedly they are completely indistinguishable from each other) that's how tolerant I am - at least you could see what they were trying to do even if it didn't entirely work.

Haven't listened to all the 12x12" properly yet, but on first listen am wondering if tocadisco might be a new entrant in this shameful list.

It irks me that bad remixes get released - just chuck 'em away and give someone who knows what they are doing a chance instead!

The only decent remix I have heard in quite a while is the full Secret Machines of Temptation. That took it back to the earlier days of the song live and gave each instrument the space it deserved - bit more of the bass line and it would have been perfect! Imho, of course...

I second that Mr. LEA. Besides, i find the new 'King Roc remix' of 'True Faith' absolutely AWESOME ! I reckon that's why Pete Tong named it his secret weapon for his essentialselection a couple Fridays back on BBC.radio1 live from Manchester. Glory.

404 error wrote: I'm a soft-touch about remixes - if its a decent song to start with I find something intriguing about hearing someone else's take on it. And a top remix can freshen up a great track gone stale so you can get back some of the joy of hearing it the first time (I think the richard x BLT does that to an extent, though its diminishing returns). Which makes it all the more infuriating when someone has the chance to remake a classic and churns out some piece of annoying crap, usually in the mistaken belief that the brief is 'you are a creative genius, more important than the original artist, make your own song and stick some bits of the original vocals on it'.

Feel like saying this cos I stuck Armand van Helden's BLT mix on a compilation recently having not listened to it for yonks and forgotten what it sounded like, only to find myself hating it all over again even while I couldn't remember what it was till I checked the tracklist.

Does anyone like that abortion of a remix? What was he thinking of? And is it worse than those two awful 1963 mixes?

I actually don't mind the reggae RUIAD mixes that everyone seems to hate (though admittedly they are completely indistinguishable from each other) that's how tolerant I am - at least you could see what they were trying to do even if it didn't entirely work.

Haven't listened to all the 12x12" properly yet, but on first listen am wondering if tocadisco might be a new entrant in this shameful list.

It irks me that bad remixes get released - just chuck 'em away and give someone who knows what they are doing a chance instead!

My first experience of horrible remixes of NO were the 1963 ones. Lionrock or something is total sh*te and I think the only original part of the song on either remix is a drawn out "Johhhhhhhney". Absolute tosh and I cant understand how it can be a remix when theres not a single element from the original recording.

I like a couple of the Crystal remixes as well as that one of Regret that is stripped down and has the main chorus riff planed on piano.

I dislike (virtually) all remixes - find it difficult to get excited about... There are probably some decent versions out there, but the ones I have heard aren't as good as the original NO tracks, so I suppose that has coloured my view a bit... I do quite like the Howie B remix of AOC though... I mean there are tracks on (the rest of) that are difficult to even recognise as NO tracks let alone which tracks... Suppose it may help some people to get into NO, but not my cup of tea...

Norris (Snorri remixed) xxx

Armand Van Helden's BLT is just weird. It's not BLT. It's some crazy sounding song with "I get" repeated over and over. I don't hate it, but I would never put it on a compilation CD.

One of the better remixes has to be that new EGG, the Martin Buttrich Remix. The best in my opinion so far is the Tribute Mix of WFTSC.

Those Lionrock remixes are nothinglike '1963' but when they came out, I think it was January of 1995 - people liked the s**t out of those, and they were played in the local clubs.

I also liked the Joe T. Vannelli Light Mix but I guess others didn't feel the same way.

In my honest opinion, Arthur Baker's 1995 version should have had MUCH more bass in the mix. Was he on rock cocaine when he was mixing it?

I couldn't care less as they have more to do with producers screwing around rather than the band having anything to do with them.

So far my favourite one has been GIAUE (Mac Quayle Vocal Mix)

RAVEANE DIDIER wrote: I second that second that Mr. Lea Besides, i find the new 'King Roc remix' of 'True Faith' absolutely AWESOME !I reckon ---edit- to- shorten-- Manchester.Glory.

and third that. how do you remember who did what ? wow. as we can mess with these posts can really enjoy - some of the reMixes.---provided that the original is being given it's say. adore some of the industrialized strength and dreaminess that a decent remix can give. some big banding layered through can make a one-off studio recording almost otherworldly. the statement that yes. a painful- bad reMix should be a criminal offence. even if people have different tastes.

NObabe wrote: I couldn't care less as they have more to do with producers screwing around rather than the band having anything to do with them.

So far my favourite one has been GIAUE (Mac Quayle Vocal Mix)

Maja, do you prefer to listen to NO records on your home boombox or in a club?

Actually my main objection to lousy remixes is that to do a decent remix you need access to the original tracks (despite valiant efforts by cut-n-paste merchants like razormaid) and its _so_ annoying when people get such privileged access and then waste it on rubbish like van helden's blt.

I thought a handfull of those amateur crystal remixes in that acid loops (?) contest were pretty good. They should have put one of them on the 12x12" vinyl issue. I'd have liked to have seen the innervox seasons mix, for example, instead of the OK Lee Coombs mix that we already have on cd.

Wish I had the skill to remix stuff. One of the many skills I wish I had but don't.

Just remembered that 'The Beach' was the first 'remix' (is it technically a remix?) I ever heard. Remember being puzzled - "it's the same song, but, like, different". One of those odd memories I'd forgotten, along with first time I saw a 12" single (some reggae thing), first cd (it'll never catch on - for dire straights loving yuppies only), first mp3...