Love Is All - Mixed Up (Parlophone)
3/5
By: Chris O'Toole
Maybe this is the reason all the so-called 'Big Four' record labels are splashed over the Sunday supplements each week, lamenting the decline and fall of the traditional LP. The internet is killing us - sniffle - we cannot compete with the relentless tide of democratic knowledge and music - woe is us, how will be afford bread for our children?
Well, that is certainly one end of the rainbow, but on the other - perhaps if the mega-labels didn't release re-mix albums of, admittedly superb, debuts from minor acts, they wouldn't be in so much trouble? Nine Times That Same Song was an exquisite mess of a record - a jumbled assortment of horns, guitar and happiness, seemingly thrown together on the hoof by a group of dilettante, but competent musicians. The record won the group wide plaudits, as it well should - with elements of punk, funk, new-wave, indie and everything else thrown into the mix. However, what made it glamorous was the time, the place. The feeling the group were riding the crest of a wave. The mistakes were forgiven in exchange for the very release sense of liberation.
Here, with Mixed Up, that feeling is gone. All that remains is a cold, calculated collection of remixes. Spawned for entirely different reason, the collection loses that fanatical zeal that sustained the original. All that remains is Josephine Olausson's evocative, childlike vocals to remind us of what we once loved.
One of the main offenders is 'Spinning & Scratching', Metronomy's Remix - which just takes the smallest building blocks of the original and lazily loops them over and over, until the piece sounds like a pack of wild hounds yelping in unison. To call it a shadow of the original would be an understatement. 'Turn The Radio Off', remixed by Maps, also fares particularly badly. It begins as a sun drenched drone, an artificial bliss, in the manner of well, a Maps song - but fails to progress. Its progress is staid and repetitive, failing to gather any momentum, before sailing away over the horizon. Hot Chip, saved till last, also fail to deliver. Emphasising the aquatic glitches and subterranean melody plays wonders with the ears for a few moments, but the rising crescendo add little weight to the existing material - only distracting from all that was gold.
One success story is 'Busy Doing Nothing', Tapedeck's Remix, which essentially leaves well alone. The song is given a dancefloor make over to ensure it remains danceable, but loses none of the delightful shambles that bought the band to the world's attention. The Bees also perform admirably, infusing 'Make Out Fall Out Make Up' with their own eclectic witticism - harnessing a faintly swing beat and drawing it out to give the track a disco number - with the emphasis definitely on 'Make Out'.
The title of the original album, then, describes what is happening here. Nine Times The Same Song was a wonderful record, serving a purpose in a time and place. Few of the ideas presented here seem to deserve access to the original material, and it is manipulated for effect and impacts, rather than any genuine, cohesive attempt to re-imagine the group's work. With a second album on the horizon, it is safe to assume this was just filled to keep out appetites whetted.
Stream the Hot Chip remix of 'Felt Tip' HERE.
Artists in this article: Love Is All
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