Radical Remixes (from the Golden Age)

[srg]

Remember those days, BITD, when a song came out on LP or 12" and there probably was, at most, 2 remixes of a particular track? ( as opposed to today's 30+ mixes of a boring riff?)

Well, I'm listing my favorite remixes, ones that completely blew me away when hearing them for the first time at the clubs...

Beat the Clock- Sparks- from a new-wavey album cut to a throbbingly icy masterpiece on 12"- still works today...

Follow Me- Amanda Lear- Wally Macdonald's opus-culled from 2 ok portions of the album medley into a dancy, trancy masterpiece.

Take Me To Paradise- Kelly Marie- yeah yeah, I know Kelly's voice is grating most times, but Bobby Guttadaro made this cut ROCK! Should've been HUGE but I only heard it in the privacy of my room...campy vocals, too!(mixes great with "HitNRun Lover", by the way.)

At Midnight- T-Connection- The album version had energy, and an ok length, but the percussive intro and outro on the 9-minute mix gave the cut an extra "seriousness", if you will- "We're gonna make you DANCE!", it seemed to say...

I Got My Mind Made Up- Instant Funk- rather pedestrian funk tune turned into a sweaty, horny WORKOUT on the floor, especially around the whispered bit between the lead singer and the wailing "Say Whaaat?" diva.

**My all-time favorite remix, from BITD:
Party Boys- Foxy- THAT'S a remix- Disconet turned an (I thought) rather boring album cut into a dark, driving "KC-&-Sunshine-Band-On-Acid" 10-minute ride, full of weird noises and conversations that made you pay attention as you danced away, and the song now straddled Disco/Funk/New Wave, so the DJ could take you in whatever direction they wanted...

I wasn't dancing in 76/77, so I can't say much about "Ten Percent" and "Hit and Run"...I only knew these two tunes in their remixed versions already.

Which ones are yours??

[remicks]

Originally Posted by srg

At Midnight- T-Connection- The album version had energy, and an ok length, but the percussive intro and outro on the 9-minute mix gave the cut an extra "seriousness", if you will- "We're gonna make you DANCE!", it seemed to say...

Interesting thread !! Good list !


I think T-Connection's AT MIDNIGHTshould be given disco's highest honours
What could possibly have been done to that mix to make it any better !!?
Serious ...yes ...
aggressive.... yes ....
" we're gonna make you DANCE " .... YES !


Evelyn Champaigne King's SHAME ..... the 12" renovated it .


*****

[thommy2458]

Listen to the original LP mix of Musique's "In The Bush" and compare it to the Francois K
remix....

[kdavid13]

The 2 I'm thinking of both come from the the THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY soundtrack:
D.C. LaRUE's DO YOU WANT THE REAL THING extended to its over 10minutes is a downbeat delight.
and PAUL JABARA's DISCO QUEEN as an album track is so-so but on the 12inch ; it became a true disco delight.Loved the tambourine bit,too.

I also loved THE RUNNER from THREE DEGREES ; the 12inch mix gave it an extra punch.

Also RITCHIE FAMILY's PUT YOUR FEET TO THE BEAT and DENNIS PARKER's LIKE AN EAGLE in their extended forms were in fact better than the already long album versions.

[needlefingers]

How about the radical remix of Bonnie Pointer's Heaven Must Of Sent You? A song that Berry Gordy produced, released and sounded like 60's Motown (which it originally was). Thank God (pun intended) someone found potential in the tune and remixed it. The 12 inch gives you both mixes.

My favorite has to be Don't You Feel My Love by George McCrae. K.C. wrote (w/ R. Finch) and produced the lp track. But the remix by Steve Thompson and Michael Arato makes a world of difference with this song. It's darker and more brooding, and it does build nicely with McCrae's voice sounding desperate. Also, I do like dark disco.

Isn't Cafe, by D.D. Sound, different in America than in Europe? They left out the vocal, which is really a great part of the song.

[Mixmachine]

Originally Posted by srg

At Midnight- T-Connection- The album version had energy, and an ok length, but the percussive intro and outro on the 9-minute mix gave the cut an extra "seriousness", if you will- "We're gonna make you DANCE!", it seemed to say...

there was a boot mix using t-connection's intro with "I will survive" that gave a breath of fresh air to Gaynor's hit that was already very tired with Djs of the day when this boot first appeared.

One remix I remember playing only was the Dub version of "Can you move" by Modern Romance, I don't think I ever bothered with the regular version.

The original import version of DD Sound's "Cafe, Cafe" was much better that the US remix...

[the disco kid]

Originally Posted by Mixmachine

there was a boot mix using t-connection's intro with "I will survive" that gave a breath of fresh air to Gaynor's hit that was already very tired with Djs of the day when this boot first appeared.

DJ Warren Gluck did the t-connection / i will survive mix, it was first only on acetate (sunshine sound) and then someone else bootlegged it on vinyl

[remicks]

But SRG is referring to this mix ...................


*****

[needlefingers]

What about The Jacksons Shake Your Body(Down To The Ground)?

Original version versus the European version. At first, I didn't care for the European version. But today, I think it was a little ahead of it's time. And it has a longer, more workable intro. Once you get started, you can cut into the original. Which do you prefer?

I also remember Patrick Hernandez's Born To Be Alive starting out as a 45 in Germany. For a long time, that was all we had. Then, it became a 5 minute version with the middle part mixed in. A couple of months later and it was now 7 minutes with an intro and outro (I love those violins in the outro).

[kdavid13]

Seeing the JACKSONS name reminded me of WALK RIGHT NOW ; as a 12inch , it simply rocked...

[the disco kid]

Originally Posted by remicks

But SRG is referring to this mix ...................


*****

i was responding to mixmachine's comment on the bootlegged version of "i will survive" not SRG's comment on the excellent remix of "at midnight"

[srg]

More remixes I thought of...

Come on and Do It- Poussez: Roy Thode's re-structuring gave a great song much more of a sleazy feel, especially the girlie moaning bits!! Is it me or was the disco "thump-thump-thump" made to sound more sexual? was the bpm slowed down?

Love's in You- (part 2)-Nightlife Unlimited- Just when the song was begining to get tired (and it was an OK piece of Canadian Disco to begin with) along came this thumpin' remix with one of the HOTTEST disco breaks ever. SWEEET!

It's Good For The Soul- Salsoul Orchestra- Walter Gibbons turned this song INSIDE OUT- boring in its original form, he made it a joy to mix with (those new prominent high-hats would give an extra oomph to any cut it got played with/on top of), and a joy to dance to (I remember the dancers smiling/laughing to the "sing it girls, SING IT!" and "you're all so SHY" parts); and that trippy weird flute was too much....

On the same train of thought, I thought the "commercialized" remix of Donna's "Heaven Knows" was just ok as a single, but I thought it was travesty when it got spliced into the "McArthur Park SUITE"-The flow, for me, just wasn't there- bring back the ORIGINAL suite, the one with the longer "One Of a Kind"- LOVE that song!

And, on Donna, did anyone else prefer the version of "Enough Is Enough" that was on Barbra's "Wet" LP as opposed to the 12" mix? The cut seemed to be a more percussive, high-hat-ty mix, and shorter, too (8 minutes, I think)- much more to the point (less drama, yipee!).

And why, oh why was "Hot Leather" by the Passengers toyed with by Patrick Cowley- never cared for the extra synths added to an already PERFECT cut, never cared for the remix...the original, 10:40 lp cut, with that wonderfully dubby break, is the one for me.

[the disco kid]

srg

you got me thinking when you mentioned the roy thode remix of poussez!.

disconet did alot of radical remixes from the original lp or 12" versions, some that come to mnd are:

the disconet mix of "come on and do it" a mad reworking of the LP version

ferrara "love attack" disconet remix by vallapucci

abba's "lay all your love on me" probably the most famous disconet remix ever.

another early disconet remix that was actually done on a mixing board, "never gonna say goodbye" by poussez! radically different from the LP version, it has a very sexy bassline breakdown half way thru and it's more of a stripped down to the essentials mix.

[discokicks]

Originally Posted by the disco kid

another early disconet remix that was actually done on a mixing board, "never gonna say goodbye" by poussez! radically different from the LP version, it has a very sexy bassline breakdown half way thru and it's more of a stripped down to the essentials mix.

This is the kind of info that I love to find on this site. Like others here, I find the Poussez album to be the epitome of the great later sound of unabashed disco. I didn't know there were stripped-down mixes from the album.

And speaking of Donna Summer, I have always loved that extra minute and a half of Hot Stuff on the remix....that saxophone just adds so much excitement and sexiness to the song!

One remix that I'm recently loving is that of the Brooklyn Dreams' Music, Harmony and Rhythm. I have their album from 1977 and had only heard the four minute cut off that but I now get to hear the much stronger remix included on Jerry Bonham's Troc party cds. (I remember always seeing this 12" mix in the bins back then and never bothered to pick it up. )

[FranceJoliFan]

I thought the "Party Mix" ep by the B-52's had a lot of integrity. The added production made it special without taking away from the original arrangements.