I know I've mentioned my opinions on remixes before but I'm going to elaborate a bit here. I've been a fan of the remix concept since I was a little kid and begged my parents for the 12" singles of Michael Jackson's Thriller and Say Say Say as a birthday gift. The concept of enjoying my favorite song in an extended fashion always had great appeal but I also loved hearing things you normally wouldn't on the radio or the album. I'd heard about half of a remix of Billy Joel's Tell Her About It that led me on a pre-internet search of record shows for a few years until I found a sealed Japanese pressing for an exorbitant amount of cash, but it was worth every dollar! Extra vocals, extra instrumentation, strange effects and other obscurities, all of which made remixes irresistible! I'm still a fan of the remix to this day although I've become a bit pickier about what I would call a worthwhile effort for release. At some point labels started hiring just about anyone to remix records for clubs, a lot of the time resulting in boring mixes that didn't add anything new and/or sound anything like the original track. A remix sounding completely different, if not unrecognizable, is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in the hands of credible producers, but when the mix in question is a generic house beat with no similarities between the original other than maybe a vocal stab or two, that's when I draw the line. There are records I'd gladly purchase remix singles of for the instrumentals, acapellas and other bonuses if not an extended or reworked version of the track, but how can you call something a remix when it literally bares no relation to the original track and shows no imagination?
The other thing I hate about remix culture in relation to record labels is their habit of making anything into a new release by having a bunch of remixes created by anyone they can get to sign a contract. A lot of great remix compilations do exist that bring incredible people together, with the Verve Remixed series standing out in my mind, but for every decent one you get a hack attempt at getting a bunch of relative unknowns or cheap warhorses together for a generic comp that adds nothing to the originals. It's spreading to things like "stripped" mixes where you can hear the vocals clearer without most of the instrumentation, as is the case of a Michael Jackson comp Motown released not long after his death, and while that's a great thing in the case of MJ, how many stripped mixes really impress all that much, especially in the age of giving out track stems or complete multitracks for fans to remix as they please? For crying out loud, they used to call stripped mixes acapellas and I'd rather listen to those than have someone decide what they'd like me to hear. I'm amazed the labels haven't started selling complete multitracks for classic albums, although that could cause issues with a lot of artists that wouldn't necessarily want their material altered beyond their control.
We're getting to a point where the consumer and/or fan can do almost everything that the so-called professionals charged insane rates for. Mash-up culture allowed people to put their favorite tunes together and artists like Girl Talk are making meta a form of art, so why do people still care about official remixes? I guess because there are still artists who take remixing seriously and look at their output as true works of art. Classic disco mixes from Larry Levan are a cut above most modern remixes, even if they lack a lot of the benefits that current technology offers. Seeing The Orb listed as the remixer almost guarantees you're more or less listening to a complete reinterpretation of the original track through the eyes of Dr. Alex Patterson. Carl Craig can absolutely crank a club, Dan The Automator will shake your floor, Madlib will confound and amaze with records you'll swear you've loved forever although you've never heard them, Alec Empire would turn a dance floor to shards of jagged concrete, Erol Alkan can extend the most basic groove into a year long killer or warp it into a psychedelic dreamscape, etc. etc. etc... There are more than enough experts to continue making legitimately great remixes and reworkings till we're blue in the face, so why do we still get the crap versions when they know we're expecting quality? Don't tell me it's because they're cheap, because a lot of the best remixers charge just as little for their work due to the devaluation of the market.
All of this leads me to today's content, the obscure concept of making an Ennio Morricone remix album. Why would you mess with the master of the western soundtrack? Why would you warp those harmonicas and guitars? What would the benefit be? Well, in 2001, when Morricone RMX was released, the record industry was still spending like it was 1995 and all kinds of rookie remixers were getting tons of work and compilations like these were issued on an alarmingly regular basis, often from small labels or obscure subsidiaries of majors. Morricone RMX was issued in the US on Reprise in cooperation with Downbeat, Cinesoundz and WEA Records. If you follow record label politics then you know Reprise was one of the worst managed subsidiaries of the American arm of the Warner Bros. Records empire, Downbeat and Cinesoundz have no real ground in the US market (No offense guys, I just call it as I see it. That is in no way a judgement upon the quality of your output, just your distribution.) and this is one of the only times, if not the only time, that I've ever seen WEA Records listed as a label in the US. WEA stands for Warner-Elektra-Atlantic, the joint distributor that most Warners releases are issued through, regardless of the fact that Elektra all but disappeared as a label years ago until recently and Atlantic is kind of a joke at this point.
Once you examine Morricone RMX you get a better idea of what must have been going through someone's mind when this concept got the green light. Mellow, kinda stoned electronic and hip-hop instrumentals were quite popular and Morricone's famous compositions have been sampled in both genres frequently, so why not put them together and have a retro coup with the hip trainspotters at Borders and Starbucks who will hear this will sipping a double-cappe-crappe and declare how cool this would be to play at home and in their car? It sounds sacrilegious and the unimpressive line-up doesn't help things with Apollo Four Forty, Thievery Corporation, Rockers HiFi and Nightmares On Wax all occupying label space. That said, much to my record-snob cred, I'm horrified to say it turned out a lot better than I ever thought it could. That's not saying this is a great compilation, but it's certainly worth grabbing if you find it in the budget section or marked down considerably. Everyone turns in a suitable tribute to Morricone with Thievery Corporation's take on Il Grande Silencio shining like a dark dreamscape, Terranova's take on For A Few Dollars More being an obvious but thoroughly enjoyable breakbeat take on the classic, DJ Dick and Bigga Bush's individual takes on Clan Of The Sicilians both being stupefyingly enjoyable any my favorite track here, Japan's Fantastic Plastic Machine turning Belinda May into a stunning Latin percussion workout. The comp still has it's weak points like Apollo Four Forty's remix of The Man With The Harmonica, but the whole thing is still worth a visit and many returns. Of course, finding a copy might be a bit difficult.
Back in 2001, I was a community dj at a college radio station I frequented regularly close to my home. We received many doubles of this CD, several of which I grabbed to listen to but never got around to it until they disappeared from my collection somewhere down the line, but they also received multiple vinyl samplers. The vinyl samplers were a bit peculiar as the full-length compilation had thirteen tracks and the vinyl had eight, more than most find on a sampler. The vinyl was also a two record set. I'm sure the label was thinking that dj's would love to have the whole set on wax but why not issue the whole thing on three discs or compress it to two? Regardless, lots of obscure vinyl promos would appear and no one wanted the multiple doubles so I grabbed a few. I can't seem to find them all now (I kept a promo CD of the Philip Steir remixes of New Order's True Faith but somehow lost my vinyl. DAMNIT!) but this one has stuck around and I thought it would be a nice item to feature, what with it's obscurity and the quality of the music contained therein. I ripped this the other night and apart from getting rid of dead space at the beginning and end of each side, normalizing each side of the record and then separating the tracks into individual files, no additional work has been done. Unfortunately, my one huge gripe about the vinyl is the absence of the aforementioned Fantastic Plastic Machine remix, so I've included that below as a separate download.
This album is actually available for purchase digitally which you can find on Amazon or iTunes. Personally, I don't see why anyone needs to pay ten dollars for this, but since the whole thing is available legally I'm only going to share the Fantastic Plastic Machine remix and all eight tracks from the sampler. Get the CD if you can find it, but I wouldn't bother buying it from a digital retailer. Will Morricone or any of the remixers really see any dollars from this? Will anyone but Warners continue to profit from this release? Altogether doubtful, and again, why pay full price for something they essentially don't give a damn about?
My final words on my remix rant are that I'm glad the availability of technology, software and in demand songs has made remixing easier for everyone, but there are still crap remixes and comps out there. I guess the record industry won't learn until they're all out of work, and even then who knows. Hell, there have been three additional Morricone remix albums produced in the last few years, although they're not associated with this one. I understand paying tribute to your heroes but not everything needs to be turned into a garage banger, a dubstep stomper, a breakbeat clanger or any other derivative form of a club conceived record. This all reminds me of a funny story...
You ever heard about Aphex Twin's remix for Evan Dando's Lemonheads? Seriously, Aphex was hired to remix one of their singles, who knows which one, and as the story goes the record label sent a courier to his house to pick up the final track. Aphex, being a bit of a stoner and all, had totally forgotten about the remix and, knowing he had nothing to show, just grabbed one of his random tracks and gave it to the courier. The remix never came out Aphex joked about having gotten paid for essentially nothing in an interview. While this is all hilarious and I absolutely love Aphex Twin's music, it's utterly ridiculous. That said, ever heard the story about Aphex and Madonna? I'll save that for another time.
Morricone RMX Sampler
01 The Man With The Harmonica (Apollo Four Forty Remix)
02 Clan Of The Sicilians (Bigga Bush Remix)
03 Chi Mai (Nightmares On Wax Remix)
04 Here's To You (Copasetic Con Vivi E Selda Remix)
05 Il Grande Silencio (Thievery Corporation Remix)
06 Doricamente (Tommy Hools Remix)
07 For A Few Dollars More (Terranova Remix)
08 Clan Of The Sicilians (DJ Dick Remix)
BONUS: Belinda May (Fantastic Plastic Machine Remix Edit)
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