In his autobiography Martyn Ware says this compilation was hastily put together by Virgin Records to capitalise on the success of the Brothers In Rhythm remix of "Temptation". Yet, I can't help but feel this album was born out of a marketing plan that included this new version of their biggest hit.
The white label of "Temptation" went out in the summer of 1992 and must have been commissioned by Virgin as it uses the original stems and I can find no trace of a bootleg. The commercial release of the mix came in November and a remix of "Fascist Groove Thing" followed three months later.
The album came out in March and must have had a healthy promotional budget as I remember seeing posters on bus stops and the like. There was even a remix of "Penthouse and Pavement" in April to round things out. To me, this doesn't seem like a campaign that was hastily put together but, I'm no expert.
The album starts with the full seven minute remix of "Temptation" which combines a ton of Korg M1 presets with the fantastic orchestra and vocals of the original. I guess the thought was that if people are buying this album on the back of hearing the new hit single they should receive instant gratification.
The Rapino Brothers try to weave the same magic that helped Take That by remixing "Fascist Groove Thing" but, whist this is a good mix, the source material isn't strong enough to make it a hit. As "Let Me Go!" begins its less pronounced dynamics and the terrible Linn LM1 beats betray its relative vintage. Some of the band's best material follows with "Come Live With Me" and "This Is Mine" which would have provided the perfect ending for side one but in their wisdom, Virgin added another two songs. Despite the fact that 7 tracks (including a seven minute remix) have been crammed onto side one the sound quality is pretty good and is better than some "audiophile" 180g pressings I have heard recently. Cutting is clearly a lost art.
Unsurprisingly the vinyl doesn't have room for the 9 minute album version of "And That's No Lie" found on the CD, so side two kicks off with the lacklustre trilogy of "Contenders", "Sunset Now" and "Trouble". Next we encounter the dreadful single version of "Height of the Fighting" which is both a poor composition and has a horn section that sounds like it was playing in a different key. "Penthouse and Pavement" is presented as the full six minute album version with its incessant Linn LM1 beat, block piano chords and annoying bass. The album version of "Crushed by the Wheels of Industry" comes next followed by the original mixes of "Fascist Groove Thing" and "Temptation".
Ultimately this compilation was good enough to make me investigate Heaven 17's back catalogue but it has a bit of a scatter gun approach. Sometimes we get excessively long album mixes and other times we are presented with edits or single versions. There are other Heaven 17 compilations which seem to have a more consistent approach that would probably suit the casual listener more than this album. I also don't understand why Virgin didn't issue the Mark Picchiotti remixes of "Let Me Go!" in support of this album as they are far superior to those of both "Fascist Groove Thing" and "Penthouse and Pavement". 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment