VARIOUS ARTISTS

'Motown Remixed'

Motown

'Motown Remixed' starts off on the right note, with a couple of relatively straightforward but simmeringly funky remixes of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" courtesy of DJ Z-Trip, and Gladys Knight & The Pips "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" from ?uestlove and James Poyser's Randy Watson Experience. Z-Trip puts raw, soulful breakbeat textures and deep bass at the forefront, adding some re-editing finesse and a dose of scratching to the bridge for a mix that could just as easily be mistaken for a lost out-take from the original sessions as any one of his recent productions. While The Randy Watson Experience keep the familiar bass and keys intact, adding a vamping organ, accordion and deep rolling drums that give the well-worn chestnut an air of Meters-esque New Orleans flavor. Neither stray too far from the sound and structure of the original songs though, maintaining the very clean, almost sterile sound you'd expect from modern Motown reinterpretations of their cherished classics. But both come off as wholly bouncy, ass-shakingly fun takes on beloved oldies -- thus accomplishing what any good remix is supposed to... make you dance -- even if they aren't much in the way of radical reworks showcasing the remixers talents at molding recordings into something totally new.

Unfortunately the notes start get a little sour after that. Well, perhaps bland would be a better word than "sour" really. Since "sour" is after all a flavor ( even if it is an unpleasant one ), whereas bland signifies a distinct lack of flavor. Far from unpleasant though, many of the remaining remixes are in fact a little too pleasant, resulting in a collection of lightweight fare perfect for an easy listening session with your mom ( no offense mom ), rather than one of raw reinventions of heavy soul classics for modern sound systems by edgy DJ's and producers. It's almost as if Motown said "here are the masters guys, now don't go doing anything that might be a little too rough for the older folks." Or maybe the remixers just had so much respect for the original material that they were afraid to alter too much? Who knows, but the results are merely lukewarm, when they could've been piping hot.

The remixes of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" by Da Producers, Stevie Wonder's "Signed Sealed, Delivered" by DJ Smash, and Diana Ross & The Supremes' "My World Is Empty" by Tranzition are some of the tracks that stand out for the fact that they... well... don't really stand out at all. It's not that the remixers tripped up and delivered sub-par work, it's just that the quality work they turn in isn't particularly exciting. The best way I can help you understand what I'm talking about is to relay a conversation I had with Emeyesi where he held up the CD and asked "do you think I should get a copy of this, like, to play at weddings and shit, ya know, to play for the old folks but switch it up a little?" to which I replied "yeah, it'd be perfect for that!"

Thankfully though, the middle portion of the album is graced with a handful of mixes that break up the monotony and return the project's thermostat to the warmer region it occupied on the opening tracks.

Salaam Remi's "krunk-a-delic party mix" of the Jackson 5's "ABC" just may be the most radical rework of the set, stripping away most of the song's original instrumentation and replacing it with a Lil' Jon-ish base of 808 kicks and hand-claps for an original, if somewhat clichéd revision of the classic kiddie-pop favorite.

Rare Earth's "I Just Want To Celebrate" gets treated to some familiar breakbeats, heavy re-editing, dramatic effects work and added scratches courtesy of Mocean Worker for a mix that allows the song to remain wholly recognizable to the untrained ear, while at the same time giving it a totally new, vastly more dance-floor friendly spin.

Unsurprisingly, DJ Jazzy Jeff & Pete Kazuma deliver a thoroughly groovy house flavored version of The Temptations "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" that undresses the original track until all it's wrapped in is the heavy, recognizable bass groove, then add funky broken-house drum programming and dreamy pads which results in a perfectly reworked version of the classic for today's laid-back lounge and house music heads. My initial reaction to this particular remix was sort of underwhelming only because I expect nothing less from Jazzy Jeff. But you really can't hold meeting your expectations against a producer now, can you?

Rounding out this group of mid-point highlights is a track that, for me at least, is in fact the highlight of the entire compilation... the Groove Boutique's remix of Smokey Robinson's slow jam classic "Quiet Storm." These guys have rebuilt this track from the ground up, starting with a downtempo acid-jazz arrangement of lush, live instrumentation, replete with a rickety drum kit, deep acoustic bass, layers of percussion, electric piano, synths and jazz legend Roy Ayers blessing the vibraphone! All I can say is that David Baron and Rafe Gomez of the Groove Boutique absolutely FREAKED this song. And they did it in a way that totally honors the original version while lending it a whole new life as a whole new version that can stand all on it's own as a fine piece of music. I only wish that the rest of the mixes on the project could have been this dope!

Unfortunately though, there are a few more disappointing moments after this ultimate high that will likely bring listeners down before the disc is done spinning.

Particularly offensive are a pair of soulless and unimaginative remixes of The Temptations "Just My Imagination" from Easy Mo Bee and The Undisputed Truth's "Smiling Faces Sometimes" from Bomb Squad founder Hank Shocklee. Neither mix strays too far from a formula of putting some generic drum programming under the bare, tracked instrumentation of the original songs. Both are competent. And one is almost pretty due to the sentimentality with which it treats the source material. But these are the guys that gave us blisteringly funky, neck-snappingly gritty hits by the Notorious B.I.G. and Public Enemy for chrissakes! You'd think they'd want to show off and really blow peoples brains when given the opportunity. But for whatever reason, they don't.

But all isn't lost, and you can thank the phenomenon of the "bonus cut" for the last gasp of pure body-rocking dopeness found on the album. Such an unexpected highlight comes courtesy of DJ Green Lantern who comes through with a stripped down, boom-clap mix of the Rick James drug ode "Mary Jane." Cutting the track down to the bare bones of vocals, the familiar flute melody, some guitar plucks and the occasional keyboard stab Green Lantern drops some heavy programmed kick-drums, hand claps and droid-like bleeps & whistles that are sure to get party people everywhere rocking back and forth and clapping along. He even adds some extra flavor to the proceedings in the form of a booming 808 breakdown complete with whining synthesizers on the bridge. It's new, it's exciting, it's just plain FUNKY, and if I had to pick, I think I'd say that Green Lantern's take on "Mary Jane" just might be my second favorite cut of the entire collection.

On inspection I'd say about half of the remixes on 'Motown Remixed' really succeed at making the original "sound of young America" over into the "sound of modern America." But about half of that half succeeds in a spectacular enough fashion to keep the collection as a whole from becoming a mere nostalgia-fueled curiosity. I mean, folks who are just looking to take a trip back in the day with some familiar hits without feeling like complete dinosaurs are sure to eat this particular release up. It's the type of stuff that will surely make the older folks at weddings, family reunions and summer barbeques get up & cut a rug, or have mothers, aunts and grandma's nodding their heads and singing along in their cars as they cruise to work or church. But hardcore beat fiends and remix connoisseurs may be disappointed by all but the best of the best 'Motown Remixed' has to offer.

El K -

Thx for the love, dood. Dave and I are stoked that you dug what we was doin'.

Peez,

Rafe

No doubt guys, that remix is a MASTERPIECE!