When The Stone Roses- The Remixes came out in October 2000 I was very much not interested in it.It seemed to be yet another Silvertone cash in on an album and a band they'd been bleeding dry for over a decade, by a record company the band took to court to part company with. Remixes of the songs from the debut album also seemed to me to be an inherently un- Roses thing. Sacrilege. Heresy. Those songs don't need anything else doing to them. Why would someone even think of it?
I'm not a person who dislikes remixes either as has been well established over the lifetime of this blog- I often prefer the remix to the original track (depending on the remixer obviously). The Stone Roses- The Remixes also came at a time when it felt very unlikely that there was any involvement from the band in this. Squire and Brown weren't talking. Reni was whereabouts unknown. Mani was heavily involved with Primal Scream. Ian's solo career was well under way and they all seemed happy to move on.
I've shifted my attitude to this album twice, once a few years ago when I heard the Justin Robertson remix of Waterfall out in a bar and found myself enjoying it. Justin didn't do anything too radical to it, a skippy acid house drum beat, some atmospherics and a xylophone, and then the guitar riff comes in with Ian's vocal, those lyrics about a girl dropping acid and boarding a cross channel ferry, leaving 'the filth and the scum/ this American satellite's won'. There's a spaced out and stripped down state to Justin's remix that I like now.
Waterfall (Justin Robertson Remix)
A few weeks ago my friend Spencer sent me a link to the Soul Hooligan remix of Shoot You Down. Curiosity won and I clicked through. Lots of reverb, the strum of a guitar isolated, a loop of brushed drums, Ian's hushed vocals, the hum of an amp switched on behind everything. Ian's line, 'I'd love to do it and you know you've always had it coming', gets looped up, the guitars pile up a bit, cymbals splash- it's nicely done and, again, not a radical re- working but different enough to hear the song anew.
Shoot You Down (Soul Hooligan Remix)
Soul Hooligan are/were Austin Reynolds, a producer from Essex. I played their remix of Shoot You Down at The Golden Lion last weekend.
After finding that I enjoyed that one I went back in and have dipped in and out of the some of the rest. This one, Kinobe's remix of Elizabeth My Dear stood out...
Elizabeth My Dear (Kinobe Remix)
Ian and John's anti- monarchical ditty opens side two of the debut album, the circling Strawberry Fayre guitar part re- purposed with Ian wishing death upon the monarch, all less than a minute long. A statement as much as a song. Kinobe turn it into a sweetly 60s psychedelic folk song, looping, delaying and FXing it out for nearly five minutes.
4 comments:
An album of remixes that has the weight of The Stone Roses on it. I've like this album and tried to get friends into it, but as you said most take it as sacrilege. Believe me there's a much worse album of Stone Roses techno remixes that is basic at best. Im a big fan of the remix Elephant Stone remix by Mint Royale. Which is pretty much my favourite Stone Roses track.
https://youtu.be/ozb5As00bPU?si=DIF3unq-Nxn3dLAX
Always loved the Mint Royale remix of 'Elephant Stone' remix.
I'm in 2 minds about that one - still. Will go back to it.
This is a typical example of a remix collection that feels more like a various artists compilation than a coherent album.
I bought it a few years ago 2nd hand or in a bargain bin. The draw was definitely the remix artists - Justin Robertson, Jon Carter, A Guy Called Gerald, Kinobe - rather than it being The Stone Roses.
The intention always was that I’d pluck tracks for mix CDs and then playlists, rather than sit down and listen to The Remixes end to end. So, it mostly works for me.
Another good example is Casino Classics by Saint Etienne. Excellent remixes for the most part, but wouldn’t listen to it in one go.
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