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eric on Nov 8th 2008 at 6:57 am Geeky Things, Listen, Music

In your mix…

Yesterday Calder lamented the demise of the B-Side remix. Basically that’s when a band would commission the remixing of a non-single song. It was rare, but it happened. I (and Calder) mistakenly thought this was such a thing.

The “Big Time” single (which is the one that I bought on Thursday) was released in 1987, after the “In Your Eyes” single, which was released in 1986. On the US version of this single, the B-Side is “In Your Eyes (Special Mix)” along with an album track off of So.

Now, on the “In Your Eyes” 12″ single (which wasn’t released in the UK), the “Special Mix” is the B-Side. It almost seems like this single was an afterthought, or maybe just released to DJs and record stations (that happens a lot). Either way, this mix is pretty great.

Most of you (hopefully) will remember the song from the movie Say Anything, where John Cusack holds a boombox over his head and plays “In Your Eyes” to win back the love of his gal. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Wikipedia tells me that the Special Mix is nearly nine minutes long, but I’ve not found any actual evidence of that. “In Your Eyes (Special Mix)” is 7:18.

So here it is. Though not an official B-Side remix (since this remix was also on it’s own 12″ single), it’s great and should be heard.

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An example (one that I gave yesterday) of a B-Side remix would be INXS’s “Guns In the Sky (Kick Ass Mix)” which appeared as the B-Side to the “New Sensation” 12″ single. Oddly enough, a shorter remix of “Guns in the Sky” appeared on the “New Sensation” 7″ single. That was the “Kookaburra Mix”

And while most of you have probably heard “In Your Eyes,” I doubt that many of you have heard the album version of “Guns in the Sky.” Here are both (original version first – it’s always good to hear the original version before the remix)…

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(The intro was used for the video of “New Sensation.” It samples another INXS song “Need You Tonight.” John Cleese from Monty Python is sampled as well. This is a great example of what a good remixer can do with a bit of creativity and the original song. Incidentally, INXS has some pretty incredible remixes during the Listen Like Thieves and Kick era, check them out if you’re interested.)

It was never released as a single, but did have a pretty fun video.



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  3. Today I get geeky with Duran Duran’s “My Own Way”
  4. The mix that could have been (more things to listen to)
  5. Hey! Where’s the freakin single mix?

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Comment by CalderNo Gravatar
2008-11-08 20:18:34

We are totally going to stopover in Seattle on one trip back to the U.S. My New Order 12s are sort of scattershot at the moment. I think I can claim that I own every 12 inch version True Faith. The demise of the remix can be associated with a number of things, I lamented in a long buried post on my blog about the creativity drought being experienced globally and I think this has to do with it. In the same post I touched, not in technical depth, on the rise of the factory preset and everybody who buys an Akai sampler and a couple of Roland keyboards calling themselves a “producer” or a “remixer” or even an “artist”. The complexity of the remix is evident in the amount of Pet Shop Boys singles, non album tracks, and the numerous times Blue Monday was remixed.

Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2008-11-08 23:01:19

The numerous remixes are often really tedious to me. Sure, if you have a few different ones by different remixers, I’m all for it. Take Duran’s “Notorious,” for example. Two mixes, one by Nile Rogers and one by Latin Rascals. Both good. But then look at their version of “White Lines.” It had 22 different remixes, almost all done by Junior Vasquez. Almost all of them were shit. I like me a remix that’s at least 90% based upon tracks from the original song. That’s why I like “dub” mixes so much.

The keyboard “remixes” are not remixes. They’re new songs that sample the song they’re supposedly remixing. It’s sad and just not my thing.

Please stop over in Seattle. We’ll show you around and take you places of fun. Woo!

 
 

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