Since I know some people only read my posts that have MP3s, I want to mention again really quick that I am currently selling some of my LPs and singles to help fund my trip to Japan. Check out my “For Sale” post and if you see anything you want, follow the instruction on that page.

Now let’s listen to some dope 90s remixes.

Information Society
Now That I Have You (7″ Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Dub)
Now That I Have You (12″ Alternative Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Alternative Dub)
Now That I Have You (12″ House Dub)
Information Society (who will herein be referred to as InSoc) occupy a weird space of electronica, “cyberpunk” and neo-hippie wackiness I like to call the early-90s. A time where ideas like the Sega CD, multimedia and the film Johnny Mnemonic seemed totally rad.

InSoc did a lot of wacky shit during this time. For instance, their first CD was a rare example of the CD+G format, which basically allowed for silly low-res karaoke style videos to play during the music. I remember popping in my copy of the album into my Sega CD and even thinking back then that it was pretty damn stupid.

What was cool though was the band’s idea to include tracks of modem noise on two of their albums. On Hack the modem tones could be decoded into a text file, while the story behind the modem tones on 1997’s Don’t Be Afraid (no longer the early 90s, I understand, but it was in spirit) could be used to start a wild goose chase on the Internet to find a hidden song. You can read about it here.

Anyways, I find it funny that surrounding all that wacky shit was a pretty damn great pop band who took a lot of the conventions of 80s synthpop and expanded upon them in a slightly more modern way that definitely made their overall sound feel very “90s,” at least for a couple years.

“Now That I Have You” is a lesser song (in terms of popularity) in the InSoc singles discography, but I still like it. I got all these mixes from a 12″ promo single. I don’t think that a non-promo version of this single was ever released.

Sting
Demolition Man (Soulpower Vocal)
Demolition Man (Jazzy Hip Hop Mix)
Demolition Man (Soulpower House Dub)
Demolition Man (Ridiculous Tribal Mix)
Demolition Man (3rd Floor Hump Mix)
Demolition Man (Hip Hop Dub)
I wonder if the makers of the 1993 Stallone/Snipes/Leary/Bullock opus Demolition Man came up with that name for the movie first and then realized there was a song with the same name, or if they got the idea for the name from the song? Either way, it’s pretty damn weird. When I think of non-stop action and adventure, I don’t think a Sting song that Grace Jones covered. But hey, I’m not in Hollywood.

The Grace Jones version is, of course, the superior version of this song. And it also has one of the most batshit crazy performance videos you’ll ever see. So I suggest you check that out. The Police version is…okay, but it’s just a little too jazzy for my tastes. I actually prefer Sting’s solo version over it, it’s one of the few times that Sting took something he did with The Police and made it rock harder.

These remixes, on the other hand, they’re kind of a letdown. As the titles indicate, they are more jazz, pop and hip hop-influenced takes on the song, with the heavier elements and guitar solos completely removed. They’re certainly great examples of how production can change the feel and even the genre of a song, but they still kind of bum me out. I assume someone out there will like them though.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 4th, 2012 at 1:39 am and is filed under Information Society, remixes, Sting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.