Archive for the ‘Utah Saints’ Category

Totally Tubular (Bells) and Utah Saints

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021

Keyboards Affair
Tubular Bells (New Dance Version)
Commando
I saw this in a progressive rock record store, of all places, for about five bucks. Upon laying my eyes on it I immediately knew I wanted it. A “dance version” of “Tubular Bells?” Who would be so stupid/insane/brilliant to try such a thing, and why did I know that they were Italian?

This is the sole release by Keyboards Affair, aka Roberto Rossi, best known as the producer/writer of Sabrina’s international trash dance hit “Boys.” You ever seen the original video for that shit? Jesus Christ. I’m gayer than a rainbow at a Cher concert but even I’m taken aback by that one, or should I say, those two. Did that actually air on TV?!

Sorry, something got the breast best of me for a second. This is a decent, fun mix of “Tubular Bells,” although the spoken word interlude is entirely worthless and should not be there. “Commando” is sadly not a remix of any of the music from the Arnold film, but an original piece (at least I think so). It’s a good jam, with a slight creepy, dark vibe to it. Have Justice sampled this? I feel like Justice should sample this. The end of this, vocal snippets not withstanding, is really quite good.

Utah Saints
Believe In Me (7″ Edit)
Believe In Me (DJ Tim’s Bliss Mix)
What Can You Do For Me? (Madness Mix)
“Believe In Me” features a sample of Sylvester’s “Do You Wanna Funk.” That, by definition, means it is one of the greatest dance songs of all time. These two remixes still have that sample, so they are very good.

The original version of “What Can You Do For Me?” is built entirely off of a sample from The Eurythmics’ classic “There Must Be An Angel Playing With My Heart.” That, by definition, also means it is one of the greatest dance songs of all time. Who doesn’t want to dance to Annie Lennox? This remix keeps that Eurythmics sample, but at a reduced rate. That’s not right. I feel that when you’re listening to “What Can You Do For Me?” you come in expecting a certain percentage of that song to be comprised of samples of Annie Lennox’s godlike voice. When you remove any percentage of said sample, you’re make the song that much worse. It’s just simple math. If anything, when remixing “What Can You Do For Me?” you should add MORE Annie Lennox. Well, I guess that’s true for most things. Nothing has ever been damaged by adding Annie Lennox to it.

 

Posted in remixes, Utah Saints | 4 Comments »

Mistaken U2 Remixes and More

Tuesday, June 9th, 2015

I took a week off work to recover from my excursion to America and that gave me time to go on an honest to goodness record recording bender, something I don’t think I’ve really done since I moved here. Felt good to sit in front of my computer all day and just listen to one 12″ single after another and then play a video game for three hours in a row. I need to dedicate one day a month to being a lazy anti-social bastard. I think it’s good for my psyche.

No more than one day though, I can’t spend that much time in my own head anymore without getting really upset about some of the stupid shit my head thinks up. My head is really stupid FYI.

Oh, speaking of my stupid head, I’m cataloging every version of every Madonna single. Check that out if you suffer from 80s remix OCD.

U2
Vertigo (Jacknife Lee 12″)
Vertigo (Jacknife Lee 7″)
Vertigo (Jacknife Lee 12″ Instrumental)
I’m gonna be real here and admit I bought this single because I mis-remembered “Vertigo” (a song I am impartial to) for “Elevation” (probably one of the few U2 songs I actually love. My stupidity is your gain I suppose! Enjoy – if you’re into this kind of thing.

Utah Saints
I Want You (New Orleans Edit)
What Can You Do For Me (Drill Mix)
What Can You Do For Me (Hard Mix)
What Can You Do For Me (Momo Beats)
What Can You Do For Me (Klub Mix)
No, Utah Saints, what can you do for me? I mean, I give and I give and I give and I get nothing in return. No love, no respect, nothing. You just won’t look away from your samplers for one minute and love me goddammit.

I don’t know what brought that on. Probably the fact that I have absolutely nothing to say about these remixes, which I actually do like quite a bit by the way. I should write more accusatory diatribes inspired by song titles.

No, you asshole, today is not the greatest day of them all, how dare you…

Okay maybe not.

Patrick Cowley
Megaton Man (Remix)
There are many different versions of this excellent electronic dance track, and I don’t know if this remix has an official name. I got it off of a French 12″ single, and I know it’s different than the version on Cowley’s album of the same name, and it’s also not the same version that’s on various Cowley or Megatone Records compilations, the running times don’t match up. Regardless, any version of this one is a good version, and worth hearing. It’s so unlike any disco that was coming out at the time, a perfect halfway point between the burgeoning electronic dance music of the late-70s and the synthpop that would dominate the better part of the 80s. No wonder the man was such an influence on acts like Erasure and Pet Shop Boys.

Posted in Patrick Cowley, remixes, U2, Utah Saints | 1 Comment »

Techno & Typhoons

Monday, July 7th, 2014

There’s a goddamn typhoon heading for Japan. I guess Okinawa is projected to get the brunt of it, so no one worry about me. Instead, keep an eye on the news and if Okinawa does get hammered then remember that the Red Cross is always the best place to give your donations.

Hopefully things won’t be that bad though! Now dance music.

Leftfield
Afrika Shox (VW Remix)
Afrika Shox (Jedi’s Elastic Bass Remix)
Afrika Shox (Radio Edit)
Dusted (Pressure Drop Remix)
Dusted (Si Begg’s Buckfunk 3000 Remix)
Dusted (Tipper Remix)
Dusted (The X-ecutioners Remix)
I think I own remixes of Leftfield tracks than actual proper Leftfield tracks. I love all of them, one day I’ll actually sit down and listen to Rhythm & Stealth in its entirety. I mean it. I really will.

Sigh, I never will.

Anyways, of these tracks I like “Afrika Shox” more, because it features the legendary Afrika Bambaataa (although he’s barely on the remixes), a man I love even if I have to double check the spelling of his name every single time I type it. “Dusted” is also great, and it features vocals by Roots Manuva, another person whose name I can never freaking spell correctly.

Oh, and the “Elastic Bass Remix” is aptly named, with crazy bass effects that might melt your head if you listen to it on headphones. You’ve been warned.

Moby
I Feel It (I Feel It Mix)
I Feel It (Victory Mix)
Classic house Moby. I love both of these (radically different) mixes, I can’t decide which I like the most. I love the classic uplifting piano sound of the “I Feel It Mix,” but I love the hard-ass synths-all-up-in-yo-grill sound of the “Victory Mix” just as much. Intense, super-distorted techno synth is the best synth. It’s like “Cubik” up in this joint.

Random free association fact: for some reason whenever I hear synths like the ones in this song I immediately start thinking of the music from late-80s Apple IIGS game Tunnels Of Armageddon.

You fucking try to figure that one out, I got no clue.

Utah Saints
Something Good
Something Good (Single Edit)
Utah Saints’ first album is out of print and that should be a goddamn crime. But hey, that fact lets me post these tracks – so enjoy.

Posted in Leftfield, Moby, remixes, Utah Saints | 2 Comments »

Electronic Music That Makes Me Happy

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

I think I’m nearly almost done with the damn guide. Hopefully I’ll have it up in a week or two! It’s kind of become a monster. I don’t know what happened.

In completely unrelated news, I got bored tonight and decided to see which of my Sega CD/Sega Saturn games had audio tracks I could rip. Turns out, most of them did. Would anyone be interested in me posting music from such classics as Sonic CD, Panzer Dragoon and Vitura Fighter 2? How about from such not-so-much classics like Golden Axe: The Duel and Virtual On? Are they available commercially anywhere? I have to imagine the soundtrack to Sonic CD was made available at some point wasn’t it? Was it ever released in the states? Sonic Boom!

Utah Saints
Something Good (051 Mix By John Kelly)
Anything Can Happen
Here’s a Lost Turntable protip for life.

Whenever you are feeling down and think that absolutely nothing can go right in your life, put on Utah Saint’s “Something Good.” Nearly any mix will do, as long as it has the full Kate Bush sample (so, um…not these mixes…sorry). Play it on loop. Eventually the etheral voice of Kate Bush will convince you that “Something good is gonna happen” and your life will once again have meaning. Fuck Tony Robbins or any other motivational speakers. This shit works.

Dub Pistols
Official Chemical (DJ Touche Vocal Mix)
Official Chemical (Dogtown Clash Mix)
Official Chemical (DJ Touche Instrumental Mix)
Problem Is (Breaks Mix)
Another one from my “I can’t believe I never posted this” file. I don’t know much about the Dub Pistols, but goddamn “Official Chemical” is my jam. I first heard it way back in 2001 in Frequency, an early rhythm game by Harmonix. I don’t know what it is about the song, something about it pumps me up. None of these remixes are as good as the album version, but they’re all great in their own ways, the guitar lick on the DJ Touche Vocal Mix is especially smashing.

“Problem Is,” while not as good as “Official Chemical,” is still a stand out tune as well, and this mix is worth a listen too.

Leftfield
Swords (Revisited Mix)
Swords (Cari Lekebusch Mix)
Swords (Two Lone Swordsmen Remix)
Swords (To Rococo Rot Remix)
Cliffnotes version of this 12″ single: The “Revisited Mix” is the best. It’s the best because it adds an amazing bassline to the mix that is so powerful that I bet, if used properly, it could cut someone  in half with its sheer awesomeness. It makes me wish I still had my crappy woofer hooked up to my PC. I would crank this tune so loud that my roommate (who is in the room below me) would probably vibrate right out of his bed and out the window. I should totally try that. Then maybe he’d get the message and stop being so damn loud at 7:30 AM.

Additionally, I suspect the dude who came up with the name “Two Lone Swordsmen Remix” really like the movie Airheads.

Posted in Dub Pistols, Leftfield, remixes, Utah Saints | 5 Comments »

It Sounds Better Than “Idaho Bishops” I Guess…

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

It’s raining.

It can stop anytime.

Stupid rain.

Aztec Camera
Backwards And Forwards (Live)
Jump
The Bugle Sounds Again (Live)
Mattress of Fire (Live)
The Birth Of The Tune (Live)
Do you like Aztec Camera? Do you like the fact that I semi-routinely post rare tracks by them? If so, swing on by to the amazing Anna Hegedus’ website. If it wasn’t for her I would have never heard of them, and I buy most of my Aztec Camera to make her happy.

And yes, that “Jump” you see there is a cover of the Van Halen tune of the same name. It sure is…something.

These were all taken from a 10″ single for “Backwards And Forwards.”

Jimmy Somerville
Heartbeat (Armand Van Helden Mix)
Jimmy Somerville was the lead singer of Bronski Beat, and he’s fabulous. The DJ compilation record in which I found this mix, however, was very much not fabulous. It was scratched to shit, skipped like crazy, and overall just sounded like a pile of ass.

Now, I have previously stated my aversion to audio “clean-up” programs that remove the clicks and pops found on vinyl records. They tend to make the recordings sound compressed and distorted, which is way worse than a couple clicks and pops.

I usually just go through myself and remove all the bad parts if possible, but this recording was a mess. While browsing the Internet for good audio editing software I came across ClickRepair and I thought I’d give it a shot. It seems to do a pretty good job, but I’ll be the first to admit that my ears aren’t always trained for this kind of thing. I used it on this track though, so download it and let me know how it sounds.

I would appreciate any input you all have. If you’re an audio geek and really want to see how the program works then download this zip. Included in it are two copies of a live version of Tom Robinson’s “Glad To Be Gay” (I know it’s an odd test file, but it was the most damaged track I could find that I thought was still salvageable). Listen to both to the “before” and “after” tracks, is there anything wrong with the after track? I don’t notice any significant audio degradation. I really want this program to work, it would make my life so much easier!

Utah Saints
Ohio (DJ Misjah Mix)
On Feburary 24th, 2009, I said the following:

“The Utah Saints were neither from Utah or saints, discuss.”

Commenter Rekanize responded with the following:

“New Orleans, once upon a time, used to have a basketball team known as The New Orleans Jazz… in 1979, they were moved to Utah, then known as the Utah Jazz.

Well, New Orleans’s football team is the Saints…

yeah?”

That was over two years ago and it still blows my fucking mind. Shit’s crazy.

This remix is from the same compilation that the Jimmy Somerville track is from, but the side it was on was in considerably better shape, and required no digital touching up.

And, no, this is not a cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Ohio.” One could only hope. I assume it’s called “Ohio” because it samples “Fire” by the Ohio Players. This track samples something else though right? What is it?

Update 5/25/11: File was removed because it was actually the album version, and not a remix.

 

 

Posted in Aztec Camera, B-sides, covers, live, remixes, Utah Saints | 4 Comments »

Now that I’m out of my Terrible Twos I might stop saying Fuck so much.

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

This March marks the third anniversary (holy shit!) of The Lost Turntable, which is MP3 blog years is like 84 since they seem to pop up and vanish so quick. Fucking hipster pricks don’t know how to commit to shit. Anyways, longtime readers may know that I celebrate this by temporally lifting my self-imposed ban on reposting previously featured tracks. So if there is anything I have ever posted that you want to hear again, now is you chance. In the comment section of this post (AND THIS POST ONLY) request what you want put back up here. This is a limited time offer and just because you ask for it doesn’t mean that I’m going to give it to you (I’m not that easy) but the odds are pretty good. Have fun scouring my archives of profanity and random pop music.

Big Audio Dynamite
The Bottom Line
Bad
“The Bottom Line” was the first single by Big Audio Dynamite and is on their first album, but this remix (which is unlabeled as such on the 12” single) is epically longer than the version that’s on the band’s first album. This version of “Bad” is also longer than the album one, but not epically so (more like a just a minute or so). “The Bottom Line” is a great song and while “Bad” isn’t as bad as it’s title suggests, it isn’t all that either.

Ministry
N.W.O. (Extended Dance Mix)
It always makes me laugh when I think about the fact that for all the grandstanding, scary imagery and heavy metal influences, Ministry is still at heart a dance band. I’ve ranted and raved about Al and his band of not-so-merry madmen many times over, and I think I got nothing else to say about them. This remix is from a 12” single.

Utah Saints
Trans-Europe Excess
What Can You Do For Me (Salt Lake Mix)
The Utah Saints were neither from Utah or saints, discuss. I’ve always find that odd (the Utah part, I wasn’t exactly surprised that they weren’t saints. ) It seemed like such an odd place for a couple of pothead ravers from England to pick, and calling this remix the “Salk Lake Mix” takes their fetishization for the land that Mormon delusion built and takes it a strange and scary place. Maybe they were on the salt flats for those ten or so years between their first and second records? These are from a 12” single.

Electronic
Disappointed (Electronic Mix)
Disappointed (808 Mix)
Gangster (FBI Mix)
Getting Away With It (Extended Mix)
For those of you new in the game, Electronic was(is?) a collaboration between Bernard Sumner of New Order and Johnny Marr of, well, about a million different bands, with added assistance by Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys and even a little bit of help from Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk. And with a line up like that you know that the output was…severely underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Electronic (even if the band name is fucking retarded) but with that talent they should have released the greatest most-synthtacular dance album ever. These remixes are from two different 12” single and the 808 remix is by 808 State, and it is fucking tight as shit.

Posted in B-sides, Big Audio Dynamite, Ministry, remixes, Utah Saints | 23 Comments »