Since 1996
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective
Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready....
Subscribe
About Us
Features
News
Album
Reviews
Movie
Reviews
Concert
Reviews
Top
10
Resources
Time
Wasters
Contact
Us
Artist: newsboys
Label: Inpop Records
Time: 11 tracks/40:25
You’ve already figured out, by the title, that this project is a collection of remixes of the songs from the latest newsboys CD of the (almost) same name. By now it has become obvious that the ‘remix project’ has become somewhat of a trend: the degree to which you will enjoy this album will depend, first, on the quality of the tracks, but also on your opinion of the value of totally reworking a CD which hasn’t even lived out its initial debut period. More about that later – for now, let’s take a look at the music.
I, for one, thought that the GO album was a triumphant return to form for newsboys (remember – they’ve dropped the ‘the’ and are now using all lower-case letters, just to confuse us), and felt that the songs were, for the most part, fully realized, well produced, lyrically sharp and energetically performed. What troubles me about the GO/Remixed project is that, in most cases, the remixes lack the spark and energy of the original tracks. The individual remixes were created by Lee Bridges (India.Are), Max Hsu (Superchick, Tobymac, ThumpMonks, Veggie Tales), Tedd T. (MuteMath, newsboys, tobymac, Rebecca St. James, Stacie Orrico, ZOEgirl), and the band’s own Jeff Frankenstein – indeed, Frankenstein (an ironic name for someone who takes existing parts and puts together a new creation!) provides one of the more satisfying remixes with “In Wonder,” which is an interesting re-interpretation of the song and, appropriately, still retains a sense of wonder.
I suppose that the idea of remixing songs originally was for the purpose of creating amped-up tracks that generally had a deeper and more up-front bass and drum mix and extended instrumental passages to make the songs more palatable for dance club DJs. There are still strong elements of the ‘dance mix’ formula in most remixes, but there is also an effort to re-invent songs through key-changes, sampling and re-mixing original tracks. Sometimes this total re-interpretation of a song works very well, but too often, the original songs gets so lost in the process that the remix has to be able to stand on its own musical two feet to validate itself – in the case of GO/Remixed, I can’t say that this was always achieved. As I stated before, the original album was a very ‘up,’ positive work, but many of the remixes come off as needlessly dark and in musical conflict with the lyrics – for instance, the lyrically light, upbeat “Wherever We Go” gets an ominous, minor key setting; the beat-box rhythm seems to be fighting the melody line in a dreary, too-electronic treatment of “Something Beautiful,” and even “Secret Kingdom” has the vocal track minimized and is set in a minor context. “Go” gets a better treatment, but falls prey to the obligatory, over-used ‘voice-that-sounds-like-it’s-coming-through-a-transistor-radio’ effect on the vocal track. The great “Your Love is Better Than Life,” which certainly needed no help, flirts with a minor key and has a mournful ending. “City to City” is (to me, anyway) one of the more successful remixes, using excellent, fun samples to bring energy and funk into this song which, ironically, doesn’t appear on the original album, but was a bonus track on the limited edition version – the treatment of this track shows what potentially could have been done with some of the less-successful re-inventions.
A question that I ask myself when I hear a re-mix is, ‘would I like this song if I didn’t know the original version?’ Here’s the catch: I really can’t answer that question when I’m familiar with the original, since my knowledge of the previous version will color my opinion of what’s been done with it. A bigger question is: should remixes of entire albums even be produced? I certainly don’t know many people with enough expendable cash to be expected to buy two versions of every album an artist (yes, even Tobymac) puts out. I’m all for the idea of remixes, but I think they should be done sparingly, and for songs that are appropriate for exploring in a new way: meeting that criteria, and being done creatively, they should be added as bonus tracks to an existing CD project. Well, that’s just my opinion, and probably one good reason why I’m not a record executive.
Is GO/Remixed a CD to add to your collection? If you’re a newsboys completist – certainly …but if you question the validity of total remix projects, and are watching your wallet you might want to hear these tracks first to see if you think these songs are worth purchasing.
By Bert Saraco
www.myspace.com/expressimage
expressimagephoto.tripod.com
