In a week of scant releases GoHome Productions might have just saved me from committing the reviewers equivalent of suicide. Mark Vidler returns with the green light from EMI to essentially oversee a legit collection of fourteen choice mashups and bootlegs.
For the initiated some of these will already be familiar after doing the rounds on his site and various other locations across the net however there are some cuts in here that are box fresh and when sat alongside the older counterparts seem to give them a sense of newness.
For your money you get sound clashes between the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Malcolm McLaren. Everything But The Girl Vs Spiller and an inspirational little workout between Iggy Pop and Peggy Lee (Passenger Fever anyone?).
It all comes riding into town with that lovely sense of the unexpected that a good bootleg mix provides. From the slightly pasty and wiry McLaren and Franz cutup through to a strangely fluid and natural pairing of Madonna and A Taste Of Honey, the Missing Groovejet track doesn’t sound like a good prospect but works in terms of a finished product with Tracey Thorn’s vocal still holding that sense of melancholy in the busier more commercial Spiller backdrop.
Elsewhere you get an inspired Moloko Vs Elastica mix of Sing It Back laid over the top of Connection along with Kelis facing off against Duran Duran. Its not all Vidlers work though, EMI have seen fit to include the recent Prydz Vs Floyd remix and the Mylo Vs Miami Sound Machine mix from about two years ago.
As a whole it makes a fine collection, merging together popular tracks into new and interesting shapes. Some of the mixes might be a little on the old side but it has to be said there is nothing stale about them, they remain as vibrant and exciting as they were when they first appeared and a little time away from them hasn’t dimmed their appeal any.
Make this your album of the week!
