Elly Roberts reviews
Mute Records
- Released: November 2008
- Rating: 8/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
The turn-tables are turned on Moby.
For once the remix maestro, whos fiddled with songs by Michael Jackson, B52s, The Prodigy and Brian Eno to name but a few, gets the studio treatment of songs from the original Last Night album.
We get the original title track in its intended form, closing this release, and unless youre familiar with that album, which Im not, its hard to know how far, or not, these tracks have been morphed. Also, dance aint my bag I only have a certain tolerance to overblown BPMs anyway but this crew have nailed a stylish album, full of sophistication, subtlety and class.
Out of the woodwork come stellar tweekers the Shapeshifters and Freemasons who add their Midas touch. Clearly destined for the club / dance scene, each track, as they do, seamlessly shift along. As you can see, songs are repeated, with new names cropping up to add their personalised takes on Mobys nifty musicality.
It starts with the thumping funky groove of I Love You by Holy Ghost! which has a sharp brass section and good old fashioned bongos which melts into the monster production of Ooh Yeah. Tocadiscos Live For Tomorrow is not so hot, though The Shapeshifters do a great job, as expected on Im In Love, as do Freemasons on pulsating Disco Lies which includes a cracking songbird, though Spencer & Hills version is not so good.
Other crackers are the complex but inventive The Stars by AC Slater, and the staccato heavy Ooh Yeah by D.Ramirez which show a sharp knowledge of dynamics and variation. The Style Of Eye Piano Remix of I Love To Move In Here is really cool, even if rather one dimensional.
After the endless sonic BPMs, chilling Last Night is very welcome.
File under: Top album not just for kids either.
Weblink:moby.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. I Love To Move In Here Holy Ghost! Remix
2. Ooh Yeah Kris Menace Remix
3. Live For Tomorrow Tocadisco Mix
4. Im In Love The Shapeshifters Maximal Remix
5. Disco Lies Freemasons Club Mix
6. I Love To Move In Here Seamus Haji Remix
7. Alice General Midi Remix
8. The Stars AC Slater Remix
9. Disco Lies Spencer & Hill Remix
10. Alice Drop The Lime-Heavy Bass Remix
11. Ooh Yeah- D.Ramirez Haunted Playground Remix
12. Im In Love Masons Glowsticks Mix
13. I Love To Move In Hear Style Of Eye Piano Remix
14. Last Night Album VersionView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.