Various Artists - Heavenly Remixes 3 (Andrew Weatherall Volume 1) 2LP
Heavenly was all but founded on the art of the remix; the label’s sadly departed friend Andrew Weatherall remixed the first ever release, and the label has built up an immense catalogue in the intervening years that demonstrates all that is good about the art form and the label release Heavenly Remixes Vol 1 and 2, a brace of albums documenting this long history.
A label forged in the white-hot heat of post-acid house Britain, these Heavenly remixes are perfectly weighted with respect and irreverence, the remixer in each case carefully chosen to add heft to the song - the tracks across the 2 albums are curated, remixed and delivered with love (and a teensy bit of impertinence) and are a glimpse into the catalogue of one the UK’s finest independent labels.
There may well be no rhyme, nor reason, to how these compilations have been put together, beyond the fact that they are assembled with love, an innate understanding of the power of great pop music, and a skilled marriage of song and remixer.
There is no sense of order to "Volume 1". You’ll find a smattering of older tracks: album openers Saint Etienne are taken on a Poseidon Adventure with Underworld, who inject Cool Kids of Death with typically manic energy. Elsewhere, ’90s Brum duo Mother add dancefloor pzazz to Espiritu’s innate glamour on an all-funked-up reworking of Los Americanos, and Mark Lusardi’s remix of Moonflowers’ Get Higher is an early Heavenly classic.
On Terracotta Warrior, a perfect, psyched-out, Mancunian union is created betwixt Jimi Goodwin and Andy Votel, whilst Goodwin cohort Simon Aldred, in his Cherry Ghost guise, receives a proper Tamla-Motowning from Richard Norris (aka Time & Space Machine) on an inspired cover of Cece Peniston’s glam-house hit, Finally.
There are several of Heavenly’s current darlings there too. One of the most exciting young British prospects, Yorkshire’s Working Men’s Club, effectively remix themselves, as Minsky Rock — WMC’s Syd Minsky-Sargeant and producer Ross Orton — cleave X into a riotous industrial racket. Jagwar Ma’s Jono Ma takes the Kraftwerkian leitmotif on Automatic and drives the Australian jazz-funkers Mildlife down an electro-convulsive psychedelic tunnel (thankfully no-one was harmed during the making of this remix); Sheffield’s DJ Parrot and Jarvis Cocker deliver one of the outstanding remixes of 2018, turning Baxter Dury’s Miami into a lovelorn minor opera; and, making its first appearance on vinyl, David Holmes’ Unloved project is taken on a panoramic Welsh waltz thanks to Gwenno.
Tracklist:
1. Cool Kids Of Death (Underworld Mix) [Saint Etienne]
2. Why Not (Gwenno Remix) [Unloved]
3. Reactor (Mikey Remix) [Nots]
4. Automatic (Jono Ma Ascend Mix) [Mildlife]
5. Los Americanos (Mother Mix) [Espiritu]
6. Out The Window (Greg and Che Wilson Mix) [Confidene Man]
7. Guns Of Brixton (Rub-A-Dub Style Pt.2) [Mattiel]
8. Miami (Parrot and Cocker Too Remix) [Baxter Dury]
9. Terracotta Warrior (Andy Votel’s Spazio 1975 De-mix) [Jimi Goodwin]
10. X (Minsky Rock Remix) [Working Mens Club]
11. Get Higher (Get Dubber Mix) [Moonflowers]
12. Monsterpiece (Harvey Sutherland Remix) [Raf Rundell]
13. Finally (Time and Space Machine Edit) [Cherry Ghost]
About this product: this release is pressed on 2x 180g black vinyl. Includes a download code and printed inners.