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Just prior to the release of their "come-back"
record Come Clean, Curve tempted their audience with this
album-length EP containing five mixes of the first single
"Chinese Burn," as well as two other tunes. After
hearing the album, the differences in the tracks become more
apparent, and the re-mixes all take different angles of attack
to the original.
The first track (mistakenly labeled as the "Album Version")
takes the original concept of the album version and lightens
it up a bit in places. The force of the original version is
here, although Floods mix adds his own special touches to
the mix. Some of the guitar is wiped out in favor of the techno
aspects that Flood practices so well. (The album mix, produced
by Steve Osborne, does appear here later on, as does album
track "Come Clean.")
Paul Van Dyk's "Forbidden City Remix" begins with
a fast paced trip-hop before adding a smoothed out version
of the underlying chord progressions and subdued vocal refrains
by Toni Halliday. When the main groove kicks in, the mood
remains restrained with subtle bass and drum additions. When
the mix gets full on, the drums and keyboard-bass rhythms
change to more of a house motif, still supporting hollow keyboard
melody and vocal samples, while never fully recalling the
original in it's ten and a half minutes of butt moving groove.
This could soon be destined for the club mix of your choice.
The "Lunatic Calm Remix" leads us off with ugly
distortion on the vocals and "guitar" before becoming
an all out assault on the senses in a Roni Size sort of way.
The deep bass grooves are what propel this mix on, delving
into the trip-hop/industrial sort of conglomeration. The reliance
on distorted vocals nearly drowns out Halliday's voice, but
hey, this is a dance mix, right?
The "Headcase Medipac Remix" is by far the most
inventive. Relying on over the top flanged vocals and subtle
keyboard embellishments, this mix dispenses with the techno
early on to allow the skewed version of Halliday's lyrics
to shine through. Halfway through, though, a techno beat infiltrates
the general premise, although it's still the vocals and subtle
keyboards as the crux of the mix.
Rounding out the remixes is the "Witchman's Eye Of The
Storm Mix." This last incarnation of the song rolls from
a trippy introduction into a hard-core drum loop. The distorted
parts of the original are highlighted here with more distortion
than the original, but the placement of the noise is more
sporadic.
To top things off is the non-album track "Robbing Charity,"
a typical Curve number driven by a more techno line than most
fans were used to. The vocal line shows us that Halliday didn't
lose her edge and that Dean Garcia's penchant for writing
catchy songs still remains. Although this song relies on more
programming than we are used to seeing, Garcia's bass lines
still recall Curve of old.
Although people may not have understood the necessity of this
EP, the different takes on the songs prove that Curve were
still a major force, and that there music could translate
to the universality of the dance-floor. This is a decent record
with a new take on an old idea.
-tom topkoff
Track Listing:
1. Chinese Burn [Flood Mix][Version]
2. Chinese Burn [Paul Van Dyk Forbidden City Remix]
3. Chinese Burn [Calm Remix]
4. Chinese Burn [Headcase Medipac Remix]
5. Chinese Burn [Witchman's Eye of the Storm Remix]
6. Chinese Burn [Steve Osborne Mix][Version]
7. Robbing Charity
8. Come Clean
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