Search - Charles Webster :: Remixed on the 24th of July

Pocket full of miracles

Russell E. Scott | Austin, TX | 03/08/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Charles Webster gets paid the ultimate complement on Remixed by his fellow Peacefrog label mates. Reversing the song title order from the original album, various artists from this elusive, exclusive record company take individual stabs at their choice album cuts. Detroit Escalator Co. gives "Put Your Hurt Aside" the Dub & Space Mix to open things up. Sounding very intergalactic downtempo with the eerie Steve Edwards, the vocals send chills down your spine. Pepe Bradock turns "I'm Falling" into a Paris match complete with Left Bank candlelight. By the third cut artistic liberties are taken at will. Ian O'Brien completely reworks "I Understand You" into a ten minute epic masterpiece. Setting the song up as two distinct parts the first half includes wonderful classic guitar solos and bongos giving a very organic front to the entire electronic backdrop. I'll make this one my favorite although Brennan Green & Daniel Wang's "Forget The Past" follows a close second. The United Future Organization, the Japanese DJ collective, nicely tackles "Fox Soup" with the Magnolia Soup remix sounding reminiscent of a distinctive 1960's jazz samba. If you're really hipped to the underground connection then I don't have to tell you about Mat P. Jarvis. The `gas/high skies' alter ego and legendary gift for tweaking ambient sounds shouldn't slip by unnoticed. With respects paid to the originating composer, the High Skies adventure on "The Gift of Freedom" seems tame by his normal standards. That leaves the left-field crown for Jamie Odell (aka Jimpster) on his vision of "Be No-One". Best buddy Mathew Herbert gets in on the action with his symbiotic cut and paste of "Ready". The track sounds a bit like his Around The House album from a few years back - all housey and homey. Finishing the experiment up like it starts, Theo Parrish sends "Sweet Butterfly" somewhere out into the cosmos with his Flight of the Butterfly mix. Thankfully this cut is saved for last. I fear the results had this been put up first. Not all the interpretations come across as easily accessible. Case point - Theo's "Sweet Butterfly". I do give the group high marks for originality and inventiveness. The best part of all this is how creative house music can get when it's been opened up to be too reconfigured in association with downtempo and chillout. Musically it makes for really unique possibilities and all variations in between.Charles Webster should be proud with two versions of the same album out within two years of each other. One usually has to wait many years, sometimes a lifetime for these kinds of respects. Peacefrog continues to keep the bar high and remote with releases this superb. Let's hope we see more dues paid and soon. That would be ample dessert for all. Note: the art work in the CD jewel cover bepeaks of more high quality and taste from the Peacefrog catalog. It has a very Japanese look in a Lost In Translation kind of feel. Very nice touch indeed."