David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ gets a spectacular treatment on the new mash-up compilation appropriately titled ‘Mashed.’ (Photo by AP/Nils Meilvang, Nord Foto)
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BUCK C. COOKE
Friday, March 23, 2007
AT LONG LAST, A LEGAL compilation album of mash-ups featuring first-rate artists is finally available. “Mashed” presents some of the biggest names in music mixed together in new ways following the mash-up formula long popular among the DJ and bootleg music scenes.
The mash-up music scene rose to prominence in recorded music around 2000. Mash-ups lay lyrics of one song over the instrumental track of another song, sometimes with occasional vocals from the second song.
The album gets a rousing start with “Franz Buffalo,” a mash-up of Malcolm McLaren’s “Buffalo Gals” and Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out.” The track retains much of the bootleg feel of the genre, but the production is slick, letting listeners know it’s going to take them for quite a ride.
“Boogie Oogie Music” features the lyrics of Madonna’s “Music” and the music and lyrics from the disco-era hit “Boogie Oogie Oogie” by A Taste of Honey. It’s more organic than some of the others due to the links between the lyrics of the two original songs.
Madonna asks “Would you like to boogie-woogie?” and Honey tells listeners to “Listen to the music,” so the lyrics flow together well. This track is excellent (especially Madge singing her chorus over that wicked electric guitar work straight out of the ’70s).
ONE OF THE STANDOUT TRACKS is “David X.” The infectious pop lyrics from “Got to Have Your Love” by Liberty X gives a new vibrancy to the music from David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.” While these two British acts are very different, the resulting mash-up is buoyant, and the brief sampling of Bowie’s vocals at the end are a perfect exclamation point to a great track.
Other amazing mash-ups on the CD are “Notorious Trick” (Kelis’ “Trick Me” and Duran Duran’s “Notorious”) and “Hella Lola” (No Doubt’s “Hella Good” and the Shapeshifters’ “Lola’s Theme”).
“Missing Groovejet” feels a little more down-tempo with the smooth lyrics from Everything But the Girl’s “Missing.” The spark of the music from “Groovejet” by Spiller is still there, but the overall impression is a little mellow compared to the others.
The organic feel of the guitar work in “Bohemian Like You” by the Dandy Warhols makes the vocals from Mousse T.’s “I’m Horny” sound almost classy. The result is the Mousse T. Radio Edit of “Horny as a Dandy,” a track that definitely cures what ails you.
PERHAPS ONE OF THE ODDEST pairings is the lyrics from Peggy Lee’s “Fever” and the music of “The Passenger” by Iggy Pop. “Passenger Fever” has a retro sound from both angles, but the combination winds up fresh and contemporary.
Several mash-ups here were previously released, like “Can’t Get Blue Monday Out of My Head” (Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” and New Order’s “Blue Monday”), “Doctor Pressure” (Mylo’s “Drop the Pressure” and Miami Sound Machine’s “Dr. Beat”), and “Rapture Riders” (Blondie’s “Rapture” and the Doors’ “Riders on the Storm”).
The compilation also includes the Sultan Radio Edit of “Flashing for Money” (Deep Dish’s “Flashdance” and Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing”), “Proper Education” (Eric Prydz’s reworking of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall”), and “Sing Back Connection” (Moloko’s “Sing It Back” and Elastica’s “Connection”).
Most of the compilations come courtesy of Mark Vidler, also known as Go Home Productions. Two of the tracks (“Boogie Oogie Music” and “Horny as a Dandy”) were mashed by Loo and Placido, a French production duo.
It probably took EMI forever to cut through the red tape “Mashed” must have created to secure licenses for all of the songs used, but it certainly was worth the hard work.
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