THE DESEO REMIXES

Two generations of textural ground breakers, honest

This is a strange one! The original "Deseo" album by Jon Anderson, released in 1994, was rooted in the music of Lain America. Personally, I do not rate it as one of his best, the songs being generally straightforward and unexciting.

About a year after its release though, this album of remixed tracks appeared. These remixes are by "leading creators of ambient techno" the sticker on the CD box proclaiming that they are "a unique collaboration between two generations of textural ground breakers" (sounds like a good lyrical passage for Jon that!). For those with any awareness of such things, the remixers are Deep Forst, Trans-Global Underground, Future Sound of London and Global Communication.

On the plus side, unlike similar projects involving songs by Yes and ELP, the songs here remain largely recognisable, although some are harder to spot than others. The opening version of "Floresta" (here called "Deep Floresta") for example simply accentuates the beat and adds some more overt synths. The following "Intercity 125mix" on the other hand uses a favourite technique of the remixers, by repeating a brief extract over and over on top of a house rhythm.

The emphasis here is very much on those house rhythms and techniques rather than the world music sounds of "Deseo". The chances are therefore that many people will enjoy one album but not the other. Certainly, for me there is little correlation between the two. Each has its own appeal, and indeed downsides. The versions (probably better referred to as interpretations) here are far longer than their original counterparts, each running to between 6 and 9 minutes. As a result, we only actually have a relatively small proportion of the 12 track original album.

It probably goes without saying, but despite the track lengths and the presence of Jon Anderson, this is about as far from prog as we get on this site. That said, the 9 minute mix of "Amor Real" does sound remarkably like the latter part of the title track from Marillion's "Season's end".

Approach with caution unless you actually include house among your list of preferred genres.

Sometimes it happens to hear some classic destroyed by remixers, sometimes with the guilty complicity of the original authors, sometimes without. I remember to have heard sequences of Renaissance's Carpet of the Sun and also a house version of (AAARRGGGHHHH) Comfortably Numb. Such remixes have involved also the whole Dark Side Of The Moon. Hateful.

With this Deseo remixes ic could have been worse. First of all Deseo is far from being the best album released by Jon Anderson, even including his newage period, so there'was not much to destory and in some cases the originals are incredibly enhanced by the electronics.

"Deep Floresta" is better than the quite boring original. The endless repetitions are more common with electronic music and the rhythm hasn't been changed to the usual 4/4 of disco music. In addition Jon's voice is Jon's voice, so not as bad as I was expecting.

"Intercity 125" is hard to map on the original song. It's remixed on the usual boring 4/4 with a reggae bass line and I think just short sequences of the original. Nothing more than chill- out music to be consumed after a rave. Thumbs down.

Deep Forest seem to have better interpreted Jon's music. "Speed Deep" is just a piece of house music but a little bit of the original world music is still present in the background. However also this track is nothing else than chill out. Jon's voice is accelerated so to sound innatural.

"Master Mute" could even be a Jon's original. The kind of electronic pop tracks found on "In The City Of Angels". A decent one.

"Deseo Reconstruction" from Future Sound Of London is probably the only track with some prog inside. It's a pity that everybody remixes a song has to make it sound so standardized. I see this track as a missed opportunity The ethnic parts in the middle remind me to Senmuth, but the sequenced parts are too disconnected.

"Amor Real" starts electronic, without drums. That's a good thing as it's different from every other song heard on this album. Unfortunately the original was one of the few good tracks of Deseo so this version isn't half that good.

"Master Mute Instrumental Mix" is the same without Jon's vocals but the absence of vocals gives a wider range of possibilities for the arrangements. Unfortunately they are house. The rub-a-dub bass line and a violin give some flavor to the track but this is not a reason good enough to buy this album.

"Bless This" had a connection with the house music even in the original. In this case I quite prefer the remix which is surely more ambient.

So it could have been worse, but this is one of the less essential albums I have found on PA. Not so bad to deserve one single star but I have to say that my second star is like "a gift for the career". An album that is on PA only because Jon Anderson is included in the site, but neither him would have been accepted on PA on the basis of an album of this kind.